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Cover of ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes.. by New Order.

New Order

∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So It Goes..

Mute

    In June 2017, New Order returned to the stage at Manchester’s Old Granada Studios where Joy Division made their television debut on Tony Wilson’s So It Goes programme in 1978. For the celebrated show ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) New Order + Liam Gillick: So it goes .., New Order deconstructed, rethought and rebuilt a wealth of material from throughout their career: familiar and obscure, old and new.

    Featuring tracks such as Disorder, from Joy Divisions Unknown Pleasures and not played live for 30 years, up to 2015’s Plastic from New Order’s critically acclaimed Top 5 album Music Complete - this is the perfect document of those magical 5 nights. The album was recorded live on 13th July 2017 and includes the full show and encore plus 3 additional tracks recorded over the residency to give listeners a full representation of the breadth of material performed. 

    This special series of intimate shows took over Stage 1 of Manchester’s iconic Old Granada Studios for five nights in June 2017. Created in collaboration with visual artist Liam Gillick, who has previously presented solo exhibitions at venues such as Tate Britain and MoMA in New York; and orchestrated by composer-arranger Joe Duddell, a fellow son of Manchester and a frequent collaborator with the band, the live show was performed by the band with a 12-strong synthesiser ensemble from the Royal Northern College of Music. 

    STAFF COMMENTS

    Barry says: Mute present this essential landmark in New Order's lineage with this 2CD / 3LP set from MIF almost exactly 2 years ago. The catalogue is given a renewed and invigorated twist, showing another side to an already venerable set of classic songs. An essential piece for any fans, and another reason New Order retain the status they've held for so long.

    FORMAT INFORMATION

    3xColoured LP Info: Limited Edition Triple album pressed on transparent coloured vinyl housed in a slip-box.
    Vinyl 1: Red Transparent.
    Vinyl 2: Light Green Transparent.
    Vinyl 3: Blue Transparent.
    Packaged in individual sleeves and into a hardback slipcase, all with spot gloss finish.
    24 page 12" sized booklet with silk finish containing exclusive imagery and text relating to the legendary event.
    Includes hi definition digital download of all 18 tracks.

    2xCD Info: Double CD w/ Deluxe Booklet, packaged in triple gatefold sleeve with spot gloss varnish.

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    Cover of Hasta El Cielo (Con Todo El Mundo In Dub) by Khruangbin.

    Khruangbin

    Hasta El Cielo (Con Todo El Mundo In Dub)

    Night Time Stores

    "Hasta El Cielo" is Khruangbin's glorious dub version of their second album "Con Todo El Mundo". The full album has been processed anew along with two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist. The band’s exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well. Indeed, keen fans won’t find this a surprising release. Dubs of tracks from their first album "The Universe Smiles Upon You" appeared on limited vinyl releases of "People Everywhere" for Record Store Day 2016 and "Zionsville" on the BoogieFuturo remix 12”. The especially eagle-eared will have caught a dub of "Two Fish And An Elephant" playing over the credits of the track’s celebrated video.

    'For us, Dub has always felt like a prayer. Spacious, meditative, able to transport the listener to another realm. The first dub albums we listened to were records mixed by Scientist featuring the music of the Roots Radics. Laura Lee learned to play bass by listening to "Scientist Wins the World Cup". His unique mixing style, with the emphasis on space and texture, creates the feeling of frozen time; it was hugely influential to us as a band. To be able to work alongside Scientist, a legend in the history of dub, is an honor. This is our dub version of "Con Todo El Mundo.”' - Khruangbin

    Formed of Laura Lee on bass, Mark Speer on guitar, and Donald “DJ” Johnson on drums; Khruangbin’s sounds are rooted in the deepest waters of music from around the world, infused with classic soul, dub and psychedelia. Their 2015 debut album ‘The Universe Smiles Upon You’ was heavily influenced by 60’s and 70’s Thai cassettes the band listened to on their long car journeys to rehearsal in the Texan countryside. 2018’s follow up ‘Con Todo El Mundo’, which received hugely positive critical reactions and radio play around the world, took inspiration not just from South East Asia but similarly underdiscovered funk and soul of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, particularly Iran. 


    FORMAT INFORMATION

    Coloured LP Info: LP and 7", both pieces are pressed on individually numbered yellow vinyl and this is an indies exclusive version.

    LP Info: LP and 7".

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    Cover of Purple Mountains by Purple Mountains.

    Purple Mountains

    Purple Mountains

    Drag City

      “Well I don’t really like talking to myself, but someone’s got to say it, hell...”

      You know this voice. An old friend has returned. It was some years back that you dropped the needle on the record and heard it say, “No, I don’t really wanna die...” Like so many lines you couldn’t possibly have guessed the finish to, it’s now among the flat natural-born good-timin’ faves that you sing along with in the jukebox inside your head. It’s loaded up there along with at least a couple dozen others from Silver Jews, whose classic run was made somehow finite in 2009, when the voice himself, David Berman, announced his retirement from music. Ten years have come and gone since then. Where the time goes, we do not know. What do they say about old songwriters? We don’t know that one either, okay? We’re not good with jokes – we’re just glad that there’s always more songs to be written and sung. That’s what raised up Purple Mountains for all of us, after all.

      Yes, Purple Mountains is the new nom-de-rock of David Berman. Purple Mountains is also the name of what will be known as one of his greatest albums – full of double-jointed wit and wisdom, up to the neck in his special recipe of handcrafted country-rock joys and sorrows that sing legendary in cracked and broken hearts. The songs are produced impeccably by Woods’ Jarvis Taveniere and Jeremy Earle, buffed up like a hardwood floor ready to be well-trod upon for an evening of romance and dance. And then…

      What is 10 years? What are 50? How is everything anything in the eventual blink of eternity? The songs of Purple Mountains are a potent brew, stitched together from lifetimes, knitting the drift of the years with the tightest lyric construction Berman’s ever attempted. Honesty is archly in the air, but lines of incredible bleakness somehow give way to playful distraction and the hiding of surprises for close listeners. Even still, as the songwriter once wrote, “every single thought is like a punch in the face.” It won’t take long after slapping the record on the platter for you to hear that this is one of THOSE albums. There’s breakup records. There’s apocalypse records. Then there’s Purple Mountains.

      The portrait is David Berman’s most to-the-bone yet, very frankly confessing a near-total collapse from the first moment, then delving into the layers of nuance with twin lazers of personal laceration and professional remove. This etches a picture that cries to be understood in the misbegotten country that made everything great about Purple Mountains. America’s fate is that of its treasured icons: the cowboy, the outlaw, the card sharp and the riverboat gambler, who all face simple resignation in the end. There are no perfect crimes. Berman’s poet-thief of so many precious moments, now stripped and chastened, recalls his latest lowest moments in perfect detail, hovering ghostly above the tumescent production sound as it echoes with tragic majesty and the sound-fragments of former glory, evoking the defeated-king era of late Elvis, soutern-fried and sassy still on his countrypolitan way down, and somehow still solid-gold at the bottom.

      Berman’s songwriter’s bone’s never been laid more bare, either – if redemption doesn’t come on the lyric sheet, the act of putting these songs into singing, dancing form allows them their finest end – to provide infotainment for others, embodying moments of life and truth via music that elevates with disarming warmth and a reassuring commonality, even as David himself stands outside the communal campfires.

      Where are you tonight, America? The things that used to be have slipped away into the darkness without you knowing it, and your children are wandering in a blasted landscape, with only Purple Mountains left to comfort them, and David Berman’s shattered fables for company.

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Emotive Americana-tinged guitar work and jangling rock vibes on this self-titled debut LP from Purple Mountains, with brilliantly written melodic turns and moving, rich tapestries of sound. Beautifully evocative without being sugary-sweet, Purple Mountains is a perfect addition to the hazy summer days and balmy heat of summer.

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      Cover of Weather by Tycho.

      Tycho

      Weather

      Mom + Pop / Ninja Tune

      Tycho are the Grammy nominated electronic music project led by Scott Hansen as primary composer, songwriter and producer. Their fifth studio album “Weather” is an exciting progression from their previous output, with most of the new tracks being vocal lead, while still retaining the signature Tycho sound. The sonic shift has been enhanced by the collaboration with exciting new vocalist Saint Sinner, who will be joining the live band following their time in the studio. 

      Tycho have been remixed by the likes of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Bibio and in turn, have done remixes for Little Dragon, Maggie Rogers and ODESZA.  Recommended if you like… Boards of Canada, Bibio, Bonobo, Jon Hopkins, Mark Pritchard, Com Truise, Ulrich Schnauss etc. 


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Barry says: Staying true to the euphoric hazy electronica they've become known for, but adding in a sizeable amount of near-whispered vocal parts brings echoes of classic downtempo and more modern dancefloor moments make this the most varied and rewarding Tycho album to date.

      FORMAT INFORMATION

      Dinked Edition LP Info: Worldwide exclusive pink coloured vinyl.
      Exclusive signed 12 x 12” print and hand-numbered inner print.
      Limited to just 550 copies.

      Indies Exclusive LP Info: 180 gram limited edition clear vinyl exclusive to indie stores.

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      Cover of MTV Unplugged Live by DMA's.

      DMA's

      MTV Unplugged Live

      BMG Rights Management

        DMA’S are set to release the ‘MTV Unplugged Live’ album. It was recorded at Melbourne’s intimate Memo Music Hall last October, with DMA’s becoming one of the first Australian bands to play the iconic MTV Unplugged session. It’s a format steeped in history following classic sets from Nirvana, Oasis, R.E.M. and many more.

        Renowned for their ragged, anthemic energy often inspired by the Britpop and Manchester scenes, ‘MTV Unplugged Live’ finds DMA’S stripping their songbook back to basics. Focusing on acoustic guitar, piano, violin and cello, these new arrangements unveil fresh new perspectives on the songs. Some now carry a folk vibe, while others hone in on the poignancy of the band’s lyrics.


        STAFF COMMENTS

        Barry says: It's when performed acoustically that the tactile songwriting and tender balladry of DMA's songwriting really comes into its own, and shows the stylistic similarities and melodic leanings of this Australian trio to our most beloved 90's britpop staples.

        FORMAT INFORMATION

        Ltd LP Info: Limited to 1000 copies in the UK.

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        Cover of Automat by METZ.

        METZ

        Automat

        Sub Pop

          METZ, the widely-adored and delightfully noisy 3-piece punk band from Toronto (ON, Canada), have been laying waste to stages around the globe for over 10 years. During that tumultuous chunk of time METZ, comprised of Alex Edkins, Hayden Menzies, and Chris Slorach, have cemented their reputation as one of the planet's most exhilarating live acts and trusted providers of bombastic outsider rock. Along the way, they’ve earned enthusiastic support from The New Yorker, Mojo, NPR, The New York Times, KEXP, Pitchfork, Stereogum, The AV Club, Q, Uncut, Exclaim, and a bunch of others. Referring to the trio's tireless tour regime and unquenchable thirst to bring their music to the people, John Reis (Hot Snakes, RFTC, Drive Like Jehu) once said, “your ambition is really unflattering, chill out.”

          They did not listen. Instead, their love of the road and passion to create uncompromising and challenging music remains unwavering and has only grown over time. Their recorded output to date, a cornucopia of pop-inflected noise punk and damaged fuzz anthems, includes 3 critically-acclaimed LPs with Sub Pop, as well as a plethora of limited-edition releases, collaborations, covers, and rarities. Which brings us to Automat, a collection of non-album singles, B-sides, and rarities dating back to 2009, available on LP for the first time, and including the band's long out-of-print early (pre-Sub Pop) recordings.

          Included here are the band’s first three 7” singles, recorded 2009-2010 and originally released by We Are Busy Bodies Records; a demo version of “Wet Blanket,” the explosive single from 2012’s METZ; two tracks from the limited-edition bonus single that accompanied preorders of METZ; “Can’t Understand,” originally released in 2013 by [adult swim]; and both tracks from the band’s 2015 single on Three One G.

          STAFF COMMENTS

          Barry says: Clashing, rawkous punk-rock guitars and huge percussion meet noise-rock production and hardcore screaming in a clattering maelstrom of fiery chord changes and snarling vitriol. Absolutely insane, and unfathomably packed with huge swathes of razor-sharp distortion and heft.

          FORMAT INFORMATION

          Coloured LP Info: Loser edition on clear vinyl. Comes with bonus 7".

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          Cover of How Would You Know I Was Lonely? by The Rhythm Method.

          The Rhythm Method

          How Would You Know I Was Lonely?

          Moshi Moshi

          The Rhythm Method were recently described by The Guardian as 'a Balearic vision of romance as imagined from a parochial nightclub dancefloor'. Formed half a decade ago in a Thameside squat protection scheme intended for professionals but inhabited by the barely-employed, the duo of lyricist/vocalist Joey Bradbury and top-liner/singer-songwriter Rowan Martin turned a summer of FIFA tournaments, cosmic breakdowns and 4pm beers into a series of bizarre, outsider-music iPhone demos that became a Soundcloud, then a band, then a live show and now an album.

          "How Would You Know I Was Lonely?" is a journey through the present - a descent into late 20's, late-capitalist mind-funk; 12 stories of near-romances, yellow label dinners, chemical catatonia and lack-of-identity politics. Its influences are strange and diverse, not always entirely credible or tangible; Scritti Politti, Aswad, Irish Pub karaoke, ITV4, YouTube freestyles, Celtic standards, Golborne Road radios and more than a dose of Rod Stewart.

          Pocket symphonies such as "Sex and The Suburbs", "Local, Girl" and "Cruel" sound like the Saturday night playlist from a Quantum Leap FM Radio station – ostensibly pop songs, but ones in possession of a rare intelligence, frankness and deep weirdness. The references may be initially esoteric, but the themes are palpably universal. Opener "Salad Cream", referring to a mid 90’s Heinz campaign, is about creating social demand for yourself via scarcity. "Cruel" is pub-karaoke paean to the spectre of addiction. "Single Life" explores the dark, bleak desperation of romantic dejection, set to sleazy noir funk and muted trumpets. Joey Bradbury's verses could be a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown recording the voice notes of his crack-up, whilst Rowan Martin's choruses ask questions you never thought you'd hear in such hummable form.

          Fans and supporters have ranged from spiritual forbearers such Mike Skinner (who produced "Cruel", which also features London electronic pop artist Zoee), Squeeze frontman Chris Difford (who lends a knowing baritone to the chorus of Zone 2 opus "Wandsworth Plain"), Elton John and Suggs; contemporaries including The 1975’s Matty Healy (who is responsible for half of the band’s YouTube views), Wolf Alice and Shame; actress and poet Michaela Coel and Denise Welch; highlighting the varied magnetism of the lyrical insight, classic songcraft and inquisitive spirit at the heart of these off-kilter pop tunes.


          STAFF COMMENTS

          Matt says: Not my usual cup of tea, quirky indie, but the lol'ing genius of some of these lyrics combined with the tongue-in-cheek approach throughout has won me over. Comedy genius + catchy tunes = massive hit for boring afternoons!

          FORMAT INFORMATION

          Ltd LP Info: Limited to 300 white label units worldwide.

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          Cover of II by Wilson Tanner.

          Wilson Tanner

          II

          Efficient Space

          Two sheets to the wind,
          Perishable, not tinned,
          Two hands the better,
          Wet weather and feather.

          Wilson Tanner come to shore with a new album of floating melodies, lightly salted. Throwing electroacoustic conventions overboard, Andrew Wilson (Andras) and John Tanner (Eleventeen Eston) recorded this new work aboard a 1950s riverboat with a resourceful array of weatherproof electronic instruments and a long extension lead. These eight compositions pull in a by-catch of maritime folklore; of Siren and Selkie, Seagull and engine oil slick. A change of course from their debut album "69" (Growing Bin Records, 2016), the ambient temperature drops as II casts out to sea in uncertain weather and returns to the safe harbours of Port Phillip Bay.

          The seafarers head out to "My Gull"’s poised optimism. The birds watch but do they listen? By the arrival of "Loch and Key", the shoreline has dissolved completely, the boat floating in serene infinity as the rest of the world spins. Conditions soon take a treacherous turn on "Killcord Pts I-III" - a 12 minute odyssey that battens down the hatches as these sailors eye merciless waves and blinding ocean spray, jointly channelling Berlin-school electronics and sea legs. In the aftermath, the waterlogged bleeps of Idle survey the damage as our parched crew sound the distress signal and ultimately descend into delirium.

          Known for navigating individual courses as solo musicians, Wilson and Tanner’s collective storytelling is saturated in detail, buoying between tension and harmony. II modestly stands as some of both artists’ most accomplished material. 

          STAFF COMMENTS

          Patrick says: Australia duo Andy Wilson (AKA Andras) and John Tanner (otherwise known as Eleventeen Eston), soundtracked the whole of 2016 and 2017 in Piccadilly Records with the sultry ambient beauty of their debut LP "69". Now they return, swapping the scrubland for the waterfront, exploring maritime moods, darker modes and lilting electronics on follow up "II". Though the tone may be darker, this sophomore offering retains the quality of its predecessor and will soundtrack our year perfectly.

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          Cover of Irrational Overcast by K. Leimer.

          K. Leimer

          Irrational Overcast

          First Terrace

          Legendary American ambient musician and electronic pioneer Kerry Leimer arrives at his 20th solo album with the haunting and uplifting “Uncertain Instructions”, the perfect introduction to his latest creation. Featuring the classic hallmarks that K. Leimer has become famous for, with light drifting piano punctuating the dense undercurrent of synth work and samples. Spliced vocal lines add an air of earthliness to the heavenly piece, emphasizing a sense of human fragility. As the LP continues and Leimer works his magic across a further six compositions, we continue to hear a fresh and timeless sound, a statement to his unfailing talent after four decades in the game.

          Kerry includes this transcript to accompany "Irrational Overcast":

          "Authoritarian ideas that have persisted somewhere in the depths of human nature for millennia have resurfaced at a crucial moment for the environments we all inhabit — natural, cultural, intellectual and economic. The power and influence of this ideology will again prove catastrophic, as it already has for many people in many parts of the world. Authoritarianism, along with the refutation of our shared responsibility to one another and to objective knowledge in favor of personal gain & gratification consistently lead to disaster. Yet, somehow, a significant number of people seem to feel that this time will be different. To some extent they are right. It will be infinitely worse.

          Irrational Overcast is preoccupied with the perpetual failings of human tribalization, of assuming dominance over nature, of choosing belief and ideology over objective reality. The impetus was brought into immediate focus by the destructive impulses and actions of such excrescences as the Trump Administration and his republicans, as well as the blatant dishonesty and bigotry of thousands more retrograde, ill-informed nihilists operating in and outside the pubic sphere.

          I do not profess that music — especially an experimental, lyric-free music — can change or influence such circumstances. But this is the context in which we now live, and this has shaped the music of Irrational Overcast — a coping mechanism for living under clouds of baseless beliefs and simplistic ideologies that disfigure and stifle what is an admittedly difficult though really quite lovely world. Music, to my mind, can not clearly express anything so literal, or metaphoric, or allegoric — but Irrational Overcast makes the effort to articulate the problems created by some enduring and banal aspects of human behaviour. Which is the reason it is built of lo-fi, deformed emergent or regressing or fragmented phrases, subsumed by distortion, noise, wow and flutter… and played with the understanding that there can be no more bedtime stories." 


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          Cover of Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit.

          Frightened Rabbit

          Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of The Midnight Organ Fight

          Atlantic

            Context to ‘Tiny Changes: A celebration of the Midnight Organ Fight’:

            Before Scott died, an idea was formed to celebrate 10 years of their seminal album The Midnight Organ Fight by asking some of their talented buds in music to take a crack at their own versions of a song on the album. The whole album was recorded and was due to be released last summer, but then unfortunately Scott passed away last May.

            The band have decided they still want to release the record as a testament to the album, and to Scott. It’s going to be released on 12th July via Atlantic, and the band are going to be very much behind the release

            History of the band:

            Frightened Rabbit are a Scottish indie rock band from Selkirk, formed in 2003. Initially a solo project for vocalist and guitarist Scott Hutchison, the line-up currently consists of Grant Hutchison (drums), Billy Kennedy (guitar, bass), Andy Monaghan (guitar, keyboards), and Simon Liddell (guitar). From 2004 the band were based in Glasgow.

            Frightened Rabbit's first studio album, Sing the Greys, was recorded as a duo by the Hutchison brothers, and released on independent label Hits the Fan in 2006. The band subsequently signed to Fat Cat Records, in 2007, and became a three-piece with the addition of guitarist Billy Kennedy for its second studio album, The Midnight Organ Fight (2008). The album was released to strongly positive reviews and extensive touring, with guitarist and keyboardist Andy Monaghan joining the band to flesh-out its live performances.

            The band's third studio album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, was released in 2010, with former Make Model guitarist Gordon Skene joining the band for its accompanying tour. Frightened Rabbit signed to Atlantic Records later that year, and issued two EPs, A Frightened Rabbit EP (2011) and State Hospital (EP) (2012), before the release of its fourth studio album, Pedestrian Verse in 2013. A critical and commercial success in the UK, the album peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, with additional guitarist Simon Liddell joining the band on its subsequent tour.

            Disillusioned from touring, Hutchison, Monaghan, and Liddell recorded a studio album without the band, entitled Owl John (2014). Gordon Skene departed from the band in early 2014, and the band recorded Painting of a Panic Attack the following year with producer Aaron Dessner (The National), in New York, with Liddell joining the band as a full contributing member.

            Scott Hutchison died in May 2018 after going missing. In December 2018, the remaining members of the band played together for the first time since Hutchison's death, at a charity gig in Glasgow.


            STAFF COMMENTS

            Barry says: There is no better a dedication to a hugely talented songwriter and superb band than a variety of artists covering your songs and retaining all of the appeal they held in the first place. From huge, folk crescendos and punky drive to gently electronic shimmerers and gently throbbing ambience, this has everything, and goes to show how timeless Scott Hutchison's writing is. Gorgeous.

            FORMAT INFORMATION

            2xLtd LP Info: Heavyweight double vinyl.

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            Cover of Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough? by Bleached.

            Bleached

            Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?

            Dead Oceans

              ‘Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?’ is what Jennifer Clavin asked herself when she hit a turning point in her life. It’s also the title of the new record from Bleached, Jessie and Jennifer Clavin’s first album written from a place of sobriety. That newfound perspective serves as the guiding force, yielding a courageous, honest and sonically ambitious album. It’s a record about fighting both literally and figuratively for your life - and the clarity born from that struggle.

              Writing began in early 2018, both in a Los Angeles practice space and with friends and co-writers in Nashville. Producer Shane Stoneback (Vampire Weekend, Sleigh Bells) helped open every door to experimentation, wanting to be exploratory while keeping the sound singularly Bleached.

              The resulting album is explosive, grappling with the past; its twelve tracks mark some of the sisters’ most visceral, rawest songwriting to date - and some of their best. The work glimmers with inspiration found in touring with the likes of The Damned and Paramore. That arena-ready pop, incisively catchy, was a palpable influence helping to push Bleached’s sound in a new direction.

              FORMAT INFORMATION

              Coloured LP Info: Opaque cream vinyl.

              Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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              Cover of No. 1 by Pottery.

              Pottery

              No. 1

              Partisan

                Hailing from across Canada and the UK, Montreal’s Pottery consists of core writers Austin Boylan and Jacob Shepansky, along with Peter Baylis, Paul Jacobs and Tom Gould. Initially bonding over artists such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Devo, the band create a sound that combines eclectic traces of post-punk, pop and dance music, forming an unusual atmosphere that envelopes audiences.

                While often shrill and jarring, Pottery’s songs simultaneously engage listeners into a hypnotic state. It’s this dualism that binds them together, uncovering harmony within discord. Hailed as one of the hottest acts at 2019’s SXSW and The Great Escape Festival, Pottery’s debut mini album, titled ‘No. 1’, is available for the first time on vinyl, via Partisan Records

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                Cover of The Complete Matrix Tapes by The Velvet Underground.

                The Velvet Underground

                The Complete Matrix Tapes

                UMC

                  'In 1969 The Velvet Underground played a residency at The Matrix, a small club in San Francisco and performances from these shows were recorded on a tape deck by guitarist Robert Quine. The band was basically at the height of their powers when they disbanded, and these tapes are further proof of that. Pressed on vinyl for the first time. 

                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                  LP Box Set Info: Featuring 8 x 180G LP’s and an 18 page book all contained in a hard top box.

                  FREE SHIPPING This item has FREE UK shipping!

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                  Cover of Showboat Honey by Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey.

                  Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey

                  Showboat Honey

                  Sub Pop

                    Kyle Craft and his now solidified backing band, dubbed Showboat Honey, reflect the sturm und drang of life with their self-titled album, the contemplative yet restless ‘Showboat Honey’. “This is basically an album centered around bad luck and good fortune hitting at the same time,” Craft explains “Then, out of nowhere, I find love. Everything went to shit except that. I guess that’s how life works.”

                    The sticky-sweet title of the album is lifted from the brightly choral ‘Buzzkill Caterwaul’: “I wanted to make something that sounded like a raucous collision of Leon Russell and Patti Smith,” he says, “But ‘Buzzkill Caterwaul’ was the only tune that ended up showcasing that vision.” Though aesthetics veer from song to song, ‘Showboat Honey’s steadfast formula remains the same. Drummer Haven Mutlz holds down the machine with a 60s/70s fast-molasses groove that locks in with the slinky rolling bass of Billy Slater. When Kevin Clark isn’t bouncing across the piano, his mellotron strings swell in and out of frame. Jack of all trades Ben Steinmetz’s organ parts well up from the deep of the songs, while lead guitarist Jeremy Kale’s solos rip through them like electricity. On top of it all, sits the tongue-in-cheek phantasmagoria created by Craft’s lyrics, in which perspectives shift to imbue life into a cast of intriguing, mysterious characters, à la Bob Dylan. (“There is not a single thing in my life that has affected me more than the first time I heard Dylan,” says Craft. “It immediately changed my life.”)

                    Craft started writing about as soon as he could play the guitar at the age of 15. He grew up in the isolated Mississippi River town of Vidalia, Louisiana where his chops weren’t honed in a woodshed but rather an old, dingy meat freezer that was out of commission. After years of touring, two albums with Sub Pop Records and solidifying the band, he’s grown into a prodigious songwriter, to say the least. The band recorded ‘Showboat Honey’ - co- produced by Craft, Clark and Slater - at their own Moonbase Studios in Portland over 2018. “We approached this record differently for sure,” Craft says. “I’d make a demo, and after putting the songs together, shoot it to the band for ideas.” Kyle and the members of Showboat Honey worked at such a feverish wine-fuelled pace that they actually ended up with two completely different albums. At the end of the day, they decided to combine the two into what is now ‘Showboat Honey'.

                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                    Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive loser edition on clear and blue translucent vinyl with red spots.

                    Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                    Cover of Until The Tide Creeps In by Penelope Isles.

                    Penelope Isles

                    Until The Tide Creeps In

                    Bella Union

                      For every sibling band forged in rivalry, many others mount an unassailable genetic argument for keeping the music in the family. The latter is assuredly the case with Penelope Isles, a brother- sister-centred alt-rock quartet from Brighton (via Isle of Man/Devon) whose debut album, ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’, is released through Bella Union.

                      Formed around the chemistry between dual songwriters Jack and Lily Wolter, the quartet’s expansive DIY mix of translucent dream-pop, fuzzrock guitars and indie-psych flushes comes lovingly dipped in exquisite harmonies and lustrous melodies: a combination so intuitive, you’d think it was in their blood.

                      Crisp and woozy, blissful and biting, it’s an album deepened by shared experience: experiences of, in Jack’s words, “leaving home, moving away, dealing with transitions in life and growing up. We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!".

                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                      2xColoured LP Info: Pink vinyl. Includes a pull-out poster.

                      2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                      Cover of RTRN II JUNGLE by Chase & Status.

                      Chase & Status

                      RTRN II JUNGLE

                      Virgin EMI

                      Brand new 12 track album. A huge moment for the trio, "RTRN II JUNGLE" marks fifteen years since the group started releasing music (and nine years since THAT infamous, "Blind Faith" MCR warehouse...) and touring the world. With this landmark moment in mind, Chase and Status have gone back to their roots and their passion - jungle music. The genre that sculpted their career in the 90’s is back, and re-crafted in an authentic way that's both sympathetic to the genre yet up-to-date with modern production standards.

                      Instead of sampling dancehall, the group have gone back to Jamaica - creating their own new music to sample, and forging an organic and irresistible sound. The sound, project and accompanying documentary and installation revist this classic UK genre, shining a light on its timeless infectiousness and dancefloor slaying force. Recommended! 


                      STAFF COMMENTS

                      Matt says: Never been a huuuge fan of these guys but this is mega! Boring purists will find summat to complain about I'm sure, but across 12 tracks Chase & Status respectfully visit all sides of the jungle spectrum (and nearly every break too!), updating it with new vocals (those old ragga samples were getting pretty stale anyway) and snappy, radio-friendly arrangements; surely introducing it to a global audience. UK jungle should be celebrated in 2019 and who better to present it to the world.

                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                      Ltd LP Info: Black heavyweight vinyl.

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                      Cover of Egoli by Africa Express.

                      Africa Express

                      Egoli

                      Africa Express

                      Hailed as the most revolutionary force in popular music for two decades, Africa Express was founded in 2006 and brings together musicians from different cultures, genres and generations to break boundaries and offer a new perspective on Africa and its music. Each record and event is unique, based upon on-the-spot collaboration and filled with unique moments of magic; the collective have hosted trips and concerts in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali and UK to date.

                      Africa Express travelled to South Africa in January of last year to complete an electronic album in just 7 days, a week of discovery, collaboration and music-making. The result is "Egoli" – 18 tracks capturing the fresh, joyous sounds of Afro Futurism, straight out of Johannesburg. Featured artists include Damon Albarn, Blue May , Gruff Rhys, Georgia, Ghetts, Mr Jukes, Nick Zinner, Remi Kabaka, Otim Alpha and Poté as well as emerging and established stars of the buzzing South African music scene including BCUC, Blk Jks, Dominowe, Faka, Infamous Boiz, DJ Spoko, Mahotella Queens, Moonchild Sanelly , Muzi, Morena Leraba, Nonku Phiri, Radio 123, Sibot, Sho Madjozi, Zola 7, Zolani Mahola (Freshly Ground) and Maskandi guitar legend Phuzekhemisi.


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                      Cover of Means To Freedom by Gladio.

                      Gladio

                      Means To Freedom

                      L.I.E.S.

                      Resurrected from the dark underworld after years of dormancy, LIES summon a new seven track LP from Legowelt's most mysterious and cultish alias, Gladio.

                      Through these seven tracks we get exactly what we want, back to basics jackin house and electro cuts direct from the depths of the Hague dungeon.
                      "Means to Freedom" is a return to the classic Legowelt sound, taking the roots of old school Chicago and Detroit and running it through the smacked out vision of Gladio's machine world. Absolutely unmissable jacking, soaring, and stomping jams that the modern floor has been sorely missing.


                      STAFF COMMENTS

                      Matt says: Fierce Danny Wolfers alias perfectly suited to the LIES destruction engine. Some of his hardest stuff saved for this guise making this release sTrIcTly 4 da fReaKz...

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                      Cover of Aura Safari by Aura Safari.

                      Aura Safari

                      Aura Safari

                      Church

                      Aura Safari are: Alessandro Deledda, Andrea Moretti, Lorenzo Lavoratori, Daniele Melloni and Nicholas Iammatteo.

                      The band started with the meeting of a musician and a group of DJ's / producers coming from different musical backgrounds and generations. Aura Safari is the union of various musical eras and influences such as Jazz Fusion, 80's Boogie, World Music, Italo House, Balearic Beats and Jazz Funk.

                      Years spent in the local scene of Perugia (Italy) attending Umbria Jazz Festival every summer and winter nights at the legendary Red Zone Club have shaped the sound of Aura Safari.

                      The LP is an example of their true love of music across a vast spectrum.

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                      Cover of Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy Of Beyond by Dean Hurley.

                      Dean Hurley

                      Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy Of Beyond

                      Sacred Bones

                      Philosophy of Beyond, the second volume in Sound Supervisor Dean Hurley’s Anthology Resource series, continues Hurley’s experimental soundscape work into more ethereal and celestial territory. 12 tracks weave together a rich sonic tapestry built in part from comb-filtering experiments, tape loops, and sampled field excursions into unique acoustical environments. A bulk of the LP is assembled from Hurley’s sonic contributions to the recent feature film Perfect (2018, director Eddie Alcazar) as well as material made in residency for Art Gallery of New South Wales’ event Masters of Modern Sound...all of which are threaded together into a singular, cohesive dissertation on the afterlife.

                      Outlining a landscape beyond physical reality, the record serves as a soundtrack to the mysterious and immortal voyage of the soul into depths beyond the known and back again. What lies beyond physical reality? Beyond intellect and the system of the five senses? What do accounts of near death experiences, alien encounters, psychedelic drugs, astral projection, even strokes all have to do with this and why do each seem to share a core architecture of description?

                      A long time David Lynch collaborator, Hurley operated and managed Lynch’s Asymmetrical Studio from 2005-2018 where he worked closely with Lynch on the sound and music for his feature films, commercial work and albums; most recently providing material for the third season of Twin Peaks (Showtime). Hurley inaugurated the Anthology Resource series with a compilation of his licensed material from the show in 2017.

                      What is Anthology Resource? Anthology Resource is an ongoing compendium curated both from and for film and television in the library / production music tradition. A flagship source for outrésonic material, it was conceived to service the unique gap that straddles atmospheric score and sound design. Each release organizes thematic audio material fully licensable, non-exclusive and designed for motion picture based work and listeners alike.


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                      Cover of Passionate And Tragic by Cocaine Piss.

                      Cocaine Piss

                      Passionate And Tragic

                      Hypertension

                        Coming into twisted existence in 2014 in the Belgian city of Liège, pretty much as a bad taste joke, Cocaine Piss quickly established their own very particular style, with furious high-octane gigs that never reach the half-hour mark, kind of like watching the Dead Kennedys, Bikini Kill and Melt Banana all playing at once while really high on their namesake substance.

                        The new record, again recorded by Steve Albini, marks yet another chapter in the progression of their basic sound, as it sees the frantic foursome incorporate more noise rock (think early Mudhoney or Big Black), which only makes their outbursts beefier and stronger in impact. Thematically, they'll give you plenty to think about while your body shakes uncontrollably - equality, gender or otherwise, is the main thread in their work, and songs like Fake Tears, Role Model or Poor Decisions will have you reaching for that lyric sheet long after they've finished ringing in your ears. Once again, Cocaine Piss will conquer Europe following the release of Passionate & Tragic. From April 2019 onwards, Benelux, Germany, UK, France, Spain and Portugal are all within the splash zone.

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                        Cover of Ah! Quel Cinema! by Stereo Total.

                        Stereo Total

                        Ah! Quel Cinema!

                        Tapete

                          Musically, this Stereo Total disc, their twelfth, cannot be readily aligned with anything at all. If earlier albums resonated with influences from chanson, trash or disco to punk, rock'n'roll and NDW (German New Wave), Stereo Total have now arrived in their very own musical universe which pays no heed to stylistic devices, A word to our younger readers: Stereo Total began making music before the internet existed, before the Euro, before Germany reunited and before there were even bands or music. They will probably still be playing when all that has been consigned to the dustbin of history.

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                          Cover of Now We Are Timeless by Imperial Teen.

                          Imperial Teen

                          Now We Are Timeless

                          Merge

                            Imperial Teen includes members of Faith No More (Roddy Bottum), The Dicks (Lynn Perko Truell), Hey Willpower (Will Schwartz) & The Wrecks (Jone Stebbins). Imperial Teen’s releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. Roddy Bottum, Will Schwartz, Jone Stebbins, and Lynn Perko Truell—who they’ve become, how they are dealing, and what their lives are in 2019—all of this is on Imperial Teen’s forthcoming release Now We Are Timeless. The band wrote and recorded the new album in the cities the individual members have geographically gravitated to: New York City, the Bay Area, Denver, and Los Angeles.

                            Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band’s spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together. The juxtaposition of the title and the imagery of the cover of Now We Are Timeless takes us immediately to the heart of what Imperial Teen does best. By focusing on an element in the collective here and now—an iceberg in the midst of ecological crisis, clearly sinking, melting, disappearing, the absolute antithesis of timelessness—they pose the question of hope and beauty in the wake of age, a fading icon shining brightest in the final phase of its demise, exuding light and glory as the world falls apart.

                            Now We Are Timeless indeed. In strict keeping with the band’s roots of creating seemingly clean, pop presentations as a springboard for dramatic themes of loneliness, triumph, suicide, success, and failure, Now We Are Timeless moves us into a realm of inevitability for the band. While Seasick, the band’s first release, thematically touched on the queasiness of pop and beach and sun and glare and the optimism that lies beneath, the new release serves as a bookend of sorts in its portrayal of a world in crisis, a frostbitten but melting iceberg, monolithic and stationary yet impermanent and resonant. What has remained constant over the years is Imperial Teen’s indisputable knack for writing profound hooks as a framework for their musical memories. Their songs exhibit the realness, joy, and energy that only good friends can conjure. 

                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                            Coloured LP Info: Indies-only Clear & Translucent blue swirled vinyl.

                            Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                            Cover of Silent Alarm Live by Bloc Party.

                            Bloc Party

                            Silent Alarm Live

                            Bloc Party

                              Bloc Party are releasing a special live edition of their debut album Silent Alarm, compiled of live recordings from last year’s homecoming show at Alexandra Palace and European tour, in which the band played the album in full. Silent Alarm was released in 2005 to widespread critical and commercial success, achieving multi-platinum sales and earning Bloc Party a Mercury Prize nomination. The album has since been heralded as one of the most influential and important of the decade by outlets as diverse as Pitchfork, Q, Newsweek, Spin, Complex and Clash, and was named in numerous lists collating the best albums of the decade, whilst NME named it as one of the best of all time.

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                              Cover of Brought To Light by Various Artists.

                              Various Artists

                              Brought To Light

                              FatCat

                                This release is a collection of demos, curated by the FatCat Records, who have deemed them some of the finest submissions they’ve received over the last few years. FatCat have a long tradition of supporting new artists and treating demos with an open mind. This new collection of songs, the first in a trilogy of such releases, is demonstrable to the eclectic taste the label have always possessed. One of the founding partners of the label, Alex Knight says. “FatCat has a rich history of signing Artists from Demo recordings, this includes renowned artists such as Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad,Animal Collective and Max Richter as well as current signings C Duncan, Samana, Resina and Shida Shahabi. We receive a wonderful array of demo’s and the compilation is a great way to highlight just how good this material is!”

                                FatCat have always been a label that comfortably straddle the line between guitar music and electronica. For this release, the focus is on the sort of DIY guitar sound of which Paws and TRAAMS fans might enjoy. Away from the FatCat roster, fans of Yuck, Cloud Nothings, Drenge and Girl Band will also find plenty in which to immerse themselves. The next two compilations will focus on other genres that make up the FatCat musical tradition. The artists on this release are all at different stages of their careers. Some have gone to work with labels, some have remained independent. Some are new, some have been around for years. The album has been lovingly put together by FatCat with the intention of bringing these songs into the spotlight.

                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                Cover of Stonechild by Jesca Hoop.

                                Jesca Hoop

                                Stonechild

                                Memphis Industries

                                  A culmination of life and musical experience, uncompromising in its vision, STONECHILD, the new studio album from Jesca Hoop is a self-described “compassion project.” 

                                  Released by Memphis Industries, STONECHILD is Hoop refined and defined. Beautiful, subtle and stark, her fifth album, the follow up to 2017’s highly acclaimed ‘Memories Are Now’, is her best yet. 

                                  Despite being a long-term resident of Manchester, Hoop, has until now, returned to her native California to record. This time round however, “it was” according to Hoop “time to step out of my comfort zone, my safe place”, venturing south to Bristol to team up with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding, This is the Kit). Parish’s minimal and purist approach helped clarify Hoop in her ideas and subtly yet effectively realigning her sound. The simplified arrangements draw focus to the fundamental sophistication of the songs. 

                                  While Hoop’s trademark finger-plucked guitar and ethereal textures remain, the songs and their presentation are ever more direct. Parish “was a gentle collaborator until he killed one of my darlings” Hoop jests. “I’ve never been so brutally edited, and I wasn’t shy about expressing my discomfort at the sight of my work on the cutting room floor. He said, you will forgive me, and in some way, I think I actually enjoyed that treatment…being stripped back to the bare basics…albeit painfully”. STONECHILD ventures further into fresh territory with other voices joining the narrative, with Kate Stables (aka This is the Kit) Rozi Plain and Lucius singing the choruses and expanding the sensual depth of the sonic bloom. 

                                  STONECHILD, Hoop says, is intended to “wrap its arms around our human planet spinning in its increasingly precarious wobble”. These rich and curious songs derived from themes of our troubled times speak Hoop’s heart and mind from her empathetic yet tough loving centre point. With writing so fluid, so natural the result is an album where everything is truly meant.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: Gorgeous fingerplucked guitar brings echoes of 60's folk, alt-country and modern brooding indie, all wrapped together with Hoop's delicate, prominent vocal talents. Brilliantly textured but smoothly flowing from one idea to another. A masterclass in restraint and songwriting.

                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                  Dinked Edition LP Info: • Mirror board sleeve.
                                  • Signed 12 x 12 lyrical scrawl art print, by Jesca.
                                  • White and black 180g marble vinyl.
                                  • An exclusive flexidisc featuring non-album song “Waking Andreas”.
                                  • Numbered.

                                  Dinked Edition LP includes MP3 Download Code.

                                  Coloured LP Info: Indies Exclusive Limited Edition White and Black Marble vinyl (180 gram).

                                  Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                  Cover of Hiide by BABii.

                                  BABii

                                  Hiide

                                  Death Waltz Originals

                                  This is the debut album by electronic producer BABii, co-produced by Adrian Sherwood (On-U-Sound system). BABii produces incredibly forward thinking electro tinged pop/R&B which features skittering beats and incredibly thick, layered synths with heavy bass with a semi industrial feel to them. The lyrics are dark yet the vocals are sweet. Despite its incredible pop hooks the whole LP drips with an undercurrent of darkness.

                                  BABii wowed SXSW this year playing 8 shows in 7 days and being compared to everyone from Grimes to FKA Twigs and while those comparisons give you a jumping off point they also feel lazy as BABii definitely inhabits her own unique world and Death Waltz Originals are very excited to give you your first dive into it.

                                  “What sets the BABii project apart – the album, the aesthetic, the sonics and the GLOO community – is the uniform attention to detail; the pursuit for perfection, even when the tools to achieve it aren’t automatically to hand.” Loud & Quiet.

                                  “We're swept into BABii's glitzy lair, where the beat is in our bones, the perfectly pitched chimes have infested in our mind, and there's no going back.” The 405.

                                  “It's a sumptuously textured slice of electro-pop, with glimmers of pre-Art Angels (pre-Elon) Grimes in its measured introductory notes and fairy-like vocal” Line of Best Fit.

                                  “These clandestine sessions yielded a thrilling thing: weaving urban electronica and cool, wafting vocals that veer between sombre and sweet.” Aesthetica Magazin.

                                  “Startling, wholly unique electronic pop, her work drifts between art galleries and clubs, shifting context while retaining that vivid voice.” Clash.

                                  “Synths dance around snapping, ultra-tight percussion and vocal chops, generating the ultimate beautiful-meets-banger vibe” Nest.


                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: A superb mix of future beat aesthetics with the delicate, hazy touch of 90's synthwave and all presented in a style typical of Death Waltz. Soaring in points, and minimalist in others, drenched in saturation and glitchy before dropping into a euphoric, hefty percussive streak. Surprising and completely beautiful.

                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                  Dinked Edition LP Info: • Numbered edition of 450.
                                  • 180g clear vinyl with white splatter.
                                  • Exclusive Dinked Edition sleeve - Holographic card with white typography and debossed illustration.
                                  • Exclusive Dinked sticker sheet.
                                  • Exclusive Dinked insert.
                                  • Obi strip.
                                  • Download card.

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                                  Cover of Fongola by KOKOKO!.

                                  KOKOKO!

                                  Fongola

                                  Transgressive

                                  KOKOKO! are a group formed in Kinshasa, DRC - comprising local musicians, artists, dancers and inventors alongside producer Débruit. The band introduced themselves with the video ‘We are KOKOKO!’ which highlighted the explosive new alternative scene in Kinshasa and was covered by TIME Magazine, i-D and more. The film was also featured at TEDGlobal. This was followed with EPs Tokoliana, Tongos’a - and Liboso, their debut for Transgressive (Foals, Flume, Sophie, Songhoy Blues) and single Malembe.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: Treading a fine line between dance music and the more acoustic percussive nature of afrobeat, Kokoko! are just as comfortable being played at home or to a packed dancefloor in a basement somewhere. A masterclass in electronic fusion.

                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                  LP Info: Limited edition red vinyl.

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                                  Cover of Sempre by Marcos Valle.

                                  Marcos Valle

                                  Sempre

                                  Far Out

                                  The original Rio beach boy returns in style, with a new record of unabashedly feel-good Brazilian party music. Featuring Azymuth bassist Alex Malheiros (responsible for some of Brazil’s all-time funkiest low-end licks), a horn section including Valle’s go-to high-trumpeter Jesse Sadoc, and percussion master Armando Marcal, Sempre has all the masterful composition, exceptional musicality, and forward-thinking ideas you’d expect from the Brazilian titan, and it’s fresher than a fruity caipirinha in the Copacabana sunshine.

                                  Updating Marcos Valle’s seminal boogie-era sound, "Sempre" spans ecstatic disco, cosmic samba, and late-night jazz-funk, drawing obvious comparisons to some of Valle’s late-seventies and early-eighties output. ‘Estrelar’ (1983), for example, an ode to the joy of exercise, has become one of the biggest Brazilian disco hits of all time. But lyrically the new album is more closely reminiscent of Valle’s progressive early seventies’ releases. Heralding love, tolerance and living in the present, while satirising political corruption, the new release recalls a time in which Valle, together with his brother Paulo Sergio, was writing subtly subversive lyrics in order to bypass the censorship imposed by the military dictatorship, which ruled over Brazil between 1964 and 1985.

                                  The album marries compositional genius with pure pop perfection. From the blistering brass arrangements on up-tempo disco hit ‘Olha Quem ta Chegando’ and the infinitely classy ‘Vou Amanhã Saber’, to the nine-minute synth heavy instrumental funk stepper ‘Odiss ia’, which gradually morphs into an interplanetary samba jam, the songs are tightened and given an extra coat of gloss, by London based producer Daniel Maunick (son of Incognito frontman Bluey). More moments of boogie delight come in the form of ‘Minha Roma’ (a musical nod to the famed ‘Estrelar’), and the sunshine anthem title-track ‘Sempre’. Translating as ‘Ever’, Sempre is a testament to the continual drive for development and reinvention that has defined Marcos Valle’s astounding six-decade career.

                                  Since the mid-nineties, Marcos Valle has been experiencing a renaissance with London based label Far Out Recordings, where his approach to music has remained, as always; decidedly open to new influences, possibilities and technologies. Sempre is Marcos Valle’s fifth album for the label, following 2010’s critically acclaimed Estatica.

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                                  Cover of Theme From The Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex by Coil.

                                  Coil

                                  Theme From The Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex

                                  Musique Pour La Danse

                                  Musique Pour La Danse pull a blinder here, delivering unrivaled audio bliss via Coil's unreleased soundtrack for the VHS only, pre-internet, sexual education documentary entitled "The Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex" released in 1992.

                                  Though the group are best known for their gnarly industrial and noisy experimental work, this soundtrack swerved into ambient house, downbeat and acid jazz territories - all pretty Balearic if you ask me. 

                                  According to John Balance the LP "is [a] slightly new agey, progressive house type thing". Another way to approach it is as a delightful collection of balearic beats, smoking jazz not far removed from Badalamenti's work with David Lynch, somewhat of an ambient house album for your home listening and early morning sunrise dances, Coil style.
                                  Taken from the original masters provided by Danny Hyde, "The Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex" features a new sexy edit of the main theme.
                                  Bonuses "Nasa-Arab" and "Omlagus Garfungiloops" are taken from the 1992 CD only "Stolen And Contaminated Songs", both being original versions of the radically reworked (for the OST) "Nasa-Arab 2" and "Exploding Frogs" in order to balance the whole album and extend the listening pleasure. 


                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Patrick says: According to Balearic dictator Moonboots, everyone's got a Balearic moment tucked away somewhere in their catalogue, and Coil are no exception. Soundtracking a '92 sex ed documentary, the group explored ambient house, trip hop and acid jazz in wonderfully sundrenched and blissed out fashion. Ladies and gentleman, the Balearic sound of Coil...

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                                  Cover of Folly Tales by Bess Of Bedlam.

                                  Bess Of Bedlam

                                  Folly Tales

                                  Outre Disque

                                    A resident of Lyon, Fanny L'Heritier is Bess of Bedlam. She is also the lead singer of the French experimental pop band Odessey & Oracle. Her arrangements employ a variety of instruments (classical and electromechanical pianos, 70's analogue synthesizers, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo & dobro) with charm, whimsy and humour.

                                    Bess Of Bedlam is Inspired by Purcell's vision and more recent English folk voices such as Shirley Collins, Linda Perhacs and Vashti Bunyan, with a 60's psychedelic pop sensibility from the likes of The Free Design, The United States of America and Sagittarius flavouring her sound. Bess's debut solo album was released last May. Shindig! magazine describing it as evoking both "Joanna Newsom or a pastoral Broadcast filtered through a fairy-tale lens".

                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                    Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                    Cover of Horizon by Trash Kit.

                                    Trash Kit

                                    Horizon

                                    Upset The Rhythm

                                      TRASH KIT are Rachel Aggs (guitar, vocals), Rachel Horwood (drums, vocals) and Gill Partington (bass). Three deeply creative individuals who play in a multitude of other groups including Bas Jan, Sacred Paws, Shopping and Bamboo, united by a shared decade of spry musicality that surges through their bodies, hearts and heads with Trash Kit. Their songs once succinct, patchwork post-punk numbers of an honest diary-like nature now tussle more with long-form songwriting, expeditious polyphony and cascades of sung-spoke vocals. This new focus began with their last album ‘Confidence’ (2014) and has now grown into something exhilarating and rapturous. New songs like ‘Disco’ have had their very fabric stretched into smart new shapes, allowing the band to run away with refrains and unlock the dancefloor. Although Trash Kit have their forebears in bands like Sleater Kinney, The Ex and The Raincoats, their sound is still very much their own take on facing forwards and relies as much on the naturalism of an internalised folk music as on their sincerity of vision.

                                      Since forming in 2009, Trash Kit have released two albums for Upset The Rhythm and a selection of singles, this July however they make their most majestic move yet with their resoundingly huge Horizon album. For this album, carefully crafted through years of playing out live, the band have chased down the distance between what they wanted the record to sound like and its realisation. They’ve augmented these songs with choral arrangements, piano, saxophone, harp, viola and cello. Pulling ideas from everywhere between the earth and sky, to push themselves further, to go beyond. Aggs' guitar playing for this album was informed by her love of guitar music from Zimbabwe, her cyclical motifs billow with lean Mbira rhythms. Horwood has similarly approached her drumkit with an untamable freedom, allowing it to breathe as a vivid lead instrument. Trash Kit's music is woven with silence and punctuation, and this is where the resonant, driving bass of Partington fits in. The bass has become now central to shaping the melody of this new collection of songs.

                                      Lyrically the album has edged into an exemplary construct of the personal politic and the profound, quiet, almost unnoticed observations that we all make through each day without realising their true significance. Horizon finds itself abrim with themes, especially the notion of looking to the future, “personally as well as to the future of the band, the future of marginalised people making music, political futures, trying to imagine and re-imagine our world, thinking about what possibility and change sound like” attests Aggs. ‘Coasting’ which opens the album is concerned with “the end of the world and also the afterlife” and was written after Aggs read ‘The Parable of the Sower’ by the Afro futurist sci-fi writer Octavia Butler, a novel set in an apocalyptic California and featuring a protagonist in search of change and renewal. “When all this ends, without warning, where will we be?” sing Horwood and Aggs in robust unison. ‘Sunset’ draws on similar themes of ending and salvation, and proves equally ruminative. ‘Dislocate’ on the other hand is an upbeat sprint of spinning guitar and piano riffs showcasing both Rachels’ overlapping vocal magnetism.

                                      Pivotal to this new album, ‘Horizon’ is sleeping giant of a title track, forever reaching out and intensifying throughout its lively five-minute lesson in reinforcement. “‘Horizon’ is quite literal I think, I was thinking about the edge of the earth - how people interpret the planet, how you can sometimes forget the enormity of the world and the universe and how small that can make you feel” Aggs continues. ‘Every Second’ was written in the aftershock of Trash Kit’s tour with The Ex on their big convoy anniversary tour (with Thurston Moore, Fendika, Peter Brötzmann and Han Bennink). Aggs sheds further light on the songs’ significance: “We played some really big venues on this trip and whilst it was challenging we learnt lots about improvising on stage, how to hold your own in that kind of environment. ‘Every Second’ is about how you never get to actually see yourself play live and how you have to not think about that in order to really embody it? The ‘chorus’ is also about feeling accepted into a scene of ‘serious’ improv music and how that affected our confidence as musicians who get tokenised a lot.”

                                      ‘See Through’ sounds pointed and surly, urging us to “transcend, break down” outdated categories and patterns of thought that only restrict. Partington’s bassline plummets heavily to hammer this home, making it one of the most affecting songs from the album. Meanwhile ‘Get Out of Bed’ deals with “being an overachiever and the struggle to overcome self doubt, get motivated, never feeling like you’ve done enough” Aggs admits. Whilst “the chorus is the flip side looks at how creating something beautiful, cathartic or fun can be an end in itself.” A strong undercurrent throughout Horizon concerns itself with the freeing up of power to make our own definitions, in this case how we can decide what truly makes us feel like we’ve achieved something.

                                      Some of the final lyrics for the album were composed by Horwood for the choral parts on ‘Traffic Lights’. Those include the lines "we play in tune not touching, we play in time not listening, your music inside my body in my heart and my head!" Horwood wanted these lines to highlight her understanding of the musical friendship that she shares with Aggs and Partington, and to draw on “how powerful and good it feels to make something with other people, to sing with other people.” With this album Trash Kit have become intoxicated with collaboration and with Emma Smith and Serafina Steer contributing viola and harp to certain songs, and Dan Leavers adding his saxophone touches to ‘Every Second’, ‘Horizon’, ‘Sunset’, ‘Disco’ and ‘Traffic Lights’ that proves an triumphant decision. It goes further than that though as the band collaborate with their audience too, stepping in time to each other’s impulse, giving and taking cues, building things up from new foundations. Trash Kit’s approach to life as with music is one of openness, inclusion and potential and Horizon is an album with that in dutiful abundance. It is an album that forever listens for the next moment and will meet you once more at the vanishing point.

                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                      Barry says: While this definitely has echoes of the bands whose members it's made up of (sacred paws were immediately obvious), it is clearly more than the sum of its parts. Oscillating between flickering indie-rock, off-piste angular mathy stuff and soaring anthemic orchestral. It's a heady and rich affair, and one that only improves with every listen.

                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                      Coloured LP Info: Limited 180 gram yellow vinyl (300 Pressing).

                                      Ltd CD Info: Limited Digipak CD (500 Pressing).

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                                      Cover of Volume 3 by Prettiest Eyes.

                                      Prettiest Eyes

                                      Volume 3

                                      Castle Face

                                        Last year’s Pools having taken up a sizable chunk of Castle Face’s cold dark hearts, the label was delighted to hear that LA post-industrial trio Prettiest Eyes have a new gang of crowd-stirrers. None too early, either; once one’s become accustomed to their clanging synthetic orbit, it’s hard to find other tunes that truly scratch the same itch.

                                        Volume 3 bursts at the seams with chrome-dipped timbres and surprise sharp edges, alien klaxon-calls and wailing dissonance offsetting the ziplock’d grease of their insistent drum and bass grooves. Prettiest Eyes are one of the most exciting live bands going on right now, and Volume 3 catches them in fine fettle.

                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Barry says: Prettiest eyes is exactly what i'd expect from Castle Face. A clanging and genre-bending combination of psych rock, post-punk and stoner-synth stuff, all wrapped together with a distorted aesthetic and hypnotic drive. Completely insane, and undeniably brilliant.

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                                        Cover of Music For Deathbeds by Neil Tolliday.

                                        Neil Tolliday

                                        Music For Deathbeds

                                        Emotional Response

                                        As with the first SchleiBen series, Emotional Response follows the success of the second set of split releases with a stand-alone album by one of the highlights, in Neil Tolliday.

                                        Recorded over a 17-year period, the ambient, drone and noise pieces collected here offer a glimpse in to the depth of a supremely talented, thoughtful and at times, troubled musical mind.

                                        As his love for house music and the success of his Nail moniker grew and waned during the ascent 90s boom, there followed his somewhat surprising success as one half of Balearic-pop combo Bent, propelling Tolliday in to a world of indie-charts and endless touring. The eventual unhappiness of this 'music career' and increasing need for personal escapism led him start experiment new musical forms of expression.

                                        A thinker and oft-over drinker, success was viewed with a deep suspicion and introspection, drug use and later, depression. As his other music projects slowly imploded, this new, personal music was for many years, made purely for Tolliday's own absorption and comedowns.

                                        Taken from an initial 4 track recording in Nottingham in 2000, more pieces were subsequently recorded around the globe on numerous devices - old portable cassette recorders, hand held digital stereos and even mobile phones. These heavily manipulated samples were slowed down, reversed, smudged and stretched before analog and modular patching, Mellotron, editing, programming and post production were added to the melting pot.

                                        With hundreds of tracks collated, in the last few years Tolliday began putting them out via Bandcamp using different aliases, on made up record labels, with no press or mention to anyone. This would happen every 6-9 months - a new label was created with logo, band/artist names and a few albums worth of music, leaving it there for a few weeks before then deleting the lot.

                                        Here then is a snapshot of those recordings, chosen to represent the depth of music, while trying not to think too much about in to the emotions that were used in making them. With special hand painted artwork by Sam Purcell, commissioned from the artist's own photographs taken from a adjournment at Homerton hospital, the hope is to do justice to such wonderful music and present Neil Tolliday, finally an artist, shorn of pseudonyms, in a broader light.

                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Barry says: It absolutely took me by surprise this one. I listen to a lot of ambient / modern classical / drone etc, and the amount of times it's truly as interesting as it sounds could be counted on very few hands. This is not one of those, it's a beautifully affecting, hugely emotive suite of skilfully collaged samples and work of spine-tingling majesty. Truly a diamond in the relative rough.

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                                        Cover of Deep Dark Creep Love by Taffy.

                                        Taffy

                                        Deep Dark Creep Love

                                        Club AC30

                                          "Nothing short of splendorious" - NME.

                                          "The Breeders are reincarnated via Tokyo with feedback and gossamer female vocals" - The Times.

                                          Critically acclaimed Japanese indie-pop four piece Taffy return this year with their fifth studio album. 'Deep Dark Creep Love' encapsulates the bands infectious, melodic take on the noise-pop genre, with a greater emphasis on big choruses and backing vocals than their previous work. The material has honed in on that classic Taffy contrast which is musically light but delves into dark places vocally. In tone it feels softer, but effortlessly dips into tracks such as 'The Bates', based on Psycho's infamous lead and his sinister relationship with his mother. At its heart, it's a record about love. Whether it's new, old, romantic or platonic, it's about love for the people and things around you, both a love-letter to their fans, as well as a deeply personal insight into romance.

                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                          Barry says: Huge euphoric rock choruses mixed with shoegazey distortion and swathes of echoing guitar, all topped with a Japanese take on the Britpop aesthetic. It's a mix I would never have expected to sound this good, but I have never been more wrong, and I am often wrong.

                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                          Ltd LP Info: Limited splatter coloured vinyl.

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                                          Cover of The Gus by Mark Mulcahy.

                                          Mark Mulcahy

                                          The Gus

                                          Mezzotint

                                            Acclaimed singer-songwriter Mark Mulcahy returns with his brand-new LP, ‘The Gus’, will be available on Friday July 5 on the Mezzotint Label. The Gus is Mulcahy’s sixth solo record and follows 2017’s dynamic The Possum in the Driveway and his celebrated 2013 return record, Dear Mark J Mulcahy I Love You. Long heralded by contemporary luminaries like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and covered by touchstone artists such as The National and R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, Mulcahy refuses to rest on laurels and turn out the same type of album twice. Inspired to “up his lyrical game” while reading a collection of short fiction by George Saunders, The Gus finds the songwriter channeling his eclectic voice and ear for melody into the role of storyteller more than ever before. The result is ten infectious songs that combine Mulcahy’s unique window on the world with stories that absorb listeners more with each spin. In addition to his celebrated solo career, audiences may also know Mulcahy as the frontman of seminal ‘80s rock band Miracle Legion or as “Muggy Polaris,” ringleader of Polaris, the fictional house band of the beloved ‘90s Nickelodeon series The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Both Miracle Legion and Polaris have reunited in recent years to tour and will likely do it again. 

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                                            Cover of Ta Da by J. McFarlane Reality Guest.

                                            J. McFarlane Reality Guest

                                            Ta Da

                                            Night School

                                              “Ta Da” is the debut full length from J. McFarlane Reality Guest, the collective name for the trio headed by the eponymous McFarlane. As a member of the group Twerps, McFarlane has traversed guitar-centric, melodic pop music for some years while honing a highly unique, personal musical language. Ta Da is the first recorded unveiling of McFarlane’s affecting, oblique songwriting panache. Originally released in her native Australia on Hobbies Galore, Ta Da will be released worldwide by Night School in June 2019.

                                              Wheezing into view with a troubled reed instrument set against a s of whoozy synth lines, Human Tissue Act is a foggy curtain the listener is invited to peel back. The dissonant notes are left to dance entwined, with clarinet heralding a Harry Partch-esque mallet percussion interlude. It’s a mood. With no resolution in sight, an audience dragged closer into uncertainty is suddenly drenched with the light of inter-weaving wah wah synth and saxophone. I Am A Toy introduces us to McFarlane’s vocal, an effortless and matter-of-fact, accented statement that quietly takes the reins. While McFarlane’s previous work in Twerps might reference 80s UK and antipodean guitar pop, Ta Da showcases a different influences immersed in psychedelic music and synths. It’s a brilliant, deft concoction swimming in Young Marble Giants-type minimalism washed with bare pop and harmony similar to Kevin Ayers making sense of a Melbourne suburb full of faces half-recognised in the blanching sun.

                                              What Has He Bought begins with a Casio-keyboard rhythm pattern, palm-muted guitars and immaculately enunciated vocal give way to a burnt melodica part that elevates the spirits. Simple patterns repeated, like a well-tempered pop song that does what it needs to do and no more, build into the sound of summer leaking orange juice. They’re moments of joy, layered on top of each other like a melting cake. Do You Like What I’m Sayin’ recalls Marine Girls covering a classic ‘66 Garage nugget, organ lines fighting funk with guitar chords played just behind the percussion. “In a talking world, meanings are the same. Words want to hold on to the people they contain. Do you like what I’m sayin’?” We’re in a Beckett play perhaps, obtuse absurdities rendered pretty. Alien Ceremony is a heart-melter, given a melancholic timbre by bowed double bass it’s a tragi-comic piece that almost reeks of Robert Wyatt at his mid-whimsical twisting a fugue completely out of shape. Beneath the layers of harmony and twinkling instrumentation you sense there’s a genuine sadness somewhere even if it remains veiled.

                                              Through out Ta Da, McFarlane plays with counterpoint and contrast to sometimes delirious effect. On Your Torturer, a simple, upbeat chord progression is hard panned, underpinning a flute solo which seems out of place, hence making it completely in place on this warmly surreal album. My Enemy is a slowly swinging eulogy to a failed relationship punctuated by analogue synth burbles, with our protagonist simply asking, in the aftermath, “can we be nice?” Here McFarlane’s vocal is straight forward, lyrically conversational but still not completely in focus, a surreal kitchen sink drama filtered through a dream where everything is in the wrong place. It’s a fine precursor to Heartburn, which similarly borrows BBC Radiophonic Workshop-style noise synths and the use of space to carve up the simple “You Will Make My Heart Burn” line. At this point, the listener has been in such close proximity to McFarlane’s show, the reality guest in a performance where they’re the sole audience member, that when Where Are You My Love rises on the horizon as a sleepy, psychedelic send off it’s uplifting. The vocal drifts away into the sunset, simple and direct. It leaves the listener slightly confused, perhaps, but grateful for the gentle surprise.

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                                              Cover of The Soft Cavalry by The Soft Cavalry.

                                              The Soft Cavalry

                                              The Soft Cavalry

                                              Bella Union

                                                So... The Soft Cavalry. What is it? A happy accident? A lovers’ story? A crisis of faith? In reality, it’s all of these.

                                                For Steve Clarke, The Soft Cavalry’s self-titled debut album is equally a labour of love, and the first record he’s masterminded from start to finish, with invaluable contributions from his wife, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, on co-vocals and spiritual/practical guidance, and Steve’s brother Michael, who produced the record.

                                                The band’s music is a particularly British brand of intense cinematic drama. Melodic and timeless, the album lands in the atmospheric dimensions between Pink Floyd, Talk Talk and Mansun. A record radiating midlife crisis but equally enormous elation; a helix of fear and hope, aching for resolution. A record Steve emphasises that he “needed” to make.

                                                The Soft Cavalry is also that rarity: a musical project that began life on an industrial site in Reading.

                                                Additionally, the album is a way of rewriting a man’s narrative, and proof that relative late bloomers (Steve was in his late thirties when he made the album) can make the record of their dreams.

                                                In 2014, Steve was stuck. Divorced since 2011, the intervening three years had been, “a haze,” he admits. Since the late nineties he’d played bass and sung backing vocals in bands (both studio and live) and sessions, while also working as a tour-manager. His new assignees were reformed Home Counties faves Slowdive.

                                                “I was hungover in the back of my van trying to work out how I was going to fit all the band’s gear into this confined space whilst I still had all of mine from the show that I’d played in London the night before,” he recalls. “The second of two sold-out shows at Hammersmith Apollo with David Brent!”

                                                On that industrial site in Reading, Steve was introduced to Rachel. A year later, they were living together in Devon, before marrying in 2018. Rachel not only, “turned my world upside-down,” but unwittingly provided, “the catalyst,” for The Soft Cavalry. “I’d always had ideas but never felt that anything I had to say was worthy of anyone’s attention, let alone my own,” he says. “I wish that I could have done this fifteen years ago but, in reality, I simply couldn’t have. But I’m not one to overly wallow. I’d rather plough the various levels of confusion into songs.”

                                                The Soft Cavalry is equally an exercise in creative and personal therapy. The first songs Steve wrote for the album were less about confusion than Rachel-inspired paeans to fate, love, new beginnings: ‘Passerby’ (“Waters break and we are born restlessly into the arms of this unknown”), with Rachel’s gorgeous lead vocal underlining the arrangement’s Slowdive-adjacent ethereality, and ‘Spiders’ (“strand of woven thread / Could be the start of something beautiful?”), a starker, shivery ballad with a feeling of suspended animation. But as Steve opened up, the past began to seep in; years of frustration, anxiety and confusion.

                                                “I was wide eyed and unrealistic,” he remembers. “Never expecting my many flaws and doubts would ever catch up with me. Inevitably they did.” He cites his upbringing, in the Midlands with church-going parents. His father’s law work encompassed, “handling the aftermath of death and marriage breakdowns. When I was nine, we moved to Amsterdam where they ran a rehab centre - as you do! We lived on the top floor of an old Dutch building with recovering heroin addicts living below us. From a young age, I saw what life was like for others.”

                                                When Steve next wrote about Rachel, the title ‘Never Be Without You’ - the album’s one clear moment of AOR pop levity – sounded lovey-dovey but the song evoked, “the bumpy start to our relationship. While other relationships were falling apart.”

                                                Rachel: “Steve was like a tornado when we first met. And I already had a son. Things were complicated.”

                                                The Soft Cavalry is something of a life’s work – a chance for redemption, a heart-to-heart with the self. ‘Bulletproof’ addresses, “struggle and fear, and making sense of it in your head.” ‘Only In Dreams’ admits, “accepting you’re not the finished article that you’d like to be.” Two brooding epics were fired by his Christian upbringing: ‘The Velvet Fog’ - “my doubts with faith, but not being able to shake off my past, even today” - and ‘The Ever-Turning Wheel’: “always trying to thumb my way back to something I had when I was younger, something simpler.”

                                                If the album has a theme, reckons Steve, “it’s recovery versus new doubt. I’m there, in the middle. The word that kept coming back to me was ‘resilience’. With the right mentality and people around you, especially family, we get through, and find a level of hope.”

                                                Even what Steve calls the “post-apocalyptic” scenario of ‘Careless Sun’ (“all we can do is wait for the banks to burst and baptise our abandoned fear”) finds room for optimism. “It’s like, how the hell is this all going to pan out?” he says, meaning our current political and social malaise. “But you have to muddle your way through, and find peace at another level.”

                                                The Soft Cavalry became something of a conversation, even couple’s therapy. Steve, says Rachel, “is always writing, his head always full of lyrics.” Rachel, says Steve, “reins me in when I get obsessed. She’s a good editor. She says my songs can still work without sections of words, that leaving spaces is OK.”

                                                As Steve assembled songs, his invited friends - keyboardist Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, formerly Midlake), guitarist Tom Livermore, drummer Stuart Wilkinson and multi-instrumentalist/album producer Michael helped mould the record’s breathtaking sonics. Says Steve, “I’d grown up with guitar bands and I didn’t want it to be overly guitar-y. We evolved things by trying out ideas. We’d build things up, and then strip them back, and build them again.”

                                                As the album progressed, Rachel formed Minor Victories in 2016 while Slowdive had a gap in the schedule, alongside similarly holidaying members of Mogwai and Editors, for a self-titled album that she and Steve contributed vocal melodies and lyrics to: “it got the cogs turning on a writing and lyrical level, and gave me a certain amount of self-belief,” he says.

                                                After he and Rachel finished their album, Steve found a name for it, out of thin air: The Soft Cavalry. “I can’t explain its literal meaning,” he says. “It just made sense.” Might Rachel be the cavalry? "Maybe! It would be subconscious, but that makes sense too, strangely.”

                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                Barry says: While the interplay between Steve Clarke and Rachel Goswell's vocals are indeed a stunning addition to the overall vibe, it is the songwriting and progressive culmination that really shine through. Think the space-rock atmospheres and chord changes of Porcupine Tree / Steven Wilson mixed with the hazy saturated aesthetic of shoegaze. Properly lovely.

                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                2xColoured LP Info: One yellow and one blue vinyl!

                                                2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                Cover of Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth - OST by Randy Miller.

                                                Randy Miller

                                                Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth - OST

                                                Lakeshore

                                                Those (spooky) soundtrack specialists at Lakeshore are at it again, giving us the first ever vinyl pressing of the 'Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth' OST, on a chilling smoke and blood red transparent vinyl no less. Composed by Randy Miller (library and soundtrack composer, not X-rated relation of Windy...) the set is high on dramatic strings, doomy brass and dread-heavy orchestral business, channeling hell throughout.

                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                2xColoured LP Info: Red with black smoke coloured vinyl, cut at 45rpm for optimal sound.

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                                                Cover of Stilen Er Svimmel by Leoparden.

                                                Leoparden

                                                Stilen Er Svimmel

                                                Lyskestrekk

                                                Hot on the heels of the "Boliglan" 7" last week, Norwegian newcomers Leoparden drop their debut LP, the killer "Stilen Er Svimmel". If you bagged a copy of that introductory single (if you didn't then think on), you'll be delighted to know this long player is the natural evolution of that humid white funk sound, providing soulful echoed vocals, dancing guitar rhythms and cosmic synth jams for days! Inspired by everything from Bollywood disco to Nigerian boogie, with a twist of funk from the east Oslo suburbs Leoparden's LP debut is a dreamy and freaky lo-fi affair, and it's a delight on the Piccadilly player this afternoon.
                                                LIYL Whitest Boy Alive, Jaakko Eino Kalevi, Casiokids, Mauskovic Dance Band or Hubbabubbaklubb.


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                                                Cover of Live At The Albert Hall, Manchester by Larkins.

                                                Larkins

                                                Live At The Albert Hall, Manchester

                                                Good Soldier

                                                  This album was recorded at Larkins' landmark hometown show to 2000 rapturous fans. Frontman Josh Noble says, “We are very proud to present a recording from our live show at the Albert Hall in Manchester. It felt like everything we had done so far as a band had kind of led to this moment. We’ve played almost every venue in town over the past few years and we’d always joked about playing Albert Hall, half-expecting it to never happen."

                                                  “Our first show was in a pub to just 30 people just around the corner from the Albert Hall so to get to this point and to have so many people who want to see our music live is surreal. This tour has showed us what it means to be a part of this band and to finish at home was perfect. To every single person that came, we can’t even express how much we loved the show. What you hear is what we played on the night and hopefully this gives you an idea of what’s to come.” Larkins are on a meteoric rise as one of the most exciting and in-demand bands to emerge from Manchester in recent times and are recording their debut album with producers Dan Nigro (A-Trak, Sky Ferreira, Lewis Capaldi) and Andrew Dawson (Kanye West, Fun, Kid Cudi).

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                                                  Cover of Eiger Drums Propaganda II by Eiger Drums Propaganda.

                                                  Eiger Drums Propaganda

                                                  Eiger Drums Propaganda II

                                                  Macadam Mambo

                                                  Eiger Drums Propaganda strikes back on Macadam Mambo with a second opus!
                                                  After a well remarked start last year, half-Pilotwings, Louis Ebola’s project, returns with a more dancefloor tribal oriented album than the previous one which was a bit more experimental, incorporating again flutes, weird voices and dreamy elements on down beats tempos, revivaling the early New Age/Trance era to modernise it with genius…

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                                                  Cover of Break by Catnapp.

                                                  Catnapp

                                                  Break

                                                  Monkeytown

                                                  The time has come for Catnapp’s debut full length record on Monkeytown Records. Break follows last year’s EP Fear and No Cover single and sees Catnapp capturing the jawdropping energy of her live shows as well as further refining her characteristic blend of rap and heavyweight electronic beats. She challenged herself with exploring more complex emotions and subjects for this album, which is more than a collection of love songs, as she explains: "With so much happening in our world today, I feel incomplete telling only love stories. I want to give people inspirational tools that work like fuel. Songs that can make one hop out of a bad and complicated situation in order to move on and up with confidence."

                                                  Catnapp is the guise of Argentinian artist Amparo Battaglia. Long before signing to Monkeytown in 2018, the Berlin based producer, singer/rapper and striking performer already (self-)released a couple of records full of boundless creativity and originality, taking whatever, she needed from every electronic genre as well as pop and rap music. Amparo cites classic influences like The Prodigy, Aphex Twin, OutKast or Beyoncé, while her productions also draw from today’s post-internet and post-rap sounds. Break combines these diverse influences in a very distinct sound.

                                                  The album’s opening track “Down In The Basement” is an ode to the underground, dealing with how to grow as an artist whilst staying true to your roots. You can take the artist out of the underground, but you cannot take the underground out of the artist. As she is playing big stages more frequently than gritty basement clubs, Catnapp tackles the beautiful contradictions of going her own way. Next up is "The Mover" featuring Modeselektor, a slow burning, bass-heavy song about standing up for yourself and showing strength. It opens with the line "Don’t you tell me what to do”, an eternal credo for both Catnapp and Modeselektor, two generations of maverick electronic artists. "Fight For A Fight" is inspired by the repression the LGBTQ community is facing all around the world. It came about when Amparo was invited to perform at the Pride March in Buenos Aires in 2018, its lyrics are aimed at supporting the ongoing fight against patriarchy: "My knife is sharp, my mind is bright, you’ll never stop my will to fight."

                                                  Still, love and heartbreak are essential elements of Catnapp’s songwriting and thus appear in songs like "Thunder", "Lengua" and "Give It Back". The latter is about leaving a toxic relationship behind and regaining control about one’s life. Musically, these tracks show Catnapp alternating fierce raps and booming beats with liquid R&B vocals and melancholic, dreamlike electronica.

                                                  Catnapp has been compared to electroclash artists like Peaches, her blend of modern rap and electronics may also evoke likeminded artist Tommy Genesis. There’re leaders and there’s followers – you already know which this girl belongs to. Break is no less than her most accomplished musical statement to date.


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                                                  Cover of Street Soul Brasil : 1987 - 1995 by Various Artists.

                                                  Various Artists

                                                  Street Soul Brasil : 1987 - 1995

                                                  Hello Sailor

                                                  Compiled by Brazilian digger, DJ and production idol Augusto Olivani, "Street Soul Brasil (1987 - 1995)" features songs from prominent artists of the era's urban street movement, at their creative epochs. 
                                                  Part mellow pop, part R&B, adorned by melodic drum machines and hints of national rap, this noteworthy work comprises of ten original tracks fully licensed and extracted from the master tapes for your listening pleasure.
                                                  It's a soulful compendium of sounds, memories, and feelings from Augusto's own universe, translated into his first ever compilation under the Hello Sailor Recordings catalog.
                                                  Augusto Olivani has been digging through Brazil's forgotten music treasures since a young age. He is best known for his work as a DJ, digger and producer under his musical alter ego, Trepanado, head of Selvagem (legendary party running for the past 8 years) and captain of his own imprint Selva Discos.


                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                  Patrick says: Selvagem maestro Augusto Olivani AKA Trepanado takes a break from his flawless curation of the Selva Discos imprint to take us back to the late night radio of his youth. These ten rare tracks, plucked from a forgotten era of Brasil's pop history make for the sweetest soundtrack for dancing, dreaming and hanging outside the local liquor store.

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                                                  Cover of Gunsmoke - Volume 4 by Various Artists.

                                                  Various Artists

                                                  Gunsmoke - Volume 4

                                                  Stag-O-Lee

                                                    Fourth volume in a limited edition series on Stag-O-Lee. Limited to 666 copies and packaged in a nice 10” sleeve with center hole. This is a collection of oddball country weepers, moody rockabilly, widescreen country & western and popcorn noir from the 1950s and early 60s. So turn out the lights, sit back and relax to the soundtrack from a jukebox in a ghost town... For best results: listen to after dark! 

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                                                    Cover of Soul Jazz Records Presents ‘Keith Haring: The World Of Keith Haring’ by Various Artists.

                                                    Various Artists

                                                    Soul Jazz Records Presents ‘Keith Haring: The World Of Keith Haring’

                                                    Soul Jazz

                                                    Soul Jazz Records release this stunning new collection featuring music influential to the artist Keith Haring.

                                                    The art of Keith Haring is today one of the most recognisable of any visual artists of his generation, defining 1980s New York during an intense period when downtown artists and musicians collaborated like never before. Haring’s musical inspiration took in the punk/dance downtown sounds of clubs like The Mudd Club, underground disco at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage, as well the early days of hip hop and electro.

                                                    The album is released to coincide with the opening of the first major exhibition in the UK of Keith Haring’s work at Tate Liverpool, which runs for the next six months.

                                                    Haring’s many friends included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Madonna, Fab Five Freddy, William Burroughs, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, Grace Jones, Larry Levan, Futura 2000.

                                                    The music here includes the work of a number of Haring’s close friends, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yoko Ono, Larry Levan, John Sex and George Condo (The Girls), as well as healthy dose of rare disco, early electro and New York punk/dance tracks.

                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                    Barry says: Where a lot of Soul Jazz comps focus on a genre, or a precursor of that genre, Haring's affiliacted acts read like a who's who of forward thinking New Yorks underground art-rock, electro and burgeoning hip-hop scene. It's a brilliantly varied but cohesive snapshot of the 80's in music and art. Essential.

                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                    3xIndies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive edition includes a bonus 7".

                                                    2xCD Info: Double CD and 48-page book.

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                                                    Cover of Let's Rock by The Black Keys.

                                                    The Black Keys

                                                    Let's Rock

                                                    Easy Eye Sound / Nonesuch

                                                    The Black Keys’ long-awaited ninth studio album, “Let’s Rock”, their first in five years, is a return to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band. Auerbach says, “When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen.” 

                                                    “Let’s Rock” was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson. “The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”

                                                    Rolling Stone named ‘Lo/Hi’ a “Song You Need to Know” and said, ‘the Keys have officially returned, louder than ever’ and the New York Times calls the song ‘the kind of garage-boogie stomp that the band never left behind.’ In the words of the NME, ‘It’s the soundtrack to the type of party that doesn’t exist anymore, but one you still wish you were cool enough to get the invite to.’

                                                    Formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001, The Black Keys have released eight studio albums: their debut The Big Come Up (2002), followed by Thickfreakness (2003) and Rubber Factory (2004), along with their releases on Nonesuch Records, Magic Potion (2006), Attack & Release (2008), Brothers (2010), El Camino (2011), and, most recently, Turn Blue (2014). The band has won six Grammy Awards and headlined festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza, and Governors Ball.

                                                    Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists:
                                                    Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song. Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.

                                                    Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, *repeat repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more. He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.

                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                    Barry says: Having always epitomised the fuzzy groove-led party vibe, it's no surprise that their latest is the most danceable and head-nodding instalment yet, but here it is. Bluesy, sleazy and heavy but crisp and beautifully presented. Black Keys do it again!

                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                    Coloured LP Info: Limited edition heavyweight 140 gram high-performance coloured vinyl. The colours are a random selection of red, white and blue coloured vinyl.

                                                    Ltd LP Info: Heavyweight 140 gram high-performance vinyl.

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                                                    Cover of DJ Kicks - Peggy Gou by Various Artists.

                                                    Various Artists

                                                    DJ Kicks - Peggy Gou

                                                    !k7 Records

                                                    When Peggy Gou released her debut EP ‘Art of War’ in 2016, she made a list of career goals. One of them was to become the first South Korean DJ to play Berlin’s techno institution Berghain, an objective she achieved only a few months later. Another item on that list was to record an instalment of !K7’s DJ-Kicks series. “It’s the premier class of DJ mixes,” she says. “Some of my favourite selectors have contributed to it.” Now Peggy Gou can tick that off her list too as she proudly presents the 69th edition of the mix series.

                                                    The Berliner-by-choice started working on the mix last year. It was a busy time for the 28-year-old: she’d just scored her first Mixmag cover and her single ‘It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)’ was receiving awards and critical acclaim. Each month she would DJ in 20 nightclubs all over the world. And yet, the goal for her mix was ambitious: instead of trying to capture the energy of her DJ sets, she aimed to create a portrayal of her own musical journey. An 18-track listening session that takes you straight into Peggy Gou’s living room where she plays you the formative tunes from her collection. No genre boundaries – she moves across disco, house, techno and electro. No tempo limits – the mix ranges from 90 to 150 BPM. And no age restriction – the earliest tunes on the mix are from 1983.


                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                    Patrick says: DJ superstar, powerhouse producer and general woman of the moment, Peggy Gou has been smashing up the Piccadilly sales totals of late, and this compilation makes it clear where her influence stems from. Seamlessly moving through electro, bass, house and synthpop, the Korean producer leads us on a journey through the best bits of club music from the last 30 years. All in all a brilliantly immersive and hugely flexible collection from the superstar DJ.

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                                                    Cover of Ignorance Is Bliss by Skepta.

                                                    Skepta

                                                    Ignorance Is Bliss

                                                    Boy Better Know

                                                    Since emerging as a producer and MC back in 2004, Skepta has become one of the most significant British artists working in music today. The Mercury Prize winner and BRIT Award nominee has built a broad and diverse audience through his enigmatically energetic live performance and era defining catalogue of hits. An inspirational icon of future facing fashion. Skepta’s enduring influence is felt throughout contemporary culture on a global scale.

                                                    Both formats of the new Skepta album are heat sensitive with the use of liquid crystal on the back sleeve, it's futuristic patina matching Skepta's unrelenting forward-focus. 


                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                    Matt says: Joseph Adenuga's back with a stop-you-in-your-tracks set of grimey tracks. His delivery and content are flawless, with some ridiculously catchy choruses to sing back at the King Of The Mics on his next tour; plus those beats, though radio friendly, are also supreme to 99% of the other shit out there. It's pretty hard to fault anything about this album. 10/10.

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                                                    Cover of I Love You. It's A Fever Dream by The Tallest Man On Earth.

                                                    The Tallest Man On Earth

                                                    I Love You. It's A Fever Dream

                                                    Rivers / Birds

                                                      Kristian Matsson is a singer-songwriter from Dalarna, Sweden, who performs under the stage name of The Tallest Man on Earth. Matsson grew up in Leksand, and began his solo career in 2006, having previously been the lead singer of the indie band Montezumas. His music has often drawn comparisons to the music of Bob Dylan.

                                                      “Last summer, Kristian Matsson lamented that steady touring had slowed the arrival of I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream., his fifth album as the Tallest Man on Earth. “I can’t write good stuff on tour,” he complained. “I can’t write about life on a tour bus.” Ironically, Fever Dream arrives as a focused and frequently lovely rumination on life lived on a tour bus. Songs unfold in hotel bars, on open roads, beneath vast blue bowls of rural sky. The rhythms of perpetual travel pulse beneath acoustic melodies that lie somewhere between Dylan and Sufjan—a few gentle, a few forceful. With depth and delicacy, Matsson explores the banalities and oddities of tour, like the phenomenon of performing for an adoring audience to whom you are a stranger.

                                                      Matsson’s music mirrors his lyrical themes. Though he remains devoted to sparse arrangements of guitar, banjo, and harmonica, these songs begin to veer into more adventurous territory. “Hotel Bar” introduces a horn section, and “The Running Styles of New York” is bookended by momentary blips of electronics. These new elements are deployed sparingly and selectively, a sprinkle of salt to draw new flavor from familiar sound. Tempos vary, too, from raucous stomping to slow, plaintive fingerpicking—as if he’s stretching, sprinting, growing fatigued, slowing down. As in his words, he wrestles with the question of where to go, and how quickly.” - Pitchfork

                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                      Barry says: It might be slightly misleading to call him the tallest man on earth (at 5'5, i've even been taller than him myself), but the comparisons to Dylan are thankfully, completely accurate. Beautiful plucked guitar, honestly written heartfelt lyrics and a stunning ear for melody make this an essential for all of you that like a nice soft strum and a beautiful hushed vocal.

                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                      Cover of Can You Really Find Me by Night Moves.

                                                      Night Moves

                                                      Can You Really Find Me

                                                      Domino

                                                        Night Moves’ new album, ‘Can You Really Find Me’, pulsates and glows with the same sublime energy that radiated from breakout single ‘Carl Sagan’ in 2016, however in the intervening years, John Pelant and Micky Alfano have grown up.

                                                        The songwriting, while still steeped in super-catchy, velvety riffs and pure pop glaze, feels more sophisticated and modern. Since the pair met in high school, awestruck by such ear-candy wizards as Brian Wilson, Todd Rundgren, Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham, they set off to craft their version of what sophisticated, emotional modern pop music can and should sound like.

                                                        2016’s ‘Pennied Days’ was a breakthrough and set a new bar for the members of Night Moves. After spending the subsequent two years on ‘Can You Really Find Me’, they’ve scaled new heights, where the sounds are still just as sweet but now smarter, more evocative and perfectly designed for a summer release.

                                                        ‘Can You Really Find Me’ was produced by Jim Eno (founding member and drummer of Spoon) out of Public Hi-Fi Studios in Austin, TX and recorded with live band members Mark Hanson and Chuck Murlowski.

                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                        Barry says: Night Moves expertly craft a brilliantly emotive and drippingly filmic selection of 80's inspired ballads and rhythmically fluid disco-tinged pop anthems on 'Can You Really Find Me'. Any of these pieces could easily be a slow-motion montage soundtrack, dynamic but with a hint of latent morosity, these are modern and eminently enjoyable anthems, and another reason to pay attention to Night Moves.

                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                        Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive turqouise coloured vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.

                                                        Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                        Cover of The 'Mercury' Demos by David Bowie.

                                                        David Bowie

                                                        The 'Mercury' Demos

                                                        Parlophone

                                                          As part of the ongoing celebrations marking 50 years since David Bowie’s first hit, ‘Space Oddity’, and following the recent ‘Spying Through A Keyhole’ and ‘Clareville Grove Demos’ collections, 'The “Mercury" Demos’ are 10 early Bowie recordings captured live in one take to a Revox reel to reel tape machine in David’s flat in spring 1969, with accompaniment from John ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson on guitar and vocals.

                                                          The version of ‘Space Oddity’ from the Demos, originally released with edits on the Sound & Vision boxset, is presented here in its true context for the first time. The other nine recordings on the album are all previously unreleased. In addition to Bowie originals, the session also includes the Roger Bunn composition ‘Life Is A Circus’ (which features in an earlier demo version on the ‘Clareville Grove Demos’ set) and the Lesley Duncan composition ‘Love Song’ later recorded by Elton John for his ‘Tumbleweed Connection’ album. David’s own ‘Conversation Piece’ is announced as ‘a new song’ and ‘Janine’ features a short nineteen second section sung to the melody of The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’.

                                                          'The ‘’Mercury" Demos’ set will come in a replica of the original tape box and will feature 1 LP, a print, two photo contact sheets and sleeve notes by Mark Adams. The labels of the LP feature the same EMIDISC acetate styling as ‘Spying Through A Keyhole’ and ‘Clareville Grove Demos’ with the song titles in David’s own handwriting.


                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                          Barry says: The latest in a long line of Bowie reissues sees an incredibly personal and intimate recording of a number of unreleased gems and absolute rarities. With the quality of Bowie's recorded work being so high, it's unbelievable that there could be so much gold still hidden, but this goes to show there is. A brilliantly presented, and fascinating insight into his unrivalled talent.

                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                          FREE SHIPPING This item has FREE UK shipping!

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                                                          Cover of Joia by Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18.

                                                          Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18

                                                          Joia

                                                          Banana & Louie / Agati

                                                            You might know CARWYN ELLIS from other projects like COLORAMA (part of the most heterogeneous and open-minded pop made in the UK this century), Bendith (Welsh dreamy folk) or Zarelli (hauntologic electronic). Or maybe you might be familiar with him because he collaborates with pop superstars and universal references like Edwyn Collins, Pretenders, Oasis or Saint Etienne. Or maybe you don’t know him at all, so far, because Ellis is one of those musicians that does not feel self-important, that is not under the spotlight but that is praised by other musicians and everyone wants to collaborate with. His diverse personal projects are a sample of his passionate love for the music with no borders of any kind. He is hard to label, and transforms his skin in each new record. Almost in every song. He records the albums that he feels like doing whenever he feels like doing them, and with the sound and the people that stand out for him in that moment. Most of his songs are sung in Welsh, his mother language, but his music is timeless and universal. Carwyn always approaches the global by the local.

                                                            It isn’t a coincidence that precisely now he has decided to take the plunge and go to Rio de Janeiro to record, along with two distinguished crazy local artists like Domenico Lancellotti and Kassin, his most colourful record. “Joia!”, in which he presents his new band Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18, is a non-explicit plea against the Brexit. Against any Brexits taking place right now any way or another in this world shocked by the continuous transformations and fears that they lead to. Pretty sure that Lancellotti or Kassin might say that it is an anti-Bolsonaro record. However, Carwyn and his fellows in Rio 18 prefer to do a cheerful and positive record, like almost all the south American music it is inspire in, to celebrate that those changes, that definitely mark an era , boost and ease the fact that a musician from Cardiff is able to record an album with musicians from the other side of the world, and make it halfway between Rio and London with the invaluable help from another top musician like Shawn Lee. A record with latin American flavor sung, again, in Welsh, whose phonetics and sound matches surprisingly well with tropical music.
                                                            The record stars (literally: it’s the sound of a car engine which starts this trip) with a cumbia, Unman (Nowhere, perfect title for a project like this), which is a curious starting point and a good letter of introduction of the intentions for an album recorded by a Welsh man with some Brazilian friends. But this is a sensory party, a celebration in which you never know what you’ll find when you turn around the corner. Ellis already got us used to it in all of his projects (and within every Colorama record), but that now, precisely due to the collaboration between such imaginative, incorruptible and original musicians such as the ones forming Carwyn Ellis & Rio 18, is when they get even more special and fun.

                                                            Cumbia, Bossa Nova, Samba, Tropicalism, Latin Funk, Pop and wonders like Ymosodwyr Anweledig (Invisible Attackers), a pure Tropical Krautrock song; like if Broadcast were to move their bunda to the sound of Os Mutantes, and which illustrates perfectly what can we expect from this JOIA which is the opposite of Brexit and narrow minds. Jump on to this trip and you’ll end, like the record ends, saying Diolch almani (Thanks For That) to Ellis for this record; obrigado, as the female chorus responds to the beat of the bossa.

                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                            Barry says: It's not a combination that I would have necessarily put together, but the chilled Brazilian grooves and Ellis' intoxicating vocals make for a wonderfully enjoyable way to make your political views known (for those that speak welsh, obviously). It's as brilliant as all his other projects, and on a completely different tip.

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                                                            Cover of Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Soundtrack by Various Artists.

                                                            Various Artists

                                                            Twin Peaks: Limited Event Series Soundtrack

                                                            Death Waltz Recording Co.

                                                              We are thrilled to be returning to the town of Twin Peaks with our very own version of Season 3’s Limited Event Series Score featuring tracks by Angelo Badalamenti, Johnny Jewel, David Lynch & Dean Hurley, split across 2 LPs the package compliments our previous Twin Peaks releases featuring a red die cut spot gloss sleeve that reveals a key moment in the show. Mike Bozzi at Bernie Grundman Mastering has mastered the vinyl and Bernie Grundman supervised the cutting master with pressing duties being handled by QRP (Quality Record Pressings in Kansas). The work here is incredible, whether breathing new life into familiar themes or creating brand new ear worms in the form of smokey jazz, Ambient and Industrial stylings. The score is thick with atmosphere and dripping in mood and tension proving once again that Lynch & Badalamenti are both bona fide geniuses who deserve every plaudit given to them.

                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                              Barry says: The Death Waltz version of the original soundtrack was one of our favourite soundtracks from 2017, not only for the music (which is amazing, obviously) but the pristine packaging really made it special, and this one is no different. Superb music and DW's unrivalled eye for a lovely package make this one of the must-be-had soundtracks of 2019.

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              2xColoured LP Info: 180g Cherry Pie Splatter & Machine Room Grey vinyl.

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                                                              Cover of VWETO II by Georgia Anne Muldrow.

                                                              Georgia Anne Muldrow

                                                              VWETO II

                                                              Mello

                                                              The names people invoke when trying to describe Georgia Anne Muldrow are unavoidably, almost impossibly lofty: Nina Simone and Alice Coltrane, Erykah Badu and Ella Fitzgerald. The Los Angeles-bred singer, songwriter, and musician is all and none of these things – she’s able to channel the greats from decades past in soul, R&B, and jazz, but her own music is too subversive, too forward-thinking to be cordoned off as a footnote to any one lineage. Over the course of a career that spans dozens of releases and ropes in a wide array of talented collaborators, it would appear that Muldrow has explored every nook and crevice of her tastes and talents. And yet, after nearly 15 years, each new turn in her catalog is a step directly into the unknown.

                                                              Released by Mello Music Group, "VWETO II", is this kind of exploratory turn. It’s the sequel to her 2011 album by the same name. Like its predecessor, "VWETO II" is an all-instrumental affair, reestablishing Muldrow as one of the most reliable crafters of sturdy, funky, spaced-out hip-hop working today. 


                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                              Barry says: Brilliantly toeing the line between staggered instrumental hip-hop, crackling downbeat and shadowy electronic soul, 'VWETO II' is obviously a statement from an artist at the peak of their powers, this is brilliantly written and fully immersive music for home listening or late-night post-club sessions. Thoroughly brilliant.

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                                                              Cover of Dawnbreaker by Daughter Of Swords.

                                                              Daughter Of Swords

                                                              Dawnbreaker

                                                              Bella Union

                                                                In 2017, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig began recording a set of songs about a breakup that had yet to happen. Her partnership had drifted into a comfortable state of indecision, stalling when it came time to make big life moves or chase new horizons. She had the sense that she needed to slip the relationship in order to pursue everything else life might have in store—more music, more adventures, a general sense of the unknown. Those feelings drifted steadily into a set of songs that lamented the inevitable loss but, more important, outlined the promise of the future. Recording the ten tracks that became her stunning solo debut, Dawnbreaker, under the new name Daughter of Swords gave Sauser-Monnig permission to go.

                                                                Dawnbreaker began as the first phase of Sauser-Monnig’s return to music after stepping to the sidelines for the better part of a decade. Her college trio, Mountain Man, rose to quick acclaim for their peerless harmonies around 2010, but the friends slowly drifted apart, following their own interests to different coasts and concerns. While working on a flower farm as a farmhand, though, Sauser-Monnig realized that she missed the emotional articulation she found in writing songs and singing them and resolved to start again. She pieced together an album just as Mountain Man—now newly gathered in the fertile Piedmont of North Carolina—began to regroup for its second LP, 2018’s aptly named Magic Ship. Working with Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn, Sauser-Monnig shaped what began as quiet reflections into confident compositions, crackling with country swagger and a sparkling pop warmth. They were, after all, preemptive odes to the next phase of life.

                                                                Calling the ten tunes of Dawnbreaker breakup songs is to hamstring them with elegiac expectations, to paint them as sad-eyed surrenders to loss and grief. Sure, there is the gentle opener “Fellows,” a hushed number that explores the turmoil of being unable to reciprocate the feelings of a wild and shy, tall and fine man. And there’s the blossoming country shuffle of “Easy Is Hard,” where Sauser-Monnig stands in the yard and sees her lover leave, his taillights fading into the night sky; she can’t sleep, so she gets up to turn the lights and stereo on, to “feel my soul coming down.”  Even there, amid the throes of a life convulsion, there is a wisp of hope and possibility, framed by the way “the dim light change[s] into dawn, rosy blue, pink  fawn.” The very heart of Dawnbreaker is not the impending breakup that inspired many of its songs but the sense of liberation and breaking out that the breakup inspired.

                                                                Buoyed by the insistent patter of a drum machine and rich acoustic guitars,
                                                                Sauser-Monnig finds herself in search of new thrills during “Gem,” whether pondering the fleeting nature of existence at a waterfall’s edge or watching the shapes of mountains seemingly dance beneath her headlights. The muted, harmonica-lined boogie of “Sun” begins with a vulnerable confession, a revelation of loneliness; it is, however, a low-key anthem for the open road, about giving oneself over to the infinity of solitude and an endless strip of asphalt. Sauser-Monnig captures these scenes with a painter’s eye and delivers them with a novelist’s heart.

                                                                There’s no better testament than “Shining Woman,” where Sauser-Monnig portrays a ropy woman navigating her “steel steed” up and down the bends and passes of California’s fabled Highway 1. She openly marvels at that spirit and strength, wishing that for her own life. With Dawnbreaker, she has found it in some measure—the joy of something new, the excitement of risk. Though Sauser-Monnig nearly recorded these songs as barebones folk ballads, she reimagined them with Sanborn and a top-tier crew of North Carolina friends, like fellow Mountain Man singers Amelia Meath and Molly Sarlé, bandleader Phil Cook, and guitarist Ryan Gustafson. These vivid settings highlight the emotional contours of these songs, revealing the complexity that comes with knowing that, in order to live, you sometimes have to let something as strong as love go.

                                                                At the start of “Human,” the undeniable climax of Dawnbreaker, Sauser-Monnig wakes up early and finds her lover in bed. She slips out of the room, watches the sun rise alone, and has herself a long think amid nature’s frozen splendor. What does it mean to leave? What does it mean to stay? Is she wrong, and is he right? As the piano rises and her voice multiplies, coming in now from all sides, she admits something crucial to herself: “You can’t will a love to life/But you can do the loving thing: Make like a bird and fly.” It is a moment of reckoning with one’s own liberation, of realizing that sometimes a profound loss is the only way to gain something else. That is the lesson of Dawnbreaker, an intimate document of what it means to set oneself free.


                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                Barry says: Gorgeous, softly-sung vocals, tenderly plucked guitar and understated percussive drive (is that a CR-78 I hear?), all working together to make Sauser-Monnig's gorgeous artistic vision a reality. Perfect hazy summer songs.

                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                Cover of Strange Times... Live by Chameleons Vox.

                                                                Chameleons Vox

                                                                Strange Times... Live

                                                                Moochin' About

                                                                  ‘Strange Times’ was the Chameleons’ third album, originally released in 1986 on the Geffen label and praised by the critics who reviewed it. Melody Maker called it “a marvellous departure” from their previous work and “a wonderful record,” describing it as “the band’s most inventive and winning album yet and as a fine a record as any guitar band has made this year - it should delight just about anyone.”

                                                                  Singer and bassist Mark Burgess later said “‘Strange Times’ is my favourite. Personally, I believe it was the best lyrical work I’d done with the band and some of the best vocal performances, and I think the Chameleons really began to mature and move forward with this album.”

                                                                  Noel Gallagher was quoted recently as saying “I’d forgotten how much this album meant to me. It came out in ‘86. I was 19!! I’ve been listening to it every day since and I have to say it’s blown my mind… again! It must have influenced my early years as a song writer because I can hear ME in it everywhere!!”

                                                                  The Chameleons have long been named as influences on bands such as The Flaming Lips, The Killers and Smashing Pumpkins.

                                                                  This recording from Preston Guildhall was taken from their current tour, which continues across the UK and Europe throughout 2019, ending at Manchester Ritz in December, supported by The Icicle Works.

                                                                  The ‘Where In The World’ EP consists of four original Chameleons songs, rerecorded in 2017. As a feature of their current live set the songs were universally well-received by the fanbase and are presented here by popular request. ‘Dali’s Picture’ a discarded song written in 1981, ‘Ever After’ an unfinished demo from the ‘Strange Times’ session that produced the bands third album and ‘Denims & Curls’ and ‘Free For All’, which were demos for a fourth album that never materialized due to the band’s disintegration. Despite the years in between, all four songs feel fresh, vibrant and contemporary.

                                                                  The Chameleons (known as The Chameleons UK in North America) were an English post punk band formed in Middleton, Greater Manchester in 1981. The band originally consisted of singer and bassist Mark Burgess, guitarist Reg Smithies, guitarist Dave Fielding and drummer John Lever (replacing original drummer Brian Schofield). They released six studio albums and one EP before disbanding in 2003. They have gained even bigger audiences of late, touring as ChameleonsVox and playing out their classic albums.

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                                                                  Cover of Wandering The Outer Space by Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O..

                                                                  Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O.

                                                                  Wandering The Outer Space

                                                                  Buh

                                                                    A Peruvian pressing. For the first time on LP format, this album marks a new period in the sound of the legendary Japanese psychedelic rock band, thanks to the incorporation of new members. plenty of distorted, dissected guitar explosions by Makoto and Mitsuko (Mitsuru), violent, offensive, a tad gentle space-synthesizer blasters, and critical plus serious rhythm section-oriented spacequakes can be heard on a full stomach, veiled in a delightful sleeve with such a colourful, hyperdynamic pic upon it. 

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                                                                    Cover of Grow Towards The Light by Dire Wolves.

                                                                    Dire Wolves

                                                                    Grow Towards The Light

                                                                    Beyond Beyond Is Beyond

                                                                      Jeffrey Alexander has always been into the cool, the weird, and the darkness. I consider him a kind of scholar of outsider and avant-garde music; over the years, hes run Secret Eye Records, been a member of Jackie O Motherfucker, Black Forest Black Sea, and managed to find a way to always remain genuinely excited about creating and performing music.

                                                                      Recorded in Oakland, CA during a two day stretch, “Grow Towards the Light” is Dire Wolves 4th official full-length album (not including the fifteen or so minor releases, bootlegs, and tapes theyve put out over the years), and its the first without Lau Nau on main vocals. Taking over that role is the mystical Georgia Carbone, singing in her own invented language. Regarding the album title: you can really hear the sun pulsating through the space clouds, if you know what I mean. Jeffrey plays guitar and moog here, joined by Brian Lucas on bass, Sheila Bosco (from Faun Fables) on drums and piano, Arjun Mendiratta (Village of Spaces) on violin, and Taralie Peterson (Spires that in the Sunset Rise) on saxophone. Every Step Is Birth features a dark, plodding groove. It sounds like the soundtrack to a sinister after-party in a place you suspect might actually be purgatory.

                                                                      Jeffrey tells me the album thematically tries to express the interconnectedness of all things, which makes perfect sense given even during some of the more unsettling jams and eerie melodies, this album always feels like a cohesive whole.Stylistically this is really a broad, painterly album that comes together in a beautiful, unexpected way. - Marissa Nadler, March 2019

                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                      Barry says: I was a big fan of JOMF back in the day, and have tried to see them play on more than one occasion (once at the Ruby Lounge, their visa got cancelled and support act, a little known collective called GNOD had to take the whole show on). This has the hazy, lysergic meandering that JOMF did so well but is a little bit more airy and ambient. Beautifully understated but undeniably engrossing.

                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                      LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                      Cover of Bodhi Cheetah's Choice by Prana Crafter.

                                                                      Prana Crafter

                                                                      Bodhi Cheetah's Choice

                                                                      Beyond Beyond Is Beyond

                                                                        Prana Crafter’s Beyond Beyond is Beyond debut is an electric woods walk. “Bodhi Cheetahs Choice” rambles, soars and flows through a heavy fog of psychedelia.

                                                                        The music of Prana Crafter is most easily tagged acid folk but such a reduction misses the electronic and avant influences, the boggy atmospheres and synthesized meditations. Like the forests that creator William Sol roams in rural Washington state, Prana Crafters music is both familiar and ever-changing. Without pledging devotion to any one, Sol invokes great spirits of the past with acoustic and electric guitars, synths, and hand drums. Not so much an album as it is a channeling, “Bodhi Cheetahs Choice” needs to be heard by the third ear

                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                        LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                        Cover of Transmission Response by Diagram.

                                                                        Diagram

                                                                        Transmission Response

                                                                        Fuzz Club

                                                                          The Berlin-based musician Hákon Aðalsteinsson, originally hailing from Iceland, can be found fronting neo-psych outfit The Third Sound and gloomy alt-country troupe Gunman & The Holy Ghost, as well as being the live guitarist for The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Anton Newcombe’s ongoing collaborations with Tess Parks. Now, Hákon is also turning his attention to another project: an electronics-inflected solo endeavour going by the name of Diagram. His debut album under the new moniker, titled Transmission Response consists of 12 tracks that find a home somewhere between a pared-back, synthy post-punk sound and atmospheric dream-pop hues. Detailing the self-recorded album, a marked departure from his usual rock-oriented work, Hákon explains: “The sound is inspired by the minimalism of Suicide, Chrome and 70s German electronica, as well as the film music of Angelo Badalamenti and John Carpenter,” he continues: “In the beginning I had this one beat-up keyboard and limited knowledge of making electronic music so I was just learning as I went. As this was a process of exploration I ended up with around 40 song ideas before I even thought about making an album. After deciding I wanted to take things further I set upon the task of reworking all those ideas and cutting a lot of them to put together a record that worked as a whole, and this is the result.” Always one to immerse himself in new projects, Hákon Aðalsteinsson’s new material as Diagram witnesses him enter a whole new world, and a sublimely cinematic one at that. With plans for a live show in the works it’s more than likely we’ll be hearing quite a lot from this one too. 

                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                          Barry says: Like the electronics and percussion of Nine Inch Nails, mixed with the twinkling, melodic juxtaposition of 80's new-romantic synths and industrial vocal echoes all brought together with a strong rhythmic undercurrent, this is a heady and addictive mix perfect for the dancefloor or LOUD on your home stereo.

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                                                                          Cover of Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present... LSD by LSD.

                                                                          LSD

                                                                          Labrinth, Sia & Diplo Present... LSD

                                                                          Syco

                                                                          LSD is a collaborative supergroup comprising Sia, Diplo and Labrinth. The group evolved as a natural kinship amongst artists, initiated by songwriters Labrinth and Sia who came together one night to write a song and quickly realised there were many more waiting to be penned. Their undeniable musical chemistry evolved and they were soon joined by Diplo, who rounded out the trio. This is their debut album release featuring the global hit single 'Thunderclouds'.

                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                          Matt says: BBQ friendly dancehall-pop hybrids from market leader Diplo joined by rising stars Sia and Labrinth.

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                                                                          Cover of Too Old To Die Young - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Cliff Martinez.

                                                                          Cliff Martinez

                                                                          Too Old To Die Young - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

                                                                          Milan

                                                                          Too Old To Die Young is a 10-episode original series written and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Only God Forgives, The Neon Demon).

                                                                          Boasting a cast that includes Miles Teller, William Baldwin, Jena Malone, and John Hawkes, the story follows a Los Angeles police officer (Teller) who, along with the man who shot his colleague, enters a criminal underworld populated with a myriad of wrongdoers, including hit men, Yakuza syndicates, cartel assassins, the Russian mafia, and homicidal teenage gangs.

                                                                          Cliff Martinez’s partnership with Nicolas Winding Refn has resulted in some incredible work in soundtracking for movies such Drive, Only God Forgives and The Neon Demon. The pair are teaming up again for this project. Buzzing tones, freaky strings and sawtooth synths will whisk away any feeling of safety.

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                                                                          Cover of Step Back In Time: The Definitive Collection by Kylie Minogue.

                                                                          Kylie Minogue

                                                                          Step Back In Time: The Definitive Collection

                                                                          BMG Rights Management

                                                                          Brand new compilation by pop princess Kylie Minogue. A career spanning collection featuring some of the biggest tracks from her thirty years as the one of the music industry's most globally adored superstars.

                                                                          Jam packed full of biggies, there's only two collaborations featured: "Especially For You" with Jason Donovan, and "Kids" with Robbie Williams.

                                                                          Comes with a digital bonus booster too - including new track "New York City". 42 tracks in total! Strewth!

                                                                          Limited edition, mint green double vinyl. 
                                                                           

                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                          2xColoured LP Info: Limited edition Mint Green double vinyl.
                                                                          Includes 42 track digital download with bonus track "New York City".

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                                                                          Cover of The Balance by Abdullah Ibrahim.

                                                                          Abdullah Ibrahim

                                                                          The Balance

                                                                          Gearbox

                                                                          'People don't like Abdullah Ibrahim, they adore him, bestowing on him the devotion normally reserved for Nina Simone. When he plays, melodies tumble out effortlessly, as he slides from theme to theme like a laid-back South African reincarnation of Thelonious Monk.' The Guardian.

                                                                          Abdullah Ibrahim (who has also recorded as Dollar Brand) is one of South Africa's most famous musicians. His music is often referred to as representing freedom.

                                                                          His major anti-apartheid anthem "Mannenberg" (released as "Capetown Fringe" in the US) has come to be regarded as an unofficial national anthem in South Africa. He even performed at Nelson Mandela's inauguration, where Mandela referred to him as 'our Mozart'.

                                                                          He's played with everyone from Duke Ellington to Max Roach, John Coltrane to Ornette Coleman, and is the father of underground rapper Jean Grae.

                                                                          Encompassing Township-Jazz, solo piano, Highlife and plentiful modern jazz styles, this brand new studio album (recorded with his band Ekaya at RAK Studios in London,) is a major return for a genuine living jazz legend.


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                                                                          Cover of Zones by Enablers.

                                                                          Enablers

                                                                          Zones

                                                                          Lancashire And Somerset

                                                                          On Zones, Enablers stay relatively consistent with their signature sound, delivering stunning melodies, impeccably articulate spoken vocals, and eloquent lyrical form that’ll likely have the occasional listener reaching for a dictionary. More than any previous release though, it features some of the most jagged and abrasive moments in their entire discography. It’s not uncommon for an Enablers song to reach a powerful crescendo, but Zones is home to many such crescendos that erupt with a particular discordance and abrasion that Enablers have always utilized sparingly in the past. In these moments, Simonelli’s voice contorts from its usual composed cadence into a thunderous series of impassioned shouts. His poetry, which is always a great read simply on its own merits, is elevated to new heights by the dynamic that the rest of the band create around it. The argument could be made that all lyrics are their own form of poetry, but Enablers blend the two mediums in a way that doesn’t prioritize one over the other, with each player serving their function in a greater whole. It is that balanced approach to music and poetry alike that makes them so unique, and also what makes Zones one of the most outstanding albums of the year so far.

                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                          Barry says: I actually remember listening to 'End Note' all the way back in 2014 and being struck by how well Enablers' brand of climactic spoken-word fit against the backdrop of clashing instrumental rock, and i'm happy to say the exact same is true here.'Zones' is a perfectly measured and brilliantly transportative work, shining with moments of glory and furious, terse crescentic bliss.

                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                          LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                          Cover of All That Ever Could Have Been by Molly.

                                                                          Molly

                                                                          All That Ever Could Have Been

                                                                          Sonic Cathedral

                                                                            “Skeletal, celestial shoegaze [that] reflects the cold beauty of the Austrian Alps” Stereogum. Innsbruck-based Lars Andersson and Phillip Dornauer’s shoegaze-inspired beginnings coalesced on their acclaimed 2017 EP, ‘Glimpse’, which did just as it said, offering a tantalising peek into their world; the full, glorious vista is now revealed on their accomplished debut album. And ‘All That Ever Could Have Been’ really is breathtaking. It begins with an almost 15-minute post-rock epic and takes in nods to ambient, dreampop and even prog, with echoes of Galaxie 500, Low, Beachwood Sparks, Dungen, The Besnard Lakes, Sigur Rós and M83. Its eight tracks belie both the band’s youth and their small number, forming a mountain of sound that suggests they are more of a geological outfit than a musical one.

                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                            2xColoured LP Info: Pink Cadillac coloured vinyl.

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                                                                            Cover of Voila! by Les Bof!.

                                                                            Les Bof!

                                                                            Voila!

                                                                            Dirty Water Records

                                                                              Les BOF! are Scotland’s answer to the perennial question that quite possibly no-one ever asked. 60s French yé-yé garage, served up with panache by venerable Scottish fuzz beat Rock n’ Roll emissaries. Their sound brings with it a certain… ‘je ne sais quoi’ - a fusion if you will, of unique, rarefied and aged elements of the garage beat scene, these chaps have been elegantly blended together from the likes of ‘The Thanes,’ ‘The No-Things,’ ‘The Sensation Seekers’ and ‘Preston Pfanz & the Seaton Sands.’ But who are these fellows I hear you ask…? Well there’s Ross – the drummer who draws together the sophistication of the Highlands, with a gentle, sweet Borders nuttiness.

                                                                              Angus – a guitarist whose robustly flavoured sound is complemented by a smooth dry finish, matured well beyond the standard edition age. Laurent – the chanter exceptional, both light and fruity with a suggestion of lime and a slight woodiness. And finally, Colin – the bass player whose deep notes, triple distilled, bring waves of complexity, often resulting in heartburn. Following the release of their debut album ‘Nous Sommes les Bof!’ (CopaseDisques) the band have taken their sound both down and back up the British Isles and across the seas to their beloved European continent. Appearing on many an occasion at festivals such as Beatwave, Primitive, Gutterball and Purple Weekend to name but a few. 2018 saw a vintage year for the boys, with a memorable tour of some of Canada and America’s rowdiest east-coast haunts (featuring a live session on WFMU). After doing the rounds with all their other noisy vehicles, Les BOF! returned home to distil the sounds that had lay for some time in the cool, dusky corners of guitarist Angus McPake’s home-built ‘Ravencraig’ studio, a place where frugally almost none of the angel’s share is knowingly lost. Of course, whilst the exact secrets of its production are only known to the Master Distiller himself, the rumble and twang, the boom, the tonk and the ping are clearly expressed here for your delight and delectation. But yes dear reader, quite right you are, to truly open up these flavours, one should add a little Dirty Water. This 2019 release will surely help to further the reputation of any connoisseur’s collection with the finest that France, Scotland & Ireland have to offer. Mais oui, mesamis… Les BOF! are back on the scene and ready to share with you a little something of their latest long player

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                                                                              Cover of 1977: The Year Punk Broke by Various Artists.

                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                              1977: The Year Punk Broke

                                                                              Cherry Red

                                                                                '1977: The Year Punk Broke' kickstarts what we hope will be a new year-based series of compilations, celebrating the explosion of a new British phenomenon in 1977. This triple-CD box set follows the success of the 4-CD compilation Action Time Vision (2016), documenting Punk on indie labels, and 2017’s Power Pop/New Wave set Harmony In My Head. Punk’s Year Zero was 1976. But very few Punk records were actually released that year. The most significant musical developments happened in 1977, with a burgeoning, self-supporting network of clubs, performers, fanzines, indie labels and distributors creating an unstoppable groundswell that would revolutionise UK music and have an enduring impact on pop culture. '1977: The Year Punk Broke' reflects how a thrilling, controversial scene developed over those tumultuous twelve months. Joined by sympathetic but more experienced acts (Deaf School, Graham Parker, Motorhead, etc.), a welter of new, young bands created a sonic explosion, with sub-three minute adrenalin rushes of raw excitement.

                                                                                Many of the year’s major breakthrough acts and cult favourites are included, including The Jam, The Damned, The Boomtown Rats, Buzzcocks, The Stranglers, Generation X, Sham 69, The Only Ones, The Rezillos, Ultravox!, 999, X-Ray Spex, ATV, The Boys and The Vibrators. The older guard – variously labelled Pub Rock, New Wave or Art Rock – are represented by Doctors Of Madness, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Deaf School, The Tyla Gang, Graham Parker & The Rumour, The Gorillas, The Count Bishops, Radio Stars, Spider and Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias. Other key names include Motorhead (Lemmy’s new venture after splitting with Hawkwind, a metal band loved by punks) and The Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders’ band who recorded in London. Also present are a host of obscure indie Punk 45s and other rarities. The deluxe clamshell package includes a weighty booklet full of illustrations, with a 15,000-word sleeve-note and band-by-band biographies by compiler David Wells.

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                                                                                Cover of Eternal Children by Equiknoxx.

                                                                                Equiknoxx

                                                                                Eternal Children

                                                                                Equiknoxx Music

                                                                                Global avant-dancehall superstars Equiknoxx return with an eagerly awaited new album. The colourful quintet - Shanique Marie, Bobby Blackbird, Gavsborg, Kemikal Splash & Time Cow - have pretty much set a new standard for Jamaican music - adding a 5th dimension to the JA staple of dancehall, catapulting it into the cosmos and in doing so, into the listening piles of music lovers across the world!

                                                                                "Eternal Children" sees the group reach its natural zenith. Empowered by the adoration and love they've received on a busy touring schedule, plus full of ideas from recent collaborations with some of the most creative partners in the global dance village (including a super tight relationship with MCR's Swing Ting club night / record label) the group hit its stride across a double LP which takes on r'n'b, pop & grime inflections and merges it with their unique, cosmic-dancehall hybrid. Put simply, there's no-one out there like Equiknoxx, yet their music is so easily accessible and enjoyable that you'd wouldn't be surprised at all to hear it on Radio 1's prime time hours.

                                                                                Jamaica often nurtures and celebrates its music exports and rightly holds them in high regard. Equiknoxx will surely be added to this growing hall of fame as their incredible legacy is extended. 


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Bigs tings afoot for this emergant JA supergroup. Probably their poppiest offering yet, and certain to secure plays outside of their immediate, underground circle. Featuring a plethora of MCR talent too (even Nick Sinna on mastering duties! yes mate!) it's a celebration of Jamaica & Manchester's continuing symobtic influence.

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                                                                                Cover of Schlagenheim by Black Midi.

                                                                                Black Midi

                                                                                Schlagenheim

                                                                                Rough Trade Records

                                                                                black midi -- Georgie Greep (vocals/guitar), Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin (vocals/guitar), Cameron Picton (vocals/bass), and Morgan Simpson (drums) -- have a dynamic energy, playing as a musical unit that’s constantly in a state of flux and development.

                                                                                Schlagenheim was recorded with Speedy Wunderground producer Dan Carey, who the band praises for his quick, unfussy approach. black midi laid down eight of the record’s nine tracks in just five days. The process was one of refining and rebuilding tracks around the initial structures. Five hour jams would sometimes yield a riff that then became a few bars of a song. As anyone who’s been lucky enough to catch black midi live over recent months will testify, black midi’s songs are slippery creatures.

                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Barry says: Much like the fervour that accompanied Battles' 2007 outing 'Mirrored', Black Midi have managed to make an indefinable and thrilling collection of angular post-punk, avant math-rock and percussive glitch without so much as a glance into their stylistic forebears. Singular in artistic scope and as forward thinking as they come, they are sure to have a loyal and enthusiastic following through their use of unexpected rhythms and off-piste stylistic flair.

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                LP Info: LP is pressed onto 180 gram vinyl and housed in a gatefold sleeve. Includes a download code.

                                                                                CD Info: CD includes fold out poster of the colour collage and lyrics.

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                                                                                Cover of A Bath Full Of Ecstasy by Hot Chip.

                                                                                Hot Chip

                                                                                A Bath Full Of Ecstasy

                                                                                Domino Records

                                                                                Everyone's favourite electro-pop imps, the stadium shaking, body moving, high-note hitting Hot Chip are back with a BRAND NEW ALBUM. Dripping in lyrical references to the halcyon days of rave and the sleek synth-funk they've perfected over the past fifteen years, "A Bath Full Of Ecstasy" is primed to make you dance, dream and catch more than a few feels.

                                                                                Switching up their workflow to collaborate with outside producers from the outset, Hot Chip enlisted the dancefloor clout of Philippe Zdar (the French touch legend who's added club dynamics to Cat Power, Beastie Boys and Phoenix, and makes up one half of Cassius) and indie expert Rodaidh McDonald (famed for his work with The XX, Sampha and David Byrne). The result is the perfect combination of classic Hot Chip, the bold flavours of Zdar's ouvre and the emotional impact of McDonald's productions. 

                                                                                The record is a celebration of joy but recognises the struggle it can take to get to that point of happiness. You can hear the pleasure Hot Chip had in creating this album and they want to pass on that feeling to the listener. It is time to get lost in "A Bath Full of Ecstasy".

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                2xColoured LP Info: Double LP pressed on crystal clear vinyl in limited edition black and white sleeve, designed by Jeremy Deller and Fraser Muggeridge studio.

                                                                                2xLP Info: Double LP pressed on heavyweight black vinyl in full colour sleeve, designed by Jeremy Deller and Fraser Muggeridge studio.

                                                                                CD Info: Mini-gatefold CD pack with 8-page booklet, designed by Jeremy Deller and Fraser Muggeridge studio.

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                                                                                Cover of Dreems by Cassius.

                                                                                Cassius

                                                                                Dreems

                                                                                Justice / Love Supreme

                                                                                Twenty years on the heels of their debut with 1999, established cornerstone of the French Touch sound, duo Philippe ‘Zdar’ Cerboneschi and Hubert ‘Boom Bass’ Blanc-Francard announce their fifth opus "Dreems". This album sees Cassius trawl their myriad influence - moving between dreamy electronic soundscapes to playful pop-house jaunts always with a keen and crisp ear for hi-def, radio-friendly production and shiny, polished sounds.

                                                                                Back to basics, then, both in the design and influences, they worked during long sessions spent at the Motorbass’ studio, where the disc was largely imagined. A magical place causing an organic heat into the sound power (with a new subtlety that the initiates will appreciate, the use of a Korg synthesizer, last acquisition of Zdar and Boom Bass).


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Remembering quite clearly when "1999" burst onto the scene all them years ago, it's nice to see Cassius return to that crowd pleasing formula for "Dreems". I can't think of any legitimate reason why the kids won't go absolutely crazy for them once again - and what's wrong with that?! Not everyone has to grow up you know... mega fun this.

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                                                                                Cover of Loops In The Secret Society by Jane Weaver.

                                                                                Jane Weaver

                                                                                Loops In The Secret Society

                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                When science fiction turns science fact the effect can be truly momentous. The state demands that no-one wants an unlicensed machine-hum from an outbuilding; no-one wants clever prose mapping the future, no-one wants “music” that is attention-seeking, soul-defining, beneficial, Biblical, baroque and beautiful. No-one told Jane Weaver that.

                                                                                Jane Weaver’s multi-layered synthetics evolved into a welcoming slew with 2014’s ‘The Silver Globe’, continuing through to 2017’s ‘Modern Kosmology’. ‘Loops In The Secret Society’ is a re-imagined journey through parts of both albums, with new ambient pieces primed and polished; with new tangents explored in a lab-friendly blossoming of the Weaver vision that travels yet further into the psych of our future. A continuous experience with one-line observations set in glorious sense-stimulating sound.

                                                                                That source material was then united in an expansionist experiment in late 2018. The ‘Loops In The Secret Society’ tour fused unrelated sounds set off against sympathetic new textures, tones and drones ; hot-housed into an idealistic soundscape that formed the conducive parts of the imminent album of the same name.

                                                                                Co-conspirators include Henry Broadhead, PJ Phillipson and Andy Votel. Renegades all, headed by the enigmatic Weaver – all under surveillance.

                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Andy says: Beautiful reinterperations of tracks from Jane's last two albums, interspersed with new ambient style pieces to make a brand new album in its own right. Gorgeous.

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                2xDeluxe LP Info: Deluxe 2xLP Black vinyl in Silver foiled Gatefold sleeve.

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                                                                                Cover of Rivers Edge by Nev Cottee.

                                                                                Nev Cottee

                                                                                Rivers Edge

                                                                                Wonderful Sound

                                                                                The River's Edge is a mythical place. A scene of tranquillity or the start point of a journey. Nothing stays the same. Life passes by. The river widens then retreats. The River's Edge doesn't exist...

                                                                                Nev Cottee is back with fourth solo album... 'After all these years it feels like I finally know what I'm doing. For some reason I had this image of the River's Edge in my head - a promised land where I wanted to be.'
                                                                                The album oozes with confidence as Nev takes his low barritone vocal into new areas and - dare we say it - even breaks into song!

                                                                                The dream-like Waitsian lullaby 'Nightingale' opens the record, perfectly setting the scene. Lee Hazlewood inpired doomed love duet 'Roses" follows featuring the mysterious Veronica - a Nicoesque chanteuse Nev discovered singing in the backstreets of Madrid. 'The minute I heard her voice I knew she was perfect. She has an ethereal quality. Not of this world'.

                                                                                The classic songwriting continues with lush soundscape production once again provided by the great Mason Neely (Wilco/Edwyn Collins). Long time friends contributing their unique skills include legendary guitarist Nick McCabe (The Verve), pedal steel virtuoso Chris Hillman (Ethan Johns/Billy Bragg) & James Walbourne (The Pretenders/The Rails) to name but a few. Cellos and violins combine with vintage synths to create Nev's now familiar sonic landscape. 'To have Nick contributing was a real honour.. The guy is THE guitarist of his generation. Not many musicians have their own unique sound but Nick does.'

                                                                                Inspired by the late Scott Walker, Neil Young and the aforementioned Waits, River's Edge is a unique sounding record blending beautifuly crafted songs with the cinema scope production values of Spiritualized and Morricone. It's a nod to the mythical Canyons of LA but through a very English lens. ' There is a pastoral quality to the songs on this album 'Local Hero', ' Hello Stranger' 'Scattered Leaves' they're all about the hidden places I love discovering in the English countryside.'

                                                                                Describing the recording process Nev explains, 'For this album we met up in Manchester for 2 weeks and got it all down. We just went at it workman-like from 9-5 every day. I love the whole process - writing, demoing at home, the studio. It's very gratifying to see an idea come to full fruition.'

                                                                                'I want to be unlike anything else out there at the moment. I don't see anyone doing what I do. I'm on my own. Good.'

                                                                                So where is The River's Edge...?! 'The songs are my way of working out what's going on in the world. Finding some sense in all the crazy madness. I hope people can come and join me in this special place and find some repose.' 


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Andy says: Another beautiful record from Nev Cottee with proper classic songwriting and one of the richest voices in pop at the moment. This record features the incredible Nick McCabe of The Verve!

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                                                                                Cover of Ape On Sunday by White Manna.

                                                                                White Manna

                                                                                Ape On Sunday

                                                                                Cardinal Fuzz

                                                                                Cardinal Fuzz are proud to present to you ‘Ape On Sunday’ - the 6th Long Player from Artaca, California’s White Manna. Recorded over a period of time that saw front man David Johnson return home to Massachusetts to spend time with his family after a traumatic event. While away Dave and Anthony (back on board fully for this new lp) tackled the recordings they had started while Tavan and Johnny laid down the drum and bass tracks and Mike Dieter also rejoined White Manna to lay down some synth parts (honing a Klaus Schulze vibe) . When Dave returned to Humboldt they at long last got down to finishing the LP. ‘Ape On Sunday’ takes its inspiration and title from a Robert Zimmerman poem in his poetry book/novel – ‘Tarantula’ – a stream of conscious / cut up style prose from ’66.

                                                                                You can feel how the life experiences over the last year have seeped, shaped and informed ‘Ape On Sunday’ which is the bands most intimate release since ‘Come Down Safari’. It’s a heady hypnotic mix that at times plays like psychedelic meditations and at others like music for a post apocalyptic movie. The Redwood canopies of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle still influence White Manna but there sound here is heading out in a more experimental direction where the music is more kosmische in style with sounds wreathed in mist and vapours, droning synths and shimmering guitars. ‘Ape On Sunday’ finds White Manna re-entering the stratosphere and floating back down to the dense redwood forest of their homeland.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Mine says: White Manna return with a dark and brooding record, incorporating growling guitars and kosmische synths. Good stuff!

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                Ltd LP Info: Housed in a 350gsm Gloss Laminated Sleeve with a full colour insert and download code.

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                                                                                Cover of Help Us Stranger by The Raconteurs.

                                                                                The Raconteurs

                                                                                Help Us Stranger

                                                                                Third Man

                                                                                'Help Us Stranger' is The Raconteurs' third studio LP and first new album in more than a decade. It sees the mighty combo reassembled, stronger and perhaps even more vital than ever before as they continue to push rock 'n' roll forward into its future, bonding prodigious riffs, blues power, sinewy psychedelia, Detroit funk, and Nashville soul via Benson and White’s uncompromising songcraft and the band’s steadfast musical muscle. With 'Help Us Stranger' The Raconteurs have returned right when they are needed most, unified and invigorated with boundless ambition, infinite energy and a collectivist spirit operating at the peak of its considerable powers, once again creating a sound and fury only possible when all four of its members come together.

                                                                                White and Benson wrote all the songs on 'Help Us Stranger' except one cover, “Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness),” which was written by Donovan. Recorded at Third Man Studio in Nashville, TN, the album was produced by The Raconteurs and engineered by Joshua V. Smith. Longtime friends and musical collaborators helped make 'Help Us Stranger', including keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita (The Dead Weather, Queens of the Stone Age) and Lillie Mae Rische and her sister Scarlett Rische. The album was mixed by Vance Powell and The Raconteurs at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Mine says: After focusing on his solo career and his label Third Man Records, Jack White is reuniting with his Raconteurs for their first studio album since 2008. They pick up where they left off (ish) and, taking it up a notch, create an album that feels more energetic than its predecessors. Fans of Jack White's latest solo album will probably dig this.

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Indies only white vinyl version with alternate cover and hand-screen-printed sleeve.

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                                                                                Cover of Slavic Spirits by EABS.

                                                                                EABS

                                                                                Slavic Spirits

                                                                                Astigmatic

                                                                                Polish septet EABS apply an innovative approach to jazz, distilling it through the prism of hip-hop, blending it with elements of soul, funk and electronic music. ‘Slavic Spirits’ was 2 years in the making and contains 100% original material. They are joined by 22a head-honcho Tenderlonious who lends his exceptional soprano saxophone and flute playing to all seven tracks.

                                                                                After their very well-received 2017 debut album ‘Repetitions (Letters to Krzysztof Komeda)’, focusing on the lesser-known works of the legendary Polish composer, the Wroclaw-based EABS decided to further expand this lead and released two more vinyl records, ‘Live At Jazz Club Hipnoza (Katowice)’ and ‘Kraksa / Svantetic’, the latter recorded directly on tape and released via 22a, which crowned the “Komeda triptych”. The astounding reception of these releases built up loyal following outside of their native Poland and whet listeners’ appetite for completely new recordings. For this LP the musicians turned to Slavic mythology and Polish demonology, while pondering upon the contemporary spiritual condition of Poles. The enigmatic “Slavic melancholy” remains the main inspiration, as the band tried to extract it from their own DNA. ‘Slavic Spirits’ is an endeavour to get in touch with the world of a long and brutally llost culture which, due to lack of sources, will never be thoroughly explored.

                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Millie says: EABS continue to impress with their unique jazz sound on the 22a label, paving the way on the nu jazz era.

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                                                                                Cover of Hard Rain by Tenderlonious.

                                                                                Tenderlonious

                                                                                Hard Rain

                                                                                22a

                                                                                ’Hard Rain’ follows hot-on-the-heels from the acclaimed Ruby Rushton album ‘Ironside’, but whereas contemporary urban jazz was the focus there, Tender’s solo record marks a return to another of the multifaceted artist’s skills: dope house and beat music that oozes futuristic funk.

                                                                                This sparse but perfectly-populated masterpiece takes inspiration from J Dilla and echoes elements of vintage Blaze, Larry Heard and Carl Craig. Warm and soulful, but also spacious and clean, Tender extracts maximum flavour out of just a few ingredients.

                                                                                “Casey Jr.” kicks proceedings off with a neck-snapping bass heavy p-funk
                                                                                monster, like Slum Village or Platinum Pied Pipers by way of Surrey and
                                                                                onwards to south London. Real electro laced cosmic jazz funk keys and techno hi hats coalesce exquisitely on “Buffalo Gurl”, whilst the breathtakingly deep. ‘Hard Rain’ sounds both current and classic. “Low Tide” is an ambient jazz interlude that clears the palate, before “Another State Of Consciousness” trips the light on a kaleidoscopic discoball of pure synth ecstasy. Bumpy and blunted, the break-fuelled flute ride of “Aesop Thought” and LA style abstractscience of “Workin’ Me Out” shine a new light on trip hop, before the album closes with the smouldering, emotive brooder “Almost Time”.

                                                                                After a long studio hiatus, this is a sign of good things to come from Tenderlonious and the 22a camp!


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Peckham rises once again as the 22a firm display some more sonic wares from their locale. Tenderlonious at the controls for a mellow, smoked-out modern jazz / electronics composition.

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                                                                                Cover of The Lonely Machine by John Shima.

                                                                                John Shima

                                                                                The Lonely Machine

                                                                                Firescope

                                                                                Hailing from the heartland of British techno, Sheffield’s John Shima is one of the leading lights of UK electronics. His beautifully crafted sounds have graced a host of imprints including Distant Worlds, Exalt Records and, of course, FireScope. It is to the latter that Shima returns with his long awaited debut album, "The Lonely Machine".

                                                                                John Shima is a master melody weaver, with this first LP attesting to his deftness of touch. Celestial chords and star gazing synthwork permeate this ten track odyssey. The musical heritage of Shima’s hometown, the elegance, majesty and subtlety of British electronics, is invoked from the needle drop. A range of influences come to the fore in this 2LP. Skirting around the edges of astral ambience and tonal texture are nods to industrial history, the rasp and resonance of rhythms in “Empires”, with the inspiration of Detroit surfacing in the future funk of “Phase Distortion” and “Linear.” Dreamscapes are painted in delicate hues, the fragile movements of “Accepting”, with brooding works adopting thicker basslines and ruffled notes as with “Distrust.” Nevertheless, it is the incandescent brightness of Lonely Machine that truly shines. Radiant pieces of elating electronics, complex and joyful compositions that chime with unbridled hope and open-hearted optimism.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Anyone chatting to me over the counter or seeing me play records will know by now I'm a BIG fan of John Shima. Poised, elegant, delicate nuances pepper all his productions, each one an instantly recognizable, crafted masterpiece. Check you're a fan of RX-101, Reel By Real, Octave One, Radioactive Man etc. Wrought iron sonics, galvanized in Sheffield 4 our listening pleasure!

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                                                                                Cover of Texas Terrortech Volume. 1 by Textasy.

                                                                                Textasy

                                                                                Texas Terrortech Volume. 1

                                                                                FTP / Natural Sciences

                                                                                A joint release between Natural Sciences and FTP, "Texas Terrortech Volume 1" is a combination of hyper-frenetic futurism with the gritty global sound of the streets, wherever it comes from. It's the pop music on the radio, combining that with innately adaptable, yet eminently absorbable form which evolved in these different little things, all compatible, yet closely related. When they are decoded from the genome of our global musical collective, their inter-relatedness becomes even more clear, and a new perspective can be gained.

                                                                                The internet made everything smaller. It turned the territory into the map, destroying the physical borders between geography and genres, reducing it into digital code, breaking it into bite-sized bits. This is the sound of the phuture digesting the people.

                                                                                This is the sound of the global underground.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Top release here by Natural Sciences and its, erm, 'natural' posterboy - Textasy. Forging a co-dependent relationship, both labels and artist seem intent on delivering the mutant hybrids of dance music's sordid history in fresh new form and flavours. This could be the Texan maverick's magnum opus! Do check it out if you're keen on wrecking the dance.

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                Ltd LP Info: *Limited copies include free C-90 style mixtape from Textasy!*

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                                                                                Cover of Return To Telepathic Heights by A Sagittariun.

                                                                                A Sagittariun

                                                                                Return To Telepathic Heights

                                                                                Running Back Incantations

                                                                                A Sagittariun’s third album chronicles the journey back to Telepathic Heights; an expedition that encounters many obstacles along the way. The feuding parties of the two planets make for a journey of determination and self-discovery for our techno lone ranger that will ultimately deliver him to the sacred site on which Telepathic Heights stands.
                                                                                Conceived as a space western soundtrack to the cinematic interpretation of this tale, "Return To Telepathic Heights" delivers ten chapters that journal the ultimate mission to reach the imposing tower of Telepathic Heights, where dream telepathy has become the primary communicative tool amongst its peaceful and harmonious community who have opted out of the planetary war that continues to rage, seemingly with no armistice anytime soon.
                                                                                The score fittingly winds its way through the trials and tribulations of this journey, blending minimal and harmonic rhythms, industrial funk, dreamy synthwave and transcendental techno into the rich tapestry of music that documents the Return To Telepathic Heights.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Patrick says: If you're one of the few lucky customers who bagged a Space Dimension Controller LP a couple of weeks back, or one of the many customers bearing a grudge, you should check this beauty from A Sagittariun out. Not only do you get plenty of bass synth squiggle, percussive snap and icy leadlines from this floor filling set, you also get the bona fide E-funk smash "Lazer Battle At The OK Coral".

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                                                                                Cover of Dusk To Dawn Part III by Mr. Tophat.

                                                                                Mr. Tophat

                                                                                Dusk To Dawn Part III

                                                                                Twilight Enterprise

                                                                                Swedish producer Rudolf Nordström aka Mr. Tophat's debut album “Dusk to Dawn”, a three LP dark-disco odyssey that features live instrumentation from some of Sweden’s finest classical musicians (Mats Bergström, Per-Erik Adamsson) as well as appearances from his friends and collaborators Robyn, Axel Boman and Kleerup. “Dusk to Dawn” is an epic collection of underground disco and house tracks, synthesising Western classical with contemporary club music. It’s an album that rewards multiple listens, a sprawling, ecstatic climb to the sublime, layered and full. It’s an album that pushes out into new uncharted territories.

                                                                                To capture the sublime on "Dusk to Dawn" Mr. Tophat brought Sweden’s finest classical musicians into the studio. At the same time, some of the 25 tracks on the record are pure synth driven trance, while “Balearic Moonwalk feat. Kleerup” is on a pop-house tip. The result juxtaposes experimental textures with pure rhythmic momentum. On LP highlight "Hedonism" he collaborates again with Robyn (having first worked together on the "Trust Me" EP in 2017).

                                                                                Mr. Tophat was an avid clubber as a teen, way before making his name as a cult DJ; 'everything started when my childhood friend Kalle and I first visited Berghain. It was 2008 and we were 18 years old. We had found each other being two individualists with our own nerdy interests. Together we plunged into them, Kalle in hairstyling, me in electronic dance music, computer games and cyber-punk. With borrowed fake ID’s, platform shoes, blue-dyed hair and like our idols from 'Party Monster' we overdressed and started raving in the forests and clubbing in the city of Stockholm. Berlin and Berghain became a place we went and visited almost once a month during a two year period. Ever since those days I’ve always loved and felt a big passion for the rave and club scene. As a space where you can freak out, be yourself, queer and believe in hedonism. It shall and should be about freedom. I guess that’s why the scene and the music attracted me.'

                                                                                The hours from “Dusk to Dawn” signify a time when you can cast off your inhibitions and be free for Tophat. 'The history reminds me of why I’m even creating music, about my past, my feeling of techno-punk, then and now and everything in-between which has been of significance to this album and my artistry'. It’s this refusal to conform, working in tandem with his sonic perfectionism that makes “Dusk to Dawn” such a compelling, neo-romantic soundscape, a free-associating moon-walk through time and space. Thinking back to the time in Ibiza, Mr. Tophat remembers 'the turquoise sky and the coloured sea in peach were faded together into a seamless vision, the horizon was impossible to navigate; meanwhile the bright dusk was filled with hate, darkness and mayhem. Nature - so simple, but still so complex.' “Dusk to Dawn” tells the tale of those nights.


                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Matt says: Me and Barry both been feeling this. For me it recalls the delicate, ethereal brilliance of Moritz Von Oswald Trio or Carl Craig and Moritz' "Deutsche Grammophon" reworkings. Mr. Tophat issuing an incredibly mature and detailed LP that belies his still young age. Top marks.

                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                2xLP Info: Part III.

                                                                                3xCD Info: Part I-III.

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                                                                                Cover of An Obelisk by Titus Andronicus.

                                                                                Titus Andronicus

                                                                                An Obelisk

                                                                                Merge Records

                                                                                  Obelisk is the sixth album from Titus Andronicus, which finds the band under stewardship of producer and legendary rocker Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar). This trans-generational meeting of the minds has yielded the most immediate and unadorned Titus Andronicus record to date. Clocking in at 38 minutes, it is also the shortest. Recorded over six days at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, An Obelisk presents the sound of Titus Andronicus, rock band, at its most irreducible, as monolithic as the album’s titular monument.

                                                                                  Titus Andronicus is led by singer-songwriter Patrick Stickles, now flanked by longtime guitarist Liam Betson and the indomitable rhythm section of R.J. Gordon on bass and Chris Wilson on drums. An Obelisk is the first record to showcase this lineup from tip to tail, each track bearing distinctive fingerprints of each musician, their particular chemistry honed through extensive touring and rigorous rehearsals. Excepting the background vocals of Ralph Darden (Ted Leo and the Pharmacists), no outside musicians were utilized, leaving ample room for the pummeling drums and slashing guitars to thrive under the notoriously economical hand of Mould. “Bob Mould is quite the role model to a guy like me,” Stickles confesses. “He has conducted his 40-year career with a remarkable level of integrity and loyalty to his own internal compass. He has often zigged when he was expected to zag, but the consistent excellence of his output has earned him the unconditional trust of his audience. What more could you want than that? What better way, for a guy like me, to learn to actualize such a vision than to get into the man’s workplace and do as he tells me to do?”

                                                                                  Tempting as it may be to label An Obelisk a “back to basics” effort, this is not a return to the band’s roots—this is an excavation of the dirt beneath those roots. An Obelisk also functions as a companion to A Productive Cough. Together, these records present a panoramic view of Titus Andronicus’ musical interests. An Obelisk has all the trappings of a classic punk album, though, to hear Stickles tell it, it is moreso an album about punk. “In a universe devoid of higher meaning, it is our responsibility to impose our own meaning upon it and to afford others the space to do the same. The true ‘punk’ must be constantly assessing and reassessing their own values and belief systems, lest they fall into the trap of merely pulling their identity off of the rack, in the manner of the snobs and meatheads they claim to oppose.” “The way in which an obelisk narrows as it reaches skyward reminds me of the way in which our system seems to consolidate power onto a smaller and smaller base over time,” Stickles concludes. “Whenever, wherever the sun shines, an obelisk casts a long shadow—An Obelisk is the story of one individual’s attempt to find a place for himself in that darkness.” 

                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                  Barry says: Mixing the rawkous, booze-addled punk drawl of the Pogues with more modern distortion and dynamic activity was never going to be an easy task, but with legendary musician and producer Bob Mould at the helm, it was never going to be anything but exceptional. Heavy but reassuringly sludgy, 'An Obelisk' is a superb mix of all the influences that make modern punk so great. Top stuff.

                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Grey & black vinyl in matte jacket.

                                                                                  Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                  Cover of No Man’s Sky by 65daysofstatic.

                                                                                  65daysofstatic

                                                                                  No Man’s Sky

                                                                                  Laced

                                                                                    Laced Records have teamed up with 65daysofstatic and Hello Games to bring you No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe across digital, CD and vinyl formats. After the track ‘Debutante’ accompanied the first reveal of No Man’s Sky in 2013, the band spent over a year composing original music for the game’s soundtrack. No Man’s Sky’s procedurally generated universe is unlike anything yet seen in the gaming world, and 65daysofstatic’s sonic assault is equally ambitious. The release itself comprises 10 tracks of original music, plus a second collection of 6 soundscapes and sound design, an all-encompassing journey of almost two hours. The 6 additional soundscapes are exclusive to the Laced Records release.

                                                                                    No Man’s Sky: Music for an Infinite Universe is equally grand in its ambition, an experimental and overwhelming sonic experience that pushes 65dos into new territory while retaining their innate sense of relentlessness, driving rhythm, and a tune you can hum.


                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                    Barry says: It's been a while, but there really is no more thrilling an experience in the computer gamesphere than jetting through the stars to an unknown destination with the machine gun percussion of 65DOS pumping in your lobes, or cataloguing completely undiscovered subterranean caves with trickling ambient washes and synth swells filling your ears. This soundtrack is a perfect balance of the heft we've come to know from the band and a distillation of their ambient mastery, all in one beautiful double LP. Essential purchase.

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                                                                                    Cover of Keepsake by Hatchie.

                                                                                    Hatchie

                                                                                    Keepsake

                                                                                    Heavenly

                                                                                    For the making of ‘Keepsake’, the Brisbane-bred musician otherwise known as Harriette Pilbeam recorded in a home studio in Melbourne and worked again with John Castle - the producer behind ‘Sugar & Spice’, a 2018 release that prompted Pitchfork to dub Hatchie the “dream-pop idol of tomorrow.” And while the album begins and ends with two massively catchy pop tracks - the brightly defiant ‘Not That Kind’ and the euphoric and epic ‘Keep’ - many songs drift into more emotionally tangled terrain, shedding light on experiences both ephemeral and life-changing.

                                                                                    Throughout ‘Keepsake’, Hatchie’s kaleidoscopic sonic palette draws out distinct moods and tones, continually revealing her depth and imagination as a musician and songwriter. On lead track ‘Without A Blush’, jagged guitar riffs and woozy rhythms meet in a sprawling piece of industrial pop, with Hatchie’s gorgeously airy voice channelling loss and longing, regret and self-doubt.

                                                                                    Another industrial-leaning track, ‘Unwanted Guest’, unfolds in wobbly synth lines and fantastically icy spoken-word vocals, along with lyrics about “being dragged to a party I don’t want to be at, then getting at a fight at the party, and kind of hating myself for it but hating everybody else too.” Meanwhile, on ‘Her Own Heart’, Hatchie presents a radiant jangle-pop gem that puts a singular twist on the post-breakup narrative. “I’d seen people in my life go through breakups and end up with no idea what to do with themselves,” she says. “I wrote that song from the point of view of a girl who winds up on her own and embraces having to figure out who she is, who doesn’t let her life get turned upside-down like that”.

                                                                                    On ‘Stay With Me’, Hatchie offers up ‘Keepsake’s most utterly rhapsodic track, all incandescent synth and unstoppable rhythm. “At first I thought I could never put that on my album - it felt too dancey and pop, and I figured it could really shine on someone else’s record,” she says. “But then I realized: I’m the one dictating what my sound is; what I put on my album is up to me.”

                                                                                    That self-possessed spirit infuses all of ‘Keepsake’, which ultimately serves as a document of a particularly kinetic moment in Hatchie’s life. “I’m not much of a nostalgic person when it comes to memories, but I do have a tendency to hold on to certain things, like tickets from the first time I went someplace on holiday,” says Hatchie in reflecting on the album’s title. “It made sense to me to call the record that, at a time when I’m going to probably end up with a lot of keepsakes - and in a way, this whole album is almost like a keepsake in itself.”

                                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                    Andy says: Shoegaze goes pop and it's a total joy. Great songs.

                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                    Coloured LP Info: LP pressed on clear vinyl with digital download code.

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                                                                                    Cover of Black Pumas by Black Pumas.

                                                                                    Black Pumas

                                                                                    Black Pumas

                                                                                    ATO

                                                                                      Sometimes, a mystical, life-changing connection can be closer than you think. In 2017, Grammy Award-winning guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada had recorded some instrumentals in his Austin studio, and he started looking around for a vocalist—he knew a lot of singers, but he wanted something different. He reached out to friends in Los Angeles, in London, but nothing seemed right. Meantime, Eric Burton had recently made his way to Texas. Born in the San Fernando Valley, he grew up in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He started busking at the Santa Monica pier, where he brought in a few hundred dollars a day and developed his performance skills. Burton traveled through the Western states before deciding to settle down in Austin—setting up his busking spot on a downtown street corner, at 6 th Street and Congress, for maximum exposure.

                                                                                      A mutual friend mentioned Burton to Quesada, saying that he was the best singer he had ever heard. The two musicians connected, but Burton took a while to respond (“My friends were like ‘Dude, you’re an idiot, you need to hit that guy back!’ “) Finally, he called Quesada, and started singing to one of the tracks over the phone. “I loved his energy, his vibe, and I knew it would be incredible on record,” he says. “From the moment I heard him on the phone, I was all about it.” The results of that inauspicious beginning can now be heard on the self-titled debut album from Black Pumas, the group that Quesada and Burton assembled, which has become one of the year’s most anticipated projects. Described as “Wu-Tang Clan meets James Brown” by KCRW, Black Pumas were the winner of Best New Band at the 2019 Austin Music Awards.

                                                                                      Quesada has a storied reputation from playing in bands like Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, accompanying artists from Prince to Daniel Johnston, and producing such acclaimed projects as 2018’s Look At My Soul: The Latin Shade Of Texas Soul. For the tracks that kicked off this project, though, he had a different direction in mind. “I was looking for somebody with their own identity,” says Quesada, “who liked Neil Young as much as Sam Cooke.” Burton’s taste, range, and experience proved to be exactly what Quesada was seeking. “We just take to the same kind of music,” he says. “I listen to East Coast hip-hop, old soul music, folk music. When Adrian sent me the songs, it was like I had already heard them before. We were on the same wavelength from the get- go.”

                                                                                      The first day they got together in the studio, they recorded the dusty funk that would become the Black Pumas’ first two singles, “Black Moon Rising” and “Fire.” Quesada had written the music for “Black Moon Rising” on the day of the 2017 solar eclipse, and Burton took that concept and ran with it. “Right away, the hair stood up on the back of my neck,” says Quesada. “I knew, ‘This is it—this is the guy.’ ”

                                                                                      Burton sensed the potential, as well. “When I saw that Adrian played with Prince and had a Grammy,” he says, “that he was a serious, respected artist, I knew that I would do my best not to squander that. If you can do it on the street, for a long time, without making yourself crazy, you can do it with a guy who’s won a Grammy.”

                                                                                      The duo also knew that they didn’t want their sound to be too retro or imitative. “We didn’t want to just do throwback soul and pretend that hip-hop never happened,” says Quesada, nothing that it was listening to Ghostface Killah that initially triggered him to start writing this material. “It had to feel sincere coming from us. I have a certain aesthetic in the studio, Eric has a voice that evokes a certain era, but I don’t think we reference that too directly.” “Adrian has had the time and the interest to really dive into a specific sound, to recreate something he heard on a Motown record,” adds Burton. “And because of that specific knowledge, he provides an interesting sandbox for me, whose background is in theater, to do something super-unorthodox—to be an art student and play with all the colors I have, but to put it on something that’s more familiar to listeners’ ears.”

                                                                                      With Black Pumas having evolved from an idea to a session to an album, they decided to put a band together and see how this music sounded live. They booked a residency at C Boys (a sister venue to Austin’s famed Continental Club), initially playing every Thursday for a month. “We only rehearsed twice, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into,” says Quesada. “But with the first show, we knew it was unique, special—the chemistry and fire were there immediately. And what Eric could do as a frontman was like nothing I’d ever seen.”

                                                                                      As word got out, the C Boys shows turned into a local phenomenon (“the hottest party in town,” according to the Austin American-Statesman), with lines around the block despite the fact that the band had only released one song. The reaction to the group’s recent South by Southwest appearance helps explain the mania—the Chicago Tribune called Burton’s performance “a whirlwind of movement and gesture,” while Rolling Stone, in naming Black Pumas “One Of The 30 Best Bands We Saw In Austin,” wrote that “the hometown six-piece’s grooves were funky in a thick, viscous way, oozing out in ambitious jams that wandered into heady territory without meandering” and praising Burton’s “tireless, charismatic energy.”

                                                                                      The other, unexpected result of the C Boys residency was that Burton presented more of his own songs to help fill out the set, which led Black Pumas into new territory. “Eric had all these other songs based on other styles, going back into what he was doing when he was busking,” says Quesada. “It was a real spark that we could huddle around him and his songs, too, and get a real sense of what our sound was.”

                                                                                      In fact, the final song recorded for Black Pumas was “October 33,” a tense, pleading ballad by Burton. “I didn’t feel like we had the right last song,” says Quesada, “we needed something with more of Eric on guitar. I said ‘I want to put down one more, do you have anything?’ and he texted me back exactly what I was imagining—it was almost unspoken.”

                                                                                      Quesada and Burton both return, over and over, to this almost mystical connection they felt from the beginning. It’s this sense of common purpose, of shared vision, that gives Black Pumas its focus and power—and that points to great things ahead.

                                                                                      “It’s so seamless, it’s like we’re musical brothers to some degree,” says Burton. “It feels so easy to meld together that what’s most important for us now is to continue to look for new sounds—to make sure we’re feeding ourselves the knowledge to continue to evolve. Every time we get together, it’s better than the last time.”

                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                      Barry says: A beautiful groove-led juxtaposition of classic soul and simmering low-key funk, brimming with tenderly plucked guitars and phased Wurlis, all working their way around the momentum-filled majesty of Burton's perfectly fitting vocals. Stunning stuff.

                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                      Cover of False Alarm by Two Door Cinema Club.

                                                                                      Two Door Cinema Club

                                                                                      False Alarm

                                                                                      Prolifica Inc

                                                                                        The band’s first album to be released in full collaboration with Prolifica Inc, ‘False Alarm’ finds three piece Two Door Cinema Club gloriously unshackled and creatively at the peak of their game.

                                                                                        Across its ten tracks, ‘False Alarm’ wryly scans and satirizes the social and environmental woes of 2019 through the prism of wonderfully off-kilter pop, simultaneously borrowing from and warping elements of future pop, disco, rock, funk and soul.

                                                                                        “I love the pop thing,” frontman Alex Trimble explains. “I love experimenting and going to different places, I love doing things that are a little bit wonky and I love the idea of doing something we haven’t done before, why can’t we do all of those things at once? That’s what it was, doing whatever felt right… It sounds like Two Door Cinema Club - not a Two Door Cinema Club there’d ever been before but that’s what I love. We can always do something new but it always feels like something we’ve done.”

                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                        Barry says: Channelling the spirit of 80's synthpop, mixed with rawkous party rock, Two Door Cinema Club have crafted a catchy and meticulously produced slab of pop perfection.

                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                        Coloured LP Info: LP pressed on blue coloured vinyl with digital download code.

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                                                                                        Cover of The Magical Record Of Blue Orchids by Blue Orchids.

                                                                                        Blue Orchids

                                                                                        The Magical Record Of Blue Orchids

                                                                                        Tiny Global Productions

                                                                                          While recording of last year’s “Righteous Harmony Fist”, Blue Orchids messed about with a few covers of insanely obscure low-fi garage / psych tunes. The influence of drug-addled oddities from the previous generation’s underground has been apparent in the work of Martin Bramah since the start of The Fall, due in part to the influence of the real-life subject of “No Xmas For John Quays”, whose record collection was so packed with US garage classics that the song about him was borne of a sort of jealousy on Mark E. Smith’s part - with a collection like that, every day’s Christmas!

                                                                                          Few casual aficionados of rock music will know more than a song or two from this set - the likes of The Penny Saints and The Aardvarks and their kin not exactly being household names. In fact, of the seven ‘60s acts with songs covered here, none lasted more than a handful of singles. Complementing those songs are covers of songs by two more recent groups. The swirling keyboards of The Growlers’ Pavement And The Boot is distilled back to its fundamental garage essence, while Crystal Stilts’ two-minute original, Love Is A Wave, is slowed down and channelled back to the melodic pop wonder lingering beneath its Reid brothers buzzsaw and pays respect to the band, who’d themselves covered Blue Orchids’ Low Profile a few years back.

                                                                                          Of special interest will be Addicted To The Day, the album’s key song, the words for which were recently found in a 1977 notebook of Bramah’s which at Mark E. Smith had borrowed and then scribbled down the ‘poem’ in thanks, to which Bramah added music. The haunting lines, “How could I have suspected my abysmal future / A doom which has haunted me / And turned me into a wreck and a parody”, are the centrepiece of the album, a concept compiled of bits and pieces of esoteric tunes, telling a tale of Faustian doom in a pact with forces of evil.

                                                                                          The Magical Record Of Blue Orchids is released in a strictly limited edition while the band works on their next album of originals. 

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Barry says: 'The Magical Record...' is indeed magical, holding some of the most stylistically varied and texturally interesting pieces in the Blue Orchids considerable back catalogue. Dark, brooding covers like 'I'm a Living Sickness' mix perfectly with the more upbeat offerings, showing the true talents of a band who can turn their hand to anything, without any sign of faltering. Lovely stuff.

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                                                                                          Cover of Bird Songs Of A Killjoy by Bedouine.

                                                                                          Bedouine

                                                                                          Bird Songs Of A Killjoy

                                                                                          Spacebomb

                                                                                          When you listen to the love songs of LA-based Bedouine, you will be reminded of Karen Dalton’s world-wise voice or the breathy seduction of Minnie Riperton's vocals, the easy cool of French ye-ye singers, and the poetry of Joan Baez. Her folk is nomadic, wandering across time and space, and on the likes of new song “Dizzy” meander into danceable jams.

                                                                                          On first discovery you may ask whether they're dated to 2019, or whether you've uncovered some forgotten classic. It makes sense that singer-songwriter Azniv Korkejian's arrival – both musically and personally – on her second record has been influenced by her own wanderlust, displacement, and curiosity. “It's called Bird Songs of a Killjoy, and I'm the killjoy,” she smirks over the phone from Sonoma, California. Azniv is based in LA, but is often travelling for the sake of musical inspiration.

                                                                                          Her album title is something she's still trying to decipher. “I'm figuring it out,” she says.

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Andy says: Lovely, mellow, West Coast folk from Matthew E. White's impeccable Spacebomb label. Class.

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                                                                                          Cover of Natural Selection by Fruit Tones.

                                                                                          Fruit Tones

                                                                                          Natural Selection

                                                                                          Greenway Records

                                                                                          Fruit Tones is a rock and roll band from Manchester. Nothing artificial - this is the real deal. Real music played by real people for real reasons. No budget. No gimmicks. No nothing. We’re talking one steam-rolling-mondo-garage thud here folks! Stomping drums, choogling guitars, the vocals bite. They’re the kind of guys The Shangri-La’s sing about - true professional amateurs!

                                                                                          Recorded over three freezing cold December days in an old Manchester cotton mill by Samuel Stacpoole (Holiday Ghosts / The Black Tambourines), it’s all here - the sass of The Dolls, the fizz of Four Loco, the Stones-esque looseness, juiced into 14 tracks knocked out in just over 30 minutes.

                                                                                          There’s no lies in there - the rough and ready, impromptu nature of their work serves to let out something raw and primal rather than strive for tech accuracy. True rock & roll takes the mundane and turns it into something exotic, this is what Fruit Tones do well - they don’t pretend you’ve never heard rock & roll music before, they remind you why you need it in your life.

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Matt says: If you're feeling the need for some wholesome, honest rock n roll - with the wind in your hair and the accelerator down hard, then look no further than Fruit Tones - Manchester's latest addition to rock n roll's legacy. These young chaps are quite the musicians, knocking out inspired riffs and solos like it ain't no thing! The vocals are authentic, garage-rock howlers with tons of energy. Yes mate.

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                                                                                          Cover of Fingertracks: Vol1 - Compiled By Lovefingers by Various Artists.

                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                          Fingertracks: Vol1 - Compiled By Lovefingers

                                                                                          ESP Institute

                                                                                          In 2006, the musical landscape was very different; there was no streaming, “shazam" was a word used by magicians, and "all-access” was not granted to the general public. Social media, as we know it, was in its infancy and today’s constant digital feed of interruptions, notifications, refreshes and “likes” didn't yet exist. Those with a thirst for the overlooked regions of the record store had to quench themselves in the climes of the online world's music blogs, and while that digital community was surely expanding, NYC’s www.lovefingers.org was something different. Not a blog but a daily unfolding mix — no opinions, reviews, or backstories were coupled with the music, no full albums or submissions from the outside — it was a mysterious watering hole in the burgeoning digital desert where rogue tracks from Wally Badarou rubbed shoulders with those of Holger Czukay, the drama of Sylvester juxtaposed with the quirkiness of Hosono, and countless other coveted artists’ unearthed gems melted in one pot, a digital space where $1 thrift store scores could easily breathe the same dusty air as cosmic holy grails, oddball psychedelics and proto-electronica b-sides comfortably cohabited with $300 private-press folk rarities. With 1 track per day, Andrew “Lovefingers” Hogge created a truly democratic and educated selection of music for our aural pleasure, and labelled them ‘Fingertracks' (numbered 001-999).

                                                                                          This was before most things we now take for granted were common on our dancefloors, radio shows or live streams. Those ubiquitous Euro Pop dubs, unclassics that aficionados play at the wrong speed, or private gems that have since been reissued to the moon and back? They very probably popped up on our collective radars via the medium of www.lovefingers.org first. Rightfully so, what started as a well-kept secret, became a go-to resource and mark of quality among enthusiasts, diggers, DJs, musicians and producers around the globe — the genre-bending mentality in turn re-coined the term “selector” — and inspired a generation the world over to delve further into record shelves, undoubtably contributing hugely to the wondrous, multi-faceted and open-minded musical language we now all speak fluently. While it remained niche, at its peak, www.lovefingers.org had upwards of 100K music freaks turning up daily, and ignited a global musical dialogue between people that were yet to be connected by today’s social technology. The site received countless letters of appreciation from rural kids with no access to record stores, acclaimed DJs, film directors, fashion houses, forgotten artists who were thrilled to feature among unexpected peers, soldiers who diligently tuned-in direct from their call of duty, even heroes of sample-scavenging culture like Coldcut who applauded, “…it just goes to show, when you think you’ve heard it all, you can always dig deeper.” The community around Lovefingers’ site was a call-to-action, gathering analogous minds and inviting them all to the same party, and on New Years Day 2010, after 999 Fingertracks and a plethora of (now classic) mixes, the site made a final post stating, “That's all folks!” The collective energy pivoted into the ESP Institute, a record label and art platform to champion new artists who emerged from this foundational community and as a catalyst to push the musical dialogue forward. Now, as the ESP Institute approaches its 10-year anniversary, we revisit the significant role www.lovefingers.org played in shaping where we are today.

                                                                                          'Fingertracks Vol : 1' is a snapshot of aural delights that were on offer to those of the leftfield persuasion, all who discovered the site and tuned-in for their daily shot of sonics proper — a lovingly selected handful of records that re-introduce the story of Andrew’s most influential and essential music resource. The track list is classic Lovefingers, an insight into the free-flowing nature of the daily Fingertracks, context-free but connected through creative threads and energies — lo-fi loner jams brush up alongside sleazed-out Italo powerhouses, Greek new age obscurities tussle against overlooked Hawkwind-related cuts — nuggets that may be more known to the heads now, but whose initial excavation can be accredited to Lovefingers’ site, and are essential to its story nonetheless. Rumor has it that this is merely the first volume in a series, so as it turns out, and gladly so, “That’s not all folks!”

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Patrick says: As far as I'm concerned, Fingertracks was the most influential blog..and it didn't have a single bit of journalistic content - just an endless supply of outrageous tunes from all times and genres. Total rarities, DJ favourites and daily discoveries for every head on the planet. In the years since, each of the tracks on this FIRST VOLUME (YES!) has become an algorithm classic, but you've never had them all in one place, from the man who first helped us discover them. This isn't a collector's item or exercise in nostalgia, this is one of the best sonic selections you'll have the pleasure to own.

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                                                                                          Cover of Vidal Benjamin Presents Pop Sympathie by Various Artists.

                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                          Vidal Benjamin Presents Pop Sympathie

                                                                                          Versatile

                                                                                          Any historians keen on the subject of "French youth in the 1980s" are holding a treasure in their hands. As a true archaeologist of this decade dedicated to disposable culture, digger-in-chief Vidal Benjamin with his newest compilation, 'Pop Sympathie', offers them a unique journey in the heart of the cyclone of emotions that struck all teenagers during the first seven years of François Mitterrand's mandate. Fifteen musical nuggets, exhumed from the dungeons of history, each and every one of them teaching us about what really obsessed the youngsters at that exact moment, i.e. what happens when the city lights come on at dusk, when irrepressible urges that stir them to get lost even more appear until the end of the night.

                                                                                          The artists gathered here did not have the honour of breaking into the local charts, but they all individually reached for the sky. Each song of 'Pop Sympathie' tells more or less the same story: that of a girl who throws herself into the night like one immerses one's self into the void, who rushes into a one-night adventure to become a star. And too bad if in the early morning she finds herself back at square one. In all these miniature odysseys there is neon lights, lasers, smoke machines, broken glass on checkered tiles, strangers on leather benches, celebrities in the bathrooms, stolen kisses, alcohol, drugs and cigarettes, Polaroids, venetian blinds and radioactive tubes.

                                                                                          If the first opus of Vidal Benjamin, 'Disco Sympathie', focused on the funky mood of songs that could have been played at Le Palace, then 'Pop Sympathie' develops itself as the imaginary soundtrack of another nightclub, Les Bains-Douches, the capital’s epicenter of nocturnal drifts. So what do we listen to, blasé, at Bains-Douches? Mainly synthesizers. The child of punk and post punk, French New Wave celebrates the matrimony of machines and lolitas under the auspices of a retro trend that revisits the atomic age. Trying to surf on that wave and hit the charts, a bunch of producers (Stéphane Berlow, Laurent Stopnicki, Bernard "Black Devil" Fèvre, Johny Rech, Jean-Yves Joanny ...) will spot their talents amongst friends, in a travel agency or at the local bar. These virtual stars are called Cecilia, Laurent, Sonia, Janou, Fabienne, Anne, Arielle or Ronan, not even 20 years old, and often leaving just an overexposed photo and their first name on a single as the only memories of their swift passage in this particular musical story. It took all the love and sweet madness of Vidal Benjamin to bring them back in the light of day.

                                                                                          Clovis Goux 

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                                                                                          Cover of Under The Influence Vol.7 Compiled By Winston by Various Artists.

                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                          Under The Influence Vol.7 Compiled By Winston

                                                                                          Z Records

                                                                                          The ever-popular "Under The Influence" series continues in earnest. Following on from Red Greg, Paul Phillips, James Glass, Nick The Record, Sean P and Faze Action (phew!), it’s now the turn of one of the scenes most prolific but yet unknown collectors, Winston.

                                                                                          Outside of the established record collectors Winston is pretty much unknown but those that know of him will tell you that despite his low profile he has one of the best record collections around.

                                                                                          Sean P remembers his first trip to Winston’s house in the sleeve notes: 'When I visited his house for the first time, I felt like a beginner - my expectations were far exceeded by the neat rows and piles of 12"s and L.Ps everywhere; and I had brought along a foolscap notebook which after eight hours or so, expanded my wants list considerably. I thumbed through hundreds of weird and mysterious independent and major label releases. Winston played whatever I was interested in hearing, occasionally spinning random 7"s ("Space Funk" by Manzel, for example) and various LP cuts of his choice. I had perused around half of the collection by the time I left, but I'll never forget that kid-in-a-toyshop feeling, along with the realisation of Winston's buddha-like status as a master of this arcane pastime.'

                                                                                          Sean continues: 'Winston is still doing the 'rounds weekly; and since the Hammersmith Black Music Record events of the mid-'80s, he's missed few record fairs, if any - trading with dealers & fellow collectors and parting with cash when necessary. Surprisingly, he has no truck with the internet – somewhat curious to the rest of us who now can't imagine life without it. And as a man with no online presence, knowledge of Winston's existence is restricted to the real world. Some justification, perhaps, for giving this fervent ambassador of all things boogie an opportunity to share some of his favourites beyond those in the know.

                                                                                          So for Volume Seven of the Under The Influence series Winston has included tracks taking in soul, funk, disco & boogie with many of the tracks costing hundreds if you were able to find the originals.'

                                                                                          As always with ZR compilations a lot of time and effort has been spent on creating these masters from the original vinyl, cleaning them up, removing all the clicks and pops resulting in the cleanest sounding copy possible.


                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Matt says: Preaching to the converted I know but the incredible series continues! Volume Seven and losing no steam along the way; if boogie, disco and soul are your bio-fuel, then this should have you up and running in no time at all. Impeccable selection of hits, all legit and licensed - if you were to attempt to seek these tracks out individually it'd take thousands of pounds and hours! Winston does the leg work...

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                                                                                          Cover of Sweet House Chicago by Various Artists.

                                                                                          Various Artists

                                                                                          Sweet House Chicago

                                                                                          Still Music

                                                                                          It’s 1989 in Chicago, House is sweeping the world. Mickey Oliver, radio and club DJ star with the Hot Mix 5 and owner of the (now legendary) Hot Mix 5 Records decides to drop a compilation on M Records, a division of Hot Mix 5 Records he created in 1988.
                                                                                          “Sweet House Chicago” is the result - a perfect snapshot of Chicago in the late Eighties (all the way down to the front cover picture taken at one of Mickey’s gig). It features 8 incredible tracks produced by the who’s who of Chicago House at the time: Dj Pierre, Mickey Oliver, Phortune, Ralphi Rosario and more… The track “I Need A Beat” being an actual Larry Heard production that was made for Mickey Oliver.
                                                                                          So here it is, reissued for the first time by Still Music, on a yellow double LP - Chicago’s House has never been so sweet!

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Matt says: Part of the building blocks of the now global dance culture, these early blueprints from Chicago would go on to influence a whole generation of dancers, DJs and producers. Much like Fleetwood Mac and Chaka Khan are stables of many people's record collections, there's a whole group of music lovers who regard these as house hold essentials. Every home needs one!

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                                                                                          Cover of Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest by Bill Callahan.

                                                                                          Bill Callahan

                                                                                          Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest

                                                                                          Drag City

                                                                                          As you listen to Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest, a feeling of totality, of completeness, steals over you, like a thief in broad daylight. Of course it does – you’re listening to a new Bill Callahan record! The first one in almost six years! What more do you need to complete you?

                                                                                          Or perhaps, after all the time, the obvious needs to be made just a little more explicit?

                                                                                          First, it’s a different kind of record. Bill’s now writing from somewhere beyond his Eagle-Apocalypse-River headspace, and Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest is very much its own beast. The songs are, by and large, shorter, and there are more of them. It took almost all of the previous three albums to add up to that many. Plus, twenty’s a lot of songs! But again, it goes a lot deeper than that.

                                                                                          After Dream River, Bill’s life went through some changes. Good changes – marriage and a kid - but afterwards, it was suddenly harder for him to find the place where the songs came, to make him and these new experiences over again into something to sing. His songs have always been elusive, landing lightly between character study and autobiography, as the singer-songwriter often does. This felt different, though. After 20 years of putting music first, he wasn’t prepared to go away from it completely. Or was he? The lives of a newlywed, a new parent, they have so much in them – but writing and singing, it was his old friend that had helped him along to this place where he’d so happily arrived. Was there room for everybody? While sorting it all out, he worked on songs every day – which meant that for a while, there were lots of days simply confronting the void, as he measured this new life against the ones he’d previously known.

                                                                                          It informed the shape of the album. Moving gradually from reflections upon the old days in “Ballad of The Hulk” and “Young Icarus” to the immediacy of the present moment in “Watching Me Get Married” and “Son of the Sea”, Bill traces the different life lines, casually unwinding knotty contradictions and ambiguities with an arresting stillness. The sense of a life thunderstruck by change infuses Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest– the songs wander from expressions of newfound joy and great contentment to other snapshots, considerations of the not-joy that we all know. Unsettling dream-images and mythic recollections are patiently received; the undertow of the past is resisted, pulling against it instead into the present, accepting revolutions of time and the unconscious as a natural flow.

                                                                                          These transcendent expressions are wedded translucently to the music. Acknowledging the uncertainty in which the songs were assembled, Bill went to the studio alone, unsure if he could find what he was looking for with a band riding along – because who knew how long it would take? This allowed the fluidity of his song-thoughts to be laid down with the right feeling. Once there was guitar and vocals, the other parts came. Matt Kinsey’s guitar partnership is an essential relationship within the music, as is Brian Beattie’s acoustic bass – but also, Bill found himself overdubbing parts himself for the first time in many years, which lent the songs an episodic drift, as if he’s passing through rooms while singing.

                                                                                          In it’s final mix, Shepherd In a Sheepskin Vest glows incandescent – an entirely acoustic arrangement, sounds and stories shifting seamlessly, almost like one big song made of a bunch of new stories – the kind that only Bill Callahan thinks to sing.

                                                                                          It’s a joy to hear from this old friend – informing all the lives that we’ve led in the hearing. Good listeners and tired dancers, sing along.

                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                          Barry says: Say what you will about Bill, but he sure knows how to keep writing the tunes doesn't he? A beautiful mix of brittle jazzy progressions, flickering percussion and swooning syncopated (but never jarring) melodic counterpoint show exactly why big Billy is still so present in our record collections and our hearts.

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                                                                                          Cover of Satis Factory by Mattiel.

                                                                                          Mattiel

                                                                                          Satis Factory

                                                                                          Heavenly

                                                                                            Having initially met in 2014, the process of recording Satis Factory was built upon the success of Swilley and Mattiel Brown’s time working together on their debut album. It’s a team that just works. “Jonah is a great songwriter and he’ll put a structure together and send it to me through an email, and then I’ll listen to it pretty much right away,” Mattiel explains. “And then we’ll restructure it if we need to and I’ll write a melody and lyrics to it and eventually record it.”

                                                                                            Where the first record was confident, this second release is even more so. This is probably down to the chemistry between them; they seem in awe of each other. “Some of Mattiel’s best lyrical writing is effortless,” Jonah says. “She’s thoughtful with what she wants to say as an artist, but also understands pop sensibilities.”

                                                                                            Despite Satis Factory being recorded in exactly the same way, with exactly the same team behind Mattiel’s debut, the sound is noticeably different. Jonah explained that he “had a musical objective to try new sounds and ways of recording” to Mattiel’s first record but still “keeping lo-fi elements” to the new one. “We started working on Mattiel’s first record with a dusty, cinematic, and garage rock feel to the music,” he explains. “Satis Factory has more stylistic diversity with the musical compositions and an increased level of intensity.” 

                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                            Barry says: Mattiel is an artist that we particularly love here at Piccadilly. I remember all of us being floored not only at the quality of her writing, stunning production and ear for a tune but thoroughly impressed at the way she rides a horse (see cover for debut album). 'Satis Factory' is every bit the incredible follow-up, and as deserving of your attention as ever. Absolutely brilliant.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Neon yellow vinyl.

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                                                                                            Cover of Years To Burn by Calexico And Iron & Wine.

                                                                                            Calexico And Iron & Wine

                                                                                            Years To Burn

                                                                                            City Slang

                                                                                            Calexico and Iron & Wine first made an artistic connection with In the Reins, the 2005 EP that brought Sam Beam, Joey Burns and John Convertino together. The acclaimed collaboration introduced both acts to wider audiences and broadened Beam’s artistic horizons, but it was the shared experience of touring together in the tradition of Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” that cemented the bond. Their metaphorical roads diverged in the years that followed, but they kept in touch and cross-pollinated where they could. Although they often talked about rekindling their collaboration in the studio and on stage, it wasn’t until last year that their schedules aligned.

                                                                                            Years to Burn can’t help but be different from In the Reins. Back then, Calexico entered the studio with a long list of previous collaborations (first in Giant Sand, then backing the likes of Victoria Williams and Richard Buckner) and the knowledge that they loved Sam’s voice and his songs, but wondered if his material was so complete and self-contained that it lacked a way in, so hushed and delicate that it might be overwhelmed. For his part, Beam had been intimidated by their virtuosic playing and their deep comfort in an encyclopedic array of styles. “In my mind, I was a guy who knew three chords and recorded in a closet,” Sam says. “They were playing big stages and were superb musicians.”

                                                                                            Those fears were dispelled quickly. Calexico was bowled over by Beam’s many talents: “The arranging, the writing, his sense of rhythm, the quality of his vocals—and then there’s the experimental side of Sam,” Joey says. “They were the perfect band at the perfect time for me,” Sam adds. “I loved all their different sounds. They’re musical anthropologists, not regurgitating but absorbing what they discover.” Nearly 15 years on, “coming back to the project has to do with acknowledging how much impact the first record had for me in my life.”

                                                                                            Years to Burn was recorded in Nashville with noted producer Matt Ross-Spang over the course of five days at Sound Emporium, a fabled studio founded in the sixties by Cowboy Jack Clement and the site of countless landmark sessions in country and rock over the ensuing decades. It features contributions from veteran Calexico trumpet player Jacob Valenzuela and Paul Niehaus on pedal steel, along with frequent Beam cohorts Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio) on piano and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple) on bass.

                                                                                            Years to Burn features ten new original compositions. While Beam wrote all the songs for In the Reins, this recording features contributions from both Beam and Burns as well as from Convertino and those featured on the record. While the two may have taken differing approaches to songwriting, the spirit of collaboration was alive and well in the studio; Sam shared demos ahead of time and was ready for the others to con-tribute with arrangement ideas and instrumental parts, while Joey spontaneous as ev-er, came in with concepts and an eagerness to improvise.

                                                                                            “Life is hard. Awesome. And scary as shit. But it can lift you up if you let it,” Sam offers. “These are the things Joey and I write about now. And the title can encapsulate a lot of things. ‘Years to Burn’ could mean you’re cocky, you’ve got it made. Or, our life is ours to burn, to be inspired. Or you’re burned by life, brutalized. It’s an ambiguous title, because life is complicated. Let’s not talk like teenagers about love, desire, pain, ‘cause we’re not teenagers. And that’s not a bad thing.”

                                                                                            “This project had to find the right time,” Joey concludes. “We’re all different people than we were in 2004, and music helps to bridge some of the gaps. For all the things going on in our world and in each of our lives, this connection, this friendship, this love that we have—this album is a vehicle for that bond. It’s a chance to see where we’re at, take stock and be there for our friends.”


                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                            Barry says: There couldn't really be any more of a dream pairing than Calexico and Iron & Wine, with both artists firmly rooted in the upper echelons of indie folk royalty, and both complimenting the others style perfectly. Swooning slide guitars and skilfully plucked acoustic form into a shimmering cascade of instrumental bliss beneath the contrasting vocals of Beam & Valenzuela.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Limited edition turquoise 180 gram vinyl.

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                                                                                            Cover of The Book Of Traps And Lessons by Kate Tempest.

                                                                                            Kate Tempest

                                                                                            The Book Of Traps And Lessons

                                                                                            Fiction

                                                                                            Kate Tempest's third studio album, "The Book of Traps and Lessons". The highly anticipated album was crafted with Rick Rubin and Dan Carey over the course of the past five years. It follows Tempest’s previous releases, 2014’s "Everybody Down" and 2017’s "Let Them Eat Chaos", both of which were shortlisted for Mercury Prize in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Last year, Kate Tempest was nominated at The BRIT Awards for Best Female Solo Performer.

                                                                                            A handful of words often tell you everything you need to know. When asked, who is Kate Tempest? She gives a brief, albeit telling answer. “Kate Tempest is the words,” she responds. You haven’t ever seen, heard, or experienced anyone quite like her. Tempest uncovers the missing link between the Golden Ages of literature and hip-hop. The London-born BRIT Award-nominated spoken word artist, rapper, poet, novelist, and playwright rhymes with a century-turning fury. Since her emergence in 2011, she has redefined what it means to be a wordsmith in the Modern Age. To date, she has published three poetry collections, staged three plays, and released two studio albums. Along the way, she entranced audiences on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, NPR’s “Tiny Desk,” and more. Not to mention, she garnered widespread critical acclaim from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Forbes, and more, to name a few. In the midst of this whirlwind journey, she performed a passage of her popular 75-minute narrative poem, Brand New Ancients, on Charlie Rose. Legendary producer and American Recordings Founder Rick Rubin caught the show, tracked down her phone number, and made a call.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            Ltd LP Info: Single sleeve, wide spine, 16 page booklet.

                                                                                            Deluxe CD Info: Hardback, 32 page booklet, bespoke finish.

                                                                                            CD Info: Mintpack and 16 page booklet.

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                                                                                            Cover of Baltic Beat II by Bartosz Kruczynski.

                                                                                            Bartosz Kruczynski

                                                                                            Baltic Beat II

                                                                                            Growing Bin

                                                                                            Birdsong and bright mornings announce the arrival of spring, and Growing Bin celebrate the season of rebirth with the return of a hardy perennial. In the three years since he introduced the world to his "Baltic Beat", Bartos Kruczynski has traded dub techno, Berlin electronics and jazzy Balearic on a string of highly regarded labels. Now the Polish musician is back in the Growing Bin, ready to take us on another audio adventure through the meadows and forests of his native land.

                                                                                            Vivid LP opener ‘Pastoral Sequences’ leads us down the garden path, around the lakeside and across the train tracks, striking a cinematic tone as gentle piano and subdued synth tones drift around natural field recordings. Dip a toe in the stream and feel the breeze between your fingers as you stroll towards the Balearic brilliance of ‘In the Garden’, a carefree cooler built on a subtle bossa rhythm, serene chords and chiming mallets. Bartosz reprises the aquatic grandeur of his first Baltic Beat on the immersive ‘Petals’, a selected ambient work where Tangerine pads underpin interlocking electronics and stately keys. Guitars ring out, Reich’s mallets ripple and well tempered piano drift over a thick sequence as ‘Voices’ propels us to the halfway point with soft power.

                                                                                            The B-side opens with the delicate hypnotism of ‘If You Go Down In The Woods Today’, a modern minimalist masterpiece alive with circular mallets and sultry woodwind, before ‘The Orchard’ paints an impressionistic vignette from the same palette. Shifting focus but not feeling Kruczynski takes us home ‘Along The Sun Drenched Road’ in two stages; the first a gorgeous combination of the acoustic and electronic where hints of dub techno sit beneath languid piano notes, the second an eastern tinged reprise of the album’s opening and a welcome return home before the storm breaks.

                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                            Patrick says: Bartosz is back in the Bin, taking a break from his ace techno tackle to deliver an evocative and immersive set of sundappled sketches for Hamburg's finest label. Drawing influence from Reich & Glass, Froese & Schulze and a wealth of natural beauties, Kruczynski covers his canvas with bright Balearic brilliance.

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                                                                                            Cover of The End Of Radio by Shellac.

                                                                                            Shellac

                                                                                            The End Of Radio

                                                                                            Touch And Go Records

                                                                                            Both the 2LP and the 2CD version are packaged in a top-load single pocket wide-spine jacket with two printed inner sleeves.

                                                                                            Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LP was mastered by Chicago Mastering Service. The vinyl is manufactured at RTI in Camarillo, CA. The pressings are 180 gram audiophile quality.

                                                                                            Other than the informational sheet you hold in your hand (or virtual hand), this record will have no formal promotion. There will be no advertisements, no press or radio promotion, no promotional or review copies, no promotional gimmick items, and otherwise no free lunch. Photos of the band are available. And the band is available for email or telephone interviews.

                                                                                            The band will continue to play shows or tour at the same sporadic and relaxed pace as always. There is no correlation between shows and record releases.

                                                                                            The Band: Steve Albini / Guitar, Todd Trainier / Drums, Bob Weston / Bass.

                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                            Barry says: There's not much to say about Shellac that you won't already know, but it's safe to say that hearing a band this legendary in top form, for the late great John Peel is enough of a draw. It's an incendiary and mindblowing set, comprised of some of their most recognisable pieces. Recorded perfectly, and performed as if you were there. Essential purchase.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            2xLP Info: 2LP is on 180g vinyl and includes a CD of the full album.

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                                                                                            Cover of Western Stars by Bruce Springsteen.

                                                                                            Bruce Springsteen

                                                                                            Western Stars

                                                                                            Columbia

                                                                                              Bruce Springsteen’s first new studio album in five years takes his music to a new place, drawing inspiration in part from the Southern California pop records of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. The album was recorded primarily at Springsteen’s home studio in New Jersey with additional recording in California and New York. Columbia Records will release Springsteen’s 19th studio album on 14th June.

                                                                                              “This record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements," says Springsteen. "It's a jewel box of a record."

                                                                                              The 13 tracks on ‘Western Stars’ encompass a sweeping range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope.

                                                                                              Ron Aniello produced the album with Springsteen and plays bass, keyboard, and other instruments. Patti Scialfa provides vocals and contributes vocal arrangements on four tracks. The musical arrangements include strings, horns, pedal steel and contributions from more than 20 other players including Jon Brion (who plays celeste, Moog and farfisa), as well as guest appearances by David Sancious, Charlie Giordano and Soozie Tyrell. The album was mixed by 13-time Grammy winner Tom Elmhirst. 


                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              Barry says: There are few artists that can keep doing their thing year after year and smashing it every time. The Boss is clearly one of those people as the most recent outing shows Bruce in fine form, flitting perfectly between the southern country rock and hands-in-the-air balladry we've come to know and love. Classic Bruce.

                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Limited edition on blue smoke vinyl.

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                                                                                              Cover of Final Transmission by Cave In.

                                                                                              Cave In

                                                                                              Final Transmission

                                                                                              Hydrahead

                                                                                                Cave In's sixth album, and the first since bassist Caleb Scofield died in March 2018. Originally intended as demos, Final Transmission marks the first Cave In album in eight years and the bands last with Caleb, who performs on all of the songs. Caleb's voice, musical and physical, are everywhere on Final Transmission. The opening title track is a voice memo of a song idea he sent to his bandmates the last time they saw each other. All proceeds from Final Transmission will be given to Caleb's wife and children.

                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                Barry says: I remember listening with absolute awe at 'Beyond Hypothermia' and 'Until Your Heart Stops' in the dying minutes of the 90's and being equally blown away with their more space-rock orientated diversion on Jupiter and beyond, but this (as well as being a stunning tribute) is the peak of their influences and drive distilled into one stunning package. Absolute peak Cave-In.

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                                                                                                Cover of The Cell by David Allred.

                                                                                                David Allred

                                                                                                The Cell

                                                                                                Erased Tapes

                                                                                                  Meant as a companion piece to The Transition, The Cell picks up where The Transition left off, with David continuing the search to find his place in the world. “The Cell is about warmly acknowledging the darkness in our individual lives as a strategic method of gaining a deeper understanding of how to move forward in a vastly dissonant world with optimism, harmony and light.”

                                                                                                  Opening with the title track, The Cell immediately draws us into David’s unique world of storytelling, displaying his peculiar skill of weaving feelings and characters with wandering melodies. The five-minute opener peaks with David’s emotional falsetto repeating “In the mind”, acting as an alarm call for himself and his surroundings. Lead track Nature’s Course finds David delving deeper into existential questions about the human condition and its relation to nature, set to a gentle, melancholy piano ballad.

                                                                                                  “Nature’s Course is a feeling pertaining to the way our subjective human experience is subconsciously directly related to the slow steady pace of nature and our ability to cope with our inner struggles accordingly” explains David.

                                                                                                  The Cell further cements David’s place among the American songwriting tradition, from the slow methodical spacey instrumental Mandatory Soul to the poetic solo piano number Family and the dense and continuous Lexington Hills. With each piece we are transported to David’s unusual but rich and textured little world.

                                                                                                  Hailing from Loomis, a small town outside of Sacramento, via Portland, Oregon – David worked as a sound engineer and session musician, featuring on multiple recordings by the likes of Birger Olsen, Brigid Mae Power, Brumes, The Beacon Sound Choir, Chantal Acda, Heather Woods Broderick, Jung Body, Masayoshi Fujita, and many more. He quickly found himself touring Europe with Peter, culminating in a Royal Festival Hall performance, and contributing the arresting voice and double bass piece Ahoy to the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary box set 1+1=X.

                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Barry says: They're becoming quite the collective this lot. With Allred recently collaborating with the splendid Peter Broderick, and he in turn collaborating with Chatal Acda and the superb Bridgid Mae Powers, the musical ouroboros continues to produce the goods. Allred is a hugely talented individual and clearly knows exactly how to accentuate his beautiful pieces with the help of some good pals. Lovely stuff.

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                                                                                                  Cover of Origin by Jordan Rakei.

                                                                                                  Jordan Rakei

                                                                                                  Origin

                                                                                                  Ninja Tune

                                                                                                  Soulful, intimate and expansive all at once, Jordan Rakei’s third album, "Origin", cuts straight to the point. The melodies are brighter, the sound is bigger and the vision behind it more finely-tuned. Switching up from the highly personal and intimate portrait he painted with 2017’s "Wallflower", which was a way of grappling with his experience of anxiety and introversion, "Origin" is overtly inspired by dystopian visions of our future - notably Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. 'I’m worried that we’re losing a sense of connection,' explains Jordan, with many of the album lyrics exploring technological growth, and how it affects our sense of humanity. For example, new single "Say Something" is 'about speaking up for what you believe in; a call to arms for future humans to stand up against the AI systems which govern a now-dystopian world. It follows recent single "Mind’s Eye", which envisions a future world where malfunctioning tech implanted in the human body has flooded the users mind with projections of chaos. He meditates daily, something he adopted partly in response to his issues with anxiety, and something which has shaped his worldview and informed his writing and production process.

                                                                                                  On "Origin", Rakei has scaled up his ambitions, and is more confident in the way he goes about achieving them. Making tracks that speak more confidently, in brighter colours, and which deal with something bigger than himself. He channeled the classic songwriting and musicality of his heroes Stevie Wonder and Steely Dan, striving to surprise and delight with the form of his work, and always infusing it with the same effortless swing and human feel that he fell in love with listening to A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock and 9th Wonder.


                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Millie says: Rakei returns with his new sublime album, exploring themes of a technological and a dystopian future while producing the best jazz groves around topped with soulful vocals. Absolutely gorgeous stuff!

                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Limited edition clear vinyl.

                                                                                                  Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                  Cover of True & Livin by Blu & Exile.

                                                                                                  Blu & Exile

                                                                                                  True & Livin

                                                                                                  Dirty Science Records

                                                                                                  After 2017’s 10 year anniversary tour of Below The Heavens and a B-sides / rarities release ("In The Beginning") many wondered whether or not Blu & Exile would ever reunite for a proper new release or if that year was as much a curtain call as it was a celebration. Putting those questions to rest, Blu & Exile release "True & Livin EP" – as Blu the duo's undeniable chemistry is yet again put on display.

                                                                                                  '"True and Livin" feels like a spiritual call to all that have honor and truth in their being. It sees how present day and beyond is always trying to calculate or monetize what comes from God or what comes from an artist’s spirit, but it also recognizes the truth that is inside of Blu and Exile's music and brags about it, even in a humble way somehow. This might be the first hip-hop braggadocio song that invites us all to feel the same about themselves as long as they connect to the spirit and truth that is inside this song and inside us all.' Exile says about the EP’s title track. Positivity and strength remain a theme on this EP, in "Spread Sunshine" and the stand out posse cut featuring most of the Dirty Science crew in Choosey, Johaz, Cashus King, Aloe Blacc, Fashawn & Blame One on "Power To The People". Blu adds, '"Power To The People" is a call to the people, a call for the people to unite. Unification is power, power in numbers.'


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                                                                                                  Cover of To The Mother Of Gods by Anatolian Weapons Feat Seirios Savvaidis.

                                                                                                  Anatolian Weapons Feat Seirios Savvaidis

                                                                                                  To The Mother Of Gods

                                                                                                  Beats In Space

                                                                                                  Aggelos Baltas is a veteran of the global electronic music scene, responsible for a handful of celebrated EBM 12”s as Dream Weapons, and a particularly heady and open-ended brand of krautrock as Fantastikoi Hxoi. His newest project, Anatolian Weapons, was conceived as a way to bring together these two seemingly mismatched concepts, with the polyrhythmic percussion and wailing tones of Greek folk music serving as their unlikely bonding agent. His output garners praise particularly around the Golden Pudel scene, such as Vladimir Ivkovic, and Phuong Dan. Lena Willikens, from the same circle, included Baltas’ track "Disillusioned" on her Dekmantel Selectors compilation in 2018.

                                                                                                  But where much of what Baltas has released as Anatolian Weapons is instantly recognizable as dance music, "To The Mother Of Gods" - Baltas’ debut album for Beats In Space - is something else entirely. Created in tandem with Greek folk musician Seirios Savvaidis, it is a work of simultaneous collaboration and subtraction whose meticulous construction becomes more apparent with every listen. An album-length exploration of what happens when the principles of dance music are applied to pre-digital musical modalities. It is a record of psychedelic folk music that has more in common with Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, and the Habibi Funk label than it does with anything else Baltas has produced under any alias.

                                                                                                  "To The Mother Of Gods" is a reminder that folk music and dance music are both powered by their audience as much as the musicians themselves. Savvaidis’ lyrics echo pagan Greek themes, touching on what Baltas calls 'the magic of nature.' At times, as on “Kalesma” (“Invitation”), this can feel incantatory. Savvaidis chisels his vocal melodies into hard, clipped syllables, their cadence recalling Gregorian chant, and yet Baltas cloaks these details in washes of distortion. "Ston Stavraito" (“In Stavraithos”) is delivered with a lamentive tenderness that Baltas swells into a prideful stomp, immersing Savvaidis in marching drums and distant vocals that form a resilient protest-song. "To The Mother Of Gods" is a testament to the ongoing and innate truth that music can take us beyond ourselves. That repetition and drone can shepherd us to a liminal space beyond thought and rationality, where the wall between perception and reality does not exist. Call it spirit, if you want, and watch as it courses its way through modern-day dance music, mid-century psych, and the ancient sounds of the anatol. 


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                                                                                                  Cover of No Matter by Lowell.

                                                                                                  Lowell

                                                                                                  No Matter

                                                                                                  Compassion Cuts / Major Problems

                                                                                                  'Made in Switzerland for use in Italy'. Lowell’s charming Italo-ish oddity from 1985 gets a proper reissue, courtesy of Compassion Crew and MPR. B/w the dope instrumental and a runnin’ remix from Ruf Dug.

                                                                                                  "No Matter" probes the playful and sexualized side of Italo disco perfectly; pairing a sugary sweet vocal with tantalizing instrumental and an b-line directed at the erogenous zones.

                                                                                                  Ruf Dug's remix takes it to palm-sheltered tiki bars, taking shade from the blistering sun while the chef fries up some sardines to a backdrop of washed-out hippies and optimistic young adventurers. It's perfectly suited to the current landscape and sees our man keep is feet in his newly annexed purple patch.

                                                                                                  Restored from vinyl and mastered by Thomas P Heckmann at Trope. Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle. Full colour cover with artwork by Mel Keane.


                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Matt says: Wherrre's Ruffy?! This week he's getting totes emosh with the cowbell on 1985-born Italo curio "No Matter". Tune in next week to catch up on the tropical cyberpunk's next adventure...

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                                                                                                  Cover of Fog FM by Anthony Naples.

                                                                                                  Anthony Naples

                                                                                                  Fog FM

                                                                                                  ANS

                                                                                                  'Nuther one from Mr. Naples on his newly minted ANS label. Carrying on the theme but certainly refining the alchemy into purer form, the 10 tracks here are faultless thru n thru; delving into a hypnotic house meditation that's unique yet beautifully digestible.

                                                                                                  Mining the best elements from dub-techno, deep house, VHS hued box jams and soaking the mixture in a lysergic acid before distilling and crystallizing into the double LP of noxious fun you have here.

                                                                                                  A red-shift, house music transmission filtered through fluorescent static, from a lone crazed genius working out on some other dimensional sound station.

                                                                                                  Recommended!



                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Matt says: Possibly the most vast and succinct body of work Mr. Naples has produced. Ten tracks of faultless, fractal house music for the Big Trips and breakthrough doses.

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                                                                                                  Cover of Flowers Of Evil by Suzanne Ciani.

                                                                                                  Suzanne Ciani

                                                                                                  Flowers Of Evil

                                                                                                  Finders Keepers

                                                                                                  As faithful custodians of Suzanne’s vault of vintage electronic music, Finders Keepers present the first-ever release of these vital archive recordings. As a genuine vanguard of electronic music composition at the forefront of the modular synthesiser revolution in the late 1960s, Suzanne Ciani’s forward-thinking approach to new music would rarely look to the past for inspiration, which makes this unheard composition from 1969 a rare exception to the collective futurist vision of Ciani and synthesiser designer Don Buchla. 

                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                  Barry says: There is something distinctly enchanting about Ciani's work, whether she is crafting ambient sketches on beautiful vintage modulars (the Buchla Sessions being a particularly beautiful recently released example), or in full, wistful melodic mode (like on my absolute favourite of her outings, "Seven Waves"). 'Flowers Of Evil' is a perfectly measured mix of the two, with more protracted sections being beautifully accentuated with warm pads and distant warped vocal samples. Stunning.

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                                                                                                  Cover of Fast Faster Disaster by Dressy Bessy.

                                                                                                  Dressy Bessy

                                                                                                  Fast Faster Disaster

                                                                                                  Yep Roc

                                                                                                    Fast Faster Disaster makes it clear that, two decades down the road from the band’s seminal D.I.Y. beginnings, Dressy Bessy’s distinctive songcraft remains as sharp and pithy as ever. The Denver combo’s second Yep Roc release Fast Faster Disaster’s dozen new songs affirm Dressy Bessy’s career- long commitment to barbed lyrical insight and effortlessly catchy melodies. Dressy Bessy is an indie rock band from Denver, Colorado led by songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist, Tammy Ealom The band is associated with the Elephant Six Recording Company and shares guitarist John Hill with The Apples in Stereo. Ealom formed the band with drummer Darren Albert and guitarist turned bassist Rob Greene in 1996. Hill joined the band after helping engineer early recordings in 1997. The name was taken from a popular Playskool doll of the 1970s.

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                                                                                                    Cover of Doom Days by Bastille.

                                                                                                    Bastille

                                                                                                    Doom Days

                                                                                                    Virgin EMI

                                                                                                      Doom Days, Bastille’s grippingly confident third album, is a record of hope for turbulent times. Made by Dan Smith with bandmates Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson and Chris ‘Woody’ Wood, and producer Mark Crew, it sees the Grammy nominated, Brit winning four-piece stretch out and open-up like never before.

                                                                                                      Doom Days marks something of a shift in perception from its widely acclaimed No.1 predecessor ‘Wild World’, which confronted the world and the actions of those in power. Recorded throughout 2018 at the band’s South London studio, “One Eyed Jacks”, the new album captures the need to temporarily switch off and escape whilst taking the listener on a big night out in search of distraction from the surrounding apocalypse; be that screaming along to the radio in the back of an Uber careering through the city (the electric Quarter Past Midnight), getting loved up in the company of good friends (future classic 4AM), a casual hook-up (Another Place) or the end-of-night longing to be with somebody (the captivating Those Nights). It revels in the bad decisions we make both personally in our relationships and collectively on a macro scale (Bad Decisions), tells a relatable tale of being cornered into a deep discussion about the world’s problems when all you want to do is have a good time (Million Pieces), and wryly confronts modern anxieties, taking side-swipes at phone addiction, porn addiction, fake news and climate change denial (the uncompromising Doom Days).

                                                                                                      Doom Days finds Bastille at their most lyrically provocative, most accomplished, and most vital. It taps into globally felt worries whilst also working on a much more intimate level. Setting the album over the course of one night allows the band to hold a mirror up to the world using personal, relatable situations.

                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Red with black splatter vinyl.
                                                                                                      PVC transparent sleeve.
                                                                                                      Sound of vinyl download card.

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                                                                                                      Cover of Jinx by Crumb.

                                                                                                      Crumb

                                                                                                      Jinx

                                                                                                      Crumb

                                                                                                        Crumb is the collaboration of Brooklyn-based musicians Lila Ramani (guitar, vocals), Brian Aronow (synth, keys, sax), Jesse Brotter (bass), and Jonathan Gilad (drums). The friends came together in 2016 with the goal of developing and recording a collection of songs Ramani had written in high school and college, the work ultimately resulting in the band’s first two EPs, 2016’s Crumb and 2017’s Locket. Encouraged by the warm reception online and at shows, the band evolved into a full time touring and recording project.

                                                                                                        In June 2019, Crumb will release Jinx, their first full-length album and best distillation to date of their singular blend of psych-rock and jazz. On Jinx, Ramani continues to helm the songwriting, with Aronow, Brotter, and Gilad each bringing distinctive ideas to match her ethereal, intimate vocals and luminous guitar lines. Informed by two years of nearly non-stop touring, the songs sweep and swell to capture the beguiling live spirit of Crumb shows, while taking listeners one step further down the band’s dizzying, hypnotic path.


                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                        Coloured LP Info: Translucent yellow vinyl.

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                                                                                                        Cover of Daughters Of The Sky by Bamboo.

                                                                                                        Bamboo

                                                                                                        Daughters Of The Sky

                                                                                                        Upset The Rhythm

                                                                                                          BAMBOO (Nick Carlisle - keyboards, production, also of Peepholes / Katy & Nick) & Rachel Horwood (vocals, electric banjo, also of Trash Kit / Bas Jan) announce their third studio album "Daughters Of The Sky", on Upset The Rhythm.

                                                                                                          The album was written and recorded over a two year period where ideas and arrangements were allowed to slow-cook and develop over time, in contrast with the last album "The Dragon Flies Away" which came together relatively quickly for the duo. The music comprises the usual (for Bamboo) mix of Horwood's flawlessly resonant folk cadence and Carlisle's pristine synth production, whilst TR808 drum machines and samples lock together with acoustic drums, themselves often given the "Tony Visconti" Eventide Harmoniser treatment of Berlin-era Bowie albums. Ancient ARP synthesisers and Mellotron flutes and horns sit next to contemporary digital sounds and samples in a hauntological tapestry over which Horwood can intone her sometimes mournful, often uplifting vocals.

                                                                                                          The first single taken from the album, "Weeping Idols", reflects upon a recurring theme of religious dogma and spiritual entrapment, and is accompanied by a stunning video shot by Jack Barraclough around the North Coast of Northern Ireland, taking in the Giant's Causeway and the Kinbane Castle ruin. Carlisle's infectiously colourful synth riffs and pop production, featuring sun-burst harp playing from Brighton-based singer/multi-instrumentalist Emma Gatrill, contrasts sharply with the darker tone of Horwood's lyric, jarring in a way reminiscent of "You Have Placed A Chill On My Heart" by The Eurythmics.

                                                                                                          Although "Daughters Of The Sky" breaks away from the storybook concept format of The Dragon Flies Away, in that sense being more similar to Bamboo's debut album "Prince Pansori Priestess" (2015, ★★★★★ - Record Collector Magazine), there are still recurrent themes that run through the album such as motherhood, the cyclical nature of life, emancipation and liberation. "Branches dancing, bud stems growing, fibres swaying, arms unfurling" Horwood sings in The Deku Tree, a song which roots motherhood in nature's eternal cycle of birth and death. In the title track we see two perspectives of women spanning time and geography, Horwood drawing inspiration from the personal and also political. In 1917 a Russian match stick worker looks out of her window dreaming for a better life; in 2019 a Filipino maid in Hong Kong yearns to return to the children she has left behind. Both share a revolutionary spirit, protesting and fighting for a new world.

                                                                                                          What might be the centrepiece of the album, "East Of The Sun / West Of The Moon", an 11 minute epic, begins with a serene, desolate ambient intro which eventually transports us over the waves to some unknown land. Here we track the journey of a displaced people who are rejected from pillar to post, prevented from crossing over political lines, judged by fellow humans by their few differences over their myriad similarities. "And we all walk a different pace, though we end up in the same place" sings Horwood, as the song's new-found rhythm seems to break apart again and slowly splinter away in different directions, the fragments hanging in the air as a new section emerges featuring a rare lead vocal from Carlisle.

                                                                                                          Bar the brief instrumental coda "Tenebrae", the album ends on an optimistic note with "A World Is Born", an upbeat song of renewal. Horwood sings of the creation of a new world for a new generation, out of the ashes of a society stagnating under the collapsing weight of late capitalism. Saxophones provided by Emma Gatrill (her second guest appearance on the album) answer each vocal line in call and response style over more harmonised drums reminiscent of Bowie's "Low". Carlisle originally wrote the music following the death of Bowie, and Horwood added some Prince-like backing vocals (Prince having been name-checked in the title of the first Bamboo album). Although her lyric makes no reference to the loss of these giants, their influence hang over the song in a way which can only add to the sense of hope and rebirth, a sense which is indeed felt throughout the album.


                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: 180 gram gold vinyl – 500 only for the world.

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                                                                                                          Cover of Til The Morning by The Catenary Wires.

                                                                                                          The Catenary Wires

                                                                                                          Til The Morning

                                                                                                          Tapete

                                                                                                            The Catenary Wires are Rob Pursey & Amelia Fletcher , formerly of Tender Trap, Marine Research, Heavenly & proto-riot-grrrl machismo-mocking punk-pop explosion Talulah Gosh. They specialise in emotive indie duets, capturing the spirits of Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood, Serge Gainsbourg & Brigitte Bardot, & releasing them into modern Britain.

                                                                                                            The resulting songs will appeal to fans of Courtney Barnett &Kurt Vile or Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan. On this album, they are joined by Andy Lewis (Paul Weller Group)on cello, mellotron and percussion, & Fay Hallam (Makin' Time, Prime Movers) on Hammond organ & backing vocals. The local Kentish countryside provides ambient noise.

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                                                                                                            Cover of Madame X by Madonna.

                                                                                                            Madonna

                                                                                                            Madame X

                                                                                                            Polydor

                                                                                                            Madonna’s highly-anticipated 14th studio album. Influenced creatively by living in Lisbon, Portugal over the past several years, Madame X is a collection of 15 new songs that celebrate Madonna’s career-long affair with Latin music and culture as well as other global influences.

                                                                                                            Singing in Portuguese, Spanish and English, highlights on the album include “Medellín,” which was co-produced by Mirwais and captures the spirit of Maluma’s hometown, the anthemic song “I Rise,” the Jamaican dancehall vibes of “Future” featuring Quavo, and co-produced by Diplo, as well as the sonically innovative Mirwais produced “Dark Ballet.” Recorded over 18 months in Portugal, London, New York and Los Angeles, Madonna collaborated on Madame X with longtime producer Mirwais, as well as with producers Mike Dean and Diplo, among others.


                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                            2xLP Info: Black vinyl edition.

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                                                                                                            Cover of Enantiodromia by Melodien.

                                                                                                            Melodien

                                                                                                            Enantiodromia

                                                                                                            Polytechnic Youth

                                                                                                              This release sees Liverpool based, Harry Sumnall’s MELODIEN debut on PY after releases on sister label Deep Distance amongst others. Eight kosmische flavoured synth pop nuggets, heavy on nods to the sky label oeuvre of later Cluster, Wolfgang Reichmann, Harald Grosskopf, Deutsche Wertarbeit and co; yet with a freshness and boldness very much of today.

                                                                                                              Each track is underpinned in the most part by driving, sequenced motorik rhythms hugely recommended to all fans of the above…

                                                                                                              The LPs’ title “Enanriodromia” is the constancy of change and the emergence of the unconscious diametric in the course of time - everything that exists turns into its opposite (Carl Jung); and Harry himself describes the album as an idyllic backdrop to an imagined world where “Iasos’ Crystal Vista is repeated on loop across all TV channels, where Luboš Fišer composes Olympic gold medal anthems, where Marcel Schwob and Jane de La Vaudère works are free from your local book exchange, where Josef Svoboda designed your local shopping center, where Richard Pinhas plays at your village fete, and the most popular YouTube channels give advice on sequencer ratcheting and psychopharmacology!” So there you have it….

                                                                                                              A wonderful record released on tasty transparent ochre wax in a pressing of 250 so be quick….


                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Transparent ochre wax in a pressing of 250 so be quick.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Retrieving by Listening Center.

                                                                                                              Listening Center

                                                                                                              Retrieving

                                                                                                              Polytechnic Youth

                                                                                                                The welcome return of David Mason’s revered LISTENING CENTER. The Brooklyn based synth maestro has a slew of fabulous long sold out releases on PY, Ghost Box and Texte Und Töne.

                                                                                                                “Retrieving” is right up with his very best- a fabulous 11 track collection, rich on a fondness for everything from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to lost ‘80s gaming consoles, imagined VHS soundtracks and 70s’ kids science programme themes to the work of kraut heavyweights like Michael Rother’s early post Neu! solo work and all stops in between. Often playful, always diverse and with extraordinary depth- this is just wonderful!

                                                                                                                David himself, adds “Retrieving” is a selection of analogue synth essays recorded between 2016 and 2018. It takes a look at submerged psychic processes and the effects of elusive archetypes which are manifested in the world. Our perception and memory are repeatedly called into question; we continue to 'see' things which are no longer present, and too easily explainable artifacts continue to tug at the edges of our minds. Employing (n)ear tautologies and imaginary helio-technologies, once straightforward narratives immediately break down, and where biography meets geometry we discover a schism in certainty, illusions cracked beyond repair”.

                                                                                                                Dressed in another killer Nick Taylor (reverse board) sleeve, this one is just gorgeous and destined to follow suit for both artist and label and sell out immediately.

                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                Barry says: Aaah, Polytechnic Youth. One of my absolute fave labels (as well as sister imprint, Deep Distance), and they've really come up with the goods this time. Brilliant wistful electronica gives way to churns and filter sweeps, skittering arpeggios and bitcrushed sonic wonder. An absolute triumph and possibly higher on my list than my recent top jam, the Gabe Knox LP. <3

                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                Ltd LP Info: 250 vinyl only pressing.

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                                                                                                                Cover of In Search Of Highs Volume 3 by Electric Moon / Terminal Cheesecake.

                                                                                                                Electric Moon / Terminal Cheesecake

                                                                                                                In Search Of Highs Volume 3

                                                                                                                Riot Season

                                                                                                                  The ‘In Search Of Highs’ series of split artist releases continues onto volume three, and I’m almost certain neither band here need any introduction to you all.

                                                                                                                  Electric Moon, the German psychedelic space rock trio formed in 2009 by Sula Bassana, Komet Lulu, and Pablo Carneval are a much loved trio on the underground psych scene. Their vinyl releases sell out almost instantly, i know as i’m one of those eagerly awaiting and ordering them all myself. On their side of this split, the band take the basis of a live recording from Berlin in 2018 and tweak it into what it is now, an epic near 22 minute ‘Beacon Light Hereafter’. Another stunning addition to the bands vast back catalogue.

                                                                                                                  London’s Terminal Cheesecake formed way back in 1988, quickly establishing themselves as a legendary underground band releasing numerous well received albums and the support of John Peel amongst others. The band, like many of the era eventually burned out before remerging in 2013 with a new line up. Terminal Cheesecake circa 2019, featuring Russ Smith, Horseloaf Horseloafson, Neil Von Fish, Dave Cochrane, Johnny J Beat release an new album 'Le Sacre Du Lièvre' on May 10th via Box Records. Their contribution here is two songs long 'Fake Loop' and 'Song For John Part 2', baked in fuzz and swirling distortion. It's a totally different type of high from the Electric Moon side. Whereas the latter go on a spaced out cosmic trip, the Cheesecake side is more of an earthy, dark but equally glorious ride.

                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: 250 pressed on transparant red vinyl. Housed in a gloss finish 350 gsm board sleeve.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Self Discovery For Social Survival by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                  Various Artists

                                                                                                                  Self Discovery For Social Survival

                                                                                                                  Mexican Summer

                                                                                                                    Since the genre’s birth in the early 1950s, the surf film has involved a synthesis of image and music. Typically these two key ingredients are sourced separately, mixed together only after the visual fact. Self Discovery for Social Survival subverts this recipe. Just like the osmotic waves that run through the film, the visuals and music of SDSS coexist and permeate as one to reinvent and reimagine what surf films can look, sound, and feel like. SDSS works as a triptych - In Mexico, Los Angeles psych ensemble Allah Las, join surf historians and professional surfers from the US and Australia in sipping tequila, hanging ten across winding waves, and stumbling upon a super-secret surf break (the location of which they will never reveal). Allah-Las then return to their home studio to set off to record with their analog equipment, this time ripping on the sound waves. The five songs by Allah Las on the soundtrack, entirely instrumental and all aligned by different variations of fruit jams, lay the foundation of classic surf aesthetic: tingling guitars, sporadic yet attentive percussion, and rolling bass lines. In the second vignette, remotely held in the southern atolls of the Maldives Islands, Los Angeles electronic pop dub duo Peaking Lights (Aaron Coyes and Indra Dunis) carve their mark on the waves with a group of progressive young Australian surfers.

                                                                                                                    While the gentle yet upbeat electronic echoes of Peaking Lights, reminiscent of Broadcast or Arthur Russell, bounce across the screen, breathtaking aerial views of wipeouts and vast underwater ocean shots take flight. Leaving bobbing heads tread-ing ocean waters that carry the whitest shade of blue, Peaking Lights move on land to their home studio to delve into their two contributions to SDSS, “Mirror In The Sky” and “Hold On.” A near-silent symphony ending in Iceland, kiwi neo-psych musician Connan Mockasin and MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngarden encounter slate grey waves, active volcanoes, euphoric hot springs, massive glaciers, and wild mushrooms. Surrounded in alien landscapes, dramatically darker in tone and movement than other scenes in the film, SDSS emphasizes a side to surf that avoids stereotypes. Heading from The Northern Lights to the north of Brooklyn, Mockasin and VanWyngarden finally settle into Gary’s Electric (Mexican Summer’s in house studio) exhorting a surrealist, emerald ending to mark a unique display of the neo-surf film. Mexican Summer stable staples Dungen and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma provide additional music and sound design to elevate the soundtrack to unknowable stratas.

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                                                                                                                    Cover of The Age Of Immunology - Bonus Disc Edition by Vanishing Twin.

                                                                                                                    Vanishing Twin

                                                                                                                    The Age Of Immunology - Bonus Disc Edition

                                                                                                                    Fire Records

                                                                                                                      FOR A LIMITED PERIOD, ALL FORMATS COME WITH A FREE "OUTER LIMITS" CD, A FIRE RECORDS COMPILATION SAMPLER.

                                                                                                                      'Vanishing Twin is songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas, drummer Valentina Magaletti, bassist Susumu Mukai, synth/guitar player Phil MFU and visual artist/film maker Elliott Arndt on flute and percussion; and on this album they have made their first artistic statement for the ages. Some of its great power comes from liberation. The album was produced by Lucas in a number of non-standard, non-studio settings. ‘KRK (At Home In Strange Places)’ summons up the spirit of Sun Ra’s Lanquidity and Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio was simply recorded on an iPhone during a live set which crackled with psychic connectivity on the Croatian island of Krk. The magical Morricone-esque lounge of ‘You Are Not an Island’, the blissed-out Jean-Claude Vannier style arrangement of ‘Invisible World’ and burbling sci fi funk ode to a 1972 cult French animation, ‘Planète Sauvage’, were all recorded in nighttime sessions in an abandoned mill in Sudbury.

                                                                                                                      The only two outsiders to work on the recording were ‘6th member’ and engineer Syd Kemp and trusted friend Malcolm Catto, band leader of the spiritual jazz/future funk outfit The Heliocentrics, who mixed seven of the tracks (with Lucas taking care of the other three). Vanishing Twin formed in 2015 - their first LP, Choose Your Own Adventure, which came out on Soundway in 2016; followed by the darker, more abstract, mostly instrumental Dream By Numbers EP in 2017. The band explored their more experimental tendencies on the Magic And Machines tape released by Blank Editions in 2018, an improvised session recorded in the dead of night, offering a glimpse into their practice of deep listening, near band telepathy, and ritually improvised sound making. These sessions formed the basis of The Age Of Immunology.

                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                      Barry says: Vanishing twin skilfully craft a beautifully hazy, soaring psychedelia, redolent of tipsy summer barbecues, flickering raindrops and early-evening midge bites, dulled with dips in the water and semi-chilled beer. Beautifully soaring, woozy bliss.

                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                      Picture Disc Info: Limited edition indies-only Cream and Black swirl PICTURE DISC

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                                                                                                                      Cover of Office Politics by The Divine Comedy.

                                                                                                                      The Divine Comedy

                                                                                                                      Office Politics

                                                                                                                      Divine Comedy

                                                                                                                      Neil Hannon, one of the country’s foremost songwriters, releases a wonderful new Divine Comedy album ‘Office Politics’. It’s the follow-up to the acclaimed top ten 2016 album ‘Foreverland’. “Office Politics” is a 16 track tour de force full of inventive, timeless music peopled with a typically irreverent cast of characters. “It has synthesizers. And songs about synthesizers,” Neil says. “But don’t panic. It also has guitars, orchestras, accordions, and songs about love and greed.” But ‘Office Politics’ central characters are the machines. Or ‘Infernal Machines’ as one track rages.

                                                                                                                      “I do try to make normal records,” Neil says with a smile. ”But it always seems to wander off into odd territories.”

                                                                                                                      And for that we should be thankful.


                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                      Barry says: Divine Comedy have been at the forefront of whimsical, wry songwriting and dryly observational humour for close to 30 years now, and their latest outing continues the trend, breaching office interactions, politicism and day-to-day humour with their trademark style. Brilliantly familiar but also perfectly up to date. Another cleverly observant and humorous success for Hannon & co.

                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Coloured double vinyl. Includes digital download code for the deluxe digital download album.

                                                                                                                      2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                      Cover of Polymer by Plaid.

                                                                                                                      Plaid

                                                                                                                      Polymer

                                                                                                                      Warp

                                                                                                                      Plaid return to Warp for their tenth studio album. With a deservedly devoted fan-base, UK duo Andy Turner and Ed Handley have took their loyal listeners deeper and deeper into their unique electronic foliage with every release. Detailing new aural environments perfectly through their intrinsically exploratory sound; their style naturally fits into the Warp remit, who've nurtured and evolved with the act since its first inception in 1991.

                                                                                                                      With 13 more tracks that contrast the brittle and sharp with the voluptuous and mellow; it's that soft-hard juxtaposition and interplay that characterize these lush and highly textured sonic environments. Dreamlike arpeggios trails off into the cosmos, while rigid, caterpillar beats & piston perx churn and smash.

                                                                                                                      We're really into Plaid here at Picc HQ, and "Polymer" is as good as any of their previous works. If you wanna get immersive in some truly captivated electronics then Plaid are a must! 


                                                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                      Matt says: Impossible to ignore the vibrations coming off this slab of deep electronica pressure! Like being lost in mutant jungle that survives on plasma and radiation; if we are to inhabit new and chemically imbalanced environments I can image they sound like this!

                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                      2xLP Info: Double LP includes printed inners in wide spine outer sleeve with digital download card insert.

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                                                                                                                      Cover of Onda by Jambinai.

                                                                                                                      Jambinai

                                                                                                                      Onda

                                                                                                                      Bella Union

                                                                                                                        When the three founders of Jambinai decided to, “communicate with the ordinary person who doesn't listen to Korean traditional music,” few outsiders anticipated an extra-ordinary fusion with metal, post-rock and noise. “Most people expect Asian traditional music to make something smooth for yoga or meditation,” says band spokesman Lee Il-woo. “We wanted to break all of that.” Even fewer would have predicted that the likes of Jambinai would play the 2018 Winter Olympic Games closing ceremony in their home city of Seoul, accompanied by a troupe of geomungo (Korean zither) players - an audio-visual spectacle that such an occasion demanded. Now comes ONDA, their spectacular new album on Bella Union.

                                                                                                                        Says Lee, “Onda means ‘come’ in Korean. The title track has the lyric, ‘At the end of your darkness, pain will turn into the shining stars and it’s going to come to you.’ I want to cheer people up when they hear that track. Onda also means ‘wave’ in Spanish, and I also want to say the third big wave of Jambinai is coming!” The first big wave arrived in 2010 after traditional music students Lee (guitar and piri, a bamboo oboe), Kim Bo-mi (the bow-stringed haegum) and Sim Eun-young (geomungo) joined forces and released the Jambinai EP. The trio’s debut album Différance won Best Crossover Album at the 2013 Korean Music Awards, triggering several overseas tours and the second wave of Jambinai - an international deal with Bella Union and a second album, A Hermitage. At the time, Lee cited the influence of bands like Metallica, Mogwai and Sigur Rös, but such was the trio’s energy levels, they seemed to draw more on thunderstorms, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, blizzards and desert winds – a force of nature more than a band.

                                                                                                                        It’s hard to believe but ONDA is even more dynamic and rhythmic, with the permanent addition of Jaehyuk Choi (drums) and B.K Yu (bass), fixtures of Jambinai’s live band since 2017. The way the quintet “sticks together like gears of a clock or machine,” says Lee, is celebrated on ‘Square Wave’, a breathtaking example of Jambinai’s ability to alternate between ambient serenity and molten ferocity.  ‘Square Wave’ is also one of several ONDA cuts to feature vocals. “Voice and lyrics have strong energy, they can touch someone's heart directly more than instruments,” Lee explains. “Also, most people don’t know Korean, so they hear our voices as sound rather than meaning. We needed more sounds on this album.”

                                                                                                                        Not that the instrumental tracks are any less momentous. Take the opening ‘Sawtooth’ (featuring Hwiseon Choi on yanggeum, a hammered dulcimer), because Lee thinks the band’s constantly shifting dynamic, “resembles the sawtooth waveform of electronic sound.” Other ONDA song titles are similarly revealing. ‘Event Horizon’ was suggested by a Jambinai fan to represent the music’s, “strength and chaos”, though the haunting folk instrumentation is never swept aside by the energy on display. ‘Sun. Tears. Red’ is one way to describe Jambinai’s emotional as well as visceral impact, punctuated here by hollering, anguished voices. Says Lee, “I saw a documentary about Korean independence against Japanese imperialism. I wanted to express the soldiers’ fear when they greet the rising sun, preparing to battle for freedom even though they knew they were going to die that day.”

                                                                                                                        13 minutes long, ‘In The Woods’ is the album’s lengthiest epic, originally recorded for Jambiani’s 2010 EP and now rearranged for the expanded quintet, plus guest traditional singer Bora Kim. The inspiration here is environmental pollution, soundtracked by eight minutes of mournful ambience that slowly builds to a shattering climax. “The earth is in serious pain,” Lee concludes. ONDA ends on a thematic note of drama and redemption. In ‘Small Consolation’, says Lee, “a person leads their weary body to a distant glow, which is small consolation. But when they get there, it turns into a big light, big consolation and happiness.” The closing title track comes in two parts: a calm prelude (featuring Lee on saenghwang, a tall reed mouth organ) before the euphoric main course, graced by choral grandeur. Once the music dies away, the feeling is one of blissful exhaustion.

                                                                                                                        Says Lee: “After Jambinai’s US tour of 2017, I travelled the country for a month. I was worried about my future and the music because I had quit my job for the band but we didn’t have much money and the tour was tough and tiring for everyone. But when I visited the Grand Canyon, Mother Nature cheered me up and it was felt like she was telling me, “you are doing really well. Back in Korea, I wrote more songs with confidence and happiness.”

                                                                                                                        The third wave of Jambinai is here. Come (Onda) join them for the ride of your life…


                                                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                        Barry says: Since their 2016 outing, 'A Hermitage' Jambinai have woven the traditional sounds of South Korea through their music, combining the haunting sounds of the traditional instruments with crushing post-metal dynamics and tender instrumental delicacy. Finely treading the line between simmering, gloomy unease and euphoric spine-tingling highs, Jambinai continue their legacy with yet another killer LP.

                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: White vinyl.

                                                                                                                        2xColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                        Cover of The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings by Bob Dylan.

                                                                                                                        Bob Dylan

                                                                                                                        The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings

                                                                                                                        Columbia / Legacy

                                                                                                                          A comprehensive anthology of music from the mythic first leg of Bob Dylan's groundbreaking Rolling Thunder Revue, this 14CD box set includes all five of Dylan’s full sets from that tour that were professionally recorded. The collection also provides the listener with an intimate insider's seat for recently unearthed rehearsals at New York's S.I.R. studios and the Seacrest Motel in Falmouth, MA plus a bonus disc showcasing one-of-a-kind performances from the tour.

                                                                                                                          The collection features 148 tracks in all, with more than 100 of those never previously released. Included in the box set is a 52-page booklet featuring rare and never-before-seen Rolling Thunder Revue photos and a revelatory essay by novelist/musician Wesley Stace. Concurrent with the release of the 14CD box set will be a reissue of The Bootleg Series Volume 5 on vinyl, back in print for the first time since 2002 as a 3LP set with a 64-page booklet.

                                                                                                                          Launched in the fall of 1975, Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue flaunted the touring conventions of the time by featuring an eclectic cast of characters and playing small and unusual venues with little advance notice. The shows would often stretch to more than four hours long, generating some of the artist's most dramatic and dynamic on-stage performances ever. Dylan debuted the new songs he'd written for his forthcoming Desire album (which became one of the most acclaimed and popular in his canon) with a fire and intensity that Dylan had reached ten years earlier with his incendiary tours with musicians who became The Band. He also took wild, interpretative rides through his back catalog and broke-out some unexpected covers.

                                                                                                                          Dylan gathered amazing friends and collaborators for his ensemble – dubbed Guam for the tour – that included T Bone Burnett, Mick Ronson, Joan Baez, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Bobby Neuwirth, Scarlett Rivera, Ronee Blakly, Steven Soles, David Mansfield, Rob Stoner, Howie Wyeth and Luther Rix. Poet Allen Ginsberg and Joni Mitchell also brought their talents to the show’s encores. Dylan, the consummate band leader, managed to take these musicians from various backgrounds and sensibilities and mold them into a tight musical unit on stage. 


                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                          Barry says: There's never any need really to tell you what Bob Dylan sounds like, but it's definitely worth noting how this package is almost certainly the most precise and engrossing live recordings you're likely to hear. Full of unreleased gems, official soundboard recordings and previously unearthed live-only experiences, this is an essential purchase for any and all fans of Bobby D.

                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                          LP Box Set Info: 3 LP box set.

                                                                                                                          CD Box Set Info: 14 CD box set.

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                                                                                                                          Cover of Tuscaloosa (Live) by Neil Young & Stray Gators.

                                                                                                                          Neil Young & Stray Gators

                                                                                                                          Tuscaloosa (Live)

                                                                                                                          Warner Bros.

                                                                                                                          Neil Young releases TUSCALOOSA, from his ongoing live archival series. The previously unreleased, 11-track recording features Neil Young with The Stray Gators recorded live at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa on February 5th,1973. 

                                                                                                                          During 1971 – 1973, between solo shows and dates with Crazy Horse, Young would switch up his sound to suit the material he would focus on when touring with The Stray Gators. Comprised of Tim Drummond (bass), Kenny Buttrey (drums), Jack Nitzsche (piano) and Ben Keith (steel guitar) this lineup, most notably, would go onto record Harvest and Times Fades Away. Tuscaloosa features live versions of songs from Young’s self-titled 1969 debut (“Here We Are In The Years”) plus classic songs from his two most commercially successful album of his early career, After The Goldrush (1970) and Harvest (1972).

                                                                                                                          The album also contains a stunning version of the title track from the live album Time Fades Away that would not surface until later in 1973, as well as songs from the seminal classic Tonight’s The Night that would eventually be released in 1975.


                                                                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                          Barry says: Yet another officially licensed and legendary set from one of the greatest musicians of the 20th (and 21st) century here. As an ongoing archival of Young's legendary live show, Tuscaloosa displays a man at the peak of his powers, wowing an appreciative audience. What's not to love?

                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                          2xLP Info: 140 gram black vinyl plus etching.

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                                                                                                                          Cover of Pale Bloom by Sarah Davachi.

                                                                                                                          Sarah Davachi

                                                                                                                          Pale Bloom

                                                                                                                          W.25th

                                                                                                                            Pale Bloom finds Sarah Davachi coming full circle. After abandoning the piano studies of her youth for a series of albums utilizing everything from pipe and reed organs to analog synthesizers, this prolific Los Angeles-based composer returns to her first instrument for a radiant work of quiet minimalism and poetic rumination. Recorded at Berkeley, California’s famed Fantasy Studios, Pale Bloom is comprised of two delicatelyarranged sides. The first—a three-part suite where Davachi’s piano acts as conjurer, beckoning Hammond organ and stirring countertenor into a patiently unfolding congress—recalls Eduard Artemiev’s majestic soundtrack for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

                                                                                                                            “Perfumes I-III” employs the harmonically rich music of Bach as a springboard for abstract, solemn pieces that sound as haunted as they are dreamlike. While the first half of Pale Bloom showcases Davachi’s latent Romanticism, the sidelong “If It Pleased Me To Appear To You Wrapped In This Drapery” reveals the Mills College graduate’s affinity for the work of avantgarde composers La Monte Young and Eliane Radigue. Softly vibrating strings rise and fall like complementary exhalations of breath. As the fluctuating pitches create overtones that pitter and pulse, the piece slowly and subtly evolves—suggesting a well-tempered stillness, yet without stasis.

                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                            Barry says: It's properly beautiful stuff this, shining with modern classical delicacy but bolstered by a dark undercurrent of neo-gothic organs and infrequent echoic piano stabs. Tentative and minimalistic, but sonically moving, Davachi makes it clear she is here to stay. Thoroughly gorgeous stuff.

                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Indie stores exclusive of 400 copies on clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                            Cover of Lust For Youth by Lust For Youth.

                                                                                                                            Lust For Youth

                                                                                                                            Lust For Youth

                                                                                                                            Sacred Bones

                                                                                                                            Pirouetting on decadence, meeting eyes with a dizzy sensation, falling and flying at the same time—Lust for Youth have continually held poise through the most vitalizing of times. Their new album, a self-titled collection of eight songs, is surefooted where they had earlier feared to tread, and light-headed for a new set of reasons. The album is driven by a dance-pop agenda, hustling its way through upbeat peaks that level out into reflective ballads. While still taking clear cues from a crop of austere synth-pop, Lust for Youth sound brighter than they ever have before, taking tips from some of the flirtiest Eurobeat to aid their new direction.

                                                                                                                            On their previous album, Compassion, Lust for Youth examined euphoria and contemporary life with a wry wit. Where facetiousness masqueraded as commitment, compliments and fawning clearly yearned for a true connection. Lust for Youth sees Hannes Norrvide and Malthe Fischer taking some familiar strides, though to another place. The disaffected balearia is this time rendered into brighter pop compositions that bustle with intricate production. No longer galvanizing us with hooks, but with a songcraft unhindered by anxiety, the album presents a cohesion not seen in the project until now. Lyrically, the apprehension still hangs like tinsel. Often garish and celebratory, the droll mischief is this time more pointed, more personal, and far more self-aware. A thread of reflections upon the state of the world is artfully wound throughout the album, casting a quiet force upon the detachment of Norrvide’s vocals.

                                                                                                                            Lust for Youth have been one of love’s most honest confrères, detailing the pangs of what is all too often a sullen process. On this occasion, they look up. The pull of the world is different for us all, but it pulls us all.


                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                            Barry says: Twinkling keys and huge, echoing kick drums form a throbbing backdrop to the 80's vox and dreamy atmospheric synth swells littered all over Lust For Youth's self titled masterpiece. Huge arps and chest-thumping basses work their way around a brilliantly written and hugely reminiscent melodic counterpoint. Lovely stuff.

                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                            Cover of Swimmers by Younghusband.

                                                                                                                            Younghusband

                                                                                                                            Swimmers

                                                                                                                            Opposite Number

                                                                                                                              Younghusband have surfaced with new album, Swimmers, due 7th June on Opposite Number. Their first new music since 2015’s Dissolver, Swimmers is awash with glowing guitar melodies, breezy pop moments and restrained yet potent songcraft. It looks to themes of open space and reflection, partly inspired by band's move to their own studio in Greenwich, built by singer and songwriter Euan Hinshelwood in an old barn.

                                                                                                                              With members of Younghusband having also played in Wes Gonzalez and Meilyr Jones' recent live bands and inspired by both artists' off the cuff approach, recording sessions for Swimmers were driven by instinct and impulse, as Euan would introduce the new songs to bandmates on the day of recording.

                                                                                                                              Today, they unveil contemplative new single, "Translation". Euan says of it, "It's open to interpretation, but looking back on that period of time I guess it's a song about change and retreat. And about a short moment of that time. A stubborn moment when you want to push everything away for a second and work out what element is tripping you up."

                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                              Barry says: I'm pretty sure this is going to be a big one here at Piccadilly, with the sort of whimsical dreamy haze and saturated tape-machine wooze that we can't seem to get enough of. Richly layered melodic snappy guitars and echoing vocals work their way around an unhurried and perfectly measured rhythmic backdrop.

                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                              LP Info: Limited edition coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Duress by Froth.

                                                                                                                              Froth

                                                                                                                              Duress

                                                                                                                              Wichita

                                                                                                                              After a two-year hiatus, Los Angeles’ noise-rock trio Froth is back with their most fully realized work to date. A band of impeccable musicianship and an elevated sense of humor, the lead single is a twisted love song underlined with blown out guitars. “This song is about a guy who listened to the Yanny/Laurel thing and he can only hear Laurel,” shares the band. “He’s really passionate about Laurel being the correct pronunciation to the point where he will die before admitting otherwise. In the end, he reveals that he loves his girlfriend more than he loves the correct pronunciation of “Laurel/Yanny”.

                                                                                                                              Froth has never been a band content with the status quo. After three records, scoring the Saint Laurent Men's Fall 2014 line fashion show (with frontman Joo Joo walking in the show), and forays into shoegaze, psychedelia and post-punk, the band of Joo-Joo Ashworth, Jeremy Katz and Cameron Allen have stepped outside the shadow of their influences and into something wholly their own. Co-produced with longtime friend and collaborator Tomas Dolas (Oh Sees/Mr. Elevator), the record is unapologetically experimental yet undeniably accessible. It’s an impressive and self-assured statement from a group only just entering their prime.

                                                                                                                              With Duress, Froth has finally been able to realize their vision without compromise. Mirroring their open-minded studio approach, Froth’s live show is equally enthralling in its incorporation of analog synthesizers, overdubs and drum machines.


                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                              Barry says: Trading in the sort of head-nodding eyes-closed psychedelic fuzz that King Gizz *could* do if they tried (sorry), Froth are immediately satisfying but brilliantly deep, revealing more charm to their angular and surprising melodic turns the more you listen to them. Brittle in points, but perfectly measured throughout, 'Duress' is an exciting and exhilarating ride.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Humanworld by Peter Perrett.

                                                                                                                              Peter Perrett

                                                                                                                              Humanworld

                                                                                                                              Domino

                                                                                                                              One of the recent past’s most unexpected come-back stories, Peter Perrett - former frontman of The Only Ones - resurfaced in 2017 with ‘How The West Was Won’, an album that saw him chart in the UK, star on BBC Newsnight, sell out rooms at Electric Ballroom and Islington Assembly Hall and collect accolades across the board.

                                                                                                                              In this new chapter, Peter continues to dissect romance and politics with his trademark sense of sardonic wit and wry humour, if not with more vigour even and a palpable sense of immediacy. He is not unshackled from his past, however. ‘Humanworld’ features a production credit for Peter’s son Jamie who also contributes a song to the album (‘Master Of Destruction’) and the story of knitting a family back together, following a history of chaos and addiction, now takes a step closer to centre.

                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                              Barry says: Peter Perrett, lead singer of the Only Ones presents his newest outing, 'Humanworld'. With big crunchy guitars and a modern take on the soaring 80's jangle we all know and love, Perrett efforlessly and effectively swaggers through a varied but engrossing suite of melodic heft and massive stadium fuzz.

                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive blue heavyweight vinyl, gatefold sleeve.

                                                                                                                              Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Together & Apart by PicaPica.

                                                                                                                              PicaPica

                                                                                                                              Together & Apart

                                                                                                                              Rough Trade

                                                                                                                                PicaPica’s debut album ‘Together & Apart’ was recorded at the end of 2018 and is produced by Mobo / Mercury-nominated producer Sonny Johns, who also plays bass on the record. Together & Apart’ is about health and heartache, spring and shade, love and loss and life. PicaPica are able to balance life’s joys and sorrows beautifully, effortlessly and in continuous harmony, viewing life’s coloured photographs as imagined through their silvery negatives.

                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                Barry says: Beautiful rhythmic new folk sounds mix with quirky off-piste melodic tilts and smooth electronic accents. Like a more melody focused Tunng, PicaPica clearly take influence from all ends of the musical spectrum and pull them together into a cohesive and musically rich whole.

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                                                                                                                                Cover of Small Mercies by Pixx.

                                                                                                                                Pixx

                                                                                                                                Small Mercies

                                                                                                                                4AD

                                                                                                                                  Although love lives at the heart of her second album, it has little to do with romance. Small Mercies is absolutely not a heartbreak record, nor is it a celebration of new love, or sisterly call-to-arms or vengeful catharsis. Instead, it is a series of poetic examinations of love across the experiential spectrum, from the micro (self-love) to the macro (devotional faith-inspired love, love for this planet), set to a soundtrack that mixes electronic pop and grungy guitar rock with aplomb.

                                                                                                                                  Small Mercies follows the 23 year-old’s debut album, The Age Of Anxiety (2017) – an unsettling synth-pop record fuelled by Pixx’s own debilitating experience of angst – and 2015’s forlorn and folk-edged Fall In EP. Co-produced by Simon Byrt (who worked on both her EP and debut album) and Dan Carey, it sees Pixx assuming different personas to examine the damage done by religion, gender-based power hierarchies and stereotypes, the tipping point of Earth’s destruction and love.

                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                  Barry says: It genuinely surprised me that Pixx (nom-de-plume of London-based Hannah Rodgers) weren't from Australia because the sound is a perfect addition to the punky, snarling catalogue of artists like Courtney Barnett or Stella Donnelly, rich with attitude and brimming with superb songs, delivered with confidence and wit.

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                                                                                                                                  Cover of Out Of Sight by Jake Xerxes Fussell.

                                                                                                                                  Jake Xerxes Fussell

                                                                                                                                  Out Of Sight

                                                                                                                                  Paradise Of Bachelors

                                                                                                                                    On his third and most finely wrought album yet, guitarist, singer, and master interpreter Fussell is joined for the first time by a full band featuring Nathan Bowles (drums), Casey Toll (bass), Nathan Golub (pedal steel), Libby Rodenbough (violin, vocals), and James Anthony Wallace (piano, organ). An utterly transporting selection of traditional narrative folksongs addressing the troubles and delights of love, work, and wine (i.e., the things that matter), collected from a myriad of obscure sources and deftly metamorphosed, Out of Sight contains, among other moving curiosities, a fishmonger’s cry that sounds like an astral lament (“The River St. Johns”); a cotton mill tune that humorously explores the unknown terrain of death and memory (“Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues”); and a fishermen’s shanty/gospel song equally concerned with terrestrial boozing and heavenly transcendence (“Drinking of the Wine”). Jake has written a fascinating essay, about the nine songs he chose and his journey to them (available on the PoB website).

                                                                                                                                    Like all things having to do with traditional music, there are multiple sources for these songs, many layers of transmission and interpretation. “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues” I heard from my friend Art Rosenbaum, who learned it from a Pete Seeger recording from the late ’40s. I first heard the Irish tragicomedy “Michael Was Hearty” via my pal Nathan Salsburg, guitar wizard and curator of the Alan Lomax Archive, who played me a YouTube video of an Irish Traveller and ballad singer named Thomas McCarthy, whose a cappella delivery of the song is striking and singular. “Oh Captain” is my bastardized reinterpretation of a beautiful deckhand’s song recorded by the singer, composer, and musicologist Willis Laurence James for Paramount Records in the early 1920s. In the mid-2000s when I was living in Oxford, Mississippi, I went to an estate sale at an antebellum house in town and found a first edition of Carl Sandburg’s famous 1927 book The American Songbag, which contains “Three Ravens.”

                                                                                                                                    The great ballad singer and collector Bobby McMillon, of western North Carolina, has recorded a fine version of “The Rainbow Willow” under the title “Locks and Bolts,” the more common title. My friends Sally Anne Morgan and Sarah Louise (aka House and Land) have also recorded a beautiful rendering. I combined various versions from the Ozarks into the one that I sing, but the story is pretty much the same. “The River St. Johns” comes straight from one of Stetson Kennedy’s Florida WPA recordings of a gentleman named Harden Stuckey doing his interpretation of a fishmonger’s cry, which he recalls from a childhood memory. “Jubilee” is from the great Jean Ritchie’s family tradition. Her father probably sang it as more of a play-party type piece, or at least that’s what Art Rosenbaum tells me, but it’s taken on different forms since. “Drinking of the Wine” is a spiritual number, you might could say. The version to which I’m most faithful is one that was recorded by a group of Virginia menhaden fishermen singing it as a net-hauling shanty on a boat off the coast of New Jersey in the early 1950s. “16–20” is my very loose rearrangement of a tune that I’ve known for years. This was a popular dance piece among guitarists in the lower Chattahoochee River Valley of Georgia and Alabama, including my old friends George Daniel and Robert Thomas, from whom I learned it.

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                                                                                                                                    Cover of Kicks by Rickie Lee Jones.

                                                                                                                                    Rickie Lee Jones

                                                                                                                                    Kicks

                                                                                                                                    The Other Side Of Desire

                                                                                                                                      Kicks is an eclectic album of ten cover songs - from "Mack The Knife" written in 1928 for a German musical (known in the U.S. as The Threepenny Opera) that became a jazz standard, to "Bad Company" the eponymous theme song for the British rock band written in 1974. The arrangement and instrumentation, by producer Michael Napolitano (Ani DiFranco), provides a fresh and modern sonic infusion on every song. Rickie Lee Jones skyrocketed to fame in 1979 when as a barely known artist she appeared on Saturday Night Live. Performing her biggest hit “Chuck E’s In Love” in her trademark red beret, Time Magazine instantly dubbed her “the Duchess of Coolsville.” Since then she has gone on to win two Grammy Awards, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone twice, and was included in VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.

                                                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive yellow and pink splatter on translucent green vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                      Cover of What Nature Gives... Nature Takes Away by The Membranes.

                                                                                                                                      The Membranes

                                                                                                                                      What Nature Gives... Nature Takes Away

                                                                                                                                      Cherry Red

                                                                                                                                        The new album from the influential UK post punk band Membranes fronted by John Robb – and their first to feature a choir, adding a dark and thrilling epic edge to their songs. Follows the success of 2015’s critically acclaimed “Dark Matter/Dark Energy” (made following their return after 20 years), which was a 6music favourite and received positive reviews across the world. The album’s environmental theme was inspired by a conversation with fellow nature and post punk fan Chris Packham (who guests on the album), about the beauty and violence of nature and the transient nature of life and love. Sixteen epic, powerful and darkly romantic songs of powerful, epic post punk with several tracks using the BIMM. Boasts adventures into krautrock, dark dub, off kilter rhythms, death disco, tribal , dark opera, neo-classical and apocalyptic bass driven noise. Featuring guests such as 84-year old folk singer legend Shirley Collins, the original punk icon Jordan and Kirk Brandon from Theatre Of Hate. 

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                                                                                                                                        Cover of With Kindness by Keel Her.

                                                                                                                                        Keel Her

                                                                                                                                        With Kindness

                                                                                                                                        O Genesis

                                                                                                                                          Keel Her's musical output can rightfully be called prolific. Originally from Winchester, Rose Keeler Schaefler has been writing and recording her own songs from the age of 14 on instruments found in charity shops and at car boot sales, culminating in a cassette release back in 2011 on Maximum Violence Records. Since then Keel Her has made an album with lo-fi legend R Stevie Moore and has released a single on O Genesis Recordings, alongside multiple releases on Critical Heights. Her influences include Talking Heads, Linda Smith and The Beatles but there's so much originality it's hard to pinpoint and, well, it just sounds like Keel Her.

                                                                                                                                          With Kindness is a collection of Keel Her’s experiences over the past few challenging years. Her introverted, thoughtful nature is obvious within the lyrics of tracks such as ‘self-sabotage’ and her deep running empathy effects all aspects of her life, be it others’ feelings, nature or the planet. On working with Keel Her, Tim Burgess says: “In 2012 I was handed a recording by R Stevie Moore, it was a track by his favourite artist Keel Her, an artist he had been recording with in Nashville. The song was called ‘With Me Tonight’ and I asked straight away if we could release it. The answer was yes and a seven-inch single of that song with double A banger ‘Boner Hit’ – it was an early O Genesis gem. “Rose Keeler Schaefler is the most amazing and prolific artist and the intervening seven years have given us more fantastic music from the world of Keel her. It’s a pleasure to welcome her back to O Genesis with her new album With Kindness.”

                                                                                                                                          “With Kindness was recorded over a few months of 2018, at home in London onto tape (Studer 16 track),” explains Rose on the creation of the record. “Juan Jacinto on drums, myself on the rest with a few exceptions where James Hoare plays various things, and guest vocals from friends Linda Smith, and Sean Armstrong. The record is a collection of the past few years; frustrations, mental health issues, over-controlling relationships, being judged by the judgemental, being stuck in a routine you don’t want to be in. Although I am not feeling like I did then or in the same situation, it feels like it had to be recorded for the feelings to dissipate. Catharticism?”


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                                                                                                                                          Cover of Celebrity Mansions by Dinosaur Pile-Up.

                                                                                                                                          Dinosaur Pile-Up

                                                                                                                                          Celebrity Mansions

                                                                                                                                          Parlophone

                                                                                                                                            Dinosaur Pile-Up return with their fourth album Celebrity Mansions, a collection of songs that sizzle with big melodies, skewered through with raw, intoxicating emotion. To mark the album’s announcement the band have released the incendiary ‘Thrash Metal Cassette’, their most punk rock and in-your-face track to date.

                                                                                                                                            DPU have long been talked about as one of British music’s most consistently exciting outfits, with singer/guitarist Matt Bigland forging a reputation as one of rock music’s finest songwriters. So having spent the best part of a decade building a fiercely loyal fanbase, and a stellar live reputation, now’s the time to prove it.

                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                            Cover of Nighttime Stories by Pelican.

                                                                                                                                            Pelican

                                                                                                                                            Nighttime Stories

                                                                                                                                            Southern Lord

                                                                                                                                            Pelican, the instrumental quartet whose singular vision of heavy music eschews classification, have announced their first full length in six years, Nighttime Stories, via Southern Lord Recordings.

                                                                                                                                            The eight-song set marks the band’s first release written front to back with guitarist Dallas Thomas, who took over guitar duties upon founding member Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s departure in 2012. In the process of writing the album the quartet endured a slew of realisations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of their nineteen-year career.

                                                                                                                                            Though the new material veers towards the darker tone characteristic of Pelican’s early songwriting, it’s hard to imagine a previous incarnation of the band writing songs as meticulously crafted and detail-oriented as those within Nighttime Stories, where the compositions recall everything from the triumphant call-to-arms of classic Dischord, to the vicious troglodyte battery of the Melvins, to the dynamic interwoven melodies of bottom-heavy indie cult heroes Chavez.

                                                                                                                                            Nighttime Stories was an album title initially proposed for Tusk, the hallucinatory art-grind band that included Pelican members Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Larry Herweg, and Schroeder-Lebec, in addition to vocalist Jody Minnoch. The writing of Nighttime Stories was instigated shortly after Minnoch’s unexpected death in 2014, and some of the dissonant viscera and dark psychedelic structures that were characteristic of Tusk’s sound began to unconsciously inform the album’s direction. In homage to their departed colleague, Pelican applied the previously discarded title and pulled many of the song titles from notes Minnoch had sent to inspire the direction of the unrealized album. As the writing of Nighttime Stories progressed Thomas also experienced a heavy loss with the passing of his father, to whom the album pays tribute on opening track “W.S.T.” (on which Dallas performed his guitar parts on his father’s Yamaha acoustic).

                                                                                                                                            Pelican have always excelled at vacillating between the savage sounds of various niches of metal underground and the more delicate and nuanced sounds of Midwest’s cerebral indie community, proving that they can make either end of the spectrum more vibrant and compelling through the art of contrast. With Nighttime Stories, the pendulum has swung back to the angst and ire of their younger years while delivering it with the nuance and wisdom that’s come with nearly two decades of writing and performing.

                                                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                            Barry says: I remember first hearing Pelican's mindblowing 'Australasia' in the early 00's and being genuinely surprised that post-metal could so skilfully toe the line between the brain-melting heaviness of Isis (not that Isis), and the brittle minimalistic guitars of Explosions In The Sky or the like. 'Nighttime Stories' is more evidence that they continue to dominate the scene, and with it progress to the modern era.

                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                            2xLtd LP Info: Limited black vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                            Cover of Pianoworks by Eluvium.

                                                                                                                                            Eluvium

                                                                                                                                            Pianoworks

                                                                                                                                            Temporary Residence

                                                                                                                                              Pianoworks is Eluvium’s first solo piano album since his sophomore album, An Accidental Memory In The Case Of Death (2004). Inspired by the quiet thoughts and solitary observations of children – and the evolution/dissolution of that ephemeral, uncorrupted wonder of simple joy – Pianoworks begins with a song about children’s piano lessons, and culminates with an etude driven by the struggle to hold onto innocence and imagination as adulthood settles in. The record’s dramatic simplicity in both execution and expression is with purpose: Cooper wants the music to be simple enough to inspire children and novices to play, and the concept simple enough to resonate regardless of age or experience.

                                                                                                                                              As any minimalist painter, poet, or architect can attest, it is oftentimes the profoundly simple art that proves to be the most time-consuming and torturous to produce. Pianoworks exemplifies this dichotomy, having been recorded, re-recorded, and re-re-recorded in the span of nearly a decade. Cooper exhausted every attempt to achieve a very specific, peculiar sound that is out of time – a sound not entirely lost in an attic, but also one not easily found in a playlist. The process to achieve this elusive sound was painstaking, but it has yielded a rare kind of music that is as uncomplicated as it is uncompromised. 

                                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                              Barry says: I've been a fan of Eluvium for as long as I can remember, and can clearly recall the joy of hearing 'An Accidental Memory...', stripping back the elemts to just a piano and some field-recorded ambience. This brings me right back to that time, with Cooper's delicate tinkling keys filling the sonic spectrum with graceful reverb and beautifully minimalistic instrumentation.

                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                              3xColoured LP Info: Indies exclusive 'Mother Of Pearl' vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Home Cooking by DJ Yoda.

                                                                                                                                              DJ Yoda

                                                                                                                                              Home Cooking

                                                                                                                                              Lewis Recordings

                                                                                                                                              A soul and jazz spreading of wings, with the help of scene headliners Nubya Garcia, Theon Cross and Henry Wu. ‘Home Cooking’ is the new, mature sound of DJ Yoda. Maximising the experience and enjoyment gained from recording live instruments and prioritising songs over beats for his previous two albums ‘Breakfast of Champions’ and ‘Chop Suey’, this is a big step for the cut-and-paster as a producer, having wowed the world over for over two decades with his celebrated turntable tomfoolery. Recorded between his own studio and the world famous Abbey Road, ‘Home Cooking’ keeps one foot in the hip-hop old school with collaborations with the returning Jungle Brothers (the party-starting ‘Afrika’) and Boston bastion Edo. G (a peaceful route from London to ‘Roxbury’), and spreads to a melodic vibe scoring chilled Sunday mornings.

                                                                                                                                              “I titled this one ‘Home Cooking’ because the music is so close to my heart, in terms of what I grew up on, and what really speaks to me on a personal level”. Imbued with the spirit of Guru’s ‘Jazzmatazz’, the output of Acid Jazz and 90s vitals from the Jungle Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul, Yoda admits that it's a happy accident that, whilst drawing on jazzy, soulful hip-hop from 25 years ago, the sound of ‘Home Cooking’ is very much of-the-moment. With British jazz currently in the rudest of health, vigorously championed by Gilles Peterson and with the likes of Sons of Kemet receiving Mercury Prize recognition to show such an upsurge has not gone unnoticed, Yoda lines up some of the best musicians the scene has to offer.

                                                                                                                                              Sons of Kemet member and tuba sharp shooter Theon Cross, fast-rising saxophonist and boundary breaker Nubya Garcia, and award-winning jazz alchemist Henry Wu on keys, put ‘Home Cooking’ in the safest, most nimble of hands. “I feel so lucky to have been able to work with musicians of this calibre”. Add in the vocals of Brit-soul legend and MBE Omar, BBC Introducing star/“the UK's answer to Frank Ocean" Joel Culpepper, (‘London Fields’, played as a live six-piece session for BBC Radio London) and big gun for hire Eva Lazarus (a prominent feature on Swindle’s ‘No More Normal’, an album that runs parallel to ‘Home Cooking’), and the timing of Yoda’s sound expansion, plotted across London and beyond, has been impeccable. “It’s just lucky that right now is such a great moment for UK jazz, and that coinciding with me making this album - it certainly wasn’t by design. I didn’t set out to necessarily make something with such a strong jazz and soul influence, but at one point I took a step back and listened to everything I’d made, and it had accidentally, or subconsciously, turned out like that”. 

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Music Is Nice by HNNY.

                                                                                                                                              HNNY

                                                                                                                                              Music Is Nice

                                                                                                                                              Omena

                                                                                                                                              "Music Is Nice" f/k/a "Fantasy" f/k/a "Snippets (Of Life, Love & Everything In Between)".
                                                                                                                                              Produced in 2013, but shelved by the label. Now finally out through Omena.

                                                                                                                                              One could argue that these tracks mark the beginning of a creative journey for modern dance music luminary HNNY. It's a brilliant parade of styles and a glimpse into the producer's multi-faceted musical process. For every track that delivers the expected, the next one does something quite extraordinary, showing of a new-found confidence and proficiency from this producer and DJ. Destined to be around for a while, this could well be the star's leading opus. 


                                                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                              Matt says: Nice new side pruned to perfection and stylishly showen off by mastermind producer / DJ HNNY. Elegant and sassy, it can't help being compared to a robust and flamboyant red wine.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Untitled by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                                                                                              Untitled

                                                                                                                                              The Vinyl Factory

                                                                                                                                              New compilation Untitled collects seven collaborations inspired by the life and work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, pairing emerging and established musicians to create a genre-defying compilation of new music. It features Shabaka Hutchings, Kojey Radical, Wu-Lu, Nubya Garcia, Lex Amor, Ego Ella May, LayFullstop, Moroka, AJ Kwame, Lord Tusk, Roxanne Tataei, Kz, Mala, Joe Armon-Jones, Confucius MC, Kwake Bass and Maxwell Owin& Coby Sey.

                                                                                                                                              Released by Lonely Table, Anja Ngozi and The Vinyl Factory, with support from the Arts Council England, the album spans genres and eras, touching on jazz, experimental electronic, post-punk, dub and ambient influences, painting a diverse picture of the UK’s expanding underground sound. Drawing on Barbican’s major Basquiat retrospective in 2017, the project also explores themes around identity, representation and social inequality. As such Untitled also encompasses a youth project with Ruff Sqwad Foundation, in which seven BME young people aged 12-18 were given the opportunity to visit the Tate Modern and create music in response to what they saw.

                                                                                                                                              As LayFullstop says: “We’re celebrating a legend who fought with his brushes and spoke with his work. The need for his work is still as current as ever. The issues we’re attacking are still as current as ever. So it’s only logical that Basquiat is and will continue to be as current as ever.”


                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                              Ltd LP Info: 180g vinyl, limited to 1500 copies.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Soul Jazz Records Presents Brazil USA 70: Brazilian Music In The USA In The 1970s by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                                                                                              Soul Jazz Records Presents Brazil USA 70: Brazilian Music In The USA In The 1970s

                                                                                                                                              Soul Jazz

                                                                                                                                              All of the music featured on this new Soul Jazz Records collection was created by Brazilian artists in the USA in the 1970s. In the early 1970s North American jazz musicians were eager to work with upcoming Brazilian musicians. Miles Davis invited Airto Moreira to join his new ‘electric’ band, Dom Um Romao (part of Sérgio Mendes’ legendary Brazil ‘66 in the 1960s) joined the fusion group Weather Report, Flora Purim and Airto both became a part of Chick Corea’s new project Light As A Feather, Wayne Shorter collaborated with Milton Nascimento, George Duke recorded Brazilian Love Affair and so on. With all the attention placed on them from these important jazz artists, North America became the new musical playground for a large number of these Brazilian artists - Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Sérgio Mendes, Luiz Bonfá, Eumir Deodato, João Donato and many others. 

                                                                                                                                              Most of these musicians had already experienced success through the earlier popularity of bossa nova in the 1960s, either at home in Brazil or in the USA. However, by the end of the 1960s, many Brazilian artists had left their own country, as the military dictatorship became progressively more authoritarian and repressive. In the USA, through their critically acclaimed work for Miles Davis, Weather Report, Light As A Feather etc., all of these artists were now given reign to explore new musical terrains away from the restrictions of both a musical genre and a state censor back in Brazil.  

                                                                                                                                              This collection brings together some of these finest works and comes complete with extensive notes that explains the path these musicians took from Brazil to the USA and shows the political and musical links between Brazil and the USA that created the conditions for this unique fusion of these two distinct cultures, North American Jazz and Brazilian music, that occurred in the 1970s. 

                                                                                                                                              The CD contains large 40-page outsize booklet all housed in Soul Jazz slipcase. The double LP comes in a deluxe gatefold complete with digital download code, full sleevenotes and exclusive photography.

                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                              2xLP Info: The double LP comes in a deluxe gatefold complete with digital download code, full sleevenotes and exclusive photography.

                                                                                                                                              CD Info: The CD contains large 40-page outsize booklet all
                                                                                                                                              housed in Soul Jazz slipcase.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Twenty Years Of Moshi Moshi by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                              Various Artists

                                                                                                                                              Twenty Years Of Moshi Moshi

                                                                                                                                              Moshi Moshi

                                                                                                                                                Moshi Moshi Records was originally set up in 1998 as a hobby by three friends (Stephen Bass, Michael McClatchey and Adrian Pike) to enable them to work with the artists that they loved but didn’t fit in with the agenda of their major-label day-jobs. To start with all the releases were one-off 7” singles and for the first 5 years it was a low-key affair, and very much a hobby. Then in 2003 things changed with a single from Bloc Party and Hot Chip’s first E.P. It was time to get serious and to bid farewell to the day-job. Unshackled from the responsibilities of the 9-to-5 and with a burgeoning reputation the label took off and started to spread its net wider with an album from NYC-based synth trio Au Revoir Simone and Australian indie-art-pop 8-piece Architecture In Helsinki. Then came artists such as Hot Club De Paris, The Rakes, Slow Club and The Drums.

                                                                                                                                                In 2006, the two remaining Moshi Moshi founders – Stephen and Michael – decided they wanted to get back to their one-off 7” release roots and the Moshi Moshi Singles Club was born. Some 40+ releases later the singles club’s roster makes an impressive list – Late of The Pier, Friendly Fires, Lykke Li, Florence and The Machine, Kindness and Disclosure.

                                                                                                                                                This compilation LP is a mix of Singles Club and full Moshi Moshi releases and takes us right up to the present with singles from current artists Girl Ray, Teleman and Anna Meredith.


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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Boat by Pip Blom.

                                                                                                                                                Pip Blom

                                                                                                                                                Boat

                                                                                                                                                Heavenly

                                                                                                                                                Something special happened to Pip Blom at the tail end of last year. It was a busy twelve months that saw the release of her frenetic EP ‘Paycheck’, two A-Listed singles at 6 Music and support slots to the likes of The Breeders, Franz Ferdinand and Garbage. Capping that off, though, moments before stepping onstage at a sold out Lexington – the London stop-off on her debut UK headline tour – the band put pen to paper and signed to Heavenly Recordings.

                                                                                                                                                Now, Pip announces her first release for the label – her debut album ‘Boat’, out 31st May 2019.

                                                                                                                                                Signing to Heavenly was another item crossed off Pip’s to-do list, fulfilment of one of the things she dreamed of since first picking up a guitar and the culmination of a storming 2018 that propelled Pip Blom as one of the year’s most exciting rising guitar bands.

                                                                                                                                                Growing up intensely shy, it was an uncharacteristic plunge into the limelight during her teens that first kicked off Pip Blom’s musical passage: in the form of answering an advertisement for a songwriting competition.

                                                                                                                                                Pip earnestly set about writing songs on a Loog guitar, a three-stringed children’s line of the instrument that aids learning, cultivating a 20-minute set and performing for the first time in front of an audience - eventually reaching the semi-finals of said competition. As you have gathered, the story didn’t end there and failing to win was anything but a deterrent.

                                                                                                                                                Neither was struggling to find band members post-competition. Pip simply ploughed on as she always has, finding a way to make things work with the resources around her. Programming drums on a computer and writing and recording both bass and guitar parts, Pip decided to start self-releasing songs on the internet and it didn’t take long for people to start taking notice.

                                                                                                                                                Today, that same plucky, head-on attitude characterises everything she does and it’s an absolute joy to behold - whether that’s witnessing her band’s powerfully impressive live show or listening to her honest, heart-on-sleeve approach to writing songs on record.

                                                                                                                                                And ‘Boat’ is emblematic of that – an open book of Pip Blom, delivered via her undeniable knack for writing a hook-laden, 3-4 minute song; planting it in your head and making it stay there looping days after first hearing it.

                                                                                                                                                There’s the kinetic combination of guitars from herself and brother Tender Blom, the effortlessly captivating vocal range which can be authoritative and intent like in the driving album opener ‘Daddy Issues’, or soothing and warm as heard in melodic middle track ‘Bedhead’. Then there are the choruses that seem to stop songs in their tracks and lift them into a different stratosphere.

                                                                                                                                                The album’s earworm quality is something that has been connecting across the waters from her home country of the Netherlands, aside from the aforementioned 6 Music playlists, landing an impressive amount of spins across US college radio and a spot on the coveted Triple J playlist in Australia.

                                                                                                                                                Listening through, it’s not hard to understand why. The album is wrapped up in a certain energy that, while evident the band put everything into recording it, would indicate they had a blast doing so – its infectious and, most importantly, wholeheartedly believable.

                                                                                                                                                Dave McCracken bottled up that energy while overseeing the recording at Big Jelly studios in Margate, with the album then mixed by Dillip Harris in a shipping container on the banks of the Thames in East London. Its result is ten songs that, alluding to the album’s title, ferry you through Pip’s headspace via expertly crafted songs gelled together through their unassuming depth.

                                                                                                                                                Pip Blom are: Pip Blom (vocals, guitar), Tender Blom (vocals, guitar), Darek Mercks (bass), Gini Cameron (drums)

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Laura says: Pip has the knack of writing such immediate, hook filled pop songs that they seem immediately familiar, and not just the odd one, a whole album full! If you're a fan of classic 3 minute indie pop then this is an absolute peach!

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Further by Richard Hawley.

                                                                                                                                                Richard Hawley

                                                                                                                                                Further

                                                                                                                                                BMG Rights Management

                                                                                                                                                It’s been a while since the last Richard Hawley album - 4 years in fact. During that time he made a decision to break the recording / touring cycle he’d been working since he was 14 and went off to write music for films and also an acclaimed musical, "Standing At The Sky's Edge", based around a housing estate in his home town. But now he’s back, with a new album, and although there’s plenty of the swoonsome, croonsome Hawley we know and love, he’s not been afraid to push the boundaries a little.

                                                                                                                                                If you’re a 6music listener, then you can’t fail to have heard the opening track, the bluesy rock’n’roll stomp of “Of My Mind” - maybe a bit of a shock to the system for long-time Hawley fans, but fear not! It’s followed my the Smithsian “Alone” and then the gorgeous “My Little Treasures” - a beautiful, heartfelt song written about drinking with two of his late father’s oldest friends. The sweeping strings and pedal steel of the title track and slow strummed ballad  “Emilina Says” wind things down beautifully.

                                                                                                                                                I don’t know if the album was put together with the thought of an A-side and B-side in mind, but that’s how it comes across, with both sides opening with a big ballsy blast that slowly eases as the needle creeps inwards. The B-side opens with “Is There A Pill?”, with it’s pounding drums and big string surges that bring to mind “A Design For Life” era Manics. It’s followed by the chugging “Galley Girl” and then gently drifts into the languid “Not Lonely”. “Time Is” could be a Neil Diamond cover (he wrote some gems you know!) and is followed by my favourite track on the album “Midnight Train” - classic Hawley! And finally, the album is rounded off with the short but sweet, gentle strum of “Doors”.

                                                                                                                                                “Further” is possibly the most diverse album Richard Hawley has recorded, but it flows beautifully - partly down to the wonderfully intertwined guitar playing of Hawley and long-time cohort Shez Sheridan, but also because Hawley is such a great song writer. If like me, you are unsure on first listen, stick with it - it’s worth it!

                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Limited Edition Orange LP.

                                                                                                                                                LP Info: Black vinyl edition.

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of MU! by Gnoomes.

                                                                                                                                                Gnoomes

                                                                                                                                                MU!

                                                                                                                                                Rocket Recordings

                                                                                                                                                Gnoomes, the Russian outfit who blend a potent mix of psychedelic stargaze, kraut techno and kosmiche pop return with a brand new album, MU! their third for Rocket Recordings. Since the release of their last album Tschak! the three piece has turned into a quartet with synth player Masha Piankova joining the band. And it was the success of their tours in the UK and Europe that subconsciously created a template and tone for where the band would go next with this new album; to capture that surging drive and throbbing assault of their pulverising live shows. “We decided to make this record more live and less electronic,” Sasha, singer and guitarist from Gnoomses said. “We were thinking about how to make it sound more dynamic.” Masha’s introduction was a key one, with her replacing Sasha on synth bass whilst he moved over to second guitar to add a fuller and more impactful sonic crunch. MU! has been part recorded in the same old soviet radio station where the band recorded Tschak! part in a professional studio and then part at home.

                                                                                                                                                This was to ensure the best capture of Gnoomes live assault. The results brim with a magnitude and sense of coherence that belies some of the environment it was created in. Fuzz-driven guitars shift in engulfing waves, resembling shoegaze giants at their most ferocious, whilst elsewhere layered vocals stack on top of one another, weaving between pristine melody and augmented discordance. Whilst the glacial electronics and coldwave tendencies that soaked much of their previous album may be more absent here, this record pulses with an electronic tinge that bubbles more subtly under the surface of immersive guitars

                                                                                                                                                The title Mu! has Japanese origins and comes from Zen Buddhism – something Sasha began to practice during past trying times - meaning both “no” and “nothingness” and the understanding that the acceptance of this concept can lead to enlightenment. “For me personally it’s a spiritual record,” he says. Although any sonic warbles of new age blandness couldn’t be further from the end results here. This is a cleansing record, no doubt, but one that washes over you with both brutal force and deft subtleness. With the completion of this album, it also wraps up a trio of records all connected via punctuation – Ngan! Tschak! Mu! - but with one each distinct in its own tone and sense of evolution. From Bowie to the Cure to Moderat, musical history is peppered with great musical trilogies and now Gnoomes’ Exclamation Mark Trilogy can be added to that.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Barry says: In classic fashion, Gnoomes have created yet another album that will i'm sure elicit excited 'What Is This?!' responses upon playing in the shop. Resplendent with Krautrock drive but accentuated with often manic synth phrases and mind-melting atmospheric electronic wizardry smeared over the top. Thoroughly mad, but entirely enjoyable.

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Outro Tempo II – Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil 1984-1996 by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                Outro Tempo II – Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil 1984-1996

                                                                                                                                                Music From Memory

                                                                                                                                                As Amsterdam's chief musicologists, Music From Memory have spent the past six years guiding us through unheard ambient, Balearic, boogie and Afro-wave, opening our minds and tickling our pleasure centres with their rare delights. After a string of flawless reissues and a fresh LP from Gaussian Curve, MFM dropped their first compilation at the start of 2017, inviting expert digger John Gómez to take stock of the bizarre bedroom pop, Amazonian electronics and offbeat MPB born out of 80s Brazil. As close to perfection as it gets, the compilation flew off our Piccadilly shelves, dominated Mancunian turntables and put a lot of smiles on a lot of faces.

                                                                                                                                                Outro Tempo II: Electronic and Contemporary Music from Brazil, 1984-1996 is the second installment of Music From Memory’s Brazilian series. This volume picks up where the first Outro Tempo left off, shedding light on a new wave of experimentalism that emerged in Brazil in the late 1980s and 1990s. The twenty tracks collected uncover another area of Brazilian music that looked to the future for inspiration. This time it drifts beyond the rainforest and into the pulsating heart of Brazil’s great cities, where it meets a generation of young artists eager to radically change the face of contemporary Brazilian music. In "Outro Tempo II" the avant garde and pop worlds meld in a haze of percussion and electronics. It presents another uncompromising and magnetic reinterpretation of the limits of Brazilian music.

                                                                                                                                                "Outro Tempo II" is compiled again by John Gómez and features original artwork by Alice Quaresma.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Patrick says: John Gómez goes back to Brazil for a second instalment of rare gems, leftfield pop and percussive tone poems. There's too many winners to mention here, but I've been after that May East track for about 3 years now, and it's worth the entry fee alone...

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Snaker 010 by Eirwud Mudwasser.

                                                                                                                                                Eirwud Mudwasser

                                                                                                                                                Snaker 010

                                                                                                                                                Snaker

                                                                                                                                                After first serenading our cerbellum via an exquisite EP of deep machine voodoo and techno-pagan mediations on Balearic Social, Romanian synth druid Eirwud Mudwasser is back on wax with his first full length, the tenth instalment of the ever-heady Snaker series. In keeping with the label's recurring theme of "Contermporary Library Sound", Vlad-Stefan Matei locks into the hardware, lets loose on the balafon and looks into the distance, conjuring an impossible landscape of futuristic machinery, rising waterfalls, neon swamps and prismatic clouds.

                                                                                                                                                We soar into the scene via the bleeps, squelches and sequences of the kosmische "Hiccup" before the techno-tropical throb of "Hahahaha So Sad" places us on terra firma, quickly coming to terms with the hallucinatory sights around us as oddball echoes, sci-fi synth-tones and desk-dub motifs fill the soundscape. Follow the fizzing stream and you'll see the "Crazy Lilo" a frazzled floor filler which houses a disjointed Thai vocal and all manner of madcapped static. The "Drum Machine Circle" syncs up electronic cicadas and clattering percussion with tropical synth stabs, before the relaxed and reclining "Martn Drums" closes the side out with blissed out keys, simple percussion and a sampled vocal.

                                                                                                                                                The B-side begins with the balafon on the immersive and organic "Treewalkers Cradle Song" before the slanked out and chip-heavy "Snails" provides a slow and subby interlude for the smokers. "Italoh Sirens" picks up the pace with its peak-time weirdness, all twisted space sirens, bleeping waveforms and spaghetti western guitars riding a hypnotic Italo groove. "DX Cola" hammers out the clap track, tumbling toms and bonkers sound FX, all dubbed to within an inch of their life, slapping you into submission so that the spangled and mangled e-funk of "Don't Spill Wine (On The DX)" can quietly steal the show. Signing off with the stuttering synths and splintered vocal of "Sabat", Vlad pulls us back to the future past after an outrageous debut LP.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Patrick says: Effortlessly melding the organic and electronic, Bucharest's premier techno-pagan, Eirwud Mudwasser cooks up 11 tracks of unparalleled synth-funk, shamanic drum tracks and dubbed out dancers for all you froglickers out there.

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of And Now For The Whatchamacallit by Psychedelic Porn Crumpets.

                                                                                                                                                Psychedelic Porn Crumpets

                                                                                                                                                And Now For The Whatchamacallit

                                                                                                                                                Marathon

                                                                                                                                                Thundering over the horizon out of Perth, Australia, the psyche-rock capital of the Universe, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets are taking the World by the horns. Having spent the last year slaying sold-out audiences in US, UK and Australia with their blistering live shows, the band have thrown down the gauntlet with their new album, ‘And Now For The Whatchamacallit’.

                                                                                                                                                The new album marks an exciting new chapter for Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Recorded between frontman Jack McEwan’s bedroom and Tone City Studios in Perth, mixed by Michael Jelinek (Gunns)and mastered by John Davis (Gorillaz, The Killers), And Now For The Whatchamacallit is representative of the development in the band’s huge sound, and their most anticipated release yet. “The original concept was to take a 1930’s carnival that had been re-imagined for future generations, a collage of Punch and Judy, Carousels and coconut shy’s that progresses in musical concepts and travels with the listener. Then as we started traveling I was swept off into my own kind of circus, the odyssey of touring life. Large nights out, larger characters, drunken recollections of foreign cities and rabbit hole-ing into insanity.”

                                                                                                                                                The 10-track record is punctuated by the singles ‘Social Candy’, ‘Keen For Kick Ons?’ and ‘Bill’s Mandolin’, all perfect slices of manic Psychedelic Porn Crumpets fury. This new album positions them more than ever as a band ready to explode with exciting energy and is a continuation of the musicianship fans have seen bolden over live shows and recent releases.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Mine says: I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the band name alone is intriguing enough for some of you to grab a copy of PPC's 'And Now For The Whatchamacallit', but if that's not the case and you want to know what else they've got going for them, just imagine King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and Pond going on tour together and all ending up on the same stage... Voilà!

                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Yellow / purple / blue splatter vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Run Around The Sun by Sacred Paws.

                                                                                                                                                Sacred Paws

                                                                                                                                                Run Around The Sun

                                                                                                                                                Rock Action

                                                                                                                                                Run Around The Sun is the follow-up to Strike A Match, Sacred Paws' SAY Award winning debut. It includes the previously shared ‘Brush Your Hair’, an infectiously fun listen. The album will appeal to fans of their previous work plus fans of Shopping, Girl Ray and Aldous Harding.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                Barry says: In keeping with their superb LP from 2017, Sacred Paws have crafted a brilliantly nuanced but hugely listenable combination of jangling indie-pop, driven post-rock atmospherics and angular punky attitude. Completely brilliant, once again.

                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                Coloured LP Info: Heavyweight green vinyl comes with a screen printed 12x12" insert signed by the band, while stocks last!

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Rose City Band by Rose City Band.

                                                                                                                                                Rose City Band

                                                                                                                                                Rose City Band

                                                                                                                                                Jean Sandwich Records

                                                                                                                                                  Jean Sandwich Records is pleased to announce the first, self-titled, album from Oregon’s Rose City Band, out May 24th, along with the album’s first single, “Rip City,” at Raven Sings the Blues. Born of the back roads, rivers, and quiet city streets of Oregon, the music captures the feeling of living and loving, riding and crashing and being, in the Pacific Northwest, circa 2019. It's the sound of Sunday morning strums and Saturday night choogle.

                                                                                                                                                  Produced and recorded by Ripley Johnson (Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips) in Portland, and mixed by Chris Cohen, the album finds its niche in the hazy sonic landscape of private press country and psych records, and alongside artists like Relatively Clean Rivers, Jim Sullivan, Kenny Knight, and countless other explorers of the pastoral underground.

                                                                                                                                                  Ripley describes the album this way:
                                                                                                                                                  "The band was aiming to capture a timeless, natural sound, not quite of the present, past, or future, but phasing in between the consciousness of now and the stoned dream-state of the eternal. Sort of a back porch jam just as the shrooms are starting to kick in. Handmade and human, but also cosmic and transcendental. But the goal is to let the music speak for itself and hopefully find a weird and wonderful audience somewhere out there.”

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Induction Party by Mush.

                                                                                                                                                  Mush

                                                                                                                                                  Induction Party

                                                                                                                                                  Memphis Industries

                                                                                                                                                  Recorded at Glasgow’s thriving Green Door Studio with Ronan Fay (also guitarist of ascendant Scottish rockers Sweaty Palms), the EP’s six tracks follow the proud lineage of art-rock from both sides of the pond. Mush cite Pavement, Sonic Youth, Television and The Fall as their primary influences: “fundamentally we identify as music fans as much as artists. I write music that I want to hear for my own enjoyment,” says vocalist / guitarist Dan Hyndman. “I’ve always admired people who can create visceral and inspiring art without carrying on as some transcendent being. Having your influences on your sleeve and being open is just an extension of that.” There’s both consolidation and progression at play on Induction Party. The four-piece - Hyndman, guitarist Steve Tyson, bassist Nick Grant and drummer Phil Porter – are now cemented as more of a song writing entity than the “noise project” they would describe their early incarnation.

                                                                                                                                                  Mush have idiosyncrasies all of their own and Induction Party is far more than an endearing homage to the bands listed above. Hyndman’s excitable half-sung, half-yelped vocal snipes and lolls around each song as though sometimes even he doesn’t know where the melody’s going to go next. There’s a sense that not a second of music’s been wasted, a refinement in the band’s song writing process that means nothing clocks in at over four minutes. On "Litvinenko" and Induction Party they prove themselves truly as a product of our time.

                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                  Mini LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Sundada by Komodo Kolektif.

                                                                                                                                                  Komodo Kolektif

                                                                                                                                                  Sundada

                                                                                                                                                  Invisible, Inc.

                                                                                                                                                  At long last Komodo Kolektif have brought us the long-awaited follow-up to their outstanding 2017 EP “Sumantras”.

                                                                                                                                                  With “Sundada” we see the group delve even deeper into hypnotic territory with an even stronger focus on their Indonesian gamelan instruments, wall-shaking basslines and trance-inducing percussion. A dual focus on tribal primitivism in parallel with a futuristic vision of the possibilities provided by their vast arsenal of electronic gear and processors, the overall outcome has produced something beyond 'world music' that is positively ritualistic.

                                                                                                                                                  Again aided by veteran Seattle-born multi-instrumentalist Jon Keliehor (James Brown, The Doors, Peter Murphy / Bauhaus, The Daily Flash, Emotional Response, Optimo Music) on suling (Indonesian flute) and percussion, Komodo Kolektif seem to have explored even more meditative and profoundly esoteric avenues than they did with “Sumantras”.

                                                                                                                                                  Much of the material is a refinement and distillation of what has been featured in their live shows for almost a year and a half and which has been met with rapturous applause at the likes of Convenanza festival in France to Sonic Cathedral & Ulrich Schnauss' Ambience Chasers in London.

                                                                                                                                                  Other pieces are the result of improvisations; experimenting with the Indonesian sarons, gendèrs and kempul at their disposal (courtesy of Gamelan Naga Mas of which two of the group are long term members) to create new patterns that resonate to both eastern and western ears.

                                                                                                                                                  Komodo Kolektif have received praise and plays from Hardy Fox (The Residents), JD Twitch (Optimo), Andrew Weatherall, Peter Power (Multi Culti / Voodoohop) and many more.


                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                  Matt says: Komodo Kolektif have been one of Invisible, Inc.'s star signings. With the label itself distributing only the highest quality shamanic tackle, this in itself is quite the accolade. Get your chakras around this new long player and get fully submerged in the ritualistic sounds of KK's entheogenic universe.

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Rainford by Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

                                                                                                                                                  Lee 'Scratch' Perry

                                                                                                                                                  Rainford

                                                                                                                                                  On-U Sound

                                                                                                                                                  The mighty Upsetter returns with 9 brand new tracks recorded with longtime friend and collaborator Adrian Sherwood at the controls. 'It's the most intimate album Lee has ever made, but at the same time the musical ideas are very fresh. I'm extremely proud of what we've come up as a piece of work'. - Sherwood

                                                                                                                                                  This new set is the culmination of over two years work and recording sessions that span Jamaica, Brazil and the UK. Determined to craft a work of lasting power, Sherwood likens to the album to the work that Rick Rubin did with Johnny Cash on the American Recordings series, a deeply personal work (the album title refers to Lee’s birth name) and arguably the strongest batch of original material that Perry has released for many years.

                                                                                                                                                  From the atmospheric field recording and wah-wah guitar of album opener “Cricket On The Moon”, to the gothic cello embellishment on “Let It Rain”, the chopped-and-compressed horn section of “Makumba Rock”, to the layered, carefully arranged backing vocals like a heavenly chorus throughout the record, this is an album with true love, care and attention poured into it’s every groove. It culminates in the truly extraordinary “Autobiography Of The Upsetter”, in which Scratch narrates the story of his life from growing up on a plantation in 1930s colonial Jamaica to becoming a worldwide musical superstar.

                                                                                                                                                  The story of Lee Perry and Adrian Sherwood collaborating stretches back to the mid-1980s, and a fortuitous meeting brokered by underground broadcasting legend Steve Barker between the dub innovator and UK upstart. This led to the creation of On-U classics such as "Time Boom X De Devil Dead" and "The Mighty Upsetter", as well as Lee gracing Dub Syndicate records with some vital vocal injections.


                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                  Matt says: A nice, autobiographical styled set by these two reggae legends. Telling a story of Scratch's life whilst demonstrating the varying facets of Sherwoods ingenius production.

                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive gold vinyl, limited to 2000 copies worldwide.

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Dépaysé by Sinkane.

                                                                                                                                                  Sinkane

                                                                                                                                                  Dépaysé

                                                                                                                                                  City Slang

                                                                                                                                                  Sinkane is an artist with a real stake in our current cultural and political climate. Born in London to Sudanese parents, raised in Ohio, and now calling New York City home, Ahmed Gallab refines his sound and message to peak form on his new studio album, ‘Dépaysé’.

                                                                                                                                                  “Sinkane is an American band comprised of people from all over the world,” says Gallab in his bio letter for ‘Dépaysé’. “Our collective experience as children of the diaspora helped bring the music to life in the most honest way possible.” He adds, “Dépaysé is the story of an immigrant’s journey of self-discovery in the Trump era. The music is loud and raw, and it's bursting with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever done before.”

                                                                                                                                                  ‘Dépaysé’ is Sinkane’s seventh full-length and the follow-up to Sinkane's acclaimed 2017 album ‘Life & Livin' It’. The band features Gallab, Elenna Canlas (keys and vocals), Jonny Lam (guitar), Ish Montgomery (bass), and Chris St Hilaire (drums).

                                                                                                                                                  Accompanying statement from Ahmed Gallab: -

                                                                                                                                                  It’s easy to be angry in moments like now. And that’s OK. But it takes courage to turn that anger into productive energy. The previous Sinkane album, 2017's Life and Livin' It, was released at a very crazy time: things like the Muslim ban, police shooting unarmed people of color, massive corruption in my native Sudan, fake news, Donald Trump, Brexit and so many other calamities all really forced me to think about my place in the world as a musician. I began to think about how I could use my music in a constructive way — not only to help myself but to help others who feel frustrated and powerless.

                                                                                                                                                  I’ve made a lot of music out of my life story but I’ve always kept things vague enough that anyone listening to my music could relate to it on their own terms. And yet I have to admit that I never truly felt satisfied with that. I eventually realized that, in order to truly connect with other people, I first needed to connect with myself on a deeper level than before.

                                                                                                                                                  Throughout the making of MY NEW ALBUM I kept asking myself the same question: “As an immigrant to America, where do I belong?” So, during the writing process, I worked mainly by myself so that I could ensure the most honest and personal answers to that question.

                                                                                                                                                  At some point, I discovered the French word dépaysé, which basically means “to be removed from one’s habitual surroundings.” By extension, it means to be disoriented, homeless. That's a feeling I relate to very much in these times — and I’m not the only one who feels this way. That word gave me clarity and made the journey inward that much more exciting.

                                                                                                                                                  So here we are. Dépaysé is the story of an immigrant’s journey of self-discovery in the Trump era. The music is loud and raw, and it's bursting with an energy unlike anything I’ve ever done before. The album starts with “Everybody,” an anthem of inclusion. Every day we wake up to another horror story about racism, and it’s left many of us angry, confused and frustrated. But we can change the news for the better. We can show people that a multicolored world is a beautiful one. Celebrating our differences yields beauty in life. And that takes... everybody. On “Everyone” I continue that line of thought to its logical conclusion: love is the key to helping us understand one another.

                                                                                                                                                  I confront my insecurities with identity on songs like “Ya Sudan,” “Dépaysé” and “The Searching.” Truly understanding one's duality means seeing beyond where you came from: let go of any definition that others put on you and then you can truly see the beauty of your life experience. This, along with the rest of Dépaysé, has given me peace. I’m no longer confused about the duality of my Sudanese and American identities. Now I accept it.

                                                                                                                                                  I want Sudanese kids to see a person like them as a positive role model in the arts. And to everyone, I want to make it clear that the world is a better place because of our differences. We’re all strangers in this ever-stranger land of America. We are all the American Dream.

                                                                                                                                                  Best,

                                                                                                                                                  Ahmed Gallab

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Fabric Presents Kolsch by Kolsch.

                                                                                                                                                  Kolsch

                                                                                                                                                  Fabric Presents Kolsch

                                                                                                                                                  Fabric

                                                                                                                                                  Fabric presents Kölsch’ is a ten-track journey of exclusive new material inspired by and named after flights from his gig schedule. Drawing from the routine experience of flying from show to show, each track imagines its own sonic world from solitary journeys at 30,000 feet. Rune Kölsch is responsible for developing a leftfield aesthetic now synonymous with the Kompakt label. Employing a tapestry of carefully arranged textures, he levitates his way through 60 minutes of blissful hypnotism. His productions offer a glimpse into a dreamy, visceral world full of transcendent moments. Building on a constant but gentle line of tension, his track selections tread the line between melancholic and uplifting. Microscopic percussive details roll through sprawling backdrops whilst animated glitches form subtle melodic leads.

                                                                                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                  Matt says: Fabric don't let loose these solo artist albums very often. Ricardo Villalobos and Omar S both spring to mind - both seminal collections that expossed said artists to new and expanding fan bases. Now Kolsch is invited in by the seminal London label for a showcase of this delicate, fragile and serenely beautifully producer's work.

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