Eindhoven-based industrialists RMFTM (Radar Men From The Moon) are back with new material in the shape of an EP titled Bliss. The three-track EP arrives via long-term label Fuzz Club and follows on from a split 7” with cult Norweigan noise-rock/metal band Årabrot (2019), the third and final volume in their Subversive album trilogy, Subversive III: De Spelende Mens (2017), as well as a collaborative record with Salford collective Gnod under the Temple Ov BBV moniker 2017). With a new full-length in the works, Bliss offers a welcome introduction into what’s to come: a world of apocalyptic drone and ambient nightmares. Taking influence from such avant-garde innovators as Cabaret Voltaire and Nurse With Wound – whilst also following a similar path to it’s more contemporary proponents in Shit & Shine, Container and collaborators Gnod – RMFTM say of the new release: “The Bliss EP is made up out of three songs that were conceived on the 2018 Secret Howls For Europe Tour, in support of Subversive III. When we came back from that tour we recorded them immediately. These three K-Hole anthems are an experimental exercise in ambient, drone and dark electronics.”

The titular, opening track ‘Bliss’ – “a Dionysian meditation put to sound” – offers a menacing insight into what’s to follow on the rest of the EP. Across it’s 12-minute running length, the Dutch band envelope the listener with a deluge of dark, droning electronics, eerie chiming bells and a propulsive beat that’s submerged beneath a stormy sea of feedback that twists, throbs and hisses away from start to finish. ‘Moon’ is something of a comedown from the former; in absence of the previous track’s 4/4 beat ‘Moon’ is instead a piece of shadowy ambient drone that sounds like La Monte Young in the clutches of a terrifying hallucinogenic-induced fever dream. Upping the ante once again, final track ‘Naked’ sees the band approach industrial techno territory, the claustrophobic drone still looming in the background but what drives the track is a pulverising mechanical beat that never lets loose for a second. RMFTM formed in Eindhoven in 2010 and is comprised of Glenn Peeters, Tony Lathouwers, Titus Verkuijlen and Bram van Zuijlen. 

TRACK LISTING

1) Bliss
2) Moon
3) Naked

French outfit You Said Strange are the latest to join the Fuzz Club Session ranks alongside the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers, The Myrrors, Night Beats, Heaters, The Entrance Band, Holy Wave, Heaters and many more. When last in the UK in support of their debut LP, Salvation Prayer, the four-piece took to London’s Lovebuzz Studios to lay down a live session comprising four tracks of warm, jangly psychedelic bliss taken from their aforementioned debut. The resulting session will be released on vinyl and digital via Fuzz Club. Emerging out of Giverny, Normandy, You Said Strange became a mainstay of the European underground long before they headed over to Portland to record their highly-anticipated debut album with Peter Holmstrom of The Dandy Warhols - whom the band set out on tour with back in 2015, solidifying a friendship that would see Holmstrom take on production duties for another band for the very first time.

Dining on an influence of The Velvet Underground, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Ride – though delivered with their own insatiable, forward-looking French charm – You Said Strange carve out an intoxicating, heady sound of shimmering guitars and reverb cloaked vocals that’s just as potent when drifting into full-blown fuzz-overloads as it is when dealing in jubilant, earworm melodies that’ll get stuck in your head for hours. The live recording of the session sees both of those sides shine brighter than ever, making it undeniably clear why the band has spent the last several years bringing their sublime live show to countless venues and psych festivals across Europe and beyond. 

TRACK LISTING

1) Brain
2) Cold Crusader
3) Extend
4) Leave The Lord

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

1) Electroconclusive
2) In My Heart, In My Soul
3) Dark Omen
4) All Night
5) Radione
6) Remove The Veil
7) Our Fate
8) Gateway
9) Go To Pub (MES Tribute)
10) Panic Evoked
11) Eisern Union
12) Sleepwalking

Juju's third album Maps And Territory reaffirms and at the same time transcends Juju's unique formula. A blend of Neo-psychedelia and Mediterranean Folk, New Wave and African tribalism, the sound of Juju is now deconstructed, reassembled and expanded, even bordering Jazz territories with the contribution avant-garde composer and improviser Amy Denio. The album also featuring guest appearance by Goatman from Goat. The album is beautifully wrapped in the artwork of Marco Baldassari (one half of Sonic Jesus), where the liquidity and movement of the Mediterranean blue (the territory) is counterpoised to the soily colour of the ground (the map). 

TRACK LISTING

1) Master And Servants
2) I'm In Trance
3) Motherfucker Core
4) If You Will Fall
5) God Is A Rover
6) Archontes Take Control

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

Once
Talk
Satisfaction Guaranteed
So Many People
Think
Nice To See You
Break
Dirty Air
Satellite
Already Gone

Volume three in the Mr Bongo Record club series is another showcase of recent vinyl finds and favourites from their DJ sets and radio shows. This is an extra special one however, as it lands in 2019, 30 years since it all began way back in 1989. Compiled by David Buttle and Gareth Stephens, assisted by Graham Luckhurst and Gary Johnson. As ever expect the hottest jazz, funk, African, Latin, soul, disco and MPB delights from this crack team of digging experts. 

TRACK LISTING

J.B. De Carvalho E Seu Terreiro - Fui A Umbanda
Trio Ternura - A Gira
Alcione - Figa De Guine
Impacto 5 - Longe Daqui Aqui Mesmo
Abaete - Pisa No Taboado
Tobias - Coisa Sentimental
Os Flippers - Estrelar
SpaceArk - Don’t Stop (Unreleased Long Version)
Pure Release - I’ll Know It’s Love For Sure
Luther Davis Group - You Can Be A Star
Marumo - Khomo
Tsaka Deile Kae? Splash - Peacock
Gyedu Blay Ambolley - Highlife
Harari - Senyamo
Kaleidoscope - Let Me Try
Elias Rahbani - I Want To Be
Tokyo Academy Philharmonic Chorus Group - Taharazaka
Cesar Roldão Vieira – Zé Do Trem
Elias Rahbani - Dance Of Maria
Galt MacDermot - Coffee Cold

‘Atlanta Millionaires Club’ is in Faye Webster’s feelings and that’s the way she likes it. “Everything is way personal,” Webster says. “I have to write about very personal things for me to even want to write.”

On the 21-year-old Atlanta native’s new album, the omnipresence of pedal steel eschews bluegrass trappings, flexible under Webster’s genre-bending direction. Webster didn’t set out to make it sound like any artist in particular but she cites Aaliyah as her main musical inspiration for how she uses sound. “That’s where I first heard, ‘Oh, there’s this weird guitar that’s bendy and it could totally be in a country song,’ but the way she’s using it is what makes her music so special to me,” Webster explains. “I try to do that. I try to change the way pedal steel is supposed to sound, or keys, to make it more R&B.”

Pulling from a familial lineage of folk storytelling and time spent in Atlanta’s hip hop scene, Webster’s work is a study of duality, weaving through her own introversion and heartbreak; it’s an idiosyncratic sadness punctuated by fleeting observations and an unexpected, sly sense of humour. And like the way Webster takes the traditional instrumentation of Americana and flips it into something else, she uses her own calm, laid-back demeanour to say you can be boldly and unapologetically yourself in a quiet way, too.

TRACK LISTING

Room Temperature
Right Side Of My Neck
Hurts Me Too
Pigeon
Jonny
Kingstonv
Come To Atlanta
What Used To Be Mine
Flowers (ft Father)
Jonny (Reprise)

On her sophomore LP, The Best of Luck Club, 26-year-old Melbourne, Australia native Alex Lahey navigates the pangs of generational ennui with the pint half-full and a spot cleared on the bar stool next to her. Self-doubt, burn out, break-ups, mental health, moving in with her girlfriend, vibrators: The Best of Luck Club showcases the universal language of Lahey’s sharp songwriting, her propensity for taking the minute details of the personal and flipping it public through anthemic pop-punk. Lahey’s 2017 debut I Love You Like a Brother encases Lahey’s knack for writing a killer hook and her acute sense of humor delivered via a slacker-rock package and, in a way, The Best of Luck Club picks up where that record left off.

Lahey co-produced the album alongside acclaimed engineer and producer Catherine Marks (Local Natives, Wolf Alice, Manchester Orchestra), and dives headfirst into a broader spectrum of both emotion and sound through polished, arena pop-punk in the vein of Paramore with the introspective sheen of Alvvays or Tegan & Sara. Here, Lahey documents the highest highs and the lowest lows of her life to date. After a whirlwind of global touring in support of breakout debut I Love You Like a Brother, Lahey wrote the bulk of her follow-up in Nashville during 12-hour days of songwriting. There, she found the inspiration for The Best of Luck Clubís concept: the dive bar scene and its genuine energy.”Whether you’ve had the best day of your life or the worst day of your life, you can just sit up at the bar and turn to the person next to you - who has no idea who you are - and have a chat. And the response that you generally get at the end of the conversation is, "Best of luck", so The Best Of Luck Club is that place.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Don’t Get Invited To Parties Anymore
2. Am I Doing It Right
3. Interior Demeanour
4. Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
5. Unspoken History
6. Misery Guts
7. Isabella
8. I Need To Move On
9. Black RM’s
10. I Want To Live With You

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2019 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

The classic 1982 Associates (Billy Mackenzie & Alan Rankine) ‘Club Country’ single is re-issued exclusively for Record Store Day 2019. Released on 12” limited edition white vinyl the single was re-mastered from the original master tapes and includes the original b-sides, ‘A.G it’s you again’ and ‘Ulcragyceptemol’ plus a rare demo version of ‘Club Country’ available for the first time on vinyl. The single originally charted at number 13 in the UK charts.

Berlin via Manchester outfit The Underground Youth present their ninth album, Montage Images of Lust & Fear, on Fuzz Club Records. In support of the new album, and keeping to their prodigious work ethic, the band have also announced details of a mammoth tour across the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia that’ll see them visit 25 different countries. In its rawest moments (‘The Death of the Author’, ‘Blind II’), The Underground Youth’s haunting post-punk melancholia recalls the abrasive banshee-like noise of The Birthday Party and Suicide; jagged, shrieking guitars twist and turn as Craig Dyer’s dour vocals jerk from morose and impassioned to macabre screams.

Though this is an album of two sides; the more intense and challenging songs punctuated by heartfelt and solemn ballads (‘Too Innocent To Be True’, ‘This Anaesthetised World’) that are aided by the additional lap steel guitar of Kristof Hahn (Swans) who plays on six of the album’s nine songs. This is The Underground Youth’s most intense and honest record yet - in the ambitious songwriting and live recording (a first for the band), as well as the lyrical subject matter. Talking about the album, Craig explains “Montage Images of Lust & Fear is inspired by the succession of experiences we are increasingly dealt by the media. Sex, violence, love, suspicion, desire, distress, etc.

The album acts as a montage itself, the subject of each song dealing with an aspect of either lust or fear. Like flicking through the channels on a television. Until the end you are overcome by white noise. Static.” Since the release of their aptly-titled eighth full-length, What Kind Of Dystopian Hellhole Is This?, in February 2017, the band have set out on four UK/European tours clocking in at over 100 shows (not including stand-alone gigs). If all that time touring has taught the band anything, it’s how to work together as a collective and Montage Images Of Lust & Fear is all the better for it - the first The Underground Youth record with all the band members involved in the writing. “Unlike previous albums in which I’ve written the tracks and taken them into the studio to record with or without the band, this record is the product of us all working on the music and arranging the songs together,” Craig explains: “We recorded the album live with the four of us playing in the same small room and with our guitarist Leo as producer, running back and forth from the mixing desk to the live room. As a result, the recording perfectly captures the raw intensity of our live performance, something we’ve never done before.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sins
2. Last Exit To Nowhere
3. The Death Of The Author
4. This Is But A Dream
5. Too Innocent To Be True
6. Blind
7. Blind II
8. I Can't Resist
9. This Anaesthetised 

They called it “the greatest little Soul Club in the land” and, as history tells us, it bridged the gap between the R&B of the Twisted Wheel and the “adrenalin” soul of the Golden Torch. It was an integral part of the rare soul movement and set the template for what became known as Northern Soul! This stunning vinyl album is compiled in association with the club’s founding DJ, Carl Dene, and celebrates its 50th Anniversary.

TRACK LISTING

P.P Arnold “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright”
Johnny & Lilly “Suffering City”
The Ad-Libs “Nothing’s Worse Than Being Alone”
Big Al Downing “Medley Of Soul”
Bob Wilson “Suzy’s Serenade”
Jerry Williams “If You AskMe (Because I Love You)”
Gloria Taylor “You Got To Pay The Price”
BootHog Pefferley & The Loafers “I’m Not Going To Work Today”
Kelly Brothers “Love Time”
The Showmen “The Wrong Girl”
The C.O.D.’s “Michael”
Benny Spellman “Lipstick Traces (On A Cigarette)”
Bill Black’s Combo “My Girl Josephine”
Buster Brown “Fannie Mae”
The Sharpees “Tired Of Being Alone”
Bobby Bland “Call On Me”

Back in May last year Christian Eldefors released his debut album as NONN, a stark collection of minimalistic post-punk that marked him as one of the most exciting outputs in the dark Scandinavian scene. After touring the record across Europe and recruiting a full band, the project is back with its second album, XVII. Now more of a collaborative effort, with Hannes Nyling and Christian’s brother Alexander joining the fold, the new record deals in a fuller more refined sound and packs a far heftier punch. Where the self-titled debut was a restrained, minimalist affair, XVII opts for slabs of industrial electronics and hard-hitting percussion.

The gloomy 80s sensibilities are still there – see the occasional Cure-esque guitars and morose gothic vocals - but on XVII, NONN turn their eyes more towards the electronic affliction of EBM and synth-punk than the polished, more-digestible post-punk that came reverberating out of the decade. This shift in the band’s sound all boils down to having to reinvent the songs when taking them on the road following the release of their debut, which saw them tour the UK and mainland Europe and play at a number of festivals; from Liverpool Psych Fest and Fuzz Club Eindhoven to, more recently, Endless Daze in South Africa. “Since the last record we’ve been doing a lot of shows which gave us a lot of inspiration. We reworked the old songs to sound a bit fuller and more fun to play live. Having to reinvent all the sounds and instruments from the first album really inspired the direction on XVII,” Christian remarks. It’s clear that taking the project on the road with a full-band has had a notable effect. Tracks like ‘Clear’, ‘Home’ and ‘Beyond’ see NONN shift their bleak, darkwave-inflected post-punk into something far richer.

 It’s still got that minimalistic feel and the ear-worm melodies are still there, but it’s more sinister and fleshed out. Though, what truly sets this album apart from the debut is where the band have delved deeper into their electronic side. The industrial stomp of album-opener ‘Pray’ declares the LP’s merciless intent without a guitar in sight; it’s a destructive cut of throbbing synths and desolate drum machine, underpinned by Christian’s monotonous vocals. Partner that with the sparse, haunting electronics of ‘Believe’ and the mechanical synth-punk of ‘Hide’ and it’s clear that NONN are at their best when truly embracing their deeply-cherished Moog Sub Phatty, using it to exorcise the many demons lurking beneath the noise.

On ‘Vonal-Axis’, their fifth album in a career spanning two decades, Steeple Remove have signed to Fuzz Club and carved out an album that warps their Moog-devotion into a whole new beast. One that journeys from shoegaze-drones that weigh heavy on your chest (“Oval Strii”, “Monochrome Continuum”), to kosmische psychedelic pop (“Waters”) and dub-inflected post-punk (“Ferris Noir”) that falls somewhere between Metal Box-era PiL and the shimmering, textural guitars of The Durutti Column. Vonal-Axis is the bands finest work yet - their latest in a very lengthy career that’s seen them remain a mysterious presence on the fringes of the experimental French underground since forming the project back in 1997. Emerging out of Rouen, a small city in the Normandy region of France, the four-piece arrived with their now impossible-to-find debut album, The Importance Of Being Steeple Remove (1998) - released on the cult label Sordide Sentimental who put out earlier works from the likes of Joy Division, Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV.

After that they all but disappeared, not returning until eight years later with Radio Silence (2006) and Electric Suite (2008), both marking a departure from their early experimental electronica into a wider pool of kraut, psychedelic rock and atmospheric pop. Save for the odd single and live show, it took another six years to hear a full record from the band – that being the 2014 LP Position Normal which left them to pick up glowing, long-overdue praise across Europe.

Choosing not to leave it quite so long this time, enter Vonal-Axis: a nine-track LP that sees them attempt to hone in on their near quarter-century of experimentation to produce a collection of tracks that are sometimes poppy, sometimes heavy, but always exploratory. The album was recorded by the band themselves on an old 8-track recorder, taking half-written songs into the studio and then improvising on top of them to maintain the energy the songs had when played live. Lending his production prowess on the mixing duties was Demian Castellanos, the mastermind behind The Oscillation, whom Steeple Remove became good friends with after both bands played together several years ago. Among the long list of other bands Steeple Remove have shared the stage with is krautrock leviathans Faust and Damo Suzuki, London punk-rockers Wire and D.C. stoner rock troupe Dead Meadow - offering a pretty clear insight into the many sonic worlds Steeple Remove have journeyed into and found a home through the years. Steeple Remove is Arno Van Colen (Vocals/Synths), Walter Thomas (Percussion), Mana Audisio (Guitars) and David B (Bass). 

TRACK LISTING

1) Oval-Strii
2) Blood Veins
3) Ferris Noir
4) Set It
5) In Dreams
6) Monochrome Continuum
7) In The Waves
8) Waters
9) Pink Ferris

Italy’s Throw Down Bones are something of an enigma in the experimental underground. Since the release of their highly-praised 2015 self-titled album, they’ve picked up a notorious reputation on the European live circuit for their pulverising, constantly-mutating live shows. In a review of the debut, album listeners were told to “make no mistake, this is dance music” and that may have been true back then but now, back with their second album titled Two, the band have taken that to a whole new extreme. Ditching the hypnotic coldwave tendencies of their earlier work for an all-out sonic assault of industrial four-to-the-floor rhythms and screeching acid house.

Two is due for release via Fuzz Club Records on October 26th and see’s the band deal in floor-shaking industrial techno-post-punk occasionally steeped in a euphoric acid-house sheen. Where the old Throw Down Bones was better suited for intimate venues and psych fests (of which they were a frequent staple, from Liverpool to Eindhoven and everywhere in between), this new evolution sees them turn their eyes to the most underground techno clubs and the sleaziest warehouse venues. Imagine Death In Vegas, Factory Floor and Aphex Twin jamming in a room together and you might come close but Throw Down Bones would be reluctant to point to any ‘influences’. For them, their corrosive industrial workouts are simply the product of their environment and attitudes, as opposed to who they’re listening to at any given moment.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another killer outing from the venerable Fuzz Club, with throbbing post-industrial Italians Throw Down Bones releasing their second slab of gloomy thuds and machinated electronics. It's a dark affair, without a doubt, but one that would feel at home on the dancefloor or... at home.

TRACK LISTING

1. First Follower
2. We Are Drugs
3. Slow Violence
4. NO-FI
5. Golovikin
6. Is This Us
7. Known Unknown
8. Zero Day Exploit 

Available on 180g vinyl. You Said Strange come from the north-western region of Normandy in France, although if it was up to them they’d come from the States, somewhere between Texas and Cali. They’ve been growing their own Norman-spiced-up definition of psychedelia for a few years now, making their way on a historically busy road. Having just signed to Fuzz Club, You Said Strange are gearing up for the release of their debut full length, Salvation Prayer.

The album was recorded in Portland, USA with Peter Holmström of The Dandy Warhols after both bands toured together back in 2015. Salvation Prayer is a condensation of heady riffs, haunting melodies and bright rhythms, half-way between 90s shoegaze and 60s psychedelia. The album touches on the theme of belief, the kind that affects even the most Cartesian spirit; may it be superficial, spiritual, superstitious, religious or moral. This very-human interpretation of reality is meant to help those who seek to free themselves, dream or flee, and that’s what the band is all about. 

TRACK LISTING

1) Salvation Rain
2) Power House
3) Brain
4) Get Out
5) Cold Crusader
6) Tilelli
7) Halo
8) Extend
9) Leave The Lord
10) Just Wait
11) The Way To The Holy Wa (Jesus)

RF Shannon takes a drastic shift from the long form, pensive desert meditations of their previous record. “The process was a drastic shift from the one we took with ‘Jaguar Palace’ and I was hooked. It was a blast all of the time. We kept a quick pace due to external circumstances via random or otherwise inevitable interruptions, so we learned to take what we could get. If a take was good, it was a keeper, we didn’t second guess it. In just four days we had demoed the majority of my new material and it just felt so right.’’ explains Shane Renfro, the mind behind RF Shannon.

The final product of the seize the moment approach behind the writing and recording process echoes the themes Trickster Blues attempts to dissect. “The lyrics are about acknowledging consequences and saying "so what", the reward is worth the risk, etc. It's about feeling a pull, a calling, and dedicating to it hell or high water, whatever that may be. Its the heart of it all.’’ Renfro continues. To be able to listen and say “That’s it, that's the song. It is what it is, and we like what it is” Sounds a little underwhelming in that sense, but that's what I wanted. I just wanted the songs to speak for themselves. Our old material is challenging and dense, and I love it. I love the spaces we have created. But I wanted to record songs that could just stand alone and be what they are.''

THE MAPLETON HOTEL (now the Thistle Piccadilly), In the heart of London’s West End, was the original home of the legendary Flamingo Club (OSVLP014). However, it is a little known fact that there was a second club, cloistered in the basement of the Mapleton, the ‘Americana’. The club was run by the Gunnell brothers, Rik and Johnny, who would go on to manage the Flamingo when it moved to Wardour Street and the Bag O’Nails, in Soho, where Jimi Hendrix first played in 1966 and where Paul McCartney met his future wife Linda Eastman.

The Americana was named to cash-in on the obsession at the time for all things American – food, drink, fashion, film, music – and attracted a large contingent of G.I.’s, still stationed in the home counties after the war. The club opened in 1955 and hosted All-Night sessions for two years. A ‘ten bob’ note gave you passage to a secret, subterranean world filled with exotic sounds and cultures and a 3 course meal of tomato soup, chicken & chips and ice cream. You got to dance all-night long to live acts playing a fusion of R&B, blues, jazz, calypso and ska which, in the mid-fifties, was the hottest sound in the world and heralded the Mod generation.

Pinkshinyultrablast, Russia's finest export, release their third album 'Miserable Miracles'.

With vocalist Lyubov recently moving to LA, the band have been exploring new ways of composing and collaborating. Partnered with a line-up refinement, the new material sees Pinkshinyultrablast go down a more electronic path while experimenting with new sounds and genres (including inspiration from Japanese pop such as Chiemi Manabe and Yellow Magic Orchestra).

Originally hailing from a city more synonymous with the State Conservatory than a gang of shoegaze addicts, the band have nevertheless seen great critical and commercial success since their debut album 'Everything Else Matters' and follow-up 'Grandfeathered'. They've been compared to bands such as Lush but this is no mere throwback tribute - due to their sharp, icy electronics and ability to subvert the genre, bringing something new to the table. They possess not only the spirit of late 80s/early 90s British bands like Cocteau Twins, but also machine-made sounds of the same era from Sabres Of Paradise or Global Communication, not to mention wider vibrations like Cluster, Popul Vuh, Terry Riley and Philip Glass.

On 'Miserable Miracles' Lyubov's delicate vocals soar effortlessly above haunting ambience and ethereal embellishments complimented by driving motoric beats. Singles 'In The Hanging Gardens' and 'Find Your Saint' perfectly showcase the band's new, more electronic direction while retaining their signature quirkiness with layers of experimentation. Elsewhere on the likes of 'Dance AM' and 'Triangles' retrocentric 80's production highlights newer synth-pop influences whereas tracks such as 'Blue Hour' and 'Earth and Elsewhere' are blissful synth-wave soundtracks which give the otherwise upbeat album space to breathe. Together the third album from the innovative trio is one that flows effortlessly as a continuous piece of work and reveals that even within a genre so widely explored, there's still room for modernization amongst those willing to push boundaries.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Bordering on euphoric, Pinkshinyultrablast continue their domination of the saccharine-sweet Russian synthpop scene (a busy scene indeed) with this beautiful collection of retro heavy throbbing saw waves and angelic vocal sweeps.

TRACK LISTING

Dance Am
Triangles
Find Your Saint
Eray
Blue Hour
Earth And Elsewhere
Taleidoscope
In The Hanging Gardens
Looming

Nothing like a carb-load Italian pre-show feast and table wine to grease the gears of some live action in Fidenza, Italy . A land-locked classico right where you would pinch to hike up the boot. A club packed tight with handsome men and women abused by sonic marauders. “Have you seen Uranium Club live? No? Drop everything. They are complete-package slayers.

Watch- works drummer power, shred-haired bass magic (glasses flying), ripped twin guitar flexing on nerd beach, vocals poured through the skylight into your e-holes and over your thought center, sunglasses all around: fucking hypno- wheel. “Tough, smart, and wiry, midwest exploded all over the globe. Minneapolis, a city known for producing the best, has taken no nap on these young men: the driest tone, the snappiest hooks. They are simply great and this recording captures a particularly good night. They Shred ‘til everyone’s dead, including a nine-minute jam, god help us.

“Here’s something to make you feel good about the world, to know that we have extended a strong art-handshake to our brothers and sisters in Italy. Vivia l’italia! Ciao, bella.” - John Dwyer.

Latin LSD maverick and champion, Tim Maia returns to our shelves as Mr. Bongo dig deep into this funky tripper's arsenal to reveal an album of wide-eyed disco and riotous soul from later on in his career. That original batch of sunshine still resting in the recesses and pineal glands as the Maia clan deliver this excessive hit of Brazian disco funk from 1978,

The album kicks off with a trio of floor fillers: the exuberant party starter "A Fim De Voltar", a sing-a-long anthem in "Acenda O Farol" and the undeniably funky hit "Sossego" (file that one next to Fatback). But then Maia drops it down and gets existential on "All I Want", questioning the meaning of happiness. He also shows his tender side on slow burners such as "Murm Rio" (written by the great Cassiano) and "Pais E Filhos"; the latter featuring a supersoft bed of harmonies you can’t help but lay down on. But the party ain’t over and mid-tempo groover "Juras" gets the feet moving again before "Jhony" sends us swaying off into the night.

Maia’s appetite for excess would eventually get the better of him. But "Disco Club" is the sound of an unpredictable genius on top form. Get ready for the time of your life.

TRACK LISTING

A Fim De Voltar
Acenda O Farol
Sossego
Vitoria Regia Estou Contigo
E Nao Abro
All I Want
Murmurio
Pais E Filhos
Se Me Lembro Faz Doer
Juras
Jhony

Here comes the second full Carnival Club EP, 'Nomad and Crooks'. And what a beast it is, coming out with a killer roar. It's a step up, a leap forward on a recording level for the band from their mightily impressive, now end of year poll topping, 'Magdalena's Cape' EP released in 2017. That year ended with Carnival Club having supported The Courteeners' Liam Fray on his sell-out solo tour. The EP's opener, 'Sin City' is a time-travel elevator bringing out the ghosts of King David, solid gold easy action of Marc and supersonic black holes of Bellamy into a heart-felt digital pulse, all passion and purging of the poison.

A triple CD set of archive / unreleased / unearthed MWC sounds to celebrate their 10th year of functionality. The first disc, A Field Full Of Sunken Horses hearkens back to MWC’s earliest phase c. 2003-2009, including the titular fan fave which was issued as 128kbps MP3 only by The Wire in 2005, and now appears in high quality along with the flanging, bubbling magick of Rotten Druid and the bandy-legged swagger of Owd Lad Night. The 2nd disc, Tripping In The Elizabethan Sense brings us up to the period surrounding Clutch It Like A Gonk, namely variations on a "dance” music theme and the results spell out an array of eerie-step beats and mystic foxtrots.

The final disc We In This Hill Are Alive relinquishes a further 22 tracks of undulating soundscapes, taking inspiration from rugged Northern English hills and valleys to render a series of deep topographical studies mapping plasmic links between stone circles, hill mounds and ancient folk dressed in cutting edge couture. This is a music and upside down world unto itself, one where clocks go backwards and anthropomorphic fancies are an everyday occurrence ~ familiar to many, and seductive to many more.

TRACK LISTING

A - A Field Full Of Sunken Horses (GEPH010CDA)

1-1 Planting By The Signs
1-2 Peel Of Bees
1-3 A Central Variation
1-4 The Moontower
1-5 Magpie Mine
1-6 He've Got Saint Lawrence On The Shoulder*
1-7 Wolves In My House
1-8 The Potting Shed
1-9 Return To Shoebox Garden
1-10 Penfriends
1-11 Rotten Druid
1-12 Marshlight No. 2
1-13 Squire Skipling's Horrible Hobby
1-14 The Rabbit's Warning
1-15 Shopping In Fog
1-16 Curdled Footpath
1-17 Carousel Jack
1-18 13 O'Clock Hallucinations 2
1-19 Owd Lad Night
1-20 Autumn Fair Advertisement
1-21 10,000 Frozen Steps
1-22 Music In The Woods

B - Tripping In The Elizabethan Sense (GEPH010CDB)

2-1 Autumn Theatricals
2-2 Galaxy Class
2-3 Circle Of Power
2-4 Infernal Devices (Electrickery Mix)
2-5 Gonk Electric
2-6 Original Wolf Bounce
2-7 Gonk Operetta (Phantom Mix)
2-8 Gonk Stealth
2-9 Sly Gavotte (Dizzy Mix)
2-10 Special Nougat (Ghastly Nougat Mix)
2-11 Antiques Roadshow (Lost Somewhere Mix)
2-12 Spellcasting Summat (Could Be Hiding Mix)
2-13 Gonk Woozy
2-14 Always A Party (Fancy Fizz Mix)
2-15 Teatime Tick-tock Club
2-16 Gonk Materialize
2-17 Tudorbethan Jobbernowl (Full Jobbernowl Mix)
2-18 History Of Light Entertainment
2-19 Gonk Express
2-20 Strangewood Fair (Flaming Candyfloss Mix)
2-21 Hunted By Sentient Topiary
2-22 Ponder Ye (Extra Ponder Mix)

C - We In This Hill Are All Alive (GEPH010CDC)

3-1 Another Another Dreame
3-2 Endless Library
3-3 Location Spell
3-4 Eye Spy The Grey World
3-5 Refined Treacle Scryer
3-6 Nine Decaying Castles
3-7 Eternal Lovebirds (Midnight Mix)
3-8 Scorpio Pankenmannikins
3-9 Dispatch The Courtiers (Body Switcher)
3-10 Fine Big Hats
3-11 Exit Magic Control
3-12 Meadow Signals
3-13 If You Had The Key *
3-14 Midsummer Visitation
3-15 Silver Wolves
3-16 Creeping Into The Kitchen
3-17 Time Means Nowt
3-18 Redcaps In Barley
3-19 Absurd Games Night
3-20 A New Face On An Old Friend (Blazing)
3-21 Coaxing Zeus Into Bird Parallel *
3-22 Answer The Silent Question

Produced by Giles Martin for this year’s universally heralded ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Anniversary Edition releases, the album’s new stereo mix was sourced directly from the original four-track session tapes and guided by the original, Beatles-preferred mono mix produced by Giles’ father, George Martin. Praised by fans and music critics around the world, The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Anniversary Edition is 2017’s most celebrated historical music release and an ideal gift for Beatle People here, there, and everywhere.

Mr Bongo follow up their well received "Record Club - Volume One" with another exceptional collection of global grooves, perfectly placed for DJ use or home listening. Picking up some of the finest reissues of recent memory alongside a slew of their own discoveries, this collection is packed to the brim with soulful, jazzy and funky jams from all across the globe. The gospel stomp of Twinkie Clark's "Awake O Zion" blasts off after an Athens Of The North appearance earlier in the year, while the voodoo disco of Guy Cuevas' "Ebony Game" (yet to be reissued) makes a welcome vinyl appearance. The Afro-funk of the Kiru Stars is back on wax after a blink and you missed it issue on Afro7, while perenial Nigerian faves Effi Duke and Oby Onyioha groove away after PMG and Soundway presses respectively. Sofrito fave "Oh Yeh Soweto" keeps the party powering along before Rahbani's "Liza...Liza" blows us all away. Elsewhere, about a dozen dope Latin cuts send us dancing into the night with a sympathetic blend of sunkissed rhythms and smiling melody. Great stuff.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Arguably even better than Volume One, this latest collection from Mr Bongo brings the global grooving to your living room/DJ Set. Ranging from Gospel disco to Nigerian funk, via South African party jams and Latin love affairs, this is a truly all killer affair.

TRACK LISTING

Luiz Henrique - Mas Que Nada
Elbernita ‘Twinkie’ Clark - Awake O Zion
Guy Cuevas - Ebony Game
Kiru Stars (Julius Kang’ethe) - Family Planning
Kelenkye Band - Jungle Music
Effi Duke & The Love Family - The Time Is Come
Anubis - Ecology
Dee Edwards - Put Your Love On The Line
Teaspoon & The Waves - Oh Yeh Soweto
Oby Onyioha - Enjoy Your Life
Leny Andrade - Na_o Adianta
Rosa Maria - Samba Maneiro
Tom & Dito - Obrigado Corcovado
Inezita Barroso - Maracatu Elegante
Joao Diaz - Capoeira / Elias
Rahbani And His Orchestra - Liza... Liza
The Beaters - Harari
The Equatics - Merry Go Round

Blacklisters’ breed of deranged, frenetic noise rock may sound enraged, but as frontman Billy Mason-Wood tells it, this Leeds based quartet are actually a rather buoyant bunch, albeit with a predilection for sardonic humour and wry, irreverent song titles (‘Clubfoot By Kasabian’, ‘I Can Confirm That Ruth Abigail Holmes Is Not Dead and Is Planning To Make a Movie About Her Life’). The Hyde Park-based band’s first official release came in 2009, with 7” single 'Swords', followed up with 2010’s Belt Party EP. After a smashing set at Reading/Leeds festival in 2010, the foursome were asked to officially open the festival in 2011.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dart
2. Disco
3.Drag

After a brief hiatus Flash Forward returns with more classics from the golden years of Italian house music. A timeless masterpiece produced by Ricky Persi and mixed by DJ Fabrice and Paul Martini in 1991, "I Can Feel It" perfectly juxtaposes dreamy ambience with direct beats - a combo that would become synonymous with the style throughout years to come. Further embellished with a killer vocal hook, this is unadulterated deep house pleasure at its best. Out of press for years and highly sought after by DJs and collectors alike, don't miss out on this fully legit, beautifully pressed re-issue. 

TRACK LISTING

I Can Feel It Pt 1
I Can Feel It Pt 2

Available on 180gm black vinyl. During a riotous UK tour early last year, Grand Rapids four-piece Heaters spent a day off in a South London studio to lay down a live album – the result is the bands incredible and totally debauched addition the ‘Fuzz Club Session’ series. The LP serves up a total of 5 tracks and each - partnered with the raw, analog recording - is a no-holds-barred slab of hedonistic, tripped-out psych that charges through with a frantic garage-rock gusto and a surfy, reverb-coated swoon. 

TRACK LISTING

1) Levitate Thigh
2) Master Splinter
3) Dune Ripper
4) Cap Gun
5) Hawaiian Holiday

The slowest band in the world became even slower with 2005’s ‘Geisterfaust’.

The 58 minute album contains five songs, each titled after the fingers of a hand (the length of the tracks are proportional to the average length of these fingers).

“The stretches of silence, the resonating chords, the cyclical melodic developments, and the paradoxical atmosphere of tension (what will happen next?) and relaxation (it is, after all, extremely smooth music, no need to be so tense) all point to the Australian trio [The Necks] a thousand times more than anyone on the roster of Ipecac, the label that reissued ‘Black Earth’ to worldwide attention a year before ‘Geisterfaust’ came out.” - All Music

"The first instalment in our new 'Mr Bongo Record Club' compilation series – a selection of favourites, recent discoveries and sought after obscurities, which form the basis of our DJ sets and our radio show of the same name. Including cuts by Claudia, Cortex, Dave Pike Set, Fruko, Neno Exporta Som, Connie Laverne, Barbosa and more.

The original concept for 'Mr Bongo Record Club' was a radio show that allowed us to air our treasured record collections, recorded and broadcast once a month. We wanted to create an outlet free from any genre or BPM restrictions, not constrained by the need to beat-mix every record, a space where we could play latest finds alongside favourites. The only self-imposed rule being that it had to be played from vinyl.

We have always DJ'd across-the-board, but playing in an eclectic way hasn't always been easy. Recently DJ's such as MCDE, Floating Points, Nick The Record, Leon Vynehall, Four Tet, Jeremy Underground, Antal (Rush Hour), Sassy J and Young Marco – to name a few – have opened things up with very diverse sets to younger audiences; Brazilian samba-rock, next to modern soul, highlife, disco, boogie, jazz, house, techno and beyond.
We're seeing a rare groove like sensibility. A shift towards the attitude of legendary club nights hosted by the likes of Mr Scruff and Gilles Peterson, where you could hear house, hip hop, Turkish funk, boogie, jazz, dub and Latin back to back. At the same time it isn't a nostalgic or retro movement, people have a progressive attitude and a thirst for new-old music. It is a vibrant and exciting time – we are proud to be a part of it." - Mr Bongo

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Even the most cursory glance over this stunning setlist should have you reaching for your wallet. Bringing together classics, rare digs and pound shop finds from their long running radio show and DJ sets, those cats from Mr Bongo career through jazz rock, library funk, highlife, disco and latin without ever missing a trick. Essential!

TRACK LISTING

CD:
Hareton + Meta - KM110 (edit)
Amazones De Guinee - Samba
Evinha - Esperar Pra Ver
Neno Exporta Som - Deixa A Tristeza
Alipio Martins - Piranha
Lemos E Debetio - Morro Do Barraco Sem Agua
Barbosa - Seara De Oxala
Fruko Y Sus Tesos - Salsa Na Ma
Lantei Lamptey - Fish & Funjee (Komi Ke Kenam)
Buari - Karam Bani
The Rwenzori’s - Handsome Boy (E Wara) Pt. 1 & 2
Dave Pike Set - Mathar
Connie Laverne – Can’t Live Without You
Mavis John - Use My Body
Big Youth - Mammy Hot Daddy Cool
Tappa Zukie - Freak
Alex Rodriguez - El Mercado
Claudia - Jesus Christo
Cortex - Chanson D’un Jour D’hiver
King James Version - He’s Forever (Amen)

LP 1:
Neno Exporta Som - Deixa A Tristeza
Alipio Martins - Piranha
Lemos & Debetio - Morro Do Barraco Sem Água
Barbosa - Seara De Ocala
Dave Pike Set - Mathar
Lantei Lamprey – Fish & Funjee (Komi Ke Kenam)
Buari - Karam Bani
The Rwenzori’s - Handsome Boy (E Wara) Pt. 1 & 2

LP 2:
Mavis John - Use My Body
Big Youth - Mammy Hot Daddy Cool
Tappa Zukie - Freak
Connie Laverne - Can’t Live Without You
Alex Rodrigues - El Mercado
Cortex - Chanson D’Un Jour D’Hiver
King James Version - He’s Forever (Amen)

If ‘Convenanza’, released in February, was a distillation of all Andrew Weatherall’s influences in one place then ‘Consolamentum’ takes that instinct a step further. Here he invites friends old and new to rework the tracks from Convenanza in their own style.

On board are redoubtable musical architects such as David Holmes (under his new ‘Unloved’ guise), Justin Robertson (wearing his ‘Deadstock 33s’ hat) and the legendary Bernard Fevre of Black Devil Disco Club notoriety.
Leading the charge by the new guard are Heretic, Red Axes, Solar Bears and Vox Low whose tracks have twisted into existence a quiet storm on ALFOS nights.

TRACK LISTING

01) We Count The Stars (Unloved Remix) ***
02) The Confidence Man (Justin Robertson?s Deadstock 33s Remix) ***
03) Frankfurt Advice (Red Axes Remix) ***
04) The Last Walk (Vox Low Riding The White Horse Version)
05) Disappear (Duncan Gray Remix) ***
06) Thirteenth Night (Timothy J Fairplay Remix) ***
07) The Confidence Man (Sons Of Slough Remix)
08) Frankfurt Advice (Heretic Remix) ***
09) Kicking The River (Solar Bears Remix)
10) The Last Walk (Black Devil Disco Club Rework)
11) Ghosts Again (Scott Fraser Vocal Dub)

Please Note The LP Version Is 8 Tracks And Includes *** Plus
The Confidence Man (The Emperor Machine Dub)
Ghosts Again (Scott Fraser Ghosts In The Piano Mix)

The Growlers are an American band formed in Southern California who's sound has been described as a trademark style of music, effortlessly managing to combine eclectic elements of country, lo-fi punk, surf/psych/garage rock, Tex-Mex, and slacker/stoner/skate culture into something that is uniquely their own.

Known for their relentless touring schedule and DIY work ethic, the band is one of the most exciting independent success stories of recent years. The band has toured with The Black Keyes, Dr. Dogg, Devendra Banhart, and Jonathan Richman, among others.

The album is produced by Julian Casablancas (first album produced) & Shawn Everett (Grammy Award Winner for engineering with Alabama Shakes), Co-Mixed by Ben Baptie (The Growlers, Adele, Arcade Fire, U2)

TRACK LISTING

City Club
I'll Be Around
Vacant Lot
Night Ride
Dope On A Rope
When You Were Made
Rubber & Bone
The Daisy Chain
World Unglued
Neverending Line
Too Many Times
Blood Of A Mutt
Speed Living

Two Door Cinema Club return with Gameshow, their first album since the no. 2 LP 'Beacon' in 2012 and their first album for the Parlophone label. Gameshow incorporates a wide and varied range of styles and influences that perfectly marries the band’s pop sensibilities and hooks, with a continued sonic invention. It’s a real statement of intent, introducing their dedicated fan base to Two Door v2.0 – it’s a sound that’s ambitious, but never alienating – off-kilter, but always danceable

TRACK LISTING

1. Are We Ready? (Wreck)
2. Bad Decisions
3. Ordinary
4. Gameshow
5. Lavender
6. Fever
7. Invincible
8. Good Morning
9. Surgery
10. Je Viens De La

Deluxe Formats Include 5 Bonus Tracks Including Two New Songs, Two Remixes And A Live Recording Of The Album’s Title Track.

How do you keep a band interesting after ten years? It’s a question Slow Club’s Charles Watson and Rebecca Taylor must have asked themselves as they started work on their fourth album.The answer seems to be producer Matthew E. White, the master of Southern-gothic folk, whose in-house band at Richmond’s Spacebomb Studios provided the consistency and tone the album required. Almost every track was played live in the studio, allowing the long-established session band’s natural chemistry to augment Charles and Rebecca’s, with the double advantage of recording being very effective, and also comparatively quick.

One Day…. contains some of the best melodies they’ve yet created. The duo’s knack for writing hooks and melody has, if anything, become stronger. There are choruses here you instantly feel you’ve known your whole life, like ‘Ancient Rolling Seas’ timeless, reassuring refrain of “I’ll always be by your side”, or ‘Champion’’s Dolly Parton via-Linda Ronstadt anthem of self-celebration through the darkest times. Perhaps best of all are a pair of songs to be found at the top of what traditionalists would call “side 2”- ‘Rebecca Casanova’, a slice of widescreen, four-to-the-floor pop that recalls soft-rock giants Fleetwood Mac in the way it channels heartbreak onto the dancefloor, and ‘Tattoo Of The King’, a tale that takes Neil Young and the Doobie Brothers to the disco.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Chemistry like this doesn't come along every day. It is clear from the offset that Slow Club work on another level of understanding : there is a warmth and subdued energy to all of these pieces that demonstrate how important that understanding is. 'In Waves' is assured Southern country of the highest order while 'Sweetest Grape On The Vine' could easily have some of the best close vocal harmonies i've heard for a long time. 'Rebecca Casanova' is perfectly stripped-back yet sounds surprisingly complete. Intoxicating and mesmerising songs with strikingly effective production. A triumphant return for Slow Club.

The Third Sound's new album Gospels of Degeneration shows a shift in style for the group, having toned down the shimmery psychedelia in favour of something a little cleaner. That’s not to say this is a barren sounding album at all, it’s still hypnotically layered with country-kissed reverb, and retains those itching guitar riffs that will keep whispering through your mind for hours after listening.

Founded by Icelandic frontman, Hakon Aðalsteinsson - an ex-member of Singapore Sling who are often hailed as founding members of the new psych sound - The Third Sound came into being in Rome in 2010 and have since relocated to Berlin. Since forming, The Third Sound have enjoyed the support of Anton Newcombe, who released their self-titled first album, on his label A Recordings, and chose the group to support his band The Brian Jonestown Massacre on tour in Europe. He also provided the studio for recording their second album The Third Sound of Destruction and Creation which was released on Fuzz Club in 2013. Most recently they’ve shared members with Anton Newcombe and Tess Parks’ band, which led to Parks’ appearance on the single “You Are Not Here” from this new album. What began as somewhat of a solo project by Aðalsteinsson, the new album sees The Third Sound stretching its definition with deeper levels of collaboration between band members and the influence of a new character in its story, the city of Berlin.

The group’s sound has been described as “ebbing between light and dark, dream and reality, pop and experimentalism” and “ranging from hypnotic soundscapes to tweaked out and fuzzed up numbers.” In a recent premiere on Clash Music they were described as "lynchpins of the psychedelic underground."

The latest offering from experimental noise masters One Unique Signal is a collaboration between the three core band members and 20 of their contemporaries, who each designed a piece of music inspired by a single riff. Much like the process of continuous recreation that its namesake symbolises, the West London groups third LP, Hoopsnake, devours the seemingly eternal riff and constantly reinvents it to form a series of parallel iterations to the original composition. The riff was born from a repetitious loop originating from the sessions for their previous LP, the Sonic Boom mastered Aether. The band then recorded two versions of it (one a loud, guitar-driven take, the second a softer synth passage) and shared it with friends and collaborators, inviting each artist to create a corresponding sonic interpretation, which have all been mixed into four separate 10 minute long tracks.

The result is a seamless meshing of ideas from some of the best minds in the underground music scene - including The Oscillations Demian Castellanos and Steven Lawrie of The Telescopes - whose recordings span the weird and wonderful, ranging from home made noise box to Godin Artisan ST II recorded on solar power in a caravan, to simply lime green guitar. The roster of musicians and their various tools and instruments has been documented on the vinyl editions printed inner sleeve, and reads like a cross between a tech catalogue and a fantasy novel. The album was originally intended to serve as a second disc for Aether, however an extended, separate version was eventually called for to allow the project to fully realize it's 46 minute cycle, which was inspired by the long, warm summer evenings England experienced in 2013. Despite the new process undertaken for Hoopsnake, the methodically exploritive approach is typical to One Unique Signal, as is the feeling of continuity. The groups Nick Keech explains. From the very beginning, the Signal mythos has been repetition. Fellow band member Byron Jackson continues. The LP destroys itself, reflects upon the destruction, and is finally recreated, ready to repeat the process again. Along with fellow member Daniel Davis, the trio also perform as a part of space rock legends The Telescopes. 

TRACK LISTING

1. HS01
2. HS02
3. HS03
4. HS04

Pinkshinyultrablast are a five-piece band from Saint-Petersburg in Russia, whose debut album, 'Everything Else Matters', released at the beginning of 2015 was met with huge critical acclaim. Headline shows across Europe, an energetic and committed fanbase, continued support at radio - all combined to make this upcoming second record one of the most anticipated in 2016. Around the first album the band were quoted as saying "we realised the local indie scene was totally boring and wanted to play something radically different". The vision of achieving notoriety outside of Russia has been integral to the band's philosophy - they are very much an international band now.

A Russian band making a shoegaze record, was seen by some, as something of a novelty. The novelty was quickly eroded, firstly by shoegaze fans who awarded the band an invaluable seal of approval, but also by the music press, who quickly realised that they were not just 'any' shoegaze band. This was a band with widespread appeal, an engaging front-woman and a thrilling live show.

They've been compared to Lush among others. But this is no mere throwback tribute. Grandfeathered is a more experimental listen compared with the debut album, it's the sound of a band unafraid to try new things and embrace those fine lines between visceral noise and restrained subtlety. The band saying of the new sound "The new album has been recorded and mixed much faster than the previous one. The songs have more density to them and are generally more complex."

The band take their name from an Astrobrite album, an act who were, according to the band, instrumental in how they "researched spaces between ambient, heavy guitar and pop music"

TRACK LISTING

1. Initial
2. Glow Vastly
3. I Catch You Napping
4. Kiddy Pool Dreams
5. Comet Marbles
6. The Cherry Pit
7. Mölkky
8. Grandfeathered

"Convenanza" is the sound of Andrew Weatherall looking back at the clutter of a life thoroughly lived and realising it’s too late to tidy it up in any meaningful way. It would be marvellous to throw out lines about the artist exploring the periphery of his musical vision or redrawing the boundary between confrontational electronica and a fondness for a decent melody. That would however indicate some kind of preconceived plan or, failing that, a musical objective which shaped the record. Even serendipity would suggest a more organised approach to the album than was actually the case. Many years of listening to music with a unique ear has resulted in the disordered cabinet of highlights, touchstones, revelations and half recalled good times that make up being Lord Sabre.

Andrew and his long time fellow recusant Nina Walsh met up in her studio following their enjoyable collaboration as The Woodleigh Research Facility with a view to "doing something" and started tinkering around with the bare bones of some rhythm, top lines and loose vocal meanderings Nina had had sitting on the shelf for a while. Andrew yanked and pulled at the threads and added lyrical ideas until the ghosts of songs started to emerge. Refusing to concern themselves with any kind of structure, they scarpered when tedium threatened and let the music do what it wanted. Sometimes it took a sharp left turn; sometimes it dropped any pretensions of a tune and made do with a wonky groove and at other times simply disintegrated. The post funk punk rhythm of "Frankfurt Advice" takes a deep breath but soldiers on when the disquieting sound of the trumpet playing in the next room intrudes and remains firmly in control despite momentarily stumbling over an unruly guitar. The self-assured top line of "The Confidence Man" collapses in on itself and the loosened beats enjoy a gentle unrestrained boogie atop the solid bassline before the vocal’s final hymnic retreat. Is this sounding incoherent, an uncomfortable disjointed mess? It’s no more so than you’d get dipping arbitrarily into a life or trying to describe any long relationship. Being untidy is allowed; in fact it is to be celebrated as it reflects more truly the jumble of moments any of us experience at the best of times and we all recognise can never be caught on the page. The upside of this promiscuous attitude to music is the sheer joy when it all comes into focus on "We Count Our Sins"… The trumpet returns but this time it’s the soaring spirit of the song which strains against a deeply anchored bassline. The message of abandonment in the verse is thwarted by the obstinate optimism of the key refrain and there’s a sense of resolution as the song ends and melds into the blissful "Thirteenth Night".

That Andrew has grasped random thoughts, memories and life markers then assembled them so they become such a satisfying musical voyage is a testament to a mind that can draw pictures in the air but still has trouble finding the on-off button on his laptop.

TRACK LISTING

01. Intro
02. Frankfurt Advice
03. The Confidence Man
04. The Last Walk
05. Kicking The River
06. Disappear
07. We Count The Stars
08. Thirteenth Night
09. Ghosts Again

"Ringo Deathstarr kick f**king ass" VICE "This Texan noise-pop gang make a thrilling racket" NME "Guitars drenched in reverb and effects, Ringo Deathstarr know their way around a catchy pop melody" THE GUARDIAN

Texan shoegaze pioneers Ringo Deathstarr return with their fifth studio album. The aptly named opening track 'Dream Again' is sung by bassist G.G Alex, whose delicate voice echoes eerily over the spectral, otherworldly chords that pluck underneath. 'Heavy Metal Suicide' & 'Stare At The Sun' contain the same cathartic droning that has been previously celebrated by genre forefathers, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. Tracks like 'Never' and 'Boys In Heat' plunge the band and listener alike deep into the uncharted sonic depths of unadulterated, decadent sound. Elliott Frazer's vocals accentuate the eruption of noise behind his anthemic lyrics, dipping in and out of brief moments of clarity before bursting back into the manic grit of songs like 'Big Bopper' and 'Frisbee'. There's a daring clash of fury and fragility throughout 'Pure Mood' that demonstrates Ringo Deathstarr are not just reliving a scene, they're re-inventing it with their shattering use of chaotic guitars and haunting voices. 'Pure Mood' is a complex thrill-ride that's seeped in fervent shoegaze and lingering lyricism, proving Ringo Deathstarr are the torch-bearers of the movement and continue to contort and mutate into something beautiful.

“Sun Club have been tearing up venues with their unique blend of ferocious energy and euphoric dream pop for a number of years. At long last, a full-length release is finally on the cards.” - Line Of Best Fit

“‘Tropicoller Lease' is a driven take on oddities, where substance meets outward-thinking head on.” - DIY Magazine

The members of Sun Club became a band as childhood friends over ten years ago and have toured endlessly ever since, opening up for the likes of Alvvays, FIDLAR and Fat White Family.

Their first-ever full length album, ‘The Dongo Durango’, finds the band joyously deconstructing the traditional pop song and then rebuilding it with off-kilter time signatures, gleefully unhinged vocals and sunny hooks that sink deep into your already fevered brain.

Sun Club set about recording ’The Dongo Durango’ using an old warehouse space just outside of their hometown as a makeshift studio. They recorded the album live. There they channelled influences of fellow Baltimore greats from Future Islands to Dan Deacon, as well as drawing from their own musical libraries that include DEVO, The Beach Boys and The White Stripes.

Manchester's The Underground Youth is here with with yet another hauntingly beautiful record that blends shoegaze, post-punk and psychedelia. TUY is the name under which Manchester’s underground poet, Craig Dyer, has produced his records since 2009. In 2011, Fuzz Club Records started putting out his prolific catalogue, bringing to light a number of LPs and singles that had only circulated virally on the Internet. Since then, TUY, with Craig and Olya Dyer as the core of the band, have expanded to a five piece, gaining a solid international fan-base and touring all around the UK and Europe.

Drowned In Sound said of their Eindhoven set: “combining the mesmeric rhythms of The Velvet Underground - Olya Dyer's driving beats make her the new psych generation's Mo Tucker - with rippling feedback associated with Bad Moon Risingera Sonic Youth and a dash of the Mary Chain thrown in as well, they're a captivating force”. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Manchester's Underground Youth return with another slice of post-everything psych-rock-tronica. Combining beautiful guitar melodies and repeated vocal refrains with overwhelming pastoral electronic washes, this is a collection founded on indie pioneers past, but expanded upon to the Nth degree and updated. 'Drown In Me' is a particularly accomplished slice of synth-heavy industrial sadness, interspersed with bursts of cautiously optimistic shoegaze-y guitars. Nothing too sunny about this, but it's nice to wallow in the bleakness of life sometimes, and there really is no better way to do it. A soundtrack to industrial ruins, and rainy evenings. Highly recommended.

TRACK LISTING

1. Collapsing Into Night
2. Haunted
3. Dreaming With Maya Deren
4. Self Inflicted
5. Drown In Me
6. The Girl Behind
7. Slave
8. Deep Inside Of Me
9. Returning To Shadow

From Chester and Ellesmere Port, their name inspired by a sign for the tennis club in Little Sutton, Hooton Tennis Club grew up together and played in a number of bands with improbable names. While studying at various colleges they speedily recorded some songs to upload with no intention of ever being an actual ‘band’ but early demos soon caught the ears of Heavenly Recordings and by September 2014 the band had signed to the label.

Following a UK tour with label-mate H. Hawkline the band entered the studio to start recording their debut album in the early spring of 2015. Inspired by the plug-in-and-play quasi-improvisational approach of Deerhunter and Ariel Pink, the album is the sound of the summer of adolescence slipping into the autumn of adulthood.

Here the wit of Kurt Vonnegut and twisted storytelling of Wes Anderson collide to tell tales of banal jobs, relationships, memorable parties and passing characters. Musically melodic, fragile, wonky, witty, poetic and pop (definitely, defiantly pop) the skewed melodies and oddball narratives combine in perfect symbiotic musical harmony, each song a small burst of sunshine to warm the coldest of hearts. Think Teenage Fanclub, Guided By Voices, Randy Newman, Big Star, Silver Jews – but birthed in northern English towns in the 21st century.

TRACK LISTING

1. Up In The Air
2. I’m Not Going Roses Again
3. P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L. P.I.E.R.R.E.
4. Something Much Quicker Than Anyone But Jennifer Could Ever Imagine
5. Jasper
6. Always Coming Back 2 You
7. Barlow Terrace
8. Spokes
9. Kathleen Sat On The Arm Of Her Favourite Chair
10. Standing Knees
11. …And Then Camilla Drew Fourteen Dots On Her Knees
12. Fall In Luv

• Debut release from members of Wavves, Sweet Valley, Jeans Wilder 
• Ten tracks of soaring harmonies over sludgy guitars.

Brothers Joel Williams (Sweet Valley) and Nathan Williams (Wavves), alongside childhood best friend Andrew Caddick (Jeans Wilder), make music about loss that frays at the seams. Soaring harmonies over sludgy guitars and lush production create a sound all their own. “... a wooly slice of surf pop boasting enough fuzz on its fringes to leave listeners just a wee bit dazed.” -ConsequenceOfSound.

TRACK LISTING

1. All The Time
2. Eye Dozer
3. Carousel
4. Bless This Mess
5. Duster
6. Dream On
7. Ripped
8. Still Life
9. Sling
10. Ripped II

Following the widespread and critical success of their third album last year, along with a full UK tour, Japanese indie-pop four piece, Taffy return with their brand new EP. 'Darkle' spins dreamy, sugar-sweet vocals over 7 tracks, each under-pinned by the classic Taffy formula: psychedelic shoegaze noise-outs and Graham Coxon-esque 90's guitar riffs. The EP is a swirl of transcendental melodies, broken up by British pop sensibilities reminiscent of Elastica and The Stone Roses.

"Nothing short of splendorious" – NME

"The buzz has spread far and wide. We are wholeheartedly impressed" - Drowned In Sound

"Something tuneful and great" - The Guardian

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

TRACK LISTING

1.Suicidal Bunny
2.Young Times
3.Remember To Remember
4.Dr. K
5.HBD
6.Young Times (Brian Jonestown Massacre Remix)

Two year’s on from the release of their debut, top 10 UK charting album ‘180’, which NME declared to be ‘the new soundtrack to your life,’ Q Magazine ‘one of the best debut albums of the decade’ and The Quietus ‘fucking brrrilliant,’ Palma Violets have announced the full details of their highly anticipated follow-up ‘Danger In The Club’. The album was produced by John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead, The Fall), recorded at Rockfield Studio in Wales and is set for release on 4th May 2015 on Rough Trade Records. 

Anyone lucky enough to catch Palma Violets road testing the new album at intimate UK venues recently (including Scunthorpe where the local rugby team had to be called in when the venue’s bouncers couldn’t handle the over-excited crowd) can testify that the new material is a giant step up from the band’s debut. ‘Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach’ and ‘Hollywood (I Got It)’ build on ‘180’s exhilarating, primal rock and roll, whilst the hook-heavy choruses and imaginative lyrics of ‘English Tongue’ and ‘Coming Over To My Place’ demonstrate how much Palma Violets – still all in their early twenties – have developed into first class songwriters and honed their own unique sound.

Speaking about the new album, bassist and singer Chilli Jesson explains: 
“We wanted to make a young-sounding record. We listened to a lot of pre-punk while we were making the album. We like its rawness and simplicity. A lot of bands want to over-complicate their second album, we know that we didn’t.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Sweet Violets
2. Hollywood (I Got It)
3. Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach
4. Danger In The Club
5. Coming Over To My Place
6. Secrets Of America 
7. The Jacket Song 
8. Matador
9. Gout! Gang! Go!
10. Walking Home
11. Peter And The Gun
12. No Money Honey
13. English Tongue

Bonus Tracks:
1. Five Gold Rings
2. The Man Is Asleep
3. In The Rain
4. Scandal

Two year’s on from the release of their debut, top 10 UK charting album ‘180’, which NME declared to be ‘the new soundtrack to your life,’ Q Magazine ‘one of the best debut albums of the decade’ and The Quietus ‘fucking brrrilliant,’ Palma Violets have announced the full details of their highly anticipated follow-up ‘Danger In The Club’. The album was produced by John Leckie (Stone Roses, Radiohead, The Fall), recorded at Rockfield Studio in Wales and is released on Rough Trade Records.

Anyone lucky enough to catch Palma Violets road testing the new album at intimate UK venues recently (including Scunthorpe where the local rugby team had to be called in when the venue’s bouncers couldn’t handle the over-excited crowd) can testify that the new material is a giant step up from the band’s debut. ‘Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better On The Beach’ and ‘Hollywood (I Got It)’ build on ‘180’s exhilarating, primal rock and roll, whilst the hook-heavy choruses and imaginative lyrics of ‘English Tongue’ and ‘Coming Over To My Place’ demonstrate how much Palma Violets - still all in their early twenties - have developed into first class songwriters and honed their own unique sound.

Speaking about the new album, bassist and singer Chilli Jesson explains:
“We wanted to make a young-sounding record. We listened to a lot of pre-punk while we were making the album. We like its rawness and simplicity. A lot of bands want to over-complicate their second album, we know that we didn’t.”

Boston's Krill announce the release of their new album A Distant Fist Unclenching. Recorded with Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, Speedy Ortiz), the album is their most ambitious body of work and true progression of their sound.

Without losing the idiosyncratic nature of earlier recordings, Krill have consciously refined their sound. Despite the clear attention to detail throughout A Distant Fist Unclenching, the album remains lyrically compelling, complex, unusual and full of the fervent intensity of their earlier work - underpinned by Jonah’s unpredictable vocal nuances, which range from a fragile whisper to a manic bark.

Opener 'Phantom' frames the album, shedding light on its themes and whilst displaying the band's penchant for unusual song structures. The band take this further with tracks like 'Tiger' – seven minutes of repetitive, loping thoughts on violence, pain and the ways we come to interpret them. 'Torturer', a track often introduced live as “the devils journal entry on his first day in hell” is now available to stream. Closing with the heart-wrenching 'It Ends', A Distant Fist Unclenching is thematically dense, yet perhaps the bands most accessible and diverse record yet.

TRACK LISTING

1: Phantom
2: Foot
3: Fly
4: Torturer
5: Tiger
6: Mom
7: Squirrels
8: Brain Problem
9: It Ends

'Sometimes you need to burrow through the darkness of your soul to find the light in your life. This album is definitely dark at times, but through it all, it comes with a sense of release and freedom' - Levitation Magazine.

The return of Icelandic Singapore Sling is upon us with their seventh studio album, recorded in the winter of 2011-2012 titled ‘The Towers of Foronocity’ and you will be anticipating this one for good reason. Twelve tracks of that dark, moody and broody sound that we all have come to know so well. It’s like a surrealistic dream sequence out of a David Lynch movie. Walls and walls of sound, layered between darkness and light. The album contains some of the bands best songs to date, including the opening track “You Drive Me Insane” with it’s thump coming at you, it’ll have you tasting the blood (of Singapore Sling) immediately. The band was born in 2000 as a result of nobody making the music that Singapore Slings Henrik Bjornsson wanted to hear. So he simply decided to make it himself, instead of complaining and doing nothing. It was born out of love and hate. Love of the various music from the past, mainly rock 'n' roll, and hatred of the majority of the music around him. He named the band Singapore Sling (after the film by Nikolai Nikolaidis) shortly before the first show in he fall of 2000. The first proper record, The Course of Singapore Sling, was released in 2002 and named "The Course Of" because of bad luck and freaky incidents that surrounded the recording of the record. The course went on and so did they.

TRACK LISTING

You Drive Me Insane
All Your Sins
In With The Out
Let's Go
Careful ('m Evil)
Kill Baby Kill
Nuthin's Real
Who Put The Ebb In The Ebbebebb
Absolute Garage
My Obsessive Love
I Hate Myself
Tired

A boggling and super-fun 100+ minutes from Neil Campbell’s Astral Social Club, Fountain Transmitter Medications delivers the head-on collision of classic UK electronic styles, electric grit and the future.

The LP starts with a set of tight chuggers, the high-end racket of “Infinity Thug” ripping through the speakers before closing the side with the loping “Grisly Terroir.” Side two is comprised of the 20-minute epic “Diamonds in the Dreich,” a mid-tempo journey of Throbbing Gristle-ish lurch-pulse and disembodied voices, giving way after ten minutes to an organ-interlude which accelerates into a full-on rock jam loaded with scathing guitar slashing. It’s unlike anything else in the Astral Social Club catalog.

The CD (“side three”) offers three lengthy explorations of key facets of the overall Astral Social concept, where Campbell really stretches out and lets the tape run—the rushing sound effects and buried rock of “Sun Still God,” the bristling electric juddering of “Erotic Meditation,” and the blownout space-rock (!) of “Squeegee Anthem #3.”

"The Breeders are reincarnated via Tokyo with feedback and gossamer female vocals" The Times "Hooks that grab you and refuse to be shaken off" Clash "Blows the cobwebs off all the '90s revivalist naysayers" NME "Finely executed indie pop" Music OMH Hailing from the suburbs of Tokyo, the ferocious quartet Taffy return with an intoxicating collection of B-sides and early material. Following their critically acclaimed second album 'Lixiviate' and a recent UK tour with The Wedding Present, Taffy are establishing themselves as a firm favourite on the UK scene.'Plus+++' is a kaleidoscope of fuzzed-up shoegaze pop gems offering up an unforgiving slice of indie. This catchy compilation packs a speedy forty minutes with nostalgic indie but its Taffy's infectious combination of punk, grunge and shoegaze that makes them stand out from the crowd.Taffy are Iris on vocals and guitar, Koichin on bass, Asano on lead guitar and Ken on drums.

Ontario’s Tokyo Police Club are back with a brand new album ‘Forcefield’.

The album includes the eight minute epic that is ‘Argentina (Parts I, II, III)’, and their most pure pop moment to date, ‘Hot Tonight’.

The new record is the quartet’s first release in four years, following 2010’s hugely acclaimed ‘Champ’.

‘Forcefield’ is perhaps Tokyo Police Club’s most direct statement of intent yet, musically referencing anything from Tom Petty to Smashing Pumpkins, whilst never losing the unmistakable energy that has marked their work ever since their debut mini-album ‘A Lesson In Crime’.

‘Forcefield’ was produced by Doug Boehm (Girls, Dr Dog) and singer David Monks.

Of the new music, Monks notes, “Since writing started for ‘Forcefield’ in mid-2011 there have been so many trends and every kind of ‘wave’. We saw them all come and disappear or change into something broader. It left us wanting to make something that would last. We ended up rediscovering energy and guitars and simple, direct songs. There was certainly a lot of pressure to take the music somewhere new and there were lots of opinions about how to do that, but in the end we blocked all that out and followed our instincts. I think that’s what ‘Forcefield’ is - it doesn’t matter what else is going on out there, the music just has to be honest and have a real feeling to it.

Ontario’s Tokyo Police Club are back with a brand new album Forcefield.  The album includes the 8 minute epic that is ‘Argentina (Parts I, II, III)’, and their most pure pop moment to date, ‘Hot Tonight’.

The new record is the quartet’s first release in four years, following 2010’s hugely acclaimed Champ. Having teased the new album just before the new year with the mesmerizing video for the album’s opening track ‘Argentina (Parts I, II, III)’, Tokyo Police Club have also recently premiered ‘Hot Tonight’ on Pitchfork.

Forcefield is perhaps TPC’s most direct statement of intent yet, musically referencing anything from Tom Petty to Smashing Pumpkins, whilst never losing the unmistakable energy that has marked their work ever since their debut mini-album A Lesson in Crime. The forthcoming album was produced by Doug Boehm (Girls, Dr Dog) and singer David Monks.

Of the new music Monks notes, “Since writing started for Forcefield in mid-2011 there have been so many trends and every kind of ‘wave.’ We saw them all come and disappear or change into something broader. It left us wanting to make something that would last. We ended up rediscovering energy and guitars and simple, direct songs. There was certainly a lot of pressure to take the music somewhere new and there were lots of opinions about how to do that, but in the end we blocked all that out and followed our instincts. I think that’s what Forcefield is—it doesn’t matter what else is going on out there, the music just has to be honest and have a real feeling to it.”

Shimmering shoegazey pop.
Very limited red, black & purple swirly  vinyl!

Following on from the blown out psychedelic infused 'Rapture' released earlier this year, Exit Calm return with 'The Future Isn't What It Used To Be' out on Club AC30. The Barnsley based quartet return bringing with them an evolution of their sound that reaffirms their position at the forefront of British guitar bands. Immersing the listener straight into the tripped out mesmerising world of Exit Calm, 'Rapture' opens the proceedings with pulsating bass and blissed-out drums that set the tone for the rest of the album. From the cavalcade of musicianship throughout and on the breakbeat-tinged fury of 'Albion' to the Bunnymen guitars and groove of 'Fiction' the songs illustrate their passion for emotive song writing that invokes the spirit of their influences. 'The Promise' arrives with a swirl of 60s meets shoegaze that sits immaculately alongside stadium rock amidst post-rock and psychedelic tendencies. The cacophonous guitar and bass lines are set perfectly against the pounding percussion of 'When They Rise', 'Rapture' and 'Holy War'.

Andrew Weatherall never wakes up in the morning and decides to start a new album that day. Instead, recording music is a continuous process usually working with different collaborators and seeing where the muse takes him. Somewhere down the line the rewards of a collaboration will coalesce into a body of work between thirty minutes and an hour long and he will put a call into the Rotters’ team to say he has a new release ready to go.

We were visiting the studio catching up on new tracks in various states of readiness when he offered up some remixes of tracks from his recent “Ruled By Passion…” he’d been sent by fellow musicians. Tim Fairplay, Andrew’s partner in The Asphodells, Sean Johnston from A Love From Outer Space and Scott Fraser live and work in the area and all popped in at various points.

Andrew’s black book reads like the who’s who of contemporary music but rather than plunder it for remixers he’d let drop the idea of a remix with friends and neighbours. These plus a couple a swaps with musical friends who were new to the concept of remixing, gave Andrew an hour of music he thoroughly enjoyed listening to.

It goes without saying none of the tracks are duds but our ears always prick up when Justin Robertson’s take on “Beglammered” ups the heart rate or Daniel Avery’s own unscrewing of “… the Axis” ruffles the neck hairs. We’ve stopped arguing in the office about which is the best track. They all are.

ULTRA LIMITED - WE JUST HAVE A HANDFUL OF COPIES

Enigmatic 16-year old star in the making ‘Lorde’ is Ella Yelich O’Connor from New Zealand.

Inspired by the likes of Burial, James Blake and David Lynch films – she’s inventing her own sound, writing music filled with inventive lyricism. Currently recording her album for September release.

Founding fathers of the New Romantics and pioneers of the 80s sound Visage, return with a new album ‘Hearts And Knives’.

‘Hearts & Knives’ is the title of the fourth Visage album. It is not only a paraphrased lyric from the lead single ‘Shameless Fashion’, but also a metaphor for the past 29 years of Steve Strange and Visage. Life is always mixture of trials, highs and lows. There are always people, situations and circumstances to cut you down (the knives), however the love, compassion and caring that has surrounded Steve Strange throughout his life is truly heartfelt.

The first song to be written for the album was co-written with long time collaborator and former Visage and Magazine keyboard player Dave Formula. ‘Diaries Of A Madman’ is a sneaky tongue and cheek vocal poke at Steve’s detractors. This and new songs crafted with Steve Barnacle and Robin Simon proved to be the catalytic creative spark to bring the album together. With a this core classic (and analogue) Visage sound in place the picture slowly started forming and the band reached out (once again) to Martin Rushent. He suggested the blueprint for the album and had began working on the first tracks before his untimely death in 2010. Undeterred, the Visage then reached out for further songwriting collaborations. Mick MacNeil, the creative musical core of Simple Minds, contributed to two songs the classic sounding ‘She’s Electric (Coming Around)’ and the radio-friendly ‘Dreamer I Know’ (which was also co-written with 80s super producer Youth). The Welsh connection was further extended when Visage co-wrote three songs with Rich Mowatt.

The sound of ‘Hearts & Knives’ is classic Visage, with the odd tip of the hat to modern production values. Most 80s groups reforming and making albums shy away from using the classic analogue hardware synthesizers. They remember how much work it was, and it’s all plug ins and software these days. Not Visage. All synthesizers on the album (aside from one bassline) are analogue. The production by John Bryan and analogue synthesizer collector Sare Havlicek is firmly rooted in the 80s.

On this album Andrew Weatherall has partnered with Timothy J. Fairplay as The Asphodells. Their friendship goes back to Tim’s time with Battant in the latter part of the 2000s with Andrew helping out on production. Tim has been responsible for a number of independent tracks variously on Astro Lab Recordings, World Unknown, Bird Scarer, Emotional Response and Magic Feet. He has played live across Europe including at Fabric in London and Robert Johnson in Germany and DJs at regular Glasgow night Crimes of the Future with Scott Fraser.

Musically the album’s yet another game changer. Andrew has left behind the rock and roll leanings of Wrong Meeting and A Pox on the Pioneers and looks back over his shoulder to the purer electronics of the Kraftwerk-inflected Two Lone Swordsmen but without the sparse introspection that characterised those times. Now the music is saturated in repetitive beats overlaid with sinuous melodies played out over whole tracks. Songs still feature but sound haunted, guitars still ground the tracks but are more resonant. John Betjeman’s ‘Late Flowering Lust’ sits surprisingly comfortably alongside AR Kane’s ‘A Love from Outer Space’ but ultimately it’s Weatherall and Fairplay that imbue the album with it’s own sense of a journey through a time and space that only dimly reflects our own.

TRACK LISTING

01. Beglammered
02. Never There
03. Skwatch
04. Another Lonely City
05. Late Flowering Lust
06. Late Flowering Dub
07. We Are The Axis
08. One Minute's Silence
09. Quiet Dignity Of Unwitnessed Lives
10. Love From Outer Space (Version 2)

"There is a direct line between My Bloody Valentine, the Jesus and Mary Chain and Ringo Deathstarr. And it stops at Slowdive Central. If you retain any fondness for those three - and are mentally aroused by a spot of melody-heavy guitar pop - you will adore the 'Starr - THE GUARDIAN

"Their pulsing layers of feedback and those droll, deadpan vocals are ripped straight from Psychocandy, but the galloping, amphetamine rhythms are harder charging than even the most amped up track on that album" - Pitchfork

Deaf Club, the collective identity of Polly Mackey (Vocals/Guitar), Paul Bates (Bass), Jac Roberts (Guitar), Sian Rosier (Keyboards) and Tom Ryan (Drums), first hit the UK scene in 2011 with their self released, four track EP, ‘Lull’. Instantly receiving critical acclaim, the band followed up with a Kissability sponsored two track cassette ‘Sunday’/’Mirrors’ which sold out in a heart beat.

Building on this already remarkable progress, ‘Moving Still’ is yet further evidence of a young, but powerful creative force rapidly gaining momentum as they hone their craft and refine the sound that defines Deaf Club. Bellowing guitars, an urgent, yearning vocal delivery and a driving rhythm section that hammers the point home. ‘Lights’ perfectly compliments ‘Moving Still’ with a catchy chorus and measured mystique.

Debut EP from the Canadian eccentric Mac Demarco. This record of weirdo blues rock is amazing. Think Scott Walker meets Ariel Pink. Mac DeMarco, formerly Makeout Videotape, is the anti-thesis to your stereotypical singer-songwriter. Disregarding the seriously somber moments, he replaces them with whimsical and youthful spontaneity, whilst retaining the endearing and subtle commentaries that exude his familiarity. Promptly after leaving his Edmonton garage for Vancouver he embarked on a North American tour accompanying fellow Canadians Japandroids on a grand voyage of enlightenment and alcoholic debauchery.

DeMarco's a weird cat cultivating an affinity for occult imagery, nudity and social satire. But his most impressive trait is his undeniable and instinctual ability to compose magical pop jangles, of which he'll likely refer to as "jizz jazz". His dusted jams have garnished him accolades that are as ever-increasing as his song writing abilities; his sound rendering comparisons, but in a nomadic fashion alluding no distinct origin. Come March DeMarco's debut solo EP entitled Rock And Roll Night Club will ramble into the great unknown guided by Captured Tracks, DeMarco's inner Elvis a tow.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rock And Roll Night Club
2. 96.7 The Pipe
3. Baby's Wearing Blue Jeans
4. One More Tear To Cry
5. European Vegas
6. 106.2 Breeze FM
7. She's Really All I Need
8. Moving Like Mike
9. Me And Jon, Hanging On
10. I'm A Man
11. Only You
12. Me & Mine

Debut single on the excellent Young & Lost Club label. Limited edition - 300 copies only.

Thos Henley is currently amidst a solo music adventure across Europe. Having exhausted the London scene, where he was heavily involved during his teens, he has spent the last two years exploring the continent, in particular France and Paris, where he has aligned with the Boutique Sonores label.

“I left my village in England around two years ago, the reasons were plentiful; I had fallen out of love with a woman and the country which I stood on. Inspired by travel writers such as Laurie Lee and Patrick Leigh Fermor, I left for France in a red van and after swimming in St. Tropez with my passport in my pocket I decided to stay in Paris.”

Regularly featured on blogs such as La Blogothèque and Le Transistor in France and sharing the stage with artists such as the French band Syd Matters and LA-based folk - 2 - band Dylan Trees, Thos has been able to develop a fan-base wherever he resides and continues to win over fans on his travels.

This release brings together tracks recorded in England shortly before his departure, as well as newer tracks recorded with new acquaintances abroad. The music carries influences from antique British and contemporary American folk, with lush vocal harmonies and organ. The UK physical release comes in a beautiful extendeddigipack including photos and lyrics.

TRACK LISTING

1. Darling You
2. Another Brother
3. Gone With Devon (Reprise)
4. Balancing Books
5. Can You Canoe?
6. So English
7. Henrietta
8. The Oldest Tree In Netley
9. Keeper Of My Breath
10. Sweet Lime

Hairy Hands is a DIY beats/vocals project from singer/songwriter Mr James Bright. His cut-and-paste productions are playful and naive, drawing from influences such as Madlib, Arthur Russell and Benny Sings.

Sometimes, a musician has to suppress some of his or her particular tastes for the benefit of a project. In developing the sound of Mr James Bright, production is often taken care of by James' close friends at studios all across the globe. Over the years, however, James' urge to unleash his own monster sound had grown, and after a year in the making, his own sound is ready to be let out of the cage.

This is HAIRY HANDS. Fluid rhythms and lavish keys are strewn together to create a blend of beats and wonky folk that is particularly difficult to label. Tracks bounce between chorus and verse, dropping and twisting every few bars; this music is undeniably vibrant. A childlike approach to production, with everything and anything sprinkled from start to finish, causes the finished product to sound beautifully naive. There are no limits here, each track will get you in a headlock and re-arrange your perception of groove. Goodbye Mr.Music Snob, Hairy Hands has just turned your world upside down…

TRACK LISTING

1. Ass
2. People Chat Alot
3. Try Too
4. I Know That You Want Me
5. Clap
6. And
7. Lights Go Down Down Down
8. A Song For Karen
9. Arthur Said To Do It
10. Boom (Room) 924
11. Faster/Quicker
12. It Was Kerrys Idea
13. Leaves Keep Falling
14. Lemme See
15. BumFunk

Awesome Wells has been recording music and hibernating in bedrooms in valleys, kitchens by railways and bunkers in the city for several years.

His music envisages a huge soundscape bringing in many elements of his diminished fantasy travels. This all makes for a wonderful sound, taking in influences from A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Animal Collective and Dexys Midnight Runners, to name a few.

Music and words written in Rangoon/Yangon, Mawlamyine/Moulmein and Steyning. Recorded in Steyning and Hove.

A stolen tuba, an electric piano found by the side of the road, a mandolin brought from a fortune teller just outside of Mandalay, twelve Burmese cigars, A Dog's Heart, a badly played trombone and a tin-drum.

TRACK LISTING

Luchadora
BEARS
Sunday Evening
Stickleback
You're Flogging A Dead Horse, Jon
Mawalamyine
Norman

Bonus Tracks:
Unbyetled
Baby-Boy
Stickleback (Live In A Field, October 7th 2010)

Colin Caulfield, aka Young Man may already be familiar to some of you for his reworkings of his favourite song, including a cover of Deerhunter's "Rainwater Cassette Exchange" which Bradford Cox described as "fantastically superior to the original". An accolade indeed!
Now Young Man brings us his debut UK single "Up So Fast" which is a lovely uplifting dream-pop number. Kicking off with simple stripped back guitar strums and vocals, the drum rhythm - a series of mini drum rolls, gradually builds to create a shimmering pop haze before it changes direction once again as it winds down to a finale.
Fans of Altas Sound, Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Panda Bear etc should take note.
Pitchfork: "acoustic guitars that give off the whiff of sunscreen, sun-baked loops, easygoing percussion, vocals blanched in reverb, and lyrics that take an 'aw shucks' wistfulness to growing up."

Hit Club Records, having already introduced us to Egyptian Hip Hop, May68 and Is Tropical, come up trumps once again with this two tracker from Get People. Having already remixed the likes of Mystery Jets and Morning Parade, they now bring us their own lush, tropical synth-pop. Both tracks here tip their hats to the 80s synth sounds without sounding retro - modern, melodic and oozing class.

Intoducing The TV Club from Brooklyn, NY. Featuring Max Kagan on vocals, guitar, bass and keyboards, with Derek Brown on drums, percussion, vocals and keyboards. "Crush On You" is the debut 7" 45, self released single in an initial run of 290 copies. Recorded and produced in their studio in Downtown Brooklyn. The single has been described like this: "Crush On You" is a lo-fi gem that sounds like a mix of the Modern Lovers and early Television Personalities. The track shuffles, oozes cool, has a fantastic layer of lo-fi fuzz and vocal hooks at each turn.

Islington Boys’ Club are a North London based four piece. They met through mutual friends through the East London live music scene. Although according to Ed the drummer, lead singer Andy ‘was a special acquisition, as we were the first band he tried out for when first arriving in London having been introduced by his sister who told us about him before he moved over from overseas’.

Singer/ performer Andy Lovelee is quite the front man, challenging and bold, just like a young Bowie, making IBC stand out from the crowd with each performance a spectacle to watch, completely captivating. Sitting somewhere in between the rock and electro bands of this world, IBC create music that is innovative. Uplifting rock music filled with exciting hooks, pounding drums and intelligent, beautifully sung vocals. They have shared stages with the likes of O.Children, Dark Horses and Is Tropical and played The Stag & Dagger and 1234 Shoreditch festivals this year.

The double A-side single: "Pristine" / "Plastic 16" was written and performed by the band: Andy Lovelee, Daniel Silvester Taylor-Lind, Drew Kennedy, Ed Pearson and produced, mixed and recorded by James Aparicio (Grinderman, Liars, Spirtualized, These New Puritans) at The Limehouse and Error Room 2. Remixes to come from Is Tropical, Tellison, Worship and Prizes.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Pristine

Side B:
Plastic 16

Radioclit are definitely on the rise, both as remixers / DJs (with their popular Club Secousse nights at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London and in Paris) and as two-thirds of acclaimed Afro-electronic band The Very Best. For this compilation, they have hand-picked their favourite tracks among the wealth of hot electronic dance music which is being produced all across the African continent, from Angola to South Africa to the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and more. This is African music NOW, giving us its own slant on electro, grime, dancehall and other dancefloor styles. If you liked the Honest Jon's "Shangaan Electro" compilation, check this.

Debut release from Laissez Faire Club Records is the second single from Brighton based Ice Black Birds, "As Birds We’d Be Fine". It’s a slice of blues fueled, anthemic indie rock fit for the summer festival season, and has already been championed by Huw Stephens on Radio 1 as well as Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson on 6Music.

The flip side is live favourite "Doors", a highly charged rock ‘n’ roll riot all over in two-and-a-half minutes – like they used to make in the good old days.

Fans of CCR, Kings Of Leon, White Denim and The Black Keys will love this.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
As Birds We’d Be Fine

Side B:
Doors

The stunning fifth album by Edinburgh's psychedelic magicians, The Zephyrs, their first release for five years. Originally tipped by Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite, The Zephyrs have recorded for Mogwai's Rock Action label, Spain's Acuarela label and Setanta, and now sign to Club AC30 for "Fool Of Regrets". Starting as a solo album for Stuart Nicol, the recordings soon embraced the other members of the band and "Fool Of Regrets" began to take shape at Diving Bell Lounge studio in Glasgow, produced by Michael Brennan and Marcus MacKay, with a set of friends and guest players - Mogwai's Barry Burns contributed Richard Manuel-esque piano, Lisa Jen Brown, in the middle of a Gruff Rhys tour added backing vocals and Gruff Rhys sang harmony; and Mary MacMaster (contributor to Sting's recent 'early music' project) played harp. The Zephyrs do a beautiful and seemingly impossible thing - they manage to combine the epic grandeur of Mogwai with the country-rock of Gram Parsons. The songs flow with a psychedelic, somnambulant ambience - country music in slow motion.
For fans of Low, Mojave 3, and Grandaddy.

After starting out in the city of Melbourne, Australia, The Kits relocated to London where their sound has come into its own. Their tales of crime, addiction and short-lived romances have resulted in a rapturous following and earned them support slots with The Dirtbombs, Wolfmother, The Saints and The Nightmarchers, as well as rave reviews in magazines like Kerrang and Artrocker. Taking as their starting point the days when rock’n’roll was still considered a threat to the morals of the world’s youth, The Kits are a garage rock’n’roll band at heart. They’ve taken the stomp and grit of the 50s and 60s and given it the injection of eternal youth through relentless guitar hooks and snarling vocals. Their music is for yesterday, for today, for tomorrow.

The Kits debut album "Primitive Tales" was released through Dirty Water Records late in 2008 and has gone through several pressings. Reviews said: "I Want To Hold Your Hand and Go To Hell" is the coolest song of the year. Period. I had to get that off my chest. Many make it a point to say that powerpop is garage rock with some Kinks influence and better production, but this is not garage rock. The Kits have managed to carve themselves out a nice little space somewhere between the two. The album’s catchy, loud, and has plenty of snarls, wails, and early punk styled melodic riffs; the style of music is very much like Television and The Saints with heavy guitar, but with a little more willingness to at least attempt at having something called a vocal, with melodies that knock on the early post punk of Joy Division, with a little more power, a lot more heart, and a lot less darkness.

Their latest recording session was produced by Chris Bailey (of The Saints), and the first release from these endeavours is available as seven inch vinyl. The vinyl single also features the track "Detroit Feeling" and is a limited edition release of 500 individually numbered copies, on 70gram thick red coloured vinyl.

The follow up to 2007’s mini album "A Lesson In Crime" and the 2008 full length debut "Elephant Shell", "Champ" was recorded in spring on 2010 in LA, with Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) on production duty. "Champ" manages to encompass the compelling tautness and energy of "A Lesson In Crime" with the sweet melodic introspection of "Elephant Shell", ending up as Tokyo Police Club’s most fully realised work to date. Stand out songs include the electronic pop of "Bambi", the curiously titled opening duo "Favourite Food" and "Favourite Colour" and the urgently anthemic "Boots Of Danger (Wait Up)".

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: After loving their first mini album, "A Lesson In Crime", and being a bit disappointed with the full lengther "Elephant Shell" I wasn't sure what to expect with "Champ". But I'm pleased to report that Tokyo Police Club are back on track, "Champ" showcases a bright and fresh sound with melodies falling over themselves in urgent abandonment.

TRACK LISTING

01 Favourite Food
02 Favourite Colour
03 Breakneck Speed
04 Boots Of Danger (Wait Up)
05 Bambi
06 End Of A Spark
07 Hands Reversed
08 Gone
09 Big Difference
10 Not Sick
11 Frankenstein

Procedure Club is a collaborative 'bedroom-pop' project founded in 2008 by Polish emigré Adam Malec and a woman known only as Andrea. Sharing musical tastes in shoegaze and pop bands of the 80s and 90s like Black Tambourine and The Jesus and Mary Chain, as well as a common admiration for baroque composers such as Purcell and Bach, the two began recording as a natural progression from the boredom of living in poverty in New Haven, Connecticut. Out of this god-forsaken alliance comes melodic song structures comprised of heavily reverbed vocals, stuttering mechanical drum beats, dirty bass,synths and alternately washed-out and jangly guitars.

Following a well-received string of tapes and CDRs, Procedure Club’s first 'proper' album is noisy, lo-fi pop with the emphasis on noise. From the pure synth pop of "Feel Sorry For Me" to the overdriven swoon of "Dead Bird" to the blown-out "Nautical Song", carefully constructed tunes are given a fierce work-over by layers of guitar fuzz and synth scree. Songs like "Vermont" and "Artificial Light" could practically be some lost C86 gems, while "Awfully Managed Pigeons" looks back to early Velvet Underground's garage racket (check the sick Cale-esque baseline) and "Rather" fondly recalls Amy Linton's late Henry's Dress / Aislers Set classics. Throughout, Andrea's vocals are the secret weapon, neatly playing catchy melodies off the drum machine clatter and guitar haze.

On "Doomed Forever", Procedure Club strikes just the right balance between the songs and the noise, between structure and chaos. Rather than allowing the recording methodology to stand-in for tunes and ideas, they've created a rather amazing record where those parts mesh perfectly and create a unique sound-world that challenges the ear as it coaxes the listener in with melody.

TRACK LISTING

1. Feel Sorry For Me
2. Vermont
3. Dead Bird
4. Artificial Light
5. Confined
6. Slut Fossil
7. Awfully Managed Pigeons
8. Nautical Song
9. Rather
10. Jupiter
11. Seventh Circle Of Hell

Freelance Whales found one another in late 2008, in Queens, amidst a strange amalgam of unfamiliar instruments, and precariously arranged pop songs. Using whatever musical gadgets they happened upon (mostly harmonium, banjo, glockenspiel, synthesizers, guitars, bass, drums, waterphone), the five members worked at crafting songs with interlocking rhythmic patterns, lush textural layering, and an engaged group-vocal energy. The result is their debut LP, "Weathervanes", whose songs work at evoking a sense of dislocation, or sensory disorientation.
This limited edition 7" gives you a taster of what to expect from the forthcoming album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: An unlikely combination of banjo, glockenspiel and synths weave a gorgeous hypnotic rhythm, added to by layered vocal harmonies to create a short, sweet atmospheric pop song. The flip combines the same ingredients but with a poppier more playful outcome.

Forget everything you thought you knew about New Young Pony Club because on their second album it's all changed. If 2007's critically acclaimed, Mercury Music Prize nominated "Fantastic Playroom" was the culmination of the hybrid disco sound they pioneered, "The Optimist" heralds the beginning of a brave new future for the band. Self-produced and more importantly self-funded and self-released, "The Optimist" is the sound of a band taking full control of their present and future, circumnavigating their own way. With no four to the floor, no cowbell (!) and no monotone sexy talk, the creative freedom enjoyed by the band has opened up a new 'indie' side, as shown by the psychedelic dub balladry of "Stone" and the atmospheric, cracked beauty of "Architect Of Love", and the singles "Lost A Girl", "Chaos" and soon-to-be-huge "We Want To". It's an assured, deliciously adventurous next step for New Young Pony Club, open your ears and have a listen.

STAFF COMMENTS

Philippa says: A current shop stereo favourite!

Andy says: Still groovy, still dead melodic, but now with a heavier, almost Gothic flavour. There's more depth but no less FUN. It's the perfect blend.

Hot Club de Paris mark their eagerly-awaited return in 2010 with a brand-new 6 song EP entitled “With Days Like This As Cheap As Chewing Gum, Why Would Anyone Want To Work?” (A phrase generously loaned by acclaimed British poet Matthew Welton). Still operating with their usual punk-rock ethic and still proudly flying the flag for British DIY, Hot Club are now self producing and recording themselves in their Liverpool rehearsal space.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Scouse three piece Hot Club De Paris return with this superb collection of acrobatic, articulate pop songs, neatly packaged into a limited edition 10" in a hand numbered sleeve.

Kurran and the Wolfnotes debut single "Whatabitch" stands as the perfect introduction to the way that this band have brought an unmistakable noughties twist to the alt-folk sound, with an playful hint of The Strokes complimenting the otherwise straight up trad-sound. With New Yorker Kurran’s faltering, heartbroken croon and textbook Isle of White Festival circa-1968 guitar jangle it’s half medieval minstrel, half basement bar sleaze.

"Secret Love" is the first single taken from "Pearl Diver", the fourth album from the German shoegazers Malory. 10 years after their debut album "Not Here Not Now" was released they are back once again.

Since the release of their first album, The Victorian English Gentlemens Club toured for too long, then locked themselves away. They wrote 100 songs, disposed of 88 humanely, and have now laid out the remaining dozen on a 3" silver platter, for your dirty soul to revel in. Their previous opus was based on a severe lack of musical understanding. Their eponymous debut saw them groping their instruments like over-anxious teenagers, fast, furious and lots of fun. Their second is full of confidence and somewhat brutally, demands your respect. "Love On An Oil Rig" takes triple distortion, the most obscure of harmonies and refracts them through the prism of pop. Where the first record wore its influences on its sleeve, this one stands alone. The stripped down primal ideas are defined and sharp, retaining their well-developed Art school sensibilities of the absurd, the outrageous and the other. Since the recording, a new drummer and fourth club member has been recruited to enhance the ferocity of their sound, taking the noise to the next level with offset guitars, shouts and wails.

"Might" EP is the debut release from Oh Minnows, the new band formed from the ashes of Semifinalists. Opening track "Might" is a lovely slice of melodic pop built around a super-slow beat. It has an 80s feel to it, without being too clichéd, and a very familiar sound, although I can't actually pinpoint who or what it reminds me of. "Second Version" on the flip ups the tempo, but only a fraction, starting with whispered vocals it then soars and swoops along nicely. Short and sweet. And finally we have the swaying slow burner "High Or Low" which rounds of the EP nicely.

Magic Magic are a five man covenant from Salem Massachusetts. With spellbinding songs and two drummers they have bewitched the good people of Salem with their ritualistic voodoo rhythms. Led by John Francis Murphy, virtuoso singer, songwriter and guitarist, Magic Magic are also Brendan Hughes on guitar, Dimitri Miro Swan on bass and the infamous Dylan Gough and Mike Hlady (The Doctor) two fervent drummers on twin kits in perfect offbeat sync. "Sleepy Lion" merges the grandiose splendour of Arcade Fire with a hurtling, lo-fi pop song to create one of the most euphoric singles you'll hear all year, While wonky instrumental track "Deep Red" over on the flip winds things down nicely.

Their debut single "Bergman Movies" is produced by Charlie Fink (of Noah and the Whale) who also plays drums on the record, alongside Anna Knowles from The Middle Ones on backing vocals. It merges the sensitive indie pop of Belle And Sebastian with the shambolic lo-fi of Beat Happening and a smattering of Moldy Peaches style anti-folk.

Awesome Wells has been recording music and hibernating in bedrooms in valleys, kitchens by railways and bunkers in the city for several years. His music envisages a huge soundscape bringing in many elements of his diminished fantasy travels. Wandering the world through the mediums of sound collages, most likely on his own or with the kind help of a cat called Flea. It definitely included a smashed china plate in a plastic bag, a flugelhorn from Prague held together with green tape, a Jew's harp from Venice, the birds in a graveyard in Nottingham in spring, bits of electronic synthesising and effect tom-foolery. A girl mucking about with a piano, a knackered old zither, a Dictaphone recording of a Ukrainian train station at dawn, sleigh-bells at dusk, an over-used loop sampler, some old jam-jars in a plastic bag, a nut-cracker named Klad, a lampshade, a child's violin, and probably some other stuff too. This all makes for a wonderful sound, taking in influences from Hawk And A Hacksaw, Animal Collective and Dexys Midnight Runners, to name a few. During this hibernation Wells stepped out to juggle various instruments and noises for The Voluntary Butler Scheme and as a result of parental encouragement from band-mates and friends alike, decided to open up his confused world of sound collage to other people.

One of a pair of postcards featuring classic Smiths photographs by Stephen Wright, produced to coincide with the mini exhibition of his Smiths photos on show in the shop right now.

Visit Stephen's website to see more of his iconic Smiths photos.

New album by this European cult band sounding a little like Sigur Ros meets "Twin Peaks". Their unique sound has gained them fans that range from Faith No More's Mike Patton to Sigur Ros, Mogwai and Burial to The Melvins who have invited them to perform at ATP's Nightmare Before Christmas. "Dolores" is released on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings in North America. 'Bohren appeal to listeners of black metal, drone and jazz' - Pitchfork, 'Bohren could easily be Satan's own jazz combo' - Popmatters.

The second album by BRMC sees them retain the moodiness and menace from their debut and crank it up another notch, the end result being (to wheel out the old cliche) 'none more black'. As with countless other bands, this lot eschew the sunny West Coast vibes of their native California in favour of a dark, rumbling, anglophile sound much indebted to the likes of My Bloody Valentine and the shoegazing movement of the early 1990s. Full of coruscating effected guitars, drone-like bass playing and vocals that fight to be heard on top, these 13 tracks consolidated their position as one of the best, most passionate, not to mention loudest, bands in the world, back when it was originally released in 2003.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club have played a big part in my life in the past 10+ years and although I must admit that they seem to have lost their edge a little bit I still call them my favourite band. Their first album 'B.R.M.C.' is probably just as good, if not better, than 'TTO,OYO', but the latter is my personal favourite and far too underrated. It is also the only record that has earned itself a place on my wall.

"Odd Situation" is the hugely addictive new single, and a taster for their sublime sophomore album - "2".

"Elephant Shell" lands roughly a year and half after the "A Lesson In Crime" EP and barely three years on from the band's 2005 formation. David Monks, lead singer/bassist, described "A Lesson in Crime" at the time of release as 'wide-eyed post-punk with a tendency to get over excited' - "Elephant Shell" is built on the same rapid-fire foundations of their previous work but is now built high with corridors of soaring sonic invention. The opening one-two rapid-fire salvo of "Centennial" and "In A Cave" barely evaporates before "Graves" and "Juno" pack innumerable hooks and "what-does-that-remind-me-of" glimmers into taut 2-minute-and-change frameworks, while "Tessellate" and "Sixties Remake" encapsulate everything great about the manic Tokyo Police Club live experience: soaring guitar signatures and keyboard figures, driving backbeats and irresistible sing-along's abound. Elsewhere, "The Harrowing Adventures Of..." and the dubbed out standout "Listen To The Math" find our young protagonists stretching out, hinting at a new-found maturity, ably adapting their energy into more subdued structures before the rousing coda of "The Baskervilles" brings the record to a shuddering halt.

It's no wonder that Lizzie Bougatsos and Sadie Laska sound great together. Hitting it off the first day of Art school, the two hung out for the first time at Laska's weed-dealing older brother's party, and the two have been close ever since. With her multi-instrumental and vocal work in the celebrated band Gang Gang Dance, Bougatsos found herself eager to focus more on drumming. She rang up Laska and the two set to work. The result - a blend of propulsive drumming and samples from all over the musical (and often non-musical) spectrum - is a visceral and moving experience.

"Shooting Cabin Songs" is the second full length release from George and his motley collection of musicians and friends and as such it stands as both a companion piece to, and a significant step forward from, "Concert For Two Bicycles", their debut. In George's words the intention was to create 'something that sounded like a Phil Spector record gone wrong, like it was made in a barn and everything was broken'. Red Deer Club just raised their eyebrows and let him get on with it! In the end he's come up a collection of ten wonderful heart wrenching songs to keep you feeling all warm on the inside.

Originally released on the Noize label after the Ponies had left Tirk and before they joined Modular, "Get Lucky" is another brilliant piece of NYPC pop music. Featuring a typically post-punk inspired backing (choppy guitars, jerky dancefloor rhythms etc) and another strong vocal performance from singer Tahita Bulmer, the song has a real B52s feel to it (albeit at a much slower tempo). On this CD single there are also exclusive reworks by MSTRKRFT and Whomadewho, both rather tasty.

Back in their homeland of Brazil, Wry have released three albums over five years and they have toured Brazil with the likes of Man Or Astroman?, Superchunk, Mudhoney and Make Up. Now splitting their efforts between London and Sao Paulo, they have recently toured with The Subways and played with The Rakes, The Morning After Girls, The Cribs and Air Formation. This limited edition 7" features two shiny pop songs covered in layers of white noise. Both tracks are taken from their "Whales And Sharks" CD EP. An irresistibly gutsy racket to hold close to your heart!

Live favourite, New Young Pony Club anthem and Intel advert soundtrack "Ice Cream", gets re-released! The track is a sparsely minimal punk funk jerkout that sounds like a distaff version excursion on disco-era Rolling Stones fronted by the Slits' Ari Up and produced by David Byrne and Brian Eno. This CD single also includes and extended version plus video, AND remixes by Herve and Metal On Metal, both more for peak-time club play.

Andrew Weatherall is no stranger to rock and roll. Generally credited with inventing indie dance through his work with Primal Scream, Flowered Up and My Bloody Valentine he pioneered the crossover between big electronic beats and equally big guitar chords. His fondness for good old fashioned rock'n'roll is celebrated with this release. With elements of garage and rockabilly mixed in with the more familiar layers of electronica this album both promises and delivers a whole new direction. Weatherall argues that rock'n'roll is a lot more futuristic in its way than most electronic music at the moment. 'Go to the past, but look to the future, don't get bogged down in the present. It's about distilling the essence, be it from the 50s or the present day'. "Wrong Meeting II" wears its influences on its sleeve while sounding utterly contemporary. Once again TLS has created an album that looks to push boundaries between musical genres and remain challenging to the listener. Best described by DJ magazine as 'raw scuzz-rock that sounds like PiL remixing the Birthday Party'.

"Driverlights" is the second single to be taken from Gothenburg's Hearts Of Black Science album "The Ghost You Left Behind". It takes a leather-clad pinch of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and stirs it up with some soaring 80s synth-pop sounds and ethereal vox. A melancholic and dark pop melody, yet uplifting and positive at the same time.

The latest limited edition 7" from Young And Lost Club comes in the shape of this rather suave 50s-crooner- meets-indie number from Friends Of The Bride. They combine Rat Pack style with a touch of British Invasion rock'n'roll and indie nous, add to that witty, clever songwriting and you have a quite unique combo. Being tipped all over the place as 'ones to watch'.

Ok underground hipsters, get ready for the next sensations, ladies and gentlemen we give you from Montreal, Canada, the Tokyo Police Club... If you were to throw Bowie, Joy Division, The Arcade Fire, and two llamas into a blender, you would have one hell of a mess. Tokyo Police Club is here to help you clean up! – Raucous and delicious – with a lyrical sound resonating in Thurston Moore and the same musical concoction bands like Sonic Youth, Built to Spill and Pavement reeled in many moons ago. The boys are adorable, with an interesting new sound to offer. They've taken all the good bits from indie rock in the past decade and then put their individual spin on things.

New Moscow is the solo project from David Fransson, guitarist with hugely underrated Swedish band Division Of Laura Lee. He rented a room in his hometown of Trollhättan and borrowed some equipment. He spent six months there and at the end of it had enough material for his forthcoming album, "Verse Chorus Worse". This single is the first taster from the album and it's a great little pop song, less raucous and punky than his Division Of Laura Lee stuff, but still with his distinctive guitar sound.

From the lable that brought you Larrikin Love, Good Shoes and Vincent Vincent And The Villians, comes this storming debut from Action Plan! "Stendhal" is the perfect combination: melodic, emotive and energetic with a pounding rhythm, chunky guitars and great raw vocals. "Beauty Scars" on the flip is equally as good: a slower, more brooding affair it starts off somewhere between Sonic Youth and indie jangle but then bursts into a frantic chorus before reverting back to mellowness, a pattern that it follows through it's entire four minutes, with each chorus getting more and more abrasive. Great stuff!