Recorded at Paris Bercy on 14th June 2007, Daft Punk's first homecoming concert for 10 years, "Alive 2007", captures the otherworldly live experience that the revolutionary robot-clad duo began at Coachella, USA in 2006. Opening with a "Robot Rock" teaser, before crashing into the track itself, the set works its way through all those DP anthems you love, including "Technologic", "Around The World", "Burnin'", "One More Time", "Da Funk", "Too Long" and "Human After All" - they even do a version of "Music Sounds Better With You"!.
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LIFE
Recorded at Paris Bercy on 14th June 2007, Daft Punk's first homecoming concert for 10 years, "Alive 2007", captures the otherworldly live experience that the revolutionary robot-clad duo began at Coachella, USA in 2006. Opening with a "Robot Rock" teaser, before crashing into the track itself, the set works its way through all those DP anthems you love, including "Technologic", "Around The World", "Burnin'", "One More Time", "Da Funk", "Too Long" and "Human After All" - they even do a version of "Music Sounds Better With You"!.
The music is diverse and fresh whilst retaining their trademark Daft Punk sound (vocoder vocals, keyboards playing 70s guitar riffs etc), this time with a more spontaneous and direct quality to the recording. A mix of guitars and machines, "Human After All" takes us from the hardcore P-Funkin' tech-thump of "Brainwasher" and "Television Rules The Nation" to the pumping "Technologic" and "Steam Machine". The highligh however comes with the moments of calm amidst all the stormy electronics, the heartbreaking "Make Love" and "Emotion".
“Hull and the surrounding area runs through our DNA and has shaped us, weathered us, empowered us, embraced us and made us feel accepted.
North East Coastal Town is our love letter to the city. The album is an ode to kinship and relationship with its musical and lyrical spine picking out themes of love, desire, beauty, horror, chaos, pride and most importantly the sense of belonging.
Upon writing and recording this album it was important to us that this sense of belonging was also reflected in the album’s craft and therefore we used locally based studios, equipment, gear, and the community around us to establish what it means to belong in a North East Coastal Town.”
When the pandemic gripped the world in March 2020, LIFE were in the midst of promoting their acclaimed second album – A Picture Of Good Health (Sept 2019); they had just completed an arena support tour with Kaiser Chiefs in the UK, a triumphant main stage appearance at Rockaway Beach and flown to New York for New Colossus Festival ahead of a packed SXSW and a US tour with IDLES. They scrambled home on the last plane back from New York on 17th March.
The album was BBC 6 Music’s Album Of The Day, BBC Radio 1’s Album Of The Weekend and was one of BBC 6Music's Albums of The Year; all four singles from the album were play-listed at 6Music, and the band were nominated for two AIM Awards 2020 - Best Live Act and Best (Difficult) Second Album and they played major UK festivals including Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading Festival and many more.
They began rebuilding with ‘Friends Without Names’ – the shapeshifting first glimpse from the album – which was added to the A-List at BBC 6Music, and was recorded in the dead of night and hums with a dark, brooding and passionate atmosphere.
“Friends Without Names is the anchor and blueprint for our next record. In a remote part of Eastern England, close to the river Humber, we performed this track as if we were in trance; vibrating in a constant musical crescendo. Our aim was to push ourselves and harness differing time zones whilst giving in to the moments of beauty, horror, love and chaos depicted by the song’s lyrics.” (Mez Green, vocals)
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
1. Friends Without Names
2. Big Moon Lake
3. Incomplete
4. Almost Home
5. Duck Egg Blue
SIDE B
6. Shipping Forecast
7. Poison
8. Self Portrait
9. The Drug
10. Our Love Is Growing
11. All You Are
Benjamin Berton
Dreamworld - The Fabulous Life Of Dan Treacy & His Band The Television Personalities
Ventil Verlag
-
- Paperback Book
- £21.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TRBOOKS001
- Release date
- 5 Aug '22
-
- 2xColoured LP
- £22.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- EARS174LP
- Release date
- 15 Jul '22
- Format Info
Orange vinyl edition.
Orange vinyl edition. -
- 2xCD
- £13.99
- Cat Number
- EARS174
- Release date
- 15 Jul '22
* Features all the classics from the first two Stooges albums.
* 6 tracks recorded in the studio, 5 of which are re-recordings of iconic Stooges tracks from across Stooges & Funhouse LPs.
* Presented in a deluxe card gatefold sleeve with photos of all band members and full colour printed inner bags.
* Royalties paid to the artist / estates.
TRACK LISTING
Side A:
1. Loose
2. Down On The Street
3. I Wanna Be Your Dog.
4. 1969
Side B:
1. Tv Eye
2. Dirt
3. Real Cool Time
4. No Fun
Side C:
1. 1970
2. Funhouse
3. Skull Ring
4. Little Doll
Side D: In The Studio
1. Intro
2. Little Doll
3. Loose
4. Trollin’
5.tv Eye
6. I Wanna Be Your Dog
7. No Fun
-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
- Cat Number
- EVA-05 / ??044
- Release date
- 24 Jun '22
- Format Info
Hallowe'en Neon Orange 180g vinyl
Hallowe'en Neon Orange... [ + ] -
- Coloured LP 2
- £19.99
- Cat Number
- EVA-05 / ??044
- Release date
- 24 Jun '22
- Format Info
Hotbox Black Galaxy vinyl
Hotbox Black Galaxy vinyl
It's pieces like 'Virus Pain' or 'Cabin Rainfall' that give the pieces room to breathe, with slowly shifting envelopes crystallising around affirming sub-bass particles, hinting at cyclic melody but beautifully falling short of any sort of predictable melodic route. It's beguiling and monolithic and astounding, all at once.
The choral abstractions of 'Chance For Something' help to lend an air of crescentic beauty, while the flickering electronics and syncopated loops help to stray away from the predictable melodic resolution, confounding traditional and expected routes in favour of the always surprising structural counterpoint.
Beautifully evocative and unfathomably skilled ambient electronics as ever from the hugely talented Sangam.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Stunning release, beautifully presented from one of the greatest labels in the game. a true ambient electronic gem.TRACK LISTING
1. Faded Remorse 03:28
2. Disconnect Me Like A USB 04:00
3. Remain Graceful 04:02
4. Virus Pain 03:01
5. High In The Shade 04:33
6. Cabin Rainfall 03:16
7. Bitter Life 04:00
8. Chance For Something 03:14
9. Zonbrid 03:20
10. Forever Dreampunk 07:08
-
- LP
- £19.99
- Cat Number
- EVA-04 / ??042
- Release date
- 24 Jun '22
TRACK LISTING
1. Robotic 03:12
2. Save You 04:15
3. Ava 02:33
4. Neuro Interface 03:32
5. Fading Light 03:46
6. Eastern Break 05:48
7. Phoenix 03:33
8. Origin 02:41
9. Broken Transmission 02:12
10. Deton 04:13
-
- Coloured LP
- £23.99
- Cat Number
- 0190296403842
- Release date
- 17 Jun '22
- Format Info
140 gram white coloured vinyl.
140 gram white coloured... [ + ] -
- LP
- £20.99
- Cat Number
- 0190296403828
- Release date
- 17 Jun '22
- Format Info
140g black vinyl.
140g black vinyl. -
- CD
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- 0190296274435
- Release date
- 17 Jun '22
‘Life Is Yours’ feels like a natural evolution for Foals, its disco-tinged guitars, tight syncopated rhythms and punchy, insistent hooks echoing their roots as purveyors of rambunctious house party chaos. Thematically, it’s escapist, transportive and in rapture at life’s endless possibilities. It’s a record that’s perfectly in tune with the prevailing atmosphere of this moment in time – a life-affirming celebration as the world is reunited.
‘Life Is Yours’ immediately establishes its tone with the bright beam of optimism provided by its title track, its ambience and exuberance showing no sign of slowing down as it is followed by the two recent singles. There’s a unity to the sound, whether Foals are bouncing into the Balearic beats of ‘Looking High’, experimenting with West African guitar grooves on ‘Flutter’, or simply savouring the prospect of playing live together again within the dance dynamics of ‘The Sound’. It’s also a consistently transportive experience, at times conjuring images of the Pacific Northwest or St. Lucia, at others directly set in the peppy nostalgia of the recent past. It all comes full circle with ‘Wild Green’, which simultaneously celebrates the rebirth of summer with an existential tinge that all beautiful moments are inevitably fleeting.
Yannis Philippakis says, “I feel that with ‘Everything Not Saved…’ we touched upon all of the facets of our sound up until that point. This time we wanted to find a new way to express ourselves. We wanted to refocus and do something that shared a DNA throughout the songs: a physicality, a danceability, and with energy and joyousness. It’s definitely the poppiest record we’ve ever made.”
Foals – completed by Jimmy Smith and Jack Bevan – started the project within the dark, windowless confines of their south London rehearsal space in the midst of the winter lockdown. Feeling contained and tethered, they were drawn towards spirited sounds that looked to a brighter future, not only in terms of climate but also in terms of the unreplicable thrill of performing live. By the time the process reached its conclusion, the verdant summer surroundings of Real World Studios near Bath matched the album’s ardent atmosphere.
The band also experimented with collaborating with a tapestry of different producers (often working within different configurations) on various tracks. The album’s varied creative voices include John Hill (Portugal The Man, Florence + The Machine), Dan Carey (Tame Impala, Fontaines D.C.), Miles James and A.K. Paul (co-founder of the Paul Institute with his brother Jai Paul). Much of the album was subsequently mixed by ten-time Grammy Award winner Manny Marroquin (Post Malone, Kanye West, Rihanna), with several tracks mixed by another multiple Grammy Award winner in the shape of Mark ‘Spike’ Stent (Coldplay, Muse, Kings of Leon).
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: 'Life Is Yours' takes all of the drawn-out cinematic obscurity of the 'Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost' duo from a few years ago and inverts it into a bright, poppy party collection. Vivid percussion, soaring synths and jubilant vocals make this one of their most accessible and optimistic outings yet.TRACK LISTING
1. Life Is Yours
2. Wake Me Up
3. 2am
4. 2001
5. (summer Sky)
6. Flutter
7. Looking High
8. Under The Radar
9. Crest Of The Wave
10. The Sound
11. Wild Green
We kick things off with the thundering bass and cinematic throng of 'Lost In Translation', deftly moving from tense crescentic synth pulls to bursts of neon activity, slipping into 80's synth territory with snappy sidechaines and gated reverbs, nicely ofset by the more introspective twinkling ambience of follower, 'Trapped In The Future'. It's both 'Trapped...' and follower 'The Digital Mine' that really show the depth of expression that can be wrought from relatively unadorned synthesis, with pulses of delay and filter sweeps being the mainstay of both pieces, eventually culminating in a militaristic procession of driving saw stabs and woozy lead lines.
Closing out the a-side, the duo of 'Too Late To Care' and 'A New Found Loss' swim with crystalline echoes, speeding up and slowing down the delays resulting in a chaotic but enchanting soundtrack redux, with the latter especially diving deep into filmic industrial electronics.
We begin the B-Side with the shadowy 'Flawed Desire', both eerily gothic and enduringly mechanised, it takes the established sound and further tears it apart into its constituent parts, resulting in an almost diametrically opposed juxtaposition of spine-tingling modern classical ambience and bolschy rave.
It's the closing tracks that really seal the concept, pulling together the disparate sounds into a rounded and evocative whole. 'Drifting' is probably as heavy as the collection gets, both pummelingly heavy and atmospherically dense. The closing trio skilfully offset the moments of light with intimidating unease, glimmers of light piercing the fog of electronic malaise.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Another absolutely stunning package from super-label Pure Life. The music itself as is evocative as the packaging is beautiful, perfectly conceived and impeccably produced, this is an essential purchase for any of you who like a bit of soundtrack synth (if not, why not?)TRACK LISTING
1. Lost In Translation 03:48
2. Trapped In The Future 04:14
3. The Digital Mine 03:48
4. Too Late To Care 03:03
5. A New Found Loss 05:58
6. Flawed Desire 05:25
7. Drifting 04:11
8. Something About... 03:35
9. Try 04:01
10. You'll Be Okay, I Promise 05:26
-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SBR234LPC5
- Release date
- 17 Jun '22
- Format Info
Royal blue vinyl edition.
Royal blue vinyl edition.
“The album comes out of seeing and experiencing a lot of turmoil but wanting to create something positive out of it,” Stewart explains. “I wanted to take a less selfish approach on this record. Maybe I’m just getting older, but that approach starts to feel a little self-indulgent. So with this record, it’s less about how I see things and more about the way things just are. Seeing myself as a part of a lineage of people trying to do a little something instead of trying to create a platform for myself individually.”
As with every Black Marble album, Stewart recorded, produced, and played everything you hear on Bigger Than Life using entirely analog gear, though the process was new. This time around, he wrote everything on his MPC and sequenced it live to his synths — only using the computer to record, not to create. “I try new approaches every time, which helps me stay engaged but also its kind of a trick I play on the creative side of my brain,” Stewart says. “Keeping one side of my mind busy on organizational creativity I think frees up the other side where the inspirational creativity comes from.”
TRACK LISTING
Never Tell (4:17)
One Eye Open (4:43)
Daily Driver (3:54)
Feels (4:42)
The Usual (1:35)
Grey Eyeliner (3:32)
Bigger Than Life (3:54)
Private Show (4:41)
Shoulder (4:12)
Hit Show (1:36)
Call (3:43)
-
- LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- ERATP149LP
- Release date
- 15 Jul '22 (originally released 29 Apr '22)
- Format Info
Black vinyl repress.
Black vinyl repress. -
- CD
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- ERATP149CD
- Release date
- 6 May '22
“I originally wrote Harry Piers to play at my dad‘s memorial service 24 years ago, and I played it at the end of pretty much every gig (and soundcheck) we’ve done since, so I’ve probably played it hundreds if not thousands of times since we originally released A Matter of Life... So when we decided to reissue the album, Robert and I both felt it would be fun to record an up-to-date version of this song, because it has changed over time and it continues to evolve. So while this is still very much the same tune, I think it has a lot more nuance and detail that reflect the years that have passed since 2011,” Arthur explains.
A Matter of Life… 2021 is a chance for a classic example of the beauty that’s found in collaboration to reach fresh ears, and an opportunity to breathe new life into fan favourites. The album, performed by a mix of personalities — including Neil Codling of Suede and, on percussion, Cass Browne of Gorillaz — incorporates the aesthetics of the original PCO, seasoned into a confident and redefined style, maintaining that quintessentially English sound, but adding a fresh direction and a sense that they are evolving into something new and very much their own.
Arthur says “it’s been really lovely to come back to these old friends — and with this re-issue we’ll be bringing them all out to play live again. Now four albums on, and with our new home at Erased Tapes, it makes a lot of sense for us to go back and pull this record out and brush it off for today”.
The cover artwork also received an update in the shape of a beautiful photograph taken by the UK photographer and long-time collaborator Alex Kozobolis, who was sent to visit Arthur in his second home in Tuscany. Raths’ concept for this was to not only reenact the original painting by Emily Young, but to express the generational change by putting Arthur and his daughter in place of the little boy and the emperor penguin figure that suggest father and son.
TRACK LISTING
1. That, Not That
2. Landau
3. Sundog
4. The Fox And The Leopard
5. Finland
6. Pale Peach Jukebox
7. Harry Piers 2021
8. Two Beans Shaker
9. From A Blue Temple
10. Ghost In The Pond
11. Coriolis
-
- 12"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- SHR08
- Release date
- 6 May '22
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Was vvv intrigued by this Prince of Queens 12", nice smooth chuggy house on a label we haven't stocked from before but this is ace.TRACK LISTING
A1. Sound Of Life
A2. Sound Of Life (Ciel Afterlife Mix)
B1. NYC Repeats
B2. For Mike
-
- Ltd LP
- £23.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0190296618116
- Release date
- 6 May '22
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. WDPK, Pt. 1 (Live In Birmingham)
2. Da Funk (Live In Birmingham)
3. Rollin' & Scratchin' (Live In Birmingham)
Side B
1. Rollin' & Scratchin' (Live In Birmingham)
2. WDPK 83.7 FM, Pt. 2 (Live In Birmingham)
3. Alive (Live In Birmingham)
-
- 2xLtd LP
- £27.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0190296611926
- Release date
- 6 May '22
- Format Info
Double gatefold, 140 gram black vinyl.
Double gatefold, 140 gram... [ + ]
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Daftendirekt
2. Wdpk 837 Fm
3. Revolution 909
4. Da Funk
5. Phoenix
Side B
1. Fresh
2. Around The World
3. Rollin' & Scratchin'
Side C
1. Teachers
2. High Fidelity
3. Rock'n Roll
4. Oh Yeah
Side D
1. Burnin'
2. Indo Silver Club
3. Alive
4. Funk Ad
-
- 7"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- ATH121
- Release date
- 29 Apr '22
The previously unreleased 'Everything That's Good In Life' A Very suitable unreleased track up there with his finest moments, it's got everything that would have made this a classic over the years and no doubt will make it a future classic for years to come, flipped with an alternate 7" Mix of 'Hold Me Close' this is a rock solid 45. You know what to do.
TRACK LISTING
1. Everything That's Good In Life
2. Hold Me Close (7 Inch Mix)
-
- 2xColoured LP
- £25.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- WARCHILD13LP
- Release date
- 8 Apr '22
- Format Info
Double yellow vinyl.
Double yellow vinyl. -
- 2xLtd LP
- £21.99
- Cat Number
- WARCHILD5LP
- Release date
- 8 Apr '22
- Format Info
Double black vinyl.
Double black vinyl.
Bands delivered tracks from all around the world, Damon Albarn cancelled a flight to China so Gorillaz could record their track, Hong Kong. The Kaiser Chiefs recorded a cover version of I Heard It Through the Grapevine whilst on tour in Berlin, Damien Rice delivered Cross-Eyed Bear in a break recording his second album in Dublin and the Manic Street Preachers sent in their third contribution to a War Child album, Leviathan, from South Wales. In a late addition to the tracklisting Chris Martin recorded a new vocal and lyrics for How You See The World No. 2 from New York and Tuarweg musicians Tinawiren sent in Cler Achel from Paris.
Elbow recorded a new song called Snowball, which lead singer Guy Garvey described as dealing with his outrage at the UK involvement in the Iraq conflict. Its first line: "The biggest mistakes will be forgiven but the snowball of white lies will crush our hearts.” And a significant contribution came from Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier and refugee from Sudan who donated the track Gua.
Alongside The Manic Street Preachers and Radiohead, John Squire also returned from the original HELP album to design the cover of Help! A Day which also features illustrations from Paul Smith and Duncan Lloyd of Maximo Park.
Help! A Day In The Life is part of a series of four re-releases by War Child Records making the amazing music artists have donated to the charity available on DSPs and vinyl for the first time. All proceeds from these releases will directly fund War Child’s life saving work with children affected by conflict.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
Coldplay – How You See The World No. 2
Razorlight – Kirby’s House
Radiohead – I Want None Of This
Keane And Faultline – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Emmanuel Jal – Gua
Side B
Gorillaz – Hong Kong
Manic Street Preachers – Leviathan
Kaiser Chiefs – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Damien Rice – Cross-Eyed Bear
Side C
The Magic Numbers – Gone Are The Days
Tinariwen – Cler Achel
The Coral – It Was Nothing
Mylo – Mars Needs Women
Maximo Park – Wasteland
Side D
Elbow – Snowball
Bloc Party – The Present
Hard Fi – Help Me Please
The Go! Team – Phantom Broadcast
Babyshambles – From Bollywood To Battersea
-
- 12"
- £16.99
- Cat Number
- MOSHI483
- Release date
- 25 Mar '22
Hailing from a city that birthed the likes of Krautrock, and with LCD Soundsystem’s Al Doyle and Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard on production reins for their upcoming EP, SPARKLING’s remarkable progression continues, having originally formed during their time studying at University and Art School in Cologne, where they developed a reputation live in their homeland for hot, heady and sweat-drenched club-room sets.
A move to London followed, where they soon worked with Stereolab’s Andy Ramsay on their debut LP ‘I Want To See Everything’; a jagged, quick-witted set of ten pop-flecked post-punk tunes, breaking them out of Germany and attracting widespread support across the BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) and BBC 6 Music (Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq) airwaves, as well as an invitation to play at SXSW.
Arriving ahead of their EP release in spring 2022 and subsequent live run, lead track ‘C’est Ma Vie’ is the sort of irrepressible hands in the air indie anthem that defies resistance. A song about self-doubt and regaining self-confidence, it’s cathartic in its sense of unashamed grandiosity and positivity in contrast to the twin troubles of the pandemic and Brexit that the group have drawn influence from.
TRACK LISTING
SIDE A
A1. C'est Ma Vie
A2. Not The Right Place
SIDE B
B1. Feelings
B2.Wir Träumen
-
- Coloured 10"
- £13.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE42EP
- Release date
- 11 Feb '22
- Format Info
White vinyl 10".
White vinyl 10". -
- CD
- £7.99
- Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE42CD
- Release date
- 4 Mar '22
TRACK LISTING
1. WATER
2. MISERY LOVES COMPANY
3. A LITTLE LOVE
4. CLOSER
5. XØXØ
6. ON THE HOOK
-
- Ltd 7"
- £10.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- WDW7007
- Release date
- 4 Mar '22
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Most Mancs with an ear to the streams will be aware of this highly adorable record dropping this week. Already championed by James Holroyd, Ron Basejam and Neil Diablo - one of the most poignant, heart-fluttering, down-right-beautiful songs this shining gemstone of a band have ever created.TRACK LISTING
A: If Life Could Be This Way
B: How Could I Know?
Mark Edwards
The Tao Of Bowie: 10 Lessons From David Bowie's Life To Help You Live Yours
Faber & Faber
-
- Paperback Book
- £8.99
- Cat Number
- 9781911630876
- Release date
- 6 Jan '22
When life gets tough, who can we turn to for help? Who will help us find happiness, meaning and purpose? The Tao of Bowie suggests that we turn to David Bowie for guidance - and use his amazing journey through life as a map to help us navigate our own.
Buddhism was central to David Bowie's life, but he was a wide-ranging thinker who also drew meaning from other sources including Jungian psychology, Nietzschean philosophy and Gnosticism. The Tao of Bowie condenses these concepts - the ideas that inspired and supported Bowie throughout his life and career - into ten powerful lessons, each with a series of exercises, meditations and techniques to encourage readers to apply these learnings to their own lives.
The Tao of Bowie will help readers understand who they really are, clarify their purpose in life, manage their emotions and cope with setbacks and change. This fresh approach to the search for spirituality and happiness unites the perennial human quest for answers with the extraordinary mind and unique career of one of the most important cultural figures of the past halfcentury
-
- LP
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- PY113
- Release date
- 18 Feb '22
Kicking off with the album’s title track- which, as a 45 last year attained plays on 6Music, reviews in “Electronic Sound” and “Record Collector” and sold out in a tick (as does all the LC back catalogue). Elsewhere on the record, tips of the hat to early Cabs, Fad Gadget, Transparent Illusion, Neural Circus et al, yet firmly sounding as fresh and current as any new electronica doing the rounds just now, lovely stuff and a superbly free flowing consistent set of tracks. Hugely recommended to anyone into any of the above and destined to sell out super quick….
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: I do love a PY record, almost all of them actually and while this certainly bucks the trend from the airy melodic synth we got from Melodien last month, it's another killer outing. Hypnotic synth stabs and echoic vocals twist around each-other in a high def minimal-wave/acid meltdown. Thoroughly superb, and quintessential PY.-
- Coloured LP
- £25.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- PIASNL05788LP
- Release date
- 18 Feb '22
- Format Info
White Vinyl edition.
White Vinyl edition. -
- CD
- £10.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- PIASNL05787CD
- Release date
- 18 Feb '22
The making of STILL LIFE has been quite the ride. Following their breakthrough album, 'White Water', it was clear The Slow Show were not just ‘another band from Manchester’. The legacy of The Smiths, Joy Division and all those other great predecessors is not something to be trifled with, but The Slow Show didn't need to wear their address on their sleeve: this was something else, fully formed, with a mesmerising sound, rich in atmosphere and melody.
With the band’s desire to push each other outside of their respective comfort zones during the recording process, STILL LIFE subsequently offers a more diverse, rich and interesting sound than previous albums.
“We did develop our sound', says lead singer Rob Goodwin. 'We had to try something else. We felt we owed that to ourselves, and to the people that come and enjoy the music. We explored a lot of stuff: different sounds, different feelings, different ideas, different processes as well. Some of them didn't work at all, but some did. It was difficult and challenging, but it felt good in the end.”
This experimental side to the creative process allowed the band to introduce new elements to their work. 'Some new approaches and sounds crept in', keyboardist Frederick 't Kindt admits. 'Some were far from our older work. For instance: after some initial encouragement from me, Rob was keen to sing a bit higher on this record. Chris was encouraged to make his drums a bit more present; some things almost sound like a breakbeat to my ears.'
Recorded remotely over the course of the past year, with Goodwin recording vocals from Dusseldorf in Germany and the rest of band recording in the UK, STILL LIFE as a concept, takes inspiration from the experiences of lockdown:
“Before the virus arrived, I had a busy life; spending two weeks in Germany with my girlfriend, and then flying to Manchester to work with Fred or to a gig.” Goodwin remarks: “And then all of a sudden, life came to a halt. It took a little getting used to, but I actually had a really nice realisation during that time. I understood that the slower life got, the more I saw. I spent a lot of time in nature, seeing things in a different perspective. And that's what you need when you're trying to create. You have to really look, and then you see things happening everywhere.”
The tracks themselves are brimming with emotion and reverence towards the significant relationships we encounter in life. Stand-out anthem ‘Blinking’ is a defiant pledge to never giving up on the people you love. Musically the band wanted the song to have impact, a directness and powerful punch that they'd previously shied away from. Whilst ‘Woven Blue’ deals with the aftermath of uncoupling. The idea that meaningful relationships are very often woven and complex, making resolve difficult.
These very personal tracks are counterbalanced with the more topical, ‘Breathe’, which documents some of the unjust and heart-breaking scenes of 2020 with spoken word references to John Boyega’s emotional rallying cry in support of Black Lives Matter movement in London's Hyde Park.
In all, STILL LIFE marks another evolution of a band that have never tried to fit in any particular box but have inhabited their own unique universe.
TRACK LISTING
01 Mountbatten
02 Anybody Else Inside
03 Slippin’
04 Rare Bird
05 Woven Blue
06 Blue Nights
07 Breathe
08 Blinking
09 Hey Lover
10 Who Knows
11 Weightless
-
- 2xColoured LP
- £25.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DCRL118LPX
- Release date
- 4 Feb '22
- Format Info
Coloured heavyweight double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.
Coloured heavyweight... [ + ] -
- 2xLP
- £23.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DCRL118LP
- Release date
- 4 Feb '22
- Format Info
Black heavyweight double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.
Black heavyweight double... [ + ] -
- 3xDeluxe CD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DCRL118CDX
- Release date
- 4 Feb '22
- Format Info
Deluxe 3CD edition containing the 24-track ‘Best Of’ plus ‘Super Extra Bonus Album’, a bonus disc of new and
unreleased recordings.
Deluxe 3CD edition... [ + ] -
- 2xCD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- DCRL118CD
- Release date
- 4 Feb '22
- Format Info
24-track standard 2CD.
24-track standard 2CD.
Remastered at Abbey Road, the new ‘Best Of’ offers a comprehensive guide to The Divine Comedy as curated by Neil Hannon himself and will be released on his own Divine Comedy Records. ‘Charmed Life’ follows 2019’s top five album ‘Office Politics’ and 2020’s extensive ‘Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time’ reissues project.
TRACK LISTING
Charmed Life
National Express
Norman And Norma
Something For The Weekend
Songs Of Love
The Best Mistakes
At The Indie Disco
Bad Ambassador
A Lady Of A Certain Age
Becoming More Like Alfie
Come Home Billy Bird
Have You Ever Been In Love
Our Mutual Friend
Generation Sex
How Can You Leave Me On My Own
Perfect Lovesong
Your Daddy’s Car
You'll Never Work In This Town Again
Absent Friends
Everybody Knows (Except You)
The Certainty Of Chance
Sunrise
To The Rescue
Tonight We Fly
Deluxe CD Bonus Tracks
I’ll Take What I Can Get
Don’t Make Me Go Outside
Who Do You Think You Are
The Adventurous Type
When When When
Home For The Holidays
Te Amo España
Perfect Lovesong 2021
Simple Pleasures
Those Pesky Kids
-
- LP
- £30.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 3561173
- Release date
- 4 Feb '22
Cracking the top 10 and going gold in the US, Wild Life faced an admittedly uphill battle as the debut of Paul's first post-Beatles band. In a recent reassessment, Billboard noted that modern-day Wild Life listeners "can throw out all this cultural baggage and just enjoy the tunes… by not reaching for any obvious Beatles tropes, Wings achieved something fresh and inviting…" And in fact, Wild Life would prove to be the first spark of the Wings phenomenon that would develop and flourish into one of the defining sounds of '70s rock n roll. The streak of #1 albums from Red Rose Speedway, Band On The Run, Venus And Mars, At The Speed Of Sound through the 3LP live opus Wings Over America, and the sold-out shows that provided the blueprint for the '70s arena rock experience—can all be traced back to the big bang of those first eight months during which Wings would form, release Wild Life in December 1971 and play their first-ever live shows in February 1972.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
Mumbo
Bip Bop
Love Is Strange
Wild Life
Side B
Some People Never Know
I Am Your Singer
Tomorrow
Dear Friend
Various Artists
Soul Jazz Records Presents - Life Between Islands - Soundsystem Culture: Black Musical Expression In The UK 1973-2006
Soul Jazz
-
- 3xLP
- £28.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- SJRLP507
- Release date
- 28 Jan '22
-
- 2xCD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- SJRCD507
- Release date
- 28 Jan '22
The album is a lightning-rod journey across Roots Reggae, Jungle , Jazz- Funk, Lovers Rock, Jazz, Dubstep and more. Much of Soul Jazz Records’ catalogue comes out of these genres and this album is partly an overview of some of Soul Jazz’s earlier releases (including Digital Mystikz’ long-deleted groundbreaking and now highly collectible single ‘Misty Winter’) alongside some choice rare and classic tunes that span over 30 years of sound system culture.
Many of the tracks represent how Black British artists defined their own identity, with songs such as Brown Sugar’s righteous ‘Black Pride’, ‘I’m In Love with A Dreadlocks’ and Tabby Cat Kelly’s powerful ‘Don’t Call Us Immigrants’. Aside from being musically rooted in the distinctly Jamaican-born phenomenon of the sound system, much of this identity is also shaped by the triangular relationship of being British-born, of Caribbean heritage, and with an equal love of African-American Jazz, Funk and Soul, as evidenced with many Lovers Rock reggae covers of American soul tunes (such as those of Jean Carn, William de Vaughan and Rose Royce featured here). This stateside influence can also be heard in groups such as the Funk Masters, a group formed by reggae radio DJ Tony Williams, whose jazz-funk music successfully crossed over into New York’s clubland, as well as the great Cymande, whose unique street-funk became staple material for numerous US hip-hop artists in the years that followed.
In the early 1990s, jungle and drum and bass artists took the essence of reggae’s soundsystem culture - MCs, dubplates, crews - and applied them to their own music, applying heavy reggae bass lines to intense double-speed drum breakbeats. At the forefront of this new movement were the duo Shut Up and Dance, working closely with The Ragga Twins, aka Deman Rocker and Flinty Badman, both MCs for North London’s infamous Unity reggae soundsytem. In the early 2000s, dubstep, spearheaded by Digital Mystikz, became the latest instalment in this ever evolving soundsystem culture.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Dang this is good! Skilfully joining the dots of sound system culture from its very beginning till now would seem like a daunting task for anyone. But guided by the Black identity of the majority of Sounds, Soul Jazz offer up a catch-all release that takes us from roots reggae and soul to jungle and dubstep without ever losing sight of the subwoofer. A phenomenal collection which, by way of a few choicely licensed joints ("Misty Winter", "RK1" especially), should be a instant-buy for anyone with a penchant for UK dance music.TRACK LISTING
Black Slate - Sticks Man
Dee Sharp - Rising To The Top
Asher Senator - One Bible
Cymande - Fug
Digital Mystikz - Misty Winter
Winston Curtis - Be Thankful For What You’ve Got
Trevor Hartley - It Must Be Love
Shut Up And Dance featuring The Ragga Twins - Java Bass
Brown Sugar - Black Pride
The Terrorist - RK1
Black Harmony - Don’t Let It Go To Your Head
Pebbles - Positive Vibrations
The Ragga Twins - Ragga Trip
Janet Kay And Alton Ellis - Still In Love
Funk Masters - Love Money
Cosmic Idren - Compelled
Harry Beckett - No Time For Hello
Sandra Reid - Ooh Boy
Tabby Cat Kelly - Don’t Call Us Immigrants
Brown Sugar - I’m In Love With A Dreadlocks
-
- Coloured LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE50LP
- Release date
- 28 Jan '22
-
- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE50CD
- Release date
- 14 Jan '22
“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.
Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.
Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.
And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.
“We’ve always been outsiders right from the very beginning” says Steven. “This album is really about us asserting ourselves as our own little island”, he adds. “We have made an entire career out of being told what we are “not”, of being rejected, of not fitting in, and this album is us deliberately pushing into all of our strangeness, emphasising all of the things that make us different”. Obsessed by true crime and murder podcasts, many songs on the record are told in character and explore the dark psyche of those at the pinnacle of outsiderdom: serial killers. "Ghosts On Tape" paints a picture of a dark and unsettling world. It is the sound of a unified and confident duo who know exactly who they are, even if the wider world doesn’t really get it. The sound of two people who have spent their entire adult lives making music together and who, more than ever, are finding new pathways for their creativity.
“Ultimately this album is an invitation”, explains Steven. “It’s us saying, this is our world, these are our darkest thoughts and feelings - our ghosts - caught on tape. You are welcome to join us. Come and embrace the strange”.
TRACK LISTING
1. Comply
2. Morbid Fascination
3. Murder Me
4. (I've Been Watching You)
5. Give Up
6. Sucker
7. Begging
8. (You Claim To Understand)
9. I Am Not You
10. Dig A Hole
11. I Lose Whatever I Own
12. (What Have You Been Waiting For?)
13. Four Two Seven
-
- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- MLS10
- Release date
- 7 Jan '22
Singles features the band’s 18 commercially released songs for the first time on one album spanning a 27 year career.
It includes the Wire cover Outdoor Miner, a rare track from The Mornington Crescent Companion EP (1995), plus two songs released on CD for the first time; 24 Hour Deflowerer (2016) and the 2020 release of The Rose The Sun (Form) which have previously only been available on vinyl.
More than 40 musicians and 10 producers feature on the album, which also features specially commissioned digital art by dARC Artz.
All 6 top 40 hits are featured including; 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, Sparkle, Strumpet and It’s a Girl Thing.
TRACK LISTING
1. The Rose The Sun (Form)
2. Broken
3. #No Filter
4. Taking On The World
5. 24 Hour Deflowerer
6. Walk / Don't Walk
7. If You Can’t Live Without Me Then Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?
8. Empire Line
9. It’s A Girl Thing
10. You Cant Uneat The Apple
11. Duchess
12. Strumpet
13. The King Of Kissingdom
14. Sparkle
15. 12 Reasons Why I Love Her
16. Outdoor Minor
17. Funny Ha Ha
18. Girl A , Girl B, Boy C
-
- Coloured LP
- £27.99
- Cat Number
- EVA-03 / ??041
- Release date
- 7 Jan '22
- Format Info
Dark Portal ('Gateway') (A/B: Red w/black smoke, C/D: Blue w/Black Smoke)
Dark Portal ('Gateway')... [ + ] -
- Coloured LP 2
- £27.99
- Cat Number
- EVA-03 / ??041 - 2
- Release date
- 7 Jan '22
- Format Info
Light Gate ('Ascension') (A/B: Clear w/Red smoke, C/D: Clear w/Blue smoke).
Light Gate ('Ascension')... [ + ]
The HKE side ‘Gateway’ explores the world of ‘Red’: dust, fire, the desert, death and hell, with a futurist take on tribal techno of ‘From Dust’ before exploding into a kind of electronic post-rock cinematic climax of ‘Spiral’ before the aftermath is considered in Vangelis style synth piece ‘Light Patterns’.
The T e l e p a t h side ‘アセンション’ (Ascension) then dives into the concept of ‘Blue’: water, vapour, rebirth and life, building the new world with the soundtrack of ‘つかの間の思い出’ (Fleeting Memories) followed by the achingly beautiful and somber ‘アセンションゲート’ (Ascension Gate) and then the cycle completing with the long form electronic closer ‘超越愛好家’ (Transcending Love).
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Another absolute stunner from the ever-reliable Pure Life here. It's a stunningly effective and perfectly weighted pairing between some of the most talented voices in modern synth music. Superb.TRACK LISTING
1. HKE - From Dust 06:27
2. HKE - Spiral 13:34
3. HKE - Light Patterns 09:44
4. T E L E P A T H Ã
-
- 2xColoured LP
- £27.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- OLE1804LP
- Release date
- 17 Dec '21
- Format Info
Lightbulb yellow vinyl
Lightbulb yellow vinyl
Which is to say, they made a concept album.
On December 10th, Matador Records will celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fucked Up’s titanic 78-minute early ’10s masterpiece, David Comes to Life, with a limited-edition 2xLP reissue on lightbulb-yellow vinyl.
David Comes To Life is a story of lost love, global meltdown, depression, bombs, guilt and madness. Or is it? A modern-day morality tale set amid the dour backdrop of a British industrial town in the late ’70s, it’s a four-part play that follows the dark moods and inner psyche of the titular hero. At the same time, the reliability of the narrator gets called into question. The tables are turned, responsibility shifts, and the story goes meta. Of course,you could always ignore the backstory and just listen to a fiercely imaginative double album of blistering, melodic rock'n'roll shot through with all manner of psychic weirdness.
TRACK LISTING
1. Let Her Rest
2. Queen Of Hearts
3. Under My Nose
4. The Other Shoe
5. Turn The Season
6. Running On Nothing
7. Remember My Name
8. A Slanted Tone
9. Serve Me Right
10. Truth I Know
11. Life In Paper
12. Ship Of Fools
13. A Little Death
14. I Was There
15. Inside A Frame
16. The Recursive Girl
17. One More Night
18. Lights Go Up
THE RECORD: Low Life’s 3rd LP is called From Squats to Lots: The Agony and the XTC of Low Life.
NOTES ON HOW TO LISTEN TO AGONY AND XTC OF LOW LIFE:
1. Some records hit you with an instant impression of timeless brilliance, and Low Life’s Dogging is one of those records, what the wise call “an instant classic”.
2. From Squats to Lots: The Agony and the XTC of Low Life is more like their second album Downer Edn (read Edition), a little more withdrawn, a little more textured. Complex. Rich. Which is to say: you’re going to need some time with it.
3. Some show, some grow. Low Life have done both. This one is a grower. Spend some time with this one. It’s got that nuanced flavour. Don’t guzzle. Sip. Savour.
4. Sip it, and sense the recurring brilliance of Mitch Tolman’s lyrics, exploring the usual territory of gutter life, lad life, punk life, low life. The dirge. Disgust and shame in white Australia. Council housing, bills piled to the neck, substance abuse and rehabilitation, the fallen lads and lasses who stood too close to the flame, loss and loneliness, from squats to lots. Un-Australian gutter symphony.
5. There is a celebration of resilience and that’s a central theme of this record and a time like ours needs a record like Agony & XTC. Low times are coming through, but if you’re low they won’t get to you.
6. Iggy Pop’s Bowie produced studio rock masterpieces ‘The Idiot’ and ‘Lust For Life’ are important reference points to the 3rd album sounds of Low Life. Here comes success!
7. ‘The Agony and Ecstasy’ is a 1985 novel by Irving Stone about the life of Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo. Stone wrote another novel about the single eared painter Vincent Van Gogh called ‘Lust For Life’. This synchronicity hit me.
8. Iggy and the Stooges are a pretty safe reference for Low Life (and all good rock music). Iggy and the Stooges are a low life’s Michelangelo, but solo Iggy like Lust for Life is a better reference for this particular incarnation of Low Life, which is to say they are studio rock albums.
9. Bowie later referred to this period of his life as profoundly nihilistic. But Iggy looked at it as the period of his life that saved him from an early grave. This confrontation is Low life lore.
10. Let’s stick to this, because there’s something about this era of Bowie that makes sense with Low Life’s new album, particularly Low. One should never miss the Low in our new album from Low Life. Producer and studio boss Mickey Grossman has the ear for the Low, and he has carved out a little statue of David right here.
11. Mickey’s ears are recording, mixing and producing the best of Sydney, most notably the Oily Boys Cro Memory Grin. A great companion record to this one. Use Agony & XTC AFTER Oily Boys. Not on an empty stomach, and don’t try to operate heavy machinery (bobcat, bulldozer etc).
12. The relationship between Low Life and Sydney hardcore should not be understated, but it also shouldn’t guide how to listen to Agony & XTC. This is not austere, disciplined music.
13. Think, like, if Poison Idea were given the kind of studio time and budget as Happy Mondays. You wouldn’t play it to a teenager. It’s not for children. This is a mature flavour, one for the adults who have had to contend with failure and hardship, medical bills and disappointed family members, betrayed lovers and worrisome growths, police brutality and tooth decay, humiliating bowels and collapsed septums, detoxing and drying out, for those who have seen themselves as corrupted and putrid and unloveable, for those who endure all of this and aren’t willing to lie down and cop it sweet: Low Life are still here and they ain’t going nowhere
TRACK LISTING
1. Agony Intro
2. Agony & XTC
3. Collect Calls
4. Real Man
5. Still Here
6. CZA
7. Conversations
8. Hammer And The Fist
9. Epitaphs
10. Harmony
11. Moments
12. Agony Outro
-
- 12"
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- TOKO2102
- Release date
- 19 Nov '21
The label enlist hometown hero Crooked Man for the B side business here, and the techno hero obliges with a pair of ferocious speaker tweaking reshapes.
Dark and cavernous, the 'Real Crooked' mix combines wall shaking bass, jacking drums and bloodless riffs into a smoke and strobe stomper, repurposing Azeem's vocal as a haunting refrain.
The dance floor paranoia continues on the 'Crooked Girl, Crooked Boy' mix, a sparse and dissociative take on the original equipped with demented dub FX and some serious bass weight.
An anthem in its original form, and a main room monster on the remix tip. Toko are back.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Second Toko release of the year and I gotta say we're really enjoying the renaissance! With star signings Si Brad & Crooked Man we are in safe hands for anthemic, end-of-holiday bliss. Don't forget this was supposed to come out in summer when it would make a lot more sense! To any DJs playing the southern hemisphere at the moment - your time.TRACK LISTING
A1. Avenue 6 (Is This The Real Life ?)
B1. Avenue 6 (Real Crooked Mix)
B2. Avenue 6 (Crooked Girl, Crooked Boy Mix)
-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- BR043LPC1
- Release date
- 17 Dec '21
- Format Info
Deep sea vinyl.
Deep sea vinyl. -
- CD
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- BR043CD
- Release date
- 19 Nov '21
Recommended if you like: Chet Baker, Norah Jones, Kamasi Washington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Kevin Krauter.
"improvisational jazz, classical music, and Stereolab... his songwriting owes more to loop-based composition than garage-bound woodshedding." – Pitchfork.
TRACK LISTING
01. This Year
02. May 1st
03. Sleep Apnea
04. What A Pleasure
05. Adversity
06. Down The Line
07. Youth
08. That's All For Now
-
- Coloured LP
- £26.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 4050538684339
- Release date
- 19 Nov '21
- Format Info
Limited edition 140g gold vinyl.
Limited edition 140g gold... [ + ]
This release sees ‘Life’ re-issued on vinyl for the first time since its original release and will be housed in a standard 12” sleeve on limited edition 140g gold vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
A1. Real Thing
A2. Song For A Family
A3. This Is How It Feels
A4. Directing Traffik
A5. Besides Me
A6. Many Happy Returns
B1. Memories Of You
B2. She Comes In The Fall
B3. Monkey On My Back
B4. Sun Don’t Shine
B5. Inside My Head
B6. Sackville
-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- RT0199LPE
- Release date
- 22 Oct '21
- Format Info
Indies exclusive green vinyl.
Indies exclusive green... [ + ] -
- Deluxe LP
- £26.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- RT0199LPX
- Release date
- 22 Oct '21
- Format Info
Limited edition deluxe LP in tip on gatefold sleeve with glued-in six page booklet.
Limited edition deluxe LP... [ + ] -
- LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- RT0199LP
- Release date
- 22 Oct '21
- Format Info
Black vinyl.
Black vinyl. -
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- RT0199CD
- Release date
- 22 Oct '21
Built largely from improvised jams, inspired by New York clubs, Primal Scream and Pink Floyd and produced in league with Rodaidh McDonald (The xx, Hot Chip, David Byrne), Sympathy For Life was always destined to be dancey. Unlike its globally adored predecessor, 2018’s Wide Awake! the focus fell on grooves rather than rhythm.
“Wide Awake! was a record you could put on at a party,” says co-frontman Austin Brown. “Sympathy For Life is influenced by the party itself. Historically, some amazing rock records been made from mingling in dance music culture – from Talking Heads to Screamadelica. Our goal was to bring that into our own music.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: While album opener "Walking At A Downtown Pace" is about as Parquet Courts sounding as you can get, Sympathy For Life sees them taking a broader more experimental approach to their sound. It’s still unmistakeably them, the chugging post punk grooves and catchy hooks are still there, but it’s a more expanded, adventurous sound that works brilliantly.Barry says: It's been a long wait for the new Parquet Courts LP, and this one follows 2018's highly regarded 'Wide Awake', which is never going to be an easy task. Fortunately for all involved, this one takes the incredibly successful formula of that banger and streamlines it into a wonderfully precise and soaring pop-redux of their already sleek sound. A brilliantly catchy, wonderfully written opus.
TRACK LISTING
Walking At A Downtown Pace
Black Widow Spider
Marathon Of Anger
Just Shadows
Plant Life
Application/Apparatus
Homo Sapien
Sympathy For Life
Zoom Out
Trullo
Pulcinella
-
- CD
- £10.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 3830589
- Release date
- 24 Sep '21
Kick-started by growing pains and life’s unlucky twists, fuelled by the simple salvation of six guitar strings and supercharged by the fans that found them slogging their gear into the north of England’s pubs and small venues, The Lathums story may turn out to be the perfect not-all-nice-guys-finish-last tale.
It was only in the summer 2019 that the band’s fuse was lit by Tim Burgess, who offering them a late slot at Kendal Calling where, inside 24 hours, social media chatter caused their audience to spill into the field beyond their tent. A year later they had achieved their first UK Album Chart Top 20 for vinyl-only EP compilation, The Memories We Make, recorded their debut appearance for Later… With Jools Holland and joined the BBC Sound Poll 2021 list of tipped acts at the end of a year that skidded on the black ice of a global pandemic but, somehow, left the band on their feet.
For a band whose singing songwriter had never been to a gig before playing his own, yet incomprehensibly carried a trunk load of sensitively-crafted, empathetic, sing-a-long anthems straight into their first rehearsal, The Lathums have flown at nosebleed speed to where they are now.
Hailing from Wigan on the overlooked fringes of Greater Manchester, The Lathums are Alex Moore, casting a new outline of the modern frontman, singing alongside student of the Marr-esque jangle guitar, Scott Concepcion, rapid-fire, wise-cracking bassist, Jonny Cunliffe (aka: Bass Mon Jon) and the steady, rhythmic, wise head, Ryan Durrans on drums. Pithily described by those closest as ‘like The Inbetweeners in a Shane Meadows film’, they are four bright, wild flowers growing between grey paving stones.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: This new LP is sure to continue the meteoric upwards trajectory of The Lathums, swimming with influences from The Smiths, The Coral and 90's Britpop into a wonderfully upbeat and undeniably melodic full-length. This Wigan quartet are definitely going places.TRACK LISTING
1. Circles Of Faith
2. I’ll Get By
3. Fight On
4. How Beautiful Life Can Be
5. The Great Escape
6. I Won't Lie Side B
7. I See Your Ghost
8. Oh My Love
9. I’ll Never Forget The Time I Spent With You
10. I Know That Much
11. Artificial Screens
12. The Redemption Of Sonic Beauty
-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ZEN276D
- Release date
- 17 Sep '21
- Format Info
Translucent pistachio green vinyl.
Translucent pistachio... [ + ] -
- LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- ZEN276
- Release date
- 17 Sep '21
-
- CD
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- ZENCD276
- Release date
- 17 Sep '21
‘What We Call Life’ is Jordan Rakei’s most vulnerable and intimate album to date. Its lyrics concern the lessons that the New Zealand-born, Australia-raised, and London-based artist learned about himself during therapy, a journey that began two years ago when he started reading about the ‘positive psychology’ movement. These themes manifest on songs like lead single “Family”, which Rakei says is “the most personal” he’s ever been with his lyrics. “I wanted to hit my vulnerability barrier and be really honest. It’s about my parents’ divorce in my mid-teens but still having love for them no matter what,” he explains.
Artwork was created by Canadian-born, Los Angeles-based visual artist Justin Tyler Close (who has worked previously with the likes of Laura Marling), who resonated with the themes on Rakei’s album. The image was created in a remote photo shoot, with Rakei sending images over the internet that were projected onto a sheet and photographed by Close. The melancholic images reflect the title of the record, a question that Rakei would sometimes ask himself during a period of his childhood in which he suffered a great deal of anxiety: Is this what we call life? Rather than accepting defeat, the title is today a commentary on the more happy, confident, and assured person and artist that Jordan Rakei is today
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Jordan Rakei fourth album is highly anticipated here at Piccadilly, the album explores themes worn close to Rakei’s sleeve. Personal and moving, the track ‘Family’ is so beautiful and soulful.TRACK LISTING
A1. Family
A2. Send My Love
A3. Illusion
A4. Unguarded
A5. Clouds
B1. What We Call Life
B2. Runaway
B3. Wings
B4. Brace
B5. The Flood
-
- Coloured LP
- £26.99
- Cat Number
- 19439906811
- Release date
- 17 Sep '21
- Format Info
Retail exclusive yellow vinyl.
Retail exclusive yellow... [ + ] -
- LP
- £23.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 19439900501
- Release date
- 17 Sep '21
-
- CD
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- 19439900502
- Release date
- 24 Sep '21
Other notable stand-out tracks include ‘Wait’, a stripped-back track which takes an intimate look at how you make mistakes to develop a relationship, and ‘Postcards’, highlighting a gorgeous vocal interplay of NAO and serpentwithfeet, who features alongside her on the track. For ‘Good Luck’, R&B crooner Lucky Daye jumped on board.
She says: “Life isn’t perfect; we still go through ups and downs, but it can be beautiful as a whole. I do think it’s a hopeful album, in an honest way – it’s not shiny or all ‘isn’t this great!’ and ‘party party party.’ But it’s hopeful in that through every rough patch, every dark patch or struggle we always come out again. That’s what life is. You keep going. But most of all you try and step into a place of gratitude so that you can see life in all of its beauty.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: A silky smooth mix between soaring synth pop and grooving R&B, wonderfully bringing together Nao's gorgeous vocals and a distinctly modern mash-up of styles into a cohesive and jubilant whole.TRACK LISTING
1. And Then Life Was Beautiful
2. Messy Love
3. Glad That You’re Gone
4. Antidote (feat. Adekunle Gold)
5. Burn Out
6. Wait
7. Good Luck (feat. Lucky Daye)
8. Nothing’s For Sure
9. Woman (feat. Lianne La Havas)
10. Better Friend
11. Postcards (feat. Serpentwithfeet)
12. Little Giants
13. Amazing Grace
Modern Studies
Life Flows In Endless Song / The Body Is A Tide (Double EP) - Love Record Stores 2021 Edition
Fire Records
-
- Love Record Stores LP
£20.99£14.99- Cat Number
- FIRELP631
- Release date
- 4 Sep '21
*** REDUCED ***
Limited to one per person.
‘Life Flows In Endless Song / The Body Is A Tide’ EP is released on vinyl for this year’s Love Record Stores on 4th September 2021.
Following the release of ‘The Weight Of The Sun’ LP, Modern Studies shift from light to dark over two new EPs brought together as six track 12-inch ‘Life Flows In Endless Song / The Body Is A Tide’, a record that further cements their reputation for innovative craftsmanship. ‘Life Flows In Endless Song’ showcases the band’s increasingly expansive sound, swelling with orchestrated drama behind the rich vocal pairing of Emily Scott and Rob St John, before their otherworldly dreaminess is pin-pricked at its height by Emily’s beautiful alto on ‘The Failing Light’. ‘The Body Is A Tide’ hails from ominous darker terrains, scratching further into their own psyche; it’s heady and baroque, ornate and super-detailed, an opus that climaxes with ‘High Hymn Summers’ and its slowly-rolling drone, created by processing all the songs from ‘The Weight of the Sun’ played at once. "The EP nods at the idea of our collective bodies weathering rough times, played out with massed strings, prepared guitars, slow bass grooves, hypnotic drums, wobbling saw, xaphoon and mellotron. We shook off our usual song structures in favour of something repetitive, slow and heavy; life flows in endless song."
-
- LP
- £20.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- MRBLP232
- Release date
- 3 Sep '21
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- MRBCD232
- Release date
- 3 Sep '21
Helmed by prolific drummer and percussionist Hudson Whitlock, who also plays in both aforementioned bands, this breakaway studio project involves an interchangeable collective of incognito, Melbourne-based, esteemed instrumentalists playing under outlandish pseudonyms such as "'Dead Honest' Dean Amazing" and "Libby Clique-Baite". Symbolically led by keyboardist "Snooch Dodd", new album 'I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly' is the latest musical concoction from Whitlock's eccentric brain, marrying the soul/funk roots of sample culture with the principles of boom-bap hip hop.
Incorporating the colourful comic book stylings of MF DOOM and Kool Keith, or the dark and exotic flavours of Gravediggaz and The Wu-Tang Clan, The Pro-Teens also take cues from their composing heroes Galt MacDermot, Richard Evans and Marc Moulin. The Pro-Teens bop, zip, whip and fling on this phantasmagorical journey - an unorthodox patchwork of cinematic soul, hip hop-guided funk breaks, vivid instrumental textures and film score-esque moods.
The Pro-Teens work on the same analogue recording model adopted by the tight-knit College Of Knowledge label, self-recorded and produced with the rag-tag crew of musicians putting tracks down live to tape in crammed attic studios and sharehouse recording spaces.
The first limited pressing of 'I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly' was released on the 'College Of Knowledge' imprint in late 2020. It was one of the highlights of the year at Mr Bongo HQ who loved the concept and felt this tripped out masterpiece from Melbourne needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to have bagged those limited first copies.
TRACK LISTING
1. I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly
2. No One Understands Me (I'm Og)
3. Spray It, Don't Say It
4. Convo
5. Peppery Weapons
6. Snooch Is Too Busy For This Shit
7. The Pro-Teens Ruined My Life
8. Ya Gotta Love This City
9. I Hate Turbulence
10. Greta Thunburg
11. Elephant On The Wall
12. Slow Fast
-
- 12"
- £13.99
- Cat Number
- KME292
- Release date
- 20 Aug '21
TRACK LISTING
A1. Mexican Holiday
A2. Miami Drive
B1. Modern Life
B2. So Long
What better sampler of the increasingly essential Pure Life could there be than this gorgeous double pressing of the second edition of their well recieved 'Ambient Punk' series. There are tracks from a wide variety of Pure Life favourites, including the opening track from Kuroi Ame who caused much furore in the mailorder dept with their 2018 LP, 'Sacred'.
It's a widescreen collection of some of the most uncompromising genre-breaking synth music of the modern day, drawing influence from soundtrack work (as obvious as it may be, Vangelis' Blade Runner, Carpenter, Mansell) as well as heavier IDM and braindance of the 90's. If any of these tickle your fancy, you will LOVE this collection, and no doubt the label as a whole.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: It's ALWAYS worth taking a punk on a Pure Life release. One of the hardest working labels out there, and this collection is the perfect way to get initated with the huge variety of talent associated with the label. There never hang around for long (See also Kuroi Ame / Twin Galaxxxies releases in this week) so get on it ASAP!-
- Coloured LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- FIRELP559 (#RSD21DROP1)
- Release date
- 12 Jun '21
IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 6PM ON THE SAME DAY (SATURDAY JUNE 12TH).
1000 copies pressed on Yellow vinyl & DL card. Fist time on vinyl. All-enveloping superbly alternative third take on 1988's Charmed Life album featuring previously unissued versions and a half dozen previously unreleased songs. Includes brand new liner notes and an interview with Jad and David Fair.
TRACK LISTING
Side A. 1 Said And Done (Alternate Version) 2 Evidence (Alternate Version) 3 Vietnam (Alternate Version) 4 Love At First Sight (Alternate Version) 5 Snake Line (Alternate Version) 6 Fun For All 7 Face Rake (Alternate Version) 8 Later In A Magazine (Alternate Version) 9 Red Dress (Alternate Version) 10 Charmed Life (Alternate Version 1).
Side B. 1 Day And Night With Angie 2 Madonna Nude (Alternate Version) 3 Ashes On The Ground 4 T For Texas 5 I'll Change My Style (Alternate Version) 6 Fortunate (Alternate Version) 7 Please Crawl Out Your Window 8 30 Seconds In Heaven 9 Charmed Life (Alternate Version 2)
-
- Ltd 7"
- £8.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- PTKF2198-7
- Release date
- 28 May '21
Through sheer force of strength, their 2020 debut album ‘Speed Kills’ pummelled its way out of the local hardcore scene and across the Atlantic, where it was met with a landslide of critical acclaim from the likes of Pitchfork and Rolling Stone.
Available to independent retailers, this double A-side 7” contains ‘Lightning Don’t Strike Twice’ and ‘Life’s Lemons’ and is released via Partisan Records (IDLES, Fontaines D.C., Fela Kuti). Both tracks will appear on the band’s highly anticipated second LP due out later this year.
TRACK LISTING
Lightning Don’t Strike Twice
Life’s Lemons
-
- LP
- £27.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 3564081
- Release date
- 28 May '21
- Format Info
Black vinyl.
Black vinyl. -
- CD
- £10.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 3564103
- Release date
- 28 May '21
The leaders of the pack" NME
“Properly original, easy life slide into your consciousness and immediately put down roots” Sunday Times
“Imagine what would happen if Alex Turner, Kaytranada and Loyle Carner collaborated, and you’ll get something fairly close to easy life’s indefinable sound” GQ
"Vibey, laidback...comically surreal" Fader
"One of the most buzzed about bands...undisputed bops" Wonderland.
TRACK LISTING
A Message To Myself
Have A Great Day
Ocean View
Skeletons
Daydreams
Life’s A Beach (interlude)
Living Strange
Compliments
Lifeboat
Nightmares
Homesickness
Music To Walk Home To
-
- LP
- £22.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- GNM29LP
- Release date
- 21 May '21
- Format Info
Repress.
Repress.
Remastered from the original tapes. Artwork is presented in very much the same fashion as the original release with a few minimal changes made to include new information. Paper stock (heavy reverse-board) and pressing weight (140 gram) have been upgraded. New vinyl masters were cut by the excellent John Golden. A download for high quality Mp3's and FLAC is included.
"All the highlights of Basho’s work are found here: eccentric tunings, modal playing and a keen ear for Eastern music (which he studied and incorporated into his music), and a spirituality that could neither be outshined by the technical flashiness nor the (unavoidable?) exotic undertones." – TINY MIX TAPES.
-
- 2xColoured LP
- £26.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 19439855001
- Release date
- 7 May '21
- Format Info
Heavyweight (180gram), double, transparent red LP Vinyl.
Gatefold sleeve, with x16 page booklet & download code insert.
Heavyweight (180gram),... [ + ] -
- 2xLP
- £26.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 19439854971
- Release date
- 7 May '21
- Format Info
Heavyweight (180gram), double, black LP Vinyl.
Gatefold sleeve, with x16 page booklet & download code insert.
Heavyweight (180gram),... [ + ] -
- CD
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 19439854972
- Release date
- 7 May '21
Fast forwarding a few years, he travelled to Nashville to write and record what would become Life By Misadventure. The bulk of the album was produced and recorded by Grammy Award-winning producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Elizondo at his studio. Longtime collaborators Ben Jackson-Cook (keys, co-songwriter and co-producer of the album), Bill Banwell (bass and co-songwriter) and Desri Ramus (backing vocals) are joined by drummer Daru Jones and guitarist Wendy Melvoin on the record. One song was even recorded in Rag’n’Bone Man’s garage!
STAFF COMMENTS
Martin says: it's been a long time coming but this newest Rag 'n Bone man release sees all of the clever wordplay and superb songwriting that I went absolutely batshit for on 2017's 'Human'. I will DEFINTIELY be unlockig my hips and getting down to this one.TRACK LISTING
1. Fireflies
2. Breath In Me
3. Fall In Love Again
4. Talking To Myself
5. Anywhere Away From Here
6. Alone
7. Crossfire
8. All You Ever Wanted
9. Changing Of The Guard
10. Somewhere Along The Way
11. Time Will Only Tell
12. Lightyears
13. Party’s Over
14. Old Habits
-
- CD
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TAL120CD
- Release date
- 9 Apr '21
-
- Coloured LP
- £26.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 4050538625332
- Release date
- 5 Mar '21
- Format Info
140 gram red vinyl.
140 gram red vinyl. -
- LP
- £26.99
- Cat Number
- 4050538625325
- Release date
- 5 Mar '21
- Format Info
180 gram black vinyl.
180 gram black vinyl. -
- CD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 4050538625349
- Release date
- 5 Mar '21
Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums.
The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new Abbey Road half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’.
We are working directly with original band members Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, producer John Punter and with consultant advice from band biographer Anthony Reynolds and the Japanese Shinko archive.
The release features newly restored original album artwork, new liner notes with contributions from band members and original producer, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia.
TRACK LISTING
Quiet Life (2020 Remaster)
Fall In Love With Me (2020 Remaster)
Despair (2020 Remaster)
In Vogue (2020 Remaster)
Halloween (2020 Remaster)
All Tomorrows Parties (2020 Remaster)
Alien (2020 Remaster)
The Other Side Of Life (2020 Remaster)
-
- Ltd Box Set
- £51.99
- Cat Number
- 4050538625356
- Release date
- 5 Mar '21
- Format Info
Deluxe 1LP & 3CD box set.
Deluxe 1LP & 3CD box set.
Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums.
The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new Abbey Road half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’.
We are working directly with original band members Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, producer John Punter and with consultant advice from band biographer Anthony Reynolds and the Japanese Shinko archive.
The release features newly restored original album artwork, new liner notes with contributions from band members and original producer, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia.
TRACK LISTING
LP – QUIET LIFE
A1. Quiet Life (2020 Remaster)
A2. Fall In Love With Me (2020 Remaster)
A3. Despair (2020 Remaster)
A4. In Vogue (2020 Remaster)
B1. Halloween (2020 Remaster)
B2. All Tomorrows Parties (2020 Remaster)
B3. Alien (2020 Remaster)
B4. The Other Side Of Life (2020 Remaster)
CD1 – QUIET LIFE
Quiet Life (2020 Remaster)
Fall In Love With Me (2020 Remaster)
Despair (2020 Remaster)
In Vogue (2020 Remaster)
Halloween (2020 Remaster)
All Tomorrows Parties (2020 Remaster)
Alien (2020 Remaster)
The Other Side Of Life (2020 Remaster)
CD2 – A QUIETER LIFE: ALTERNATIVE MIXES & RARITIES
European Son (Steve Nye 7” Remix 1982)* [10/02/21]
Life In Tokyo (Steve Nye 7” Special Remix 1982)
Quiet Life (Original German 7” Mix 1980)*
I Second That Emotion (Steve Nye 7” Remix 1982)*
All Tomorrow’s Parties (Steve Nye 7” Remix Version 1983)
European Son (John Punter 12” Mix 1980)
Life In Tokyo (Steve Nye 12” Special Remix Version 1982)
I Second That Emotion (Steve Nye 12” Remix Version 1982)
All Tomorrow’s Parties (Steve Nye 12” Remix Version 1983)
European Son (Steve Nye 12” Remix Version 1982)
Quiet Life (Japanese 7” Mix 1980)* [18/01/21]
A Foreign Place
All Tomorrow’s Parties (John Punter 7” Mix 1979)
Life In Tokyo (Theme Giorgio Moroder Version 1979)* [05/03/21]
Deviation (Live In Japan)
Obscure Alternatives (Live In Japan)
In Vogue (Live In Japan)
Sometimes I Feel So Low (Live In Japan)
CD3 – LIVE AT THE BUDOKAN 27/03/1980
Intro*
Alien*
...Rhodesia*
Quiet Life*
Fall In Love With Me*
Deviation*
All Tomorrow’s Parties*
Obscure Alternatives*
In Vogue*
Life In Tokyo*
Halloween*
Sometimes I Feel So Low*
Communist China*
Adolescent Sex*
I Second That Emotion*
Automatic Gun*
*rare Or Unreleased
-
- LP
- £20.99
- Cat Number
- GBR031
- Release date
- 5 Mar '21
The eagle-eared may recognise The Person from the aspirational Italo-rockers Steaming Jeans, whose chalet-ready romp on Bordello A Parigi scored a Winter Olympic gold back in early 2020. Now left to her own devices, Minna Wight swaps the slopes for a jet ski and takes a Wave Race from Summer Bay to Monkey Island across 11 cuts of vintage oddball pop.
Whether she's borrowing Brenda's Beach Balls for the dubby daydream of 'Snail Cafe' and 'The Place', serving lost library cues to SNES club scenes on 'Barry R Reef' and 'Elastic Shoes' or spinning high school slow jams into synth soul ballads like 'Nice Feeling', Minna disguises serious musicianship behind a naive aesthetic. Disarmed by charm, we're powerless to resist her tidal pull.
TRACK LISTING
1. Snail Cafe
2. The Place
3. Nice Feeling
4. Tide Life
5. Barry R Reef
6. Planet Beach
7. Elastic Shoes
8. Current Affair
9. Tigereye
10. Rock Concert
11. Moonee Puddles
-
- LP
- £16.99
- Cat Number
- FIRELP599
- Release date
- 12 Feb '21
-
- CD
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- FIRECD599
- Release date
- 12 Feb '21
More tumultuous than its predecessor, private LIFE knocks hard. The evolution of Virginia Wing’s sound continues to build on the broad creative flow of the last album whilst being another audacious contribution to contemporary pop. The drums are huge and playfully unquantized. Edits are both assured and heavy handed, the instrumentation lightly mediates the two and finds itself on the edge of collapse alongside them. The icy facade of Merida Richards’ words are still front and centre, but are contrasted by dense, multilayered improvisations, vying for attention throughout the record. Over ‘I’m Holding Out For Something’s relentless juggernaut of 90’s R’n’B beats, Richards examines the relentless hope and desperation glued to modern consciousness, and speaks of how we often find the answer, or the route through, right at the breaking point. Subsequently, ‘St Francis Fountain’ compounds the issue, observing that often our own coping mechanisms can grow into full blown traumas of their own. Virginia Wing’s last record opened its arms into euphoric light, private LIFE invites you through a door and closes it. It examines what we’re doing at night, on our own, after work. What we do to enjoy ourselves, to cope, to be together, to be alone. It shines a dim blue light on what might be happening, causing us anxiety, stress and desire.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Virginia wing bring another nuanced slab of moody synth-indie, with 'Private Life' displaying all of the superb songwriting prowess which made 2018's 'Ecstatic Arrow' such a heavy hitter, but with a more world-weary experience and depth of feeling. Superb stuff.TRACK LISTING
Side A
A1 I’m Holding Out For Something
A2 Moon Turn Tides
A3 Soft Fruit
A4 Michael Returns To The Garden
A5 99 North
A6 Return To View
Side B
B1 St. Francis Fountain
B2 Private Life
B3 Half Mourning
B4 Lucky Coin
B5 OBW Saints
B6 I Know About These Things
-
- Coloured 12"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- LBJ314LPC1
- Release date
- 11 Dec '20
- Format Info
Limited red vinyl 12"
Limited red vinyl... [ + ]
But now, Hemsworth’s trying his hand at something unexpected that is nonetheless close to his heart and origin story as a musician. Quarter-Life Crisis is a collaboration with various artists who’ve come to prominence over the past couple of years , many of whom got their start playing scrappy DIY shows. “This project has me in the process of going back to when I was a kid when I’d sit down and play guitar for hours and come up with melodies and chords by just messing around,” Hemsworth says. “It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for ages.”
The self-titled debut EP features contributions from Frances Quinlan (Hop Along), Meg Duy (Hand Habits), Charlie Martin (Hovvdy), Yohuna, and Claud. It showcases Hemsworth in a new phase of his career, one that is perhaps a bit less indebted to the nightclub dance oor. “It’s always been a goal to mix, like, 25% electronic sounds and 75% live indie rock sounds,” he says. Collaboration is paramount to Hemsworth’s process, and though he produced all of the instrumentation on the album, he left the lyrics and intention of the song up to the contributors. The resulting collection shapeshifts from track-to-track, taking on new personalities as it moves between. “I think of my music-making process as ‘sneaking in as a fan,’” Hemsworth says. “Quarter-Life Crisis is just another way for me to work with artists whose music I really enjoy and listen to all the time .”
Though Hemsworth has been a working musician for a decade now, Quarter-Life Crisis has felt like a wholly new experience. He recorded the tracks using live instruments, which he doesn’t typically do, and for many of his collaborators the shift to performing without a band, or even an instrument in their hands, was unfamiliar. For Quinlan, who sings on the arresting “Postcard from Spain,” this was one of the only times she’s made music with someone outside of her circles. “Recording with Ryan ended up being a really freeing experience to focus solely on vocal melody, to play with where I could take what was already there, already strong on its own,” she said.
Quinlan’s experience overlapped with that of the other contributors. Going into the studio almost as a session artist gave Duy the opportunity to alter their voice in a way they might not have considered with a Hand Habits song. “Meg asked me to make them sound like Travis Scott,” Hemsworth remembers, laughing. The hypnotic track, “Comfortable,” made Duy think about “AI and cyborgs” and “souls disassociating from bodies.” “I kind of just freestyled until a theme started to swim up,” they said. For Hovvdy’s Martin, this was his rst time ever writing lyrics to accompany another artist’s work. “It was really exciting to hear [Ryan] meet me in the middle style-wise. There are many hidden gems in the production of ‘Waterfall,’” Martin muses. “Lyrically the song explores a parallel I’ve been feeling lately: the diculty of understanding and being understood and how sometimes that struggle almost mirrors the state of the planet. It’s like a downward spiraling feedback loop where any optimism feels like a triumph.”
Working with musicians who largely fall into the category of “indie” gave Hemsworth the opportunity to revisit some of the artists who inspired him to become a musician in the rst place. He cites bands like the Cardigans, Grandaddy, Bright Eyes, and Sparklehorse as being foundational to his writing process this time around. Quarter-Life Crisis a sharp turn away from his last project, 2019’s CIRCUS CIRCUS, which he made alongside the Japanese rap duo Yurufuwa Gang, but for Hemsworth, working in a wide array of genres and modes keeps him on his toes, and ultimately, keeps his career interesting. “Getting out of my comfort zone and bringing others into that process has always led to something really unique,” Hemsworth says. “As a producer, I really respond to other people’s ideas and whatever they can bring to a song. Being in a room with someone with a dierent outlook, or working remotely with them, I hopefully help facilitate something that feels new and exciting for both of us.”
TRACK LISTING
1. Waterfall (feat. Charlie Martin Of Hovvdy)
2. Comfortable (feat. Hand Habits)
3. Postcard From Spain (feat. Frances Quinlan)
4. You & Me (feat. Claud)
5. Fatigue
6. Stars (feat. Yohuna)
-
- 12"
- £7.99
- Cat Number
- PLF001
- Release date
- 28 Aug '20
If you've kept your head in the game, you'll understand the aesthetic already - quantum rhythm programming, fractal electronics and hypnotic arrangements designed to send the listener into a state of hallucinogenic rapture. Opener 'Morgen' circumvents the dancefloor traffic, gentle changing lanes between house and electro as staggering percussion makes room for a rubberized bassline. Groove established, the duo substitute your SSRIs for echo drenched chords and lyrical keys, encouraging a higher state of club consciousness right from the off. Driven by a hypnotic sequence, swelling bassline and mechanical rhythm, "Handbird" softly nudges us down a psychedelic wormhole, the whispered female vocals promising the paradisiac at the other end.
With my salad days behind me, I appreciate an opportunity for half-time dancing, and the B-side delivers with deranged majesty. If you're old, you can sway to the phasing slank which woozes away throughout "The Berries", while young uns can take full advantage of the nuanced hand drums which more than make up for a lack of kick. Chirruping voices, digital idents and celestial keys convey a Balearic warmth or tropical haze, though in reality we're probably holed up in the Holodeck. Darling and Tracey close the curtain in utterly cosmic circumstances, locking into the sci-fi stylings of "Auto Zap" a trippy mélange of bleeps, whirrs, chimes and blurs which shifts gears from an opiated 70bpm to the racy 140 of the second half without sending your heart rate out of whack.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: New label alert! Firing on all cylinders, Alasdair Tropical enlists Darling and Tracey to drop the inaugural Plant Life release under their new Darcey Electronics alias. Four cuts of forward thinking, future proofed psychedelia for innovative DJs and dancers alike. Find your nearest chemist, load up and get weird.TRACK LISTING
A1. Morgen
A2. Handbird
B1. The Berries
B2. Auto Zap
-
- LP
- £27.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 888558
- Release date
- 10 Jul '20
-
- CD
- £10.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 888557
- Release date
- 10 Jul '20
Every track has one if not two guests, who, though underpinned by Mike’s distinctive lyrical flair, usually perform atop a genre or sound not previously explored within the realm of The Streets. “You know that thing where if you wore it the first time round, don’t wear it the second time round? I would never put on Aquascutum at this point in my life. It would be stupid, a pastiche of what I did twenty years ago. For all of us. Whereas now I’m going back and I’m picking things that I didn’t pick before.” The inclusion of, say, Mercury Prize nominated punk group IDLES (who perform what Mike describes as a sea-shanty tinged track inspired by an overnight ferry to Dover) and teenage wünderkind Jimothy Lacoste help ground things firmly in the here and now.
But there are familiar faces of the past too. Birmingham legend, Dapz On The Map, pops up on merky rap track “Phone Is Always In My Hand”. While Rob Harvey, previously of The Music and Skinner collaboration The D.O.T, tunes into pensieve penultimate track “Conspiracy Theory Freestyle”. “The guests had to be into me, as much as I was into them,” jokes Mike, of the featured artist selection process. Really, though seemingly disparate on paper, the acts on the record are connected by their singular talent for “talking about normal stuff.” “All the different things I’ve tried to do, they’re who is doing that now.” “But instead of talking about abstract emotions on this record, I’m talking about things and objects and details.” Couched in those UK and Euro wide experiences with TONGA, this results in tales of hardly partying, but partying hard. The path to excess.
The morning trying to climb in under the curtains as you’re busy putting the world to rights. Like anything that happens between the nightclub and the bus home, there’s as much connection as disconnection in this world; as many new relationships forged as there are trails left behind from the ghosts of previous companionships past. Communication, or lack thereof, plays a huge part in this present-day experience. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” says Mike. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m in a betting shop. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.” These dual themes of nightclub and connection land the record in the simple yet eternally complicated prism of human interaction. “You’re ignoring me but you’re watching my stories”, on “Phone Is Always In My Hand”, is a black comedy mantra of our times. Same goes for “every girl has a dude in her inbox talking to himself” on the Oscar #WorldPeace featuring “The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer”. References abound to missed calls (on opening track “Waiting For It To Stop”, Kevin Parker sings, trance like, about neglecting to call someone back) and “five minute” journeys (the kind where you lie about leaving the house).
Despite its humble mixtape beginnings, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is a precise and very human body of work from a modern UK music pioneer. Emotionally poignant, full of one liners, club ready. More than anything, it’s exciting – a call back to those fun and responsibility free evenings at TONGA. Yet “the result is much more than I thought it would be. It’s become a real album,” says Mike. And so, as the new decade begins, so too does a new era for The Streets...
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: It's been a few years since the last Streets album proper, but even though 'None Of Us...' is technically a 'Mixtape' (I still don't particularly understand that when it's neither mixed, nor on a tape), it has all of the cohesive drive and thematic intensity you'd expect from a fully formed and sequenced LP. Not to mention the host of superb guests sprinkling the credits, or the superb songwriting and groove we've come to expect from Skinner. A triumph.TRACK LISTING
1 Call My Phone Thinking I'm Doing Nothing Better With Tame Impala
2 None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive
3 I Wish You Loved Me As Much As You Love Him
4 You Can't Afford Me
5 I Know Something You Did
6 Eskimo Ice
7 Phone Is Always In My Hand
8 The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer
9 Same Direction
10 Falling Down
11 Conspiracy Theory Freestyle
12 Take Me As I Am
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- BELLA1043CD
- Release date
- 10 Jul '20
A “cloudy thread of narrative” is present, Hall explains, but this time it’s left open for listeners to map routes through it. “The idea with the title is that the songs are character sketches, and their stories coalesce in a place that has a bit of all the towns in the North of England I’ve lived in. Bits of myself in the stories came out unintentionally, so I’d like it if the listener could find those semi-truths from the songs and place them into their own experiences.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Mr Ben moves himself and all of his Bens to Bella Union! It's a fitting home really, as they are well heeled with this sort of jangling, melodic optimism and off-kilter classic psychedelia. It's lovely stuff, and a superb whimsical counterfoil to the drags of day-to-day life.TRACK LISTING
1 On The Beach
2 How Do You Do?
3 Danny
4 Faithful Hound
5 Astral Plane
6 Minor Keys
7 Beast In The House
8 Walking To An Open Sky
9 The Wind On Spittlehill
10 Irish Rain
11 Closing Time
12 Watering Can
-
- LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- AJXLP504
- Release date
- 19 Jun '20
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- AJXCD504
- Release date
- 19 Jun '20
Life Worth Living is a contrasting melting pot of unadulterated joy and melancholy, laughter, tears, frustration and peacefulness. Quiet and introspective moments collide with loud and angry times and no less powerful. At its heart is a sense of hope that things can be better, the title reflects that aspiration.
Produced by Simon Dine, who was behind the desk for Paul Weller’s 22 Dreams and Wake Up The Nation amongst a varied CV - has harnessed the undoubted vibrancy and swagger of the band’s live show helping create an ambitious album – a vehicle for the talents of Sullivan, Long and Johnson.
From the infectious brass-infused opener, Start All Over Again, the Nutty Boys-esque title track Life Worth Living to Tear This Place Right Down bathed in soul overtones, the ballad-like wonder of How Could I Lie To You? to the ska riffage of single (Just Won’t) Keep You Down and the magnificent finale of Make It Through Each Day.
TRACK LISTING
1.Start All Over Again
2.It Can't Be Done
3.Life Worth Living
4.Tear This Place Right Down!
5.How Could I Lie To You?
6.Kings & Queens
7.(Just Won't) Keep Me Down
8.Tower Above Me
9.Have It Your Way
10.Make It Through Each Day
-
- Coloured LP
- £21.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- WV201LP
- Release date
- 29 May '20
- Format Info
Cream & Bone Vinyl.
Cream & Bone Vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
01 Sorrow 6:06
02 He Done Her Wrong 4:46
03 Sendai, Unknown 4:26
04 My Body 4:38
05 Soap 2:01
06 Tulip Ave 4:28
07 Salpetriere 3:54
08 Life-World 5:18
09 Beauty Finds Forever 4:28
-
- LP
- £17.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- GLS-0279-01
- Release date
- 15 May '20
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- GLS-0279-02
- Release date
- 15 May '20
Following his time as the frontman of the Walkmen, Leithauser released the critically acclaimed collaboration with Rostam “I Had a Dream That You Were Mine” in 2016. The album debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart, #1 New Artist Album, and was named one of the Year’s Best by Pitchfork, Esquire, NPR, and more.
TRACK LISTING
The Garbage Men
Isabella
Here They Come
Cross-Sound Ferry (Walk-On Ticket)
Don’t Check The Score
Til Your Ship Comes In
The Stars Of Tomorrow
Wack Jack
Stars & Rats
The Other Half
The Old King
-
- LP
- £15.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TMR650V
- Release date
- 24 Apr '20
-
- CD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TMR650C
- Release date
- 24 Apr '20
Brendan Benson finds himself in an enviable spot as he enters the third decade of a remarkably creative, consistently idiosyncratic career – an accomplished frontman, musician, songwriter, producer, band member, husband, and dad. Benson’s seventh solo album, and first new LP in almost seven years, Dear Life is this consummate polymath’s most inventive and upbeat work thus far, an 11-track song cycle about life, love, family, fatherhood, and the pure joy of making music. Produced and almost entirely performed by Benson at his own Readymade Studio in Nashville, the album sees the Michigan-born, Nashville-based artist – and co-founder, with Jack White, of The Raconteurs – reveling in a more modernist approach than ever before, fueled by a heady brew of cannabis, hip-hop, and a newly discovered interest in software drum programming. The result is an untapped playfulness that elevates expertly crafted songs like the opener, “I Can If You Want Me To,” and the first single, “Good To Be Alive,” with voluble arrangements, elastic grooves, and incandescent power. Imbued with revitalized ambition and confidence, Dear Life is Brendan Benson at his very best.
Beginning with his now-classic 1996 major label debut, One Mississippi – recently reissued by Third Man in its first-ever vinyl pressing – and its masterful 2002 follow-up, Lapalco, Benson has always infused classic craftsmanship with contemporary invention. Along with his own critically acclaimed canon, Benson is of course co-founder – with Jack White, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler – of The Raconteurs. The band first convened in 2006, winning worldwide acclaim, Grammy Award nominations, and a chart-topping smash single in “Steady As She Goes,” with their now-classic debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers The Raconteurs returned two short years later with 2008’s Consolers Of The Lonely. Like its predecessor, the LP proved a popular and critical phenomenon, earning the Grammy Award for “Best Engineered Non-Classical Album” as well as a nomination as “Best Rock Album.”
Dear Life came about gradually and organically after a self-imposed creative hiatus rooted in the happy arrival of his son and later, a daughter. Having spent the majority of his adult life on the road, Benson decided he’d prefer to stay home for a change and just be a dad. “I just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving,” he says. “I was so enamored with my kids, I just sort of lost touch with my career. I just didn’t want to go back to work.” Instead, Benson directed his musical energies elsewhere and fast proved an in-demand producer/engineer (Robyn Hitchcock, Young The Giant, Trapper Schoepp, The Greenhornes) and collaborative songwriter, with a CV that includes partnerships with Jake Bugg, Iain Archer (Snow Patrol), and The Kooks’ Luke Pritchard, among others. Despite his successes, after a few years in this voluntary wilderness, Benson surprised himself in 2017 by writing and recording the rocker “Half A Boy (And Half A Man).” “It just felt really good,” he says. “I felt like I was like born again. Seriously, it was almost a religious experience, like, oh my God, I love making music. I had forgotten. That’s how it started. It was kind of a spark. A re-ignition.”
TRACK LISTING
SIDE 1
1. I Can If You Want Me To
2. Good To Be Alive
3. Half A Boy (Half A Man)
4. Richest Man Alive
5. Dear Life
SIDE 2
1. Baby's Eyes
2. Freak Out
3. Evil Eyes
4. I’m In Love
5. I Quit
6. Who’s Gonna Love You
-
- 7"
- £12.99
- Cat Number
- SER7001-7
- Release date
- 13 Dec '19
- Format Info
Limited red vinyl.
Limited red vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
A. Squad Up
B. Squad Up (Instrumental)
-
- 7" Box Set
- £89.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0885890748863
- Release date
- 13 Dec '19
- FREE SHIPPING
- This item has FREE UK shipping!
Wrapped in a metallic silver box, the set contains all Johnny's 7” releases from 2012’s Upstarts through to 2018’s Spiral Cities, all in original artwork sleeves.
The boxset also contains vinyl debuts for the promo only track The Messenger, backed with an exclusive unreleased demo version of the fan favourite New Town Velocity and the double A side Armatopia/The Bright Parade.
All ten 7” singles are pressed onto coloured vinyl and the set is completed by two limited edition photographic prints, exclusive to Single Life.
TRACK LISTING
Disc 1 -
1. The Messenger
2. New Town Velocity (Single Version)
Disc 2 -
1. Upstarts
2. Psychic Beginner
Disc 3 -
1. New Town Velocity
2. The It-Switch
Disc 4 -
1. Easy Money
2. Use Me Up
Disc 5 -
1. Dynamo
2. Struck
Disc 6 -
1. I Feel You
2. Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Disc 7 –
1. Candidate
2. Exit Connection
Disc 8 -
1. Hi Hello
2. Jeopardy
Disc 9 -
1. Spiral Cities
2. Spectral Eyes
Disc 10 –
1. Armatopia
2. The Bright Parade
-
- 12"
- £11.99
- Cat Number
- RAT 17
- Release date
- 22 Nov '19
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: We're all about the Rat Life at Piccadilly Records and Westlake & Hayter are our new favourite vermin! Across four loud and wobbly tracks the duo get stuck into warped electro, rubberised EBM and moody chug. It's sounds for solvents!TRACK LISTING
A1. Chain
A2. Wolfenstein
B1. Sucksonia
B2. Forty-Two
-
- 2xLtd LP
- £54.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0190295355487
- Release date
- 22 Nov '19
- Format Info
Double, heavyweight black vinyl in uncoated board sleeve with gold and holofoil detail. Also contains download card and 24-page booklet.
Double, heavyweight black... [ + ] -
- CD
- £12.99
Usually ships within: 3-10 days - Cat Number
- 0190295337834
- Release date
- 22 Nov '19
TRACK LISTING
Sunrise
1. Sunrise
2. Church
3. Trouble In Town
4. BrokEn
5. Daddy
6. WOTW / POTP
7. Arabesque
8. When I Need A Friend 8. Everyday Life
Sunset
1. Guns
2. Orphans
3. Èkó
4. Cry Cry Cry
5. Old Friends
6. آدم بني
7. Champion Of The World
8. Everyday Life
-
- LP
- £19.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- CGR002
- Release date
- 8 Nov '19
The ideas became realized pieces when Ruth started to collaborate with friends. These players transformed the material into something much more lush and unpredictable; pairing repetitive, droning synthesizer movements with organic improvisation. Calming signals is a term that refers to the way dogs communicate stress and use certain mechanisms to calm themselves or reset. Ruth relied on the creation of this music to find peace and balance amidst trauma. One summer morning while he was recording the album, Ruth was held up at gunpoint and carjacked by two people outside of his home. The following weeks were spent working on ‘Calming Signals’ with a new layer of angst and emotion. These compositions became a means for him to work through this personal struggle and organize his anxiety into something constructive.
TRACK LISTING
1. Calming Down
2. Carrying It Around
3. Getting Out
4. Marina
5. Haynes Manor
6. Hazrat Nizamuddin
7. Teufelsberg
8. Memento Park
9. Oudam
-
- 12"
- £7.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- HDB124
- Release date
- 18 Oct '19
TRACK LISTING
A1. Knock A Patch Out
A2. Knock A Patch Out (Clean)
B1. Sky Way Ft DJ Manny
B2. Make Her Hot
B3. U Ain’t Really Bout Dat Life
-
- LP
- £16.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- BU121LP
- Release date
- 4 Oct '19
-
- 2xLP
- £32.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 19075944651
- Release date
- 27 Sep '19
- Format Info
2LP on 180g black vinyl in gatefold sleeve.
2LP on 180g black vinyl... [ + ]
The releases include the band’s hit collection, ‘A Life of Surprises: The Best Of’ which is available as a double LP for the first time.
TRACK LISTING
The King Of Rock' N' Roll 4:25
When Love Breaks Down 4:09
The Sound Of Crying 4:44
Faron Young 3:47
Carnival 2000 3:22
Goodbye Lucille #1 (Johnny Johnny) 4:28
I Remember That 4:15
Cruel 4:19
Cars And Girls 4:27
We Let The Stars Go 3:35
Life Of Surprises 4:05
Appetite 3:57
If You Don't Love Me 3:44
Wild Horses 3:41
Hey Manhattan! 4:46
All The World Loves Lovers 3:51
-
- Coloured LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- AFG007LPX
- Release date
- 20 Sep '19
- Format Info
Indies exclusive orange vinyl.
Indies exclusive orange... [ + ] -
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- AFG007LPCD
- Release date
- 20 Sep '19
Going on to speak about the album Mez says “A Picture of Good Health is not a collage of work but rather a snapshot of time; our time and the time of those around us. It’s political, but in a personal way. It’s a body of work that explores and examines the bands inner-selves through a precise period; a period that has brought pain, loneliness, blood, guts, single parenthood, depression and the need for survival and love. It is the sense and need for belonging that is the resounding endnote!”
TRACK LISTING
1 Good Health
2 Moral Fibre
3 Bum Hour
4 Hollow Thing
5 Excites Me
6 Never Love Again
7 Half Pint Fatherhood
8 Grown Up
9 Niceties
10 Thoughts
11 It's A Con
12 Don’t Give Up Yet
13 New Rose In Love
-
- Coloured LP
- £17.99
- Cat Number
- MLS2LPX
- Release date
- 6 Sep '19
- Format Info
Indies Exclusive white vinyl.
Indies Exclusive white... [ + ]
My Life Story has had a varied and illustrious past: playing the main stage at Glastonbury and the orchestra collaborating with acts such as Marc Almond, Morrissey, The Pogues and The Wonderstuff, amongst many other incredible achievements. Never ones to completely stand still, in 2016 the band released a brand new single 24 Hour Deflowerer and gained a whole host of new fans and devotees on the back of this and a two-year run of 90s nostalgia festival dates throughout the UK. Always a hugely popular and tight live act thanks to high-energy singalong favourites including 12 Reasons Why I Love Her, Strumpet, Sparkle and The King of Kissingdom. This boost in profile spawned requests for a new album.
Taking a break from writing film and TV music, Jake and the band crowd-funded their fourth studio album, the first in nearly two decades, in August 2018 through PledgeMusic. After the unexpected collapse of Pledge the band, undeterred, returned to their DIY roots and started all over again. Recording the new album was an exciting and creative period, not least because the tools of creativity have moved on a bit since the 90’s. As Jake says: “It was fantastic to be back in the studio with Nick, but working away from film and TV scores and onto something more personal and visceral. Having a live orchestra on the album was very important to us but this time we recorded the strings in Budapest via Skype, which was something I’d never have imagined back in the 90s.”
It is important to remember that although My Life Story have an enviable and flamboyant back catalogue and delight in performing all their well-loved songs about life and love back in the day, the band are still, and always were, ultimately a forward- thinking creative animal. Unafraid to absorb the strange-itudes from the unstable world around us over recent years, the band have created beautiful, bold, outspoken music from it. Indeed, the new album takes all human themes to task as well as global concerns. As Jake says
“’World Citizen’ was composed during the recent chaotic global news landscape where reality as we thought we knew it is constantly being reinvented... In dark times we find safety in what we know and understand. It’s about returning to the sense of the self, the freedom and simplicity of nature and the clarity and honesty of love and union. Ultimately, I’d say the theme of the album is searching for truth in a world full of lies. Even if that’s a personal truth.”
My Life Story have taken all their best and familiar attributes and moved the boundaries further outward with maturity and bold insight. As Jake says: “I’m really proud of the album, it sums up where the band is today and is a modern take on My Life Story. It progresses well from our last album twenty years ago and fans will see enough of the MLS they know and love but in the real world of today”.
TRACK LISTING
1. #NoFilter
2. Taking On The World
3. Broken
4. Sent From Heaven
5. The Rose The Sun
6. The One
7. Telescope Moonlight Boy
8. World Citizen
9. A Country With No Coastline
10. Overwinter
-
- 7"
- u/avbl
- Cat Number
- 5BB 020
- Release date
- 16 Aug '19
TRACK LISTING
A. Les Demerle - Times Up
B. O.C. - A Day In The Life
-
- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- KALITACD4
- Release date
- 31 May '19
After gaining fame as Miss Western Nigeria 1957, Julie began her career in the Nigerian entertainment industry as the country’s first ever (and Africa’s second) female television presenter, as well as a popular national radio host. In 1976, having been surrounded by close musical friends including Fela Kuti and Kris Okotie, Julie entered the Nigerian music scene with the now-invisible psychedelic highlife album ‘Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)’, followed in 1981 by the highly sought-after disco-centric ‘Tomorrow’ to great acclaim. Both now fetch eye-watering prices on the rare occasion that they become available for sale.
Here they selected select four recordings from ‘Ere Yon (Sweet Songs)’ and three from ‘Tomorrow’, all as contemporary-sounding today as they were when first released forty years ago. These include Julie’s ‘Ere Yon’, which was recently re-interpreted by Anderson Paak on his latest album ‘Oxnard’ released on Dr. Dre’s Aftermath imprint, and the lost Afro disco classic ‘Gossiper Scandal Monger’.
TRACK LISTING
1. Ere Yon
2. Re Hese
3. It’s All For You
4. Sogio
5. Gossiper Scandal Monger
6. Iyo-Re
7. Elelemi
-
- LP
- £18.99
- Cat Number
- SLANG50196LP
- Release date
- 3 May '19
- Format Info
180 gram vinyl.
180 gram vinyl.
TRACK LISTING
A1. The Garden
A2. Willow Lullaby
A3. System Report
A4. High Life Main Title
A5. River Flashback
A6. Fluids
A7. The Fuck Box
A8. Bad Genes / Revolution
A9. Radiation
A10. Rape Of Boyse
A11. Insemination
A12. Grow Baby, Grow
B13. Boyse's Death
B14. The Dog Ship
B15. Monte And Willow
B16. The Yellow Light
B17. Willow
B18. The Black Hole (excerpt)
-
- Coloured LP
- u/avbl
- Cat Number
- FIRELP307X (#RSD19)
- Release date
- 26 Apr '19
1000 only. Special art edition with extra LP of unheard material on Blue Vinyl. 30 years on Half Japanese’s ‘Charmed Life’ is reissued for Record Store Day. Less love and more monster, Half Japanese sound more realised and fully formed on their sixth studio album. Jad Fair had “become increasingly adept at funnelling his obsessions into songs charming, frank, comical and weird.” Marc Masters, Pitchfork. “As accessible as Half Japanese get” The Quietus // Track List 1 Said And Done 2 Penny In The Fountain 3 Evidence 4 Vietnam 5 Roman Candles 6 Love At First Sight 7 Snake Line 8 Bright Lights, Big City 9 Face Rake 10 Later In A Magazine 11 Red Dress 12 Trouble In The Water 13 Charmed Life 14 Day And Night 15 One Million Kisses 16 Miracles Happen Every Day 17 Terminator 18 I'll Change My Style 19 Fortunate 20 Real Cool Time 21 Poetic License
-
- Coloured LP
- u/avbl
- Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE20 (#RSD19)
- Release date
- 26 Apr '19
AA Sessions is a collaboration project helmed by producer Ben Hampson at his “Agricultural Audio” studio in the countryside of Lewes, Sussex. A revolving door policy of different artists coming and going led to these 6 songs, each with a different line up, with members of AKDK, Blood Red Shoes, Tigercub, Projector, Nancy, Sweet Williams, Charlottefield, Sick Joy and more featuring in different ways on different songs. The LP comes on pillar box red vinyl and is strictly limited to 500 copies. Release is via Jazz Life which is the label set up in 2014 by Blood Red Shoes.
-
- Ltd LP
- £29.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SUNN300B
- Release date
- 26 Apr '19
- Format Info
Limited black vinyl edition.
Limited black vinyl... [ + ] -
- Ltd CD
- £13.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- SUNN300CD
- Release date
- 26 Apr '19
At the very beginning of 2018 Sunn O))) co-founders Stephen O'Malley & Greg Anderson set out on a path toward a new album production. They were both determined to create new music and a new method of working in the studio, without forgetting the long and proud history of production and studio accomplishments forged during their first two decades of existence (and the members' own musical experiences out of the band's). One long term goal was completely clear: to record Sunn O))) with Steve Albini in his Electrical Audio studio. Steve took the call, said "Sure, this will be fun. I have no idea what is going to happen."
Greg and Stephen gathered twice that spring for writing, conceptualising and riff woodshedding in the very building where the band was formed: Downtown Rehearsal in Los Angeles. Sonic cosmoses, flashes of abstract colour (synthetic and objective) and themes emerged from the mastered depths of saturation and circuits between the two players and their mountains of gear. Themes developed in terms of brightness and energy, while visionary cues pointed toward subconscious areas of practice and the pair realised they were exploring other zones of consciousness via sound/time and sound/energy manipulation. In early summer a pre-production session with full backline, as a trio with T.O.S. on Moog, was recorded at Dave Grohl’s 606 studios, Northridge, California.
In July 2018 Sunn O))) spent just over two weeks in Chicago at Electrical Audio (Studio A) with Steve Albini at the helm. The results are astounding: there is breadth and luminosity of colour, it sounds vast. The sessions were impeccably recorded, authentically represented and completely accurate. The spectrum cracked the firmament open in clarity. An all analogue technique was used, they recorded and mixed on tape, providing a creative gateway for Sunn O))) to evolve their production methods into stronger, confident, performance based and a more logical executive process. The album was mastered and lacquers cut from tape in October by Sunn O))) ally Matt Colton at Alchemy in London. The LP version is a AAA album, recorded and mixed on tape via a completely analogue production, from the input of the band's amplifiers and the air coming off the speakers in front of the microphones to the needle touching the pressed vinyl on your turntable.
Tim Midyett, a close friend of Greg and Stephen since the Seattle days of the early 90s (and member of Silkworm, Bottomless Pit and Mint Mile), joined in a foundational role tying earth to sound with wicked performances on aluminium neck bass and baritone guitars: instruments he helped pioneer playing back in the 90s (alongside Steve and Shellac of course). Dark matter is reality.
Prolific new music composer Anthony Pateras arranged and recorded an incredible contribution of pipe organ for a piece titled "Troubled Air" (titled after an essay by author Aliza Shvarts, who also penned the liner notes for Sunn O)))’s Kannon) at Schlosskappelle, Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart. String theory of space.
The resulting album is titled Life Metal. It is fully realised and completely real. The record was produced by the core of Stephen & Greg & arranged by the greater constellation Sunn O))). Paintings by visual artist Samantha Keely Smith graciously adorn the sleeve and provide a perfect suitable mask to the proceedings. They collide ideas of 19th century romanticism & late 20th abstract expressionism (mysticism) with Sunn O)))’s approach to metal (via reference points of Arbo, Turner, Delville, Richter, Turrel, Wou-Ki). Photographer Ronald Dick shot them in baths of light colour representing depth of sound pressure in the work.
There is a second more meditative LP titled Pyroclasts, also recorded by Steve Albini in parallel, and which will be revealed in the autumn 2019 (more later) with all music performed by Stephen, Greg, T.O.S., Tim Midyett, and Hildur Guðnadóttir.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: It's another amazing LP from Sunn here, enlisting the help of Múm's Hildur Gudnadottir on vocal duties to superb effect. Her music has always been beautiful in it's own regard (Múm being one of my absolute favourites) and it's lighter touch and orchestral delicacy adds beautifully to the famously all-encompassing drone of O'Malley and Anderson. Absolutely stunning.TRACK LISTING
LP1
A) Between Sleipnirs Breaths (12.36)
B) Torubled Air (11.45)
LP2
A) Aurora (19.06)
B) Novæ (26.24)
-
- 7"
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- ZP21
- Release date
- 15 Feb '19
The original version will whet your appetite for the main event; an extended version which has been miraculously restructured by Phillip Ward, building to a mind blowing crescendo, never heard before until now!
TRACK LISTING
1. All My Life (long Version) (5:24)
2. All My Life (3:05)
-
- Coloured LP
- £22.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE16LPX
- Release date
- 25 Jan '19
- Format Info
Deluxe green and black coloured vinyl with an alternative sleeve, and a bonus 7".
Deluxe green and black... [ + ] -
- Coloured LP 2
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- JAZZLIFE16LC
- Release date
- 20 May '22
- Format Info
Green vinyl.
Green vinyl.
Vocalist and guitarist Laura Mary-Carter packed her bags and bought a one-way flight to Los Angeles, a complete radio-silence between the two bandmates stretching on for months. She fell in with a songwriter’s crowd, penning tracks and collaborations with big-time pop producers and pitching songs for the likes of Rihanna. It provided her with “a lot of time to reassess,” she says. Steven, conversely, “went out and took drugs and went clubbing for about half a year,” he laughs. “I don’t remember a lot about it. Classic break-up move, right?”
“That’s the whole running theme of this record,” says Steven. “The reason we called it Get Tragic is because we realised that everything we’ve been doing over the last three years is kinda tragic!” he says, prompting laughter from the pair. “Just like, ‘Ooh, I hate you, I’m going to America to find myself’, and like ‘Ooh, I’m gonna party for the rest of the year!’ Everything about it is such a cliché – we were like, ‘We’ve turned into a f**kin tragedy!’”
'Get Tragic', then, fully embraces the absurdity of Blood Red Shoes situation. As a result, the pair come out the other side sounding fresher and more assured than ever. Recording in the States, working with a new producer, ditching the two-piece rock rulebook they arguably helped write - everything that went into Get Tragic was a leap into the unknown. Their first move, post-reconciliation was a writing retreat in rural Wales, which saw them woken up by the village community leaders, who entered the house while they were sleeping and banished them from town, fearful of the rock group’s proximity to the local church.
Regrouping once more and booking in some more sessions in Leeds, Steven took a phone call a few days before round two. Laura had broken her arm. “I fell off a motorbike,” she explains. “I didn’t tell anyone – I didn’t post anything about it, but the fact is I had a broken arm for a long time.” Throughout it all, they went through a conveyor belt of managers and manager firings, the group falling out with everyone around them as they attempted to rebuild their core, two-way relationship. One of those managers “led us into a record deal that was really fucked, and we shouldn’t have signed,” explains Steven. The subsequent fallout and legal trouble financially crippled them both. As that period came to a close, Laura went through a romantic break-up that still visibly affects her. “We were finally getting there,” says Laura, “and I was like, ‘No… don’t let this happen too…’.”
Remarkably, though, Laura’s broken arm proved to be a blessing in plaster-clad disguise. Leaving her unable to play guitar, it prompted the longtime-guitarist to pick up a keyboard, and sing more than she ever had before. Through mishap and misfortune, the songs that came out of the sessions were the duo’s light at the end of the ever-expanding tunnel. They decamped to L.A. to record with Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Arcade Fire / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds). He pushed them to explore these new worlds even further, and as such the the after-effects of Laura’s motorbike tragedy can be heard throughout 'Get Tragic' – more melodic and synth-led than any of the band’s records to date, it embraces electronics and nuance in a way their stripped-back and stomping two-piece rock sound of old never could have.
“That was where it started to make sense,” says Steven. “It was like, ‘How do we combine our songwriting with electronics and keyboards?’ We wanted to have the soul of a rock band, but change the style so it was more interesting, more groovy, and more sexy – and less like everybody else! I started to feel like all rock music around us was one shade of one colour.” Laura agrees: “I really find the music industry, and just culture in general, has a sheep mentality. Like, ‘Is it okay to like this?’ You just need to have a mind of your own. Whether people like it or not, we’re at least trying to do something that isn’t ‘of the moment’ or whatever.”
Through disaster and dismay, the band have emerged reinvigorated. Every incident has fed into a record of defiance and self-acceptance. Knowingly embracing the tragedy of their movements, and the clarity at the end of such woe – they even laugh at the very idea of having a picture of themselves on the cover – 'Get Tragic' is a total reimagining of the Blood Red Shoes you might think you know.
TRACK LISTING
Side A
1. Eye To Eye
2. Mexican Dress
3. Bangs
4. Nearer
5. Beverly
Side B
1. Find My Own Remorse
2. Howl
3. (Interlude)
4. Anxiety
5. Vertigo
6. Elijah
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- Ltd 12"
- u/avbl
- Cat Number
- ZEN12505
- Release date
- 11 Jan '19
TRACK LISTING
A1. A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life
B1. A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life (Instrumental)
B2. A Caged Bird/Imitations Of Life (Acapella)
-
- Ltd LP
- £18.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- OUT03
- Release date
- 9 Nov '18
- Includes MP3 Download Code.
-
- Ltd LP
- £13.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- 0054645705417
- Release date
- 14 Sep '18
The A-list selection of vocalists includes Protoje, Dre Island, Alborosie, Romain Virgo, Agent Sasco and more (no Chronix though?! - ed). Some of Dennis Brown’s finest performances for King Jammys, remixed and refreshed with 21st century flavor, the album also includes a newly remastered solo feature for Dennis Brown, “You Satisfy My Soul” (a King Jammy personal favorite). The vinyl LP includes the special bonus addition of the Damian ‘Jr. Gong’ Marley feature "Can’t Keep (A Good Man Down)" backed with "Can’t Keep Version".
King Jammy is one of reggae’s most prolific and innovative producers, with "Tracks Of Life" he shows himself strong once again. Part tribute and part greatest hits, this album will win new listeners and inspire fans to dig into the original songs. The album is a blend of raw and vibrant vocal performances revisiting vintage Dennis Brown from the King Jammy catalogue.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: One of my favourite reggae producers of the 80's, maybe ever, shines a light on the incredible vocal talent currently spearheading Jamaica's roots n culture renaissance.TRACK LISTING
1. High Grade Morning Feat. Protoje
2. Gun Town Feat. Dre Island
3. Wash Dem Away Feat. Agent Sasco
4. Love And Live Feat. Alborosie
5. Back To Africa Feat. DYCR & Tristan Palma
6. Give Love A Try Feat. Projexx
7. Real Love Feat. Aza Lineage
8. Run The Track Feat. Romain Virgo
9. The Magic Touch Feat. Jesse Royal
10. You Satisfy My Soul
11. Can't Keep Feat. Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley
12. Can't Keep (Jammys Version)
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- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- 6757058
- Release date
- 31 Aug '18
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: It's a pretty good week for the punk revival isn't it? First with Idles' second outing and now this sleek thumper from Macc's own Spring King. Snapping snare drums and roaring overdrive pedals overlaid with two-part harmonies bound to get even the most staunch of heads bobbing. Brimming with attitude and the skills to back it up.TRACK LISTING
1. Static - Intro
2. Animal
3. Ready For War
4. Let's Drink
5. Paranoid
6. The Hum
7. Lightning - Interlude
8. Us Vs. Them
9. Echo Chamber
10. No More
11. Radioactive!
12. Have You Ever Looked Up Into The Sky?
13. Thicker Skin
14. Thunder
-
- CD
- £11.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- ERATP111CD
- Release date
- 27 Jul '18
With Book of Life Masayoshi continues his mission in bringing the vibraphone — a relatively new invention in the history of instruments often kept in the background in orchestras and jazz outfits — into the spotlight. Having trained as a drummer, Masayoshi began experimenting with the vibraphone, preparing its bars with kitchen foil or beads, playing it with the cello bow such as in Fog or using the other end of the mallets to create a more ambient texture of sound, as with the title track. Focussing on the vibraphone in this way sets Masayoshi apart, dedicating his artistic life to celebrating this fascinating and often underappreciated instrument and making his take on ambient and modern compositional styles a unique one.
“I think the vibraphone is capable of more interesting and beautiful sounds that haven’t been heard before. It’s quite a new instrument but it’s often played in a similar way. I feel that there is a lot more to explore with this exciting instrument.”
Book of Life sees Masayoshi expand on his compositional skills, bringing in more orchestral elements such as strings, brass and even a choir to interact with the vibraphone. And not just any choir — members of this chorus include musical friends Peter Broderick, Hatis Noit, David Allred and Shards who featured on Nils Frahm’s latest album All Melody. The instruments come to represent characters in Masayoshi’s stories, hinted at in each accompanying text contained in the album booklet, which Masayoshi recites at his live performances. They set the scene for each piece, for example “the choir in Misty Avalanche is meant to resemble the blizzard, while the vibraphone is the bird hovering above,” he explains.
The title track however, was unusual from the start; “Book Of Life is very different to my other songs. It was about humans, whereas the other songs are all about animals and nature. And it was improvised initially, whereas normally my songs are composed and planned. This one was free. I scratched the vibraphone bar as if I was writing something. An image connected in my mind: these two people meeting and sharing their lives. This image was the book of life.”
The upbeat lead single It’s Magical features two cellos and a flute as extensions of the vibraphone; “like a man who’s put artificial wings on his arms to attempt to fly like a bird, before an airplane was invented,” says Masayoshi. A different version of the song, called Spaceship Magical, also appears on the Erased Tapes 10th anniversary box set 1+1=X. “Like most of my songs, It’s Magical started from one simple phrase that I’d played again and again. But at one point I had two very different versions; one acoustic with orchestral arrangement, whilst the other had distorted guitars with electronic bass that perfectly suited the collaborative nature of the label residency when Robert invited me to participate.”
His new album arrives at a time of renewed interest for percussive, ambient music following the reissue of minimalist composer Midori Takada’s seminal album Through The Looking Glass last year and compounded by the comeback of Ryuichi Sakamoto, whose cinematic compositions parallel Masayoshi’s storytelling soundscapes. BBC Radio 3 confirmed this renaissance of Japanese music and culture, dedicating their recent Night Blossoms season to new experimental artists, including fellow Erased Tapes vocal performer Hatis Noit. Masayoshi previously released two albums under his alias El Fog that touched on the vibraphone but appeared mostly in a supporting role, accompanying his intricate electronic production. Much like his instrument, he has often been a collaborator as opposed to a front man — his sympathetic musicianship complimenting a variety of creative outputs. Most frequently with the adventurous German producer Jan Jelinek. Their most recent offering Schaum displays a dialogue between the two that makes it hard to tell just where Fujita’s vibraphone ends and Jelinek’s whirring loops begin. Another fruitful partnership was the
experimental Needle Six piece, a BBC Radio 3 recording of an improvised session with UK electronic artist Guy Andrews for Late Junction. The mesmeric and compelling 30-minute piece was released for Record Store Day in 2016. In addition his label peer and fellow Berlin resident Nils Frahm mastered Stories, providing a fitting symmetry to its re-issue on Erased Tapes now.
TRACK LISTING
1. Snowy Night Tale
2. Fog
3. It's Magical
4. Old Automation
5. Book Of Life
6. Harp
7. Mountain Deer
8. Sadness
9. Misty Avalanche
10. Cloud Of Light
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- Ltd LP
- £15.99
- Cat Number
- UTR090LP
- Release date
- 6 Jul '18
- Format Info
Limited randomly packed black or red transparent vinyl.
Limited randomly packed... [ + ]
TRACK LISTING
A1. Fly With The Dolphin
A2. Feel Bad
A3. In Control
A4. Hanging On
B1. Without Me
B2. The Mordant
B3. Thirteen Minutes
B4. Choose Life
-
- CD
- £9.99
- Cat Number
- BELLA721CD
- Release date
- 27 Apr '18
That sense of propulsion ushers opener ‘Sign Of Age’ into rising view, its sparse drums, hypnotic sequence and melancholic chords resembling house music as reimagined by Angelo Badalamenti. The enveloping mood holds as ‘Moon In Aquarius’ unfurls like a nighttime road ahead, ghosted by narcotic harmonies. ‘Limestone Alps’ lingers meditatively, hymnal vocals reverberating. ‘Where Water Ends’ and ‘More Dreams’, meanwhile, navigate the porous boundary lines between Krautrock, Factory Records and obscure minimal wave records of the 80s.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Superb throbbing pseudo-synthery from The Beat Escape, Bella Union's answer to Pye corner Audio mix swooning pads and soaring vocal abstractions around a dynamic core of weighted percussion, flickering arpeggios and spine-tingling euphoric leads.TRACK LISTING
Sign Of Age
Moon In Aquarius
Limestone Alps
Where Water Ends
More Dreams
Then I Drift Away
Seeing Is Forgetting
Thousand Pound Shoes
Nemo Propheta
-
- CD
- £11.49
- Cat Number
- URBNET1237CD
- Release date
- 27 Apr '18
TRACK LISTING
1. Celebrate Life!
2. Cocoa
3. Black (feat. K, Le Maestro)
4. No. 540
5. Something Classic (feat. Dibiase)
6. São Paulo
-
- LP
- £17.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TWMB001LP
- Release date
- 9 Feb '18
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TWMB001CD
- Release date
- 9 Feb '18
Written from three corners of the globe - drummer Dan Haggis in London, bassist Tord Verland Knudsen nursing his new family in Oslo and frontman Murph in Los Angeles - Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life was created over long distance writing sessions, supplemented by intense two-week in-person sessions in Oslo. With the addition of producers Mark Crew (Bastille, Rag’n’Bone Man) and Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice), the album finds The Wombats pushing the boundaries of alt-pop innovation with a lush, ultramodern indie soundscape wrapped in Blade Runner synths, future grooves, celestial solos and space age melodies.
-
- Coloured LP
£20.99£8.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days- Cat Number
- 4AD0052LPE
- Release date
- 19 Jan '18
- Format Info
Limited indies only clear vinyl in alternate sleeve.
Limited indies only clear... [ + ] -
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- 4AD0052CD
- Release date
- 19 Jan '18
The follow-up to 2014’s acclaimed album, Nikki Nack, much of I can feel you creep into my private life was recorded at John Vanderslice’s new Tiny Telephone studio in their hometown of Oakland, CA. To help finish this stunning record, they enlisted mixer Mikaelin “Blue” Bluespruce (Solange, Skepta, Kendrick Lamar) and mastered it in Harlem, NY with Dave Kutch (Jay-Z, Chance the Rapper).
TRACK LISTING
1. Heart Attack
2. Coast To Coast
3. ABC 123
4. Now As Then
5. Honesty
6. Colonizer
7. Look At Your Hands
8. Home
9. Hammer
10. Who Are You
11. Private Life
12. Free
-
- CD
- £9.49
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- DPC101
- Release date
- 17 Nov '17
The Penguin Cafe was Simon Jeffes’ dream-inspired creative universe - a wonderful and strange musical world that fell largely silent when he died aged 49 in 1997. Now, thirteen years after his death, his son Arthur is revisiting the Penguin Cafe – playing his father’s music and adding new pieces of his own.
Arthur Jeffes has assembled a young band, a mix of personalities not unlike those that made up the original Penguin Cafe Orchestra, incorporating the music of the PCO, seasoned into a confident and redefined style, maintaining that quintessentially English sound but adding fresh material and a sense that they are evolving into something new and very much their own. The band is a loose collection of talent, including Neil Codling of Suede and, on percussion, Cass Browne of Gorillaz.
‘A Matter of Life’ is largely new material, including Harry Piers, which Arthur wrote for his father’s memorial service, and includes a guest appearance on ‘Landau’ by Kathryn Tickell on Northumbrian pipes.
-
- Coloured LP
- £17.99
- Cat Number
- SQUARELEG010LPC
- Release date
- 10 Nov '17
TRACK LISTING
1. Worried Times
2. Good Times
3. Wonderful
4. Trees
5. USO
6. Kinky Lola
7. Future Lover
8. Radio
9. Sense
10. Waiting
11. You Know This
12. Now
-
- CD
- £9.99
Usually ships within: 2-5 days - Cat Number
- GT003CD
- Release date
- 3 Nov '17
-
- Ltd LP
- £21.49
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TR389LP
- Release date
- 27 Oct '17
-
- CD
- £13.49
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- TR389
- Release date
- 27 Oct '17
Spending time working - unsuccessfully, he adds - on pop projects for other acts, the death of David Bowie left an enormous impact on Martin Carr.
Sparking a period of re-analysis, he emerged stronger and definitely reinvigorated. He explains: "I was wasting my time scrabbling around in the dirt for pennies, making myself more and more miserable. I reflected on how many years I'd wasted chasing smoke and mirrors, living the life of an artist but neglecting the art."
"I ditched everything else I was working on and decided to write a new album rather than waiting until I had a few songs. I started completely from scratch, writing and recording, often at the same time, in my home studio in Cardiff. I was looking for a sound and a voice to call my own. That was the starting point. The theme was to be myself, to attempt to discover what made me tick, to work out why I behaved the way I did. I wanted to go deeper and find more room in the depths."
-
- Ltd LP
- £26.99
- Cat Number
- 0190295792619
- Release date
- 20 Oct '17
It’s My Life saw the band seek a less synthesized sound and less New Romantic image, which included keyboardist Simon Brenner leaving the band. The new sound gave the band commercial success, with the title track becoming a hit on both sides of the Atlantic. It went on to be covered by No Doubt in 2003 reaching number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and remaining on the chart for 28 weeks.
The album also contained the single "Such a Shame" (a song inspired by the book The Dice Man) which became a Top 10 hit across Europe. A third single, "Dum Dum Girl", was also a success in Europe and NZ in particular.
TRACK LISTING
Side 1:
1) Dum Dum Girl
2) Such A Shame
3) Renée
4) It’s My Life
Side 2:
1) Tomorrow Started
2) The Last Time
3) Call In The Night Boys
4) Does Caroline Know
5) It’s You
-
- Ltd LP
- £23.99
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- DH214
- Release date
- 6 Oct '17
-
- CD
- £10.99
- Cat Number
- DH213
- Release date
- 29 Sep '17
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Haunting vocal melodies, swirling shoe-gazing guitar flourishes and aching, melodic breakdowns. It's rare that an album flows so well yet manages to encompass all of the elements Wolf Alice are so renowned for. An absolute belter.TRACK LISTING
1. "Heavenward" 4:55
2. "Yuk Foo" 2:13
3. "Beautifully Unconventional" 2:13
4. "Don't Delete The Kisses" 4:35
5. "Planet Hunter" 3:52
6. "Sky Musings" 2:58
7. "Formidable Cool" 3:33
8. "Space & Time" 2:27
9. "Sadboy" 4:11
10. "St. Purple & Green" 4:21
11. "After The Zero Hour" 3:24
12. "Visions Of A Life" 7:57
-
- CD
- £11.49
- Cat Number
- COOKCD658
- Release date
- 1 Sep '17
Phil Spector was originally appointed to produce the band's second album, Silence Is Easy. The resulting recording sessions at London's Abbey Road were short-lived. Their collaboration proved to be frustrating, with Spector and the band butting heads on several issues. Only two tracks that Spector produced made the album, Silence Is Easy (another Top 10 single for the band) and White Dove. Starsailor co-produced seven of the other tracks with former Elbow and Doves producer, Danton Supple. John Leckie (The Stone Roses & Radiohead) also produced Shark Food. Silence Is Easy reached Number Two in the UK Album Chart and soon went Gold. The band have enjoyed more than their fair share of prestigious gigs, supporting the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Police, The Killers, and U2, and have sold over 3 million albums worldwide. They decided to take a break in 2009 to explore other projects and now return in 2017 sounding re-energised and with an outstanding new studio album - their fifth ‘All This Life’. The band played a packed Big Top at this year’s Isle Of Wight Festival to an ecstatic crowd and debuted a new track from the forthcoming album. They are also confirmed shows at British Summer Time at Hyde Park alongside Phil Collins, Blondie, New Power Generation and more as well as Hope & Glory Festival in Liverpool.
TRACK LISTING
1. Listen To Your Heart
2. All This Life
3. Take A Little Time
4. Caught In The Middle
5. Sunday Best
6. Blood
7. Best Of Me
8. Break The Cycle
9. Fallout
10. FIA (Fuck It All)
11. No One Else
-
- Ltd LP
- £27.99
- Cat Number
- 5736325
- Release date
- 2 Jun '17
- Format Info
180g and download card.
180g and download card.
-
- CD
- £8.49
Usually ships within: 2-10 days - Cat Number
- C1806
- Release date
- 2 Jun '17
-
- LP
- £17.99
- Cat Number
- WIGLP315
- Release date
- 28 Apr '17
- Includes MP3 Download Code.
Marrying a wry, worldly and subversive form of diarist lyricism with sumptuously evocative electronic production, ‘Still Life’ announces the arrival of a band at once deeply in tune with the greatest traditions of progressive, homespun British pop music and at odds with the increasingly vacuous pop culture they are born into.
TRACK LISTING
Too Much Love
My Nature
Breathing Space
Mulberry
Death Of A Football Manager
Hypnotise
Closing Time
October
Loveless
Snow
Television
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