For the first EP on his new label, Planet Strangelove, Job Jobse brings new life to an overlooked balearic house gem: "Pasion," an early '90s deep cut by the Leeds artist Pianoman, inspired by Tangerine Dream's "Love On A Real Train,” aka the most breathtaking synth arp of all time. Alex Kassian, whose sprawling take on Manuel Göttschings's "E2-E4" already showed his fine touch for the kosmische vibe Tangerine Dream embodied, delivers a "Dance Mix" and a "Dream Mix," one packing a club-ready beat, the other drifting weightlessly. London duo The Trip, of the label and party Tesselate, deliver a remix as breezy as it is thumping, all wailing divas, sunkissed pads and shimmering pianos. As for Pianoman's "Analysis" remix, it's a dazzling artifact of the balearic era at its peak, touched by the ineffable essence of its time but sounding just as fresh as its modern reinterpretations.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pasion (Alex Kassian's Mandarin Dance Mix)
A2. Pasion (Alex Kassian's Mandarin Dream Mix)
B1. Pasion (The Trip Remix)
B2. Pasion (Analysis Remix)

Enigmatic artist Grant, a longtime figure in the deep house and techno underground, collaborates with Alex Albrecht on 'Tangible Dreams'. The two connected via the Scissor & Thread label and Francis Harris, forming a creative partnership. The EP is a textured homage to late '90s dub techno, echoing Basic Channel and Chain Reaction, while retaining a modern touch. The tracks are timeless, groove-focused, and sonically deep.

Of the release, Grant says: "I've been a fan of Alex's work. Through Francis and Scissor & Thread, it felt natural to collaborate. This EP is the kind of music I love to play - not flashy or trendy, but tracks that hold up and grow on you."

With decades of record collecting and acclaimed releases on Lobster Theremin, Mörk, and his own imprints, Grant has built a loyal following. His albums 'The Acrobat', 'Cranks', 'Perception', and 'Fantasy Blues' are collectors' favorites. Alex Albrecht, known for immersive performances at Paradise City, MNMT, Public Records, and Giant Steps, has released on Anjunadeep, Mule Musiq, and his Analogue Attic imprint.

With 'Tangible Dreams', Grant and Albrecht deliver a collaboration destined to stand out. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Serenity and suspended bliss collide with a dubby and minimalist mindset to create a surprise moment of reflection and introspection. For the dreamers!

TRACK LISTING

A1 / Tangible Dreams
A2 / Tangible Dreams (Lawrence Remix)

B1 / Idle Space
B2 / Altered Pollen
B3 / Influx

Alex Puddu returns to the origins of his first sound that launched him with the original soundtrack of The Golden Age Of Danish Pornography presenting us with a new work inspired by the music and soundtracks of hard and erotic films of the late seventies and early80s with the new album
“I Desideri di Sadie (Piaceri Tropicali)"
is the new concept album written, arranged, produced, performed and conceived by Alex Puddu, It is the first album of the erotic/hard series Sadie.
A heroic female character fantasized by Alex Puddu of a rich and charming young woman, sexy, strong, brave and free with a great spirit of adventure, always traveling around the world in search of new experiences in the erotic and dark world that surrounds her.
The music is inspired by the soundtracks of adult movies of the late Seventies and early Eighties.The story takes you into a journey set in the countries of South-East Asia and the Pacific islands, in exotic landscapes, among jungle, lush vegetation and enchanting tropical beaches. A magical trip among temptations, on the islands, to discover the beauty of the "Erotic World" of Alex Puddu

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: X-rated, Balearic-exotica here. Almost like the Balearic counterpart to Patrick Cowley's gay porn soundtracks. NSFW! ;)

TRACK LISTING

A1 Flight To Manila
A2 Tropico Del Capricorno
A3 Tahiti Blue
A4 PapayaA5Mondo Selvaggio
A6 Le Bocche Calde Di Sadie E Kalana

B1 Perversioni Esotiche
B2 Alta Vegetazione
B3 Profondo Erotico
B4 Polinesia
B5 Barracuda Beach Club
B6 Saigon Di Notte

'OOOOH!' is hard on the outside and soft on the inside. Made in the spirit of unity, humanity, and poetry — disobediently renouncing the glory of personal triumph for the generosity of an honest experiment. On the last track of the album you’ll hear “Or do you only ever never want to make a single enemy? / That’s not freedom or humility / It’s nothing, honestly.” Oooh, that's a bad baby!

A celebrated Toronto songwriter and performer, Alex Lukashevsky has always been disobedient. Which simply means, nothing is off the table when he’s looking for his poetic voice; when trying to find the realest I of the teller. As he sings on the lead track “that musician that’s dead” The musician is radical/ it’s the world that’s demented/ listening with their eyes, the music looks dented/ they’re over-represented.

'OOOOH!' was recorded in January 2024 at Sound Department in Toronto, engineered by Patrick Lefler (ROY), mixed by Grammy-nominated producer Matt Smith. All the songs were tracked live off the floor in two days, with one extra day for recording vocals, to keep the recording fully alive and breathing. As leader of Deep Dark United, as a solo performer, and a sideman in Brodie Wests’ Eucalyptus and Luka Kuplowsky’s Ryokan Band, Alex has been an outsized influence on the Toronto music scene that spawned acts like Broken Social Scene and Owen Pallett. (Pallett, who has toured with Lukashevsky, went so far as to record an entire album’s worth of Alex’s songs, backed by a full orchestra.)

Lukashevsky has approached each of his albums and projects as something completely new, using only the musical boundaries he creates with each song. Even when he has recorded songs with nothing but his voice and his own acoustic guitar accompaniment, the results are never “stripped down” or “back to basics,”

TRACK LISTING

1. That Musician That's Dead
2. Preference Is A Good Friend, Mind
3. No One Can Sing That Well
4. Last Herald
5. Mo**real
6. Things Keep Happening

Alex Preston launches his AP Edits series exclusively on vinyl with Prime Direct Distribution. AP Edits Vol.1 features 2 of Alex’s favourite high energy edits that have been supported by Claptone and Mark Knight.

TRACK LISTING

A1. You Are The One
B1. Days Go By

'Headlights' is Alex G’s tenth full-length album and first with RCA Records. Written by Giannascoli and recorded across various locations in Philadelphia and New York, the album was co-produced alongside his longtime collaborator Jacob Portrait. A gorgeous collection of surreal storytelling over twelve new songs, 'Headlights' sees Giannascoli delve further into the reality-bending terrain that has made him one of the twenty-first century’s most celebrated and influential musical architects.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Propulsive, crepuscular driving music that's got as much in common with Springsteen or Elliott Smith as it does the cutesy playful melodicism of Weezer or Talking Heads' theatrical bombast. A wonderfully chameleonic performance from Alex G.

TRACK LISTING

1. June Guitar
2. Real Thing
3. Afterlife
4. Beam Me Up
5. Spinning
6. Louisiana
7. Bounce Boy
8. Oranges
9. Far And Wide
10. Headlights
11. Is It Still You In There?
12. Logan Hotel (Live)

Following on from last year's massive E2-E4, Alex Kassian returns to Test Pressing Records with the next in the rework series. This time tackling Spooky's 'Orange Coloured Liquid' taken from their seminal debut LP, 'Gargantuam' released in 1993. Spooky, alongside acts like Underworld and Leftfield were at the forefront of the burgeoning progressive house scene at the turn of the 90's. Now 32 years later, man of the moment, Alex Kassian has proved once again that he can do no wrong with two versions that run from the club to the home. John Beltran also makes welcome appearance under his Placid Angles alias and the original version rounds off the release.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: After winning our 12" of last year with his reworking of "E2-E4", Alex Kassian returns with another monumental reworking. Now I might be ruffling some feathers here, but I actually prefer "Orange Coloured Liquid" to "E2-E4" (eeek!), so I had a keen ear on Alex and Placid Angels here to do this track justice. And do it justice they do! A second triumph in the series! Destined to be huge!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Orange Coloured Liquid (Part I)
A2. Orange Coloured Liquid (Part II)
B1. Orange Coloured Liquid (Placid Angles Remix)
B2. Orange Coloured Liquid (Original)

After the hugely successful 'Leave Your Life' & 'Strings Of Eden' EPs, Alex Kassian continues to defy convention and expectation with his return to Pinchy and Friends Recordings. The 'Body Singer' EP channels Alex's teenage dream of being in a band, taking inspiration from his love of 80’s movies, complete with Analog New Wave / Psyche / Kraut Rock influences. Its a trip down memory lane, or perhaps the soundtrack to something magical that hasn't happened yet. It's the audio behind that montage in that film you're watching, but the film is in fact, your own life.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Alex Kassian's third release on Pinchy & Friends and like the two before it, looks set to nestle comfortably into your record boxes and home stereo systems for a long time to come. Possessing a timeless quality, relaxed mood and warm glow, these daydreaming drifters are the perfect accompaniment to hammocking in the garden as the mercury rises.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Body Singer
A2. Kinship
A3. Skinship
B1. Trippy Gas
B2. Mirror Of The Heart

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Daughter of Swords is the solo project of North Carolina singer-songwriter Alex Sauser-Monnig (they/she), who has also released music with bands Mountain Man and The A’s. Their solo debut, 'Dawnbreaker', was a hushed folk record released in 2019; in the years since, Sauser-Monnig found a new understanding of self, personally and musically. Across the last several years, Daughter of Swords’ music has grown thornier, an unpredictable and knotty tangle of technicolor synths, heady guitar, bubbling rhythms, a sheen enveloping songs about raw human intensity writ large – crushes, desire, anger, alienation, the horrors of late-stage capitalism, the cascading paradigm shifts it seems we’re all hurtling toward.

Enter 'Alex', Daughter of Sword’s sinewy new record. Recorded at Betty’s (Sylvan Esso’s studio), 'Alex' was built out by Sauser-Monnig’s longtime friends/collaborators Amelia Meath (Sylvan Esso, Mountain Man, The A’s), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made of Oak), TJ Maiani (Weyes Blood, Neneh Cherry), and Caleb Wright (Hippo Campus, Samia). There’s a sharp cerebral tension between the stories at the core of these songs and the electrifying, playful buoyancy of the sound, the wink with which Sauser-Monnig can deliver a withering observation.

Reckoning with pleasure-seeking, boundary-breaking, and their place in the world, 'Alex' heralds a fresh chapter of exploration and liberation for Sauser-Monnig, yielding the truest representation of their identity via song yet. A reassessment of inner systems, and relationships of all sorts — with art and creativity, with other humans, with gender – happened in tandem with Sauser-Monnig’s interrogation of the late-capitalist culture that makes life for working artists an inequitable grind. Forced out of their habitual ways of thinking and being, Sauser-Monnig found new energy in dissolving old limitations—be they about the music business or their concept of gender—and exploring in uncharted territory. Their priority became maximizing the mood of each track, borne out in Alex’s layers of synthetic textures and unorthodox flourishes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Angular bursts of overdriven guitar and looped noises underpin the smoothly melodic vocals of Alex Sauser-Monnig, and result in something that's clearly influenced as much by art rock and folk as it is indie music. A hugely dynamic selection of wonderfully hummable oddities and soaring chorsues.

TRACK LISTING

1. Alone Together
2. Talk To You
3. Hard On
4. Morning In Madison
5. Money Hits
6. All I Want Is You
7. Willow
8. Dance
9. Strange
10. Vacation
11. Song
12. West Of West

North of Loreto is a side project of Bassi Maestro and Alex Fernet, concentrating on penning fresh and timeless new songs inna Italo boogie style. "Disco / Diavolo Blu" is the first work to bloom from this new partnership and fully shows of their sophisticated song writing and supreme production chops.

"Disco" utilizes Jomox drums and gleeful, cinematic chord progressions to conjure up a slice of synth-pop-boogie joy that's perfect for the day time, and could soundtrack any number of feel-good moments. Even though the Italian lyrics aren't understood myself, they certain impart evocative vibes through the track; I'd be dying to know what he's singing about! 

"Diavolo Blu" is the more dancefloor-centric track. Centered around a big synth motif and 4/4 drums, we get a funky vocodered hook, deep bass squelch and motorik drums; resulting in very captivating nightclub experience! 

Limited import copies, artwork by Riccardo Michelazzo - recommended!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Disco
B1. Diavolo Blu

There is nothing that can touch the sound made by a close-knit group of people who have been playing together for years and years and years, playing as though their lives depended on it. For many years, all our lives did, and actually, I’d suddenly realised, they did still. One winter’s night, Alex James received an unexpected call.

Blur had been invited to play their biggest gig ever: Wembley Stadium. The only trouble was, he and his bandmates hadn’t spoken to – or even shouted at – each other for years. And he now had five children, an out-of-control menagerie of cats, and a sprawling farm to run.

This is the story of what happened next. Taking us behind the scenes of a raucous, rollercoaster year, Alex describes how the band made a surprise – and emotional – return, recording an acclaimed album and playing sold-out shows around the world, from Colchester to Colombia and beyond. Plus: how he went on a crash diet to fit back into his ‘Britpop Trousers,’ somehow organised an entire festival of his own, and tried to perfect the recipe for a giant Frazzle.

Over the Rainbow is a heartfelt and hilarious account of what it feels like to be catapulted back into the limelight with one of the world’s biggest bands. It is a love letter to Blur, to friendship and to music. And it shows us all that, however old – or hungover – we might feel, nothing’s ever truly over: it’s always just the start of the next thing.

In this intimate and open account - nothing like any rock-and-roll memoir you've ever read - Alex Van Halen shares his personal story of family, friendship, music and brotherly love in a remarkable tribute to his beloved brother and band mate. Told with acclaimed New Yorker writer Ariel Levy Brothers is seventy-year-old drummer Alex Van Halen's love letter to his younger brother, Edward, (maybe "Ed," but never "Eddie"), written while still mourning his untimely death.In his rough yet sweet voice, Alex recounts the brothers' childhood, first in the Netherlands and then in working class Pasadena, California, with an itinerant musician father and a very proper Indonesian-born mother - the kind of mum who admonished her boys to "always wear a suit" no matter how famous they became - a woman who was both proud and practical, nonchalant about taking a doggie bag from a star-studded dinner. He also shares tales of musical politics, infighting, and plenty of bad-boy behaviour.

But mostly his is a story of brotherhood, music, and enduring love."I was with him from day one," Alex writes. "We shared the experience of coming to America and figuring out how to fit in. We shared a record player, an 800 square foot house, a mom and dad, and a work ethic.

Later, we shared the back of a tour bus, alcoholism, the experience of becoming famous, of becoming fathers and uncles, and of spending more hours in the studio than I've spent doing anything else in this life. We shared a depth of understanding that most people can only hope to achieve in a lifetime."There has never been an accurate account of them or the band, and Alex wants to set the record straight on Edward's life and death.Brothers includes never-before-seen photos from the author's private archives.

Multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Alex Puddu (Al Dente/Schema Records) with a solo release discography of 16 albums, among which stand out the three original volumes of the red-light soundtracks of Danish films ”The Golden Age Of Danish pornography", and also known for his collaborations with Edda Dell'Orso (Maestro Ennio Morricone's legendary vocalist,) Joe Bataan, Lonnie Jordan of L.A funk band War, and Gene Robinson Jr of Breakwater.

Alex Puddu will follow the previews singles "Texas Blonde" and "Pullover Grigio" releasing after the summer, for the first time a brand new album in Italian language, called ”Deliria” proposing a new sound that drags us into the Italian funk music of the late seventies and early 80s, and the new music from the italian indie pop and new disco scene, within names like, Nu Genea, Pellegrino. Viscardi & Il Duo Magnetico, Frah Quintale, Marco Castello and up to the electronic sounds, between adult oriented soul and disco that are part of the unmistakable style of Alex Puddu's writing and production.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Oriental Blue
A2. Texas Blonde
A3. Liquore Alla Menta
A4. Il Cinem
A5. Pullover Grigio

B1. Champagne E Giochi Di Coppia
B2. Amori In Svezia
B3. Velluto Nero
B4. Manette E Fruste
B5. L'Inverno

Alex Stein is the latest artist to step up for his debut Drumcode EP, following a stellar contribution to A-Sides Vol.12. The Lisbon-based Brazilian artist has been a lock for stunning techno production stretching back over 10 years, with quality drops on labels including Terminal M and Tronic. Last year he tightened his relationship with the DC crew, playing Drumcode events at Uebel & Gefahrlich in Hamburg and the Blue Tree Songkran festival in Thailand, before a release debut on A-Sides Vol.12 with the excellent ‘Hydra’. Few could disagree: his debut EP on Adam Beyer’s label feels richly deserved. ‘The Chant’ EP is a powerful triumvirate of cuts. The title track is a transcendental gem, led by a rousing vocal and psy elements, without losing any dancefloor punch. ‘Rush’ begins life as a rugged slice of techno, before a dark melodic underbelly finds its laser-kissed feet and propels the track into peak-time territory. ‘Tantra’ takes the baton, with a foot in pummelling bass-driven techno and goa-trance alike, elevated by an evocative vocal.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Chant
B1. Rush
B2. Tantra

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Alex Kassian's extended rendition of E2–E4 promises a 12-minute electronic odyssey, tailor-made for diverse dancefloors from its spiritual home Ibiza and beyond. On the flip side, Mad Professor embarks on a club-oriented version excursion, a rare gem in its own right. This reimagining breathes new life into the classic, offering fresh perspectives for music aficionados everywhere. Hot tip for release of the year!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Probably one of the most the eagerly anticipated twelves of the year. Alex Kassian and Mad Professor deliver new versions of Manuel Gottsching's epic Balearic-house-krautrock crossover monster "E2-E4". Without doubt it's the release of the year!!!

TRACK LISTING

A1. A Reference To E2-E4 By Manuel Gottsching
B1. A Reference To E2-E4 By Manuel Gottsching (Mad Professor’s Qantas Crazy Remix)

Oasis' incendiary 1994 debut album Definitely Maybe managed to summarize almost the entire history of post-fifties guitar music from Chuck Berry to My Bloody Valentine in a way that seemed effortless. But this remarkable album was also a social document that came closer to narrating the collective hopes and dreams of a people than any other record of the last quarter century. In a Britain that had just undergone the most damaging period of social upheaval in a century under the Thatcher government, Noel Gallagher ventriloquized slogans of burning communitarian optimism through the mouth of his brother Liam and the playing of the other Oasis ‘everymen’: Paul McGuigan, Paul Arthurs and Tony McCarroll.

On Definitely Maybe, Oasis communicated a timeworn message of idealism and hope against the odds, but one that had special resonance in a society where the widening gap between high and low demanded a newly superhuman kind of leaping. Alex Niven charts the astonishing rise of Oasis in the mid 1990s and celebrates the life-affirming, communal force of songs such as “Live Forever,” “Supersonic,” and “Cigarettes & Alcohol.” In doing so, he seeks to reposition Oasis in relation to their Britpop peers and explore one of the most controversial pop-cultural narratives of the last thirty years.

The Stone Roses shows a band sizzling with skill, consumed with drive and aspiration and possessing an almost preternatural mastery of the pop paradigm. This book explores the political and cultural zeitgeist of England in 1989 and attempts to apprehend the magic ingredients that made The Stone Roses such a special and influential album.

In this breathtaking memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse. Abandoned as a baby to the British care system, Alex grows up with no knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history.

Later, he is inexorably drawn to reggae, his lifeline through disrupted teenage years, the challenges of living as a young Black man in 1980s Britain and his imprisonment for protesting against systemic racism and police brutality. Alex's youth was portrayed in Oscar Award-winning director Steve McQueen's Small Axe series. In Sufferah, he tells his own story, urgently, vividly and unsentimentally.

Following releases on Love On The Rocks and Pinchy & Friends (the massive 'Leave Your Life' and 'Strings of Eden' which now goes for big bucks on Discogs) Alex Kassian arrives with the first release on the new label from the Test Pressing team.

Lead track 'Voices' arrives in three mixes that run from an expansive journey, to a pure club version, followed by the ambient excursion 'Lifestream' - an electronic piece focussing on what Alex does best, quality production with amazing sounds and melody. This is the first in a three part series of Alex Kassian releases building to an album next year.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Voices (Jenova Mix)
A2. Voices (Swarm Mix)
B1. Voices (Materia Mix)
B2. Lifestream

This ten-track album showcases Alex Pester's unique and unconventional sound, a blend of folk, baroque pop, psychedelia, and experimentalism, and is set to become a defining moment in his young career.

At just twenty-two years old, Pester has already established himself as a prolific singer-songwriter hailing from Bath, England. He has released three albums to date, each displaying his immense talent as a musician and songwriter. Influenced by the Incredible String Band, The Beatles, Robert Wyatt, Animal Collective, Harry Nilsson, and The Microphones, among others.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dear Friend
2. Big Black Second-Hand Book
3. I See You
4. You Love Me
5. So What?
6. In The Night
7. You're My Kind
8. Restless
9. Are You Gonna Make Her Choose?
10. Bye Bye, Teddy

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Never before released on vinyl, no plans to repress. True RSD exclusive. No digital release until far in the fuutre. This was recorded live in Belgium in 2004 with a pick-up band. colour vinyl. CD is long out of print

Alex Chilton’s Feudalist Tarts (1985) found the Big Star/The Box Tops front man re-making himself as a southern fried hipster offering up original tunes like “Stuff” and sly soulful covers “B-A-B’Y” and “Thank You John” while adding a horn section to his road tested rhythm section. Side Two features a number of rare Chilton tracks including “Rubber Room” and “Wild Kingdom.” Chilton had hit rock bottom in his home town of Memphis after 15 years of substance abuse and hard partying.

He chose New Orleans as the city where he would re-make himself. One of the benefits was exposure to all the music he would hear down there. He immediately immersed himself in the city’s laid back, stretched out grooves. The covers he chose for this record were songs he heard being played by older musicians around New Orleans

Expanded version includes a side of rare tracks. Out of print on vinyl since 1986. Includes seven original Chilton compositions. Original album release coincided with his most prolific touring schedule since his days in The Box Tops.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
01. Tee Ni Nee Ni Noo - Tip On In
02. Stuff
03. B-A-B-Y
04. Thank You John
05. Lost My Job
06. Paradise
SIDE B:
07. No Sex
08. Magnetic Field
09. Rubber Room
10. Wild Kingdom
11. Junkyard

“God” figures in the new album from Philadelphia, PA based Alex Giannascoli's LP’s title, its first song, and multiple of its thirteen tracks thereafter, not as a concrete religious entity but as a sign for a generalized sense of faith (in something, anything) that fortifies Giannascoli, or the characters he voices, amid the songs’ often fraught situations.

Beyond the ambient inspiration of pop, Giannascoli has been drawn in recent years to artists who balance the public and hermetic, the oblique and the intimate, and who present faith more as a shared social language than religious doctrine.

As with his previous records, Giannascoli wrote and demoed these songs by himself, at home; but, for the sake of both new tones and “a routine that was outside of my apartment,” he asked some half-dozen engineers to help him produce the “best” recording quality, whatever that meant. The result is an album more dynamic than ever in its sonic palette.

TRACK LISTING

1. After All
2. Runner
3. Mission
4. S.D.O.S.
5. No Bitterness
6. Ain’t It Easy
7. Cross The Sea
8. Blessing
9. Early Morning Waiting
10. Immunity
11. Headroom Piano
12. Miracles
13. Forgive

‘I’m Not Here’ inhabits the shaggy, world-weary mode of Alex Izenberg’s favorite 1970s artists, folks like Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Randy Newman, and Lou Reed.

Recorded at Tropico Studios, produced by Izenberg and Greg Hartunian in Los Angeles, CA, the album’s swelling string and woodwind arrangements - courtesy of collaborator Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors - bring to mind the technicolour sweep of Van Dyke Parks.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ivory
2. Gemini Underwater
3. Egyptian Cadillac
4. Breathless Darkness
5. Broadway
6. Our Love Remains
7. Ladies Of Rodeo
8. Sorrows Blue Tapestry
9. Juniper & Lamplight
10. Sea Of Wine

Alex Cameron has always been a great storyteller, finding his ways into the depths of the places where not many others are looking, and Oxy Music continues on that trajectory. It’s filled with stories of people who fall outside the system and exist in the grey areas of life. And much like 2017’s Forced Witness, Oxy Music is a work of fiction. In its design - its music, lyrics and tracklist - lies the journey a person can take, if the circumstances present themselves - down the road of heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Initially inspired by Nico Walker’s Cherry, Cameron was spurred into yet another commentary on American Life, this time about the opioid crisis that has taken over the country. Alex says about Oxy Music: “The album is a story, a work of fiction, mostly from the perspective of a man. Starved of meaningful purpose, confused about the state of the world, and in dire need of a reason to live - a person can, and according to the latest statistics, increasingly will, turn to opioids. This is one of those people.”

While Oxy Music could be dark, it’s instead brighter and more buoyant than much of Cameron’s previous work, a shift in mood first seen across 2019’s Miami Memory. It’s told from a place of optimism and through the lens of Cameron, in the way that only he can tell it.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Best Life
2. Sara Jo
3. Prescription Refill
4. Hold The Line
5. Breakdown

SIDE B:
6. K Hole
7. Dead Eyes
8. Cancel Culture (feat. Lloyd Vines)
9. Oky Music (feat. Jason Williamson)

As one third of legendary trio Azymuth, Alex Malheiros has pioneered a
unique fusion of space-funk, samba and jazz since the early seventies. His
playing can be heard on the records of Jorge Ben, Milton Nascimento,
Roberto Carlos, Marcos Valle, and Mark Murphy (to name a few), and he's
performed and toured with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Chick Corea.

Written and recorded in Niterói, Brazil, overlooking Guanabara and the beaches, mountains and forests of Rio de Janeiro, Tempos Futuros has deep roots in Brazilian soil. The rhythms of Malheiros' homeland have always permeated his music. But just like the Oscar Niemeyer designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum which stands spaceship-like over the water, Tempos Futuros – while inspired by terrestrial forms, reaches out, deep into the great unknown.

Produced by acclaimed London-based producer Daniel Maunick, who has
worked with Marcos Valle, Azymuth, Terry Callier, and Ivan Conti, the funk
comes full circle. Daniel's father Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick and Alex Malheiros shared a reciprocal stream of influence throughout the 80s, between London and Rio; Azymuth and Incognito; brit-funk and samba-funk. But just as with Azymuth's music, you can also hear the influence of stateside jazz-funk masters like Roy Ayers, Weather Report, Lonnie Liston Smith, Mtume and Pleasure.

Tempos Futuros features Alex's daughter, a Brazilian star in her own right,
vocalist Sabrina Malheiros, Brazilian percussion master Sidinho Moreira,
London based saxophonist Sean Khan, Marcos Valle's go-to drummer Massa,
and Brazilian keyboard player Dudu Viana. Featuring the late Azymuth
keyboard maestro Jose Roberto Bertami on Fender Rhodes, the title track "Tempos Futuros" was originally recorded as a demo in 1995. On this finished version, Alex Malheiros used Bertami's original keyboard take, explaining the
posthumous release.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Razor's Edge
2. Prece (feat. Sabrina Malheiros)
3. Telegramas Para Arp
4. Retrato (feat. Sean Khan)
5. Requiem For A Storm
6. Alto Verão (feat. Sabrina Malheiros)
7. O Temporal
8. Marcinha
9. Kuarup

Real Estate's Alex Bleeker steps out on his own for a first full solo album, taking his music back to his homespun indie-rock roots. Initially recorded in his bedroom before adding finishing touches in the studio, the tracks have a lo-fi warmth akin to Bleeker's American heroes The Feelies & Yo La Tengo.

I’ve known Alex Bleeker my entire life. Well, okay, maybe not since I was born, but there’s no doubt that I’ve shared a fair bit of memories with him over the years. We’ve acted in high school productions of Shakespeare together, gone on late-night diner runs, argued about which Weezer album is the band’s best, and swapped mutual appreciation for the music of Yo La Tengo on car rides careening around the snaky suburbia of our hometown. Just like his Real Estate bandmates Martin Courtney and Julian Lynch, we attended high school in the New Jersey enclave of Ridgewood, a place where sticky summer days yielded cool nights with a glow so nocturnal that you can practically hear the fireflies buzzing off of this sentence alone.

Indie rock—a type of music that can easily be made or listened to in someone’s garage—often dominates teenage suburban preoccupations, and both Alex and I were no exception. You can hear this legacy of listening on his new album Heaven on the Faultline, which departs from his last full-band outing as Alex Bleeker and the Freaks, 2015’s Country Agenda. Whereas that album had a more full-bodied explicitly folk-y feel, Heaven on the Faultline finds Bleeker getting back to his homespun roots over the course of its 13 songs, from the jangly guitar pop of New Jersey heroes the Feelies and YLT’s hushed, acoustic reveries to the open-hearted folk rock that marks so much of the Grateful Dead’s early catalog.

Written and recorded over the last several years, Heaven on the Faultline’s songs were initially recorded straight to GarageBand in Bleeker’s bedroom before receiving further studio refinement in co-producer Phil Hartunian’s Tropico Beauty space in Los Angeles. With contributions from Confusing Mix of Nations’ Josh Da Costa, Cameron Stallones of Sun Araw, singer-songwriter Kacey Johansing, and Parting Lines’ Tim Ramsey, Heaven on the Faultline achieves a warm and intimate feel that defines Bleeker’s mission for the album: “I wanted to capture the moment in which I fell in love with making music to begin with. This is music for myself—me getting back to music for music’s sake.”

The unsteady times we live in certainly creep into view on Heaven on the Faultline. The deceptively easygoing “D Plus” was written on the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration with the cursed event in mind, while the anxiety of climate change hovers just above the lovely guitar loops of “Felty Feel.” “The album is very much about dealing with the anxiety of a sense of impending doom,” Bleeker states while discussing the album’s portentous vibes. “When is the hammer going to fall? How do we go forward in the face of such anxiety and experience the complexity of life?” 

TRACK LISTING

1 AB Ripoff
2 D Plus
3 Felty Feel
4 Heaven On The Faultline
5 Heavy Tupper
6 LaLaLa
7 Mashed Potatoes
8 Swang
9 Parking Lot
10 Reach For My Brain
11 Tamalpais
12 Twang
13 Lonesome Call

Musician, composer, producer and visual artist Alex Somers releases his debut album Siblings in tandem with his other debut album Siblings 2 on April 16th 2020. Two double albums housed in a beautiful single sleeves Siblings and Siblings 2 have been a long time coming, being written between 2014-2016.

Siblings and Siblings 2 have 13 hauntingly beautiful, impressionistic tracks apiece, the records draw on the composer’s main musical interests - film composition, ambient, post-classical, post-rock and electronica - combining grandeur and intimacy, broad brushstrokes and subtle detail, minimalism and maximalism.

A known composer Somers has worked on an already prolific amount of film and TV music, such as Captain Fantastic, Honey Boy, Here We Are: Notes For Living On Planet Earth, Audrey, Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana and (with Sigur Rós) the Black Mirror episode Hang The DJ on Netflix. In parallel, Somers built a studio where he recorded the likes of Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Julianna Bardwick, Death Vessel and Damien Rice, and continued with his own recordings. Remarkably, given his vast experience, Siblings and Siblings 2 are the first albums under his own name.

Musician, composer, producer and visual artist Alex Somers releases his debut album Siblings in tandem with his other debut album Siblings 2 on April 16th 2020. Two double albums housed in a beautiful single sleeves Siblings and Siblings 2 have been a long time coming, being written between 2014-2016.

Siblings and Siblings 2 have 13 hauntingly beautiful, impressionistic tracks apiece, the records draw on the composer’s main musical interests - film composition, ambient, post-classical, post-rock and electronica - combining grandeur and intimacy, broad brushstrokes and subtle detail, minimalism and maximalism.

A known composer Somers has worked on an already prolific amount of film and TV music, such as Captain Fantastic, Honey Boy, Here We Are: Notes For Living On Planet Earth, Audrey, Taylor Swift’s Miss Americana and (with Sigur Rós) the Black Mirror episode Hang The DJ on Netflix. In parallel, Somers built a studio where he recorded the likes of Sigur Rós, Jónsi, Julianna Bardwick, Death Vessel and Damien Rice, and continued with his own recordings. Remarkably, given his vast experience, Siblings and Siblings 2 are the first albums under his own name.

The music of Alex Maas has always mesmerised. Now, on his soul-baring solo debut Luca, the Texan and Black Angel's singer journey is taking an equally hypnotic detour along the wild trails of his indigenous homestead. Driven by the force of nature, each phase of life is celebrated through songs of love, hope, human connection whilst navigating perils of modern society and tentatively facing the darkness. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Slip Into
2 The Light That Will End Us
3 Special
4 Been Struggling
5 500 Dreams
6 What Would I Tell Your Mother
7 All Day
8 Shines Like The Sun (Madeline's Melody)
9 American Conquest
10 The City

Following a four-year silence, enigmatic LAoutsider Alex Izenberg presents his sophomore album ‘Caravan Château’ via Weird World / Domino.

Recorded largely at Tropico Beauty with Greg Hartunian (Young Jesus) and Derek Korat, and with the help of a handful of collaborators including Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Whitney, Lemon Twigs), Ari Balouzian (Tobias Jesso Jr) and others, Izenberg creates songs that are easy to adore but hard to define. Izenberg’s sharp songs are the bait that first brings you into ‘Caravan Château’ but that deliberate ambiguity is what brings you back repeatedly, hoping to tease out the riddles of being inside these stunning tunes.

TRACK LISTING

Requiem
Sister Jade
Anne In Strange Furs
Disraeli Woman
Saffron Glimpse
Dancing Through The
Turquoise
Bouquets Falling In The
Rain
December 30th
Lady
Revolution Girls
Caravan Château

Love Record Stores Edition available from 9am on Saturday June 20th.
Limited to one per person.

Swiss DJ Alex Attias returns to BBE with a second helping of uptempo cuts, perfectly encapsulating his LillyGood Party! sound. Founder of the recently revived Visions imprint, a long-time collector and a revered selector, Alex Attias is, before everything, a refined producer whose musical craft has seen him travel the globe, most notably with an extended stint in the birthplace of the bruk sound, London. The tracks you’ll find on this compilation are all current favourites, or proven classics that have never left Alex's record box at the LillyGood Parties, a gathering Alex and his brother Stephane run in their hometown of Lausanne, Switzerland. LillyGood Party! Vol.2 is another testament to Attias’ unswerving taste for smooth yet intricate, subtly layered yet deeply rooted dance compositions; some subtly edited for maximum dance-floor effect. Featuring instantly recognisable names such as Louie Vega's Elements Of Life, Peven Everett and even Pharoah Sanders, LillyGood Party 2 also sheds light on some lesser-known artists, digging out some gems, buried deep across the jazz, disco and electronic musical strata. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Sil says: More jazzy than my usual preferences; this great compilation has got me shacking my arse in ways not previously known! Someone put me on a dancefloor!

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. How Bad I Want Ya (GU Peak True Time Mix) – Stacy Kidd Feat. Peven Everett
SIDE B
1. Children Of The World (Ben Brophy Edit) – The Elements Of Life Feat. Josh Milan
SIDE C
1. Gwotet (Alex Attias Edit) – David Murray & The Gwo-Ka Masters Feat. Pharoah Sanders
2. Freedom Flight – Mausiki Scales (Alex Attias LillyGood Party Edit)
SIDE D
1. Open Up Your Mind (Honeycomb Vocal Mix) – Universal Tongues Feat. Elle
2. Star Child Going Home – MJ Lallo

Honey Boy OST by Alex Somers. Beautiful and transcendent soundtrack to accompany the Shia LaBeouf written and Alma Har'el directed Honey Boy.

TRACK LISTING

Side A

1. Honey Boy (Feat. Zach Shields) / 2. Apologize / 3. A Good Day / 4. Where You Come From / 5. Blood Family / 6. Treehouse / 7. Without A Net / 8. Play The Tape Out / 9. Blackout

Side B

1. A Mirror Behind You / 2. Save Yourself / 3. Fair / 4. Mother Fell Out Of A Window (Feat. Zach Shields) / 5. Real World / 6. None OfIt's Real / 7. Trust Me Honey Boy / 8. I Want You To Be Here (Feat. Zach Shields) / 9. You're A Fucking Star (Feat. Zach Shields) / 10. A Violent Act / 11. All I Ever Wanted

Alex Cameron’s newest and most musically expansive LP, the glistening Miami Memory, takes a surprising turn. Cameron’s flair for narrative and character are still on full display; yet Miami Memory’s most frequent narrator is, for the first time, Cameron himself—singing with stunning candor of his three-year relationship with his girlfriend.

“When you listen to these songs, and you’re waiting for the twist, or the joke, or any kind of discomfort, I can assure you none of those things were there when I wrote them,” says Cameron. “These are true stories, of actual events. Specific but never esoteric. And graphic but never offensive. Miami Memory is the story of a couple balancing sex with contemporary family values...It’s my gift to my girlfriend, a symbol to hoist on the totem of love.”

Though remnants of his synth-driven earlier work sneak in to unsettle the tone, the bulk of Miami Memory, produced by Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty) and recorded and mixed by Marta Salogni (Björk, Kelela), revels in the emotional overdrive of classic dad rock, its warm, anthemic songs driven by bass, guitar, sax, and layers of Vegas wedding chapel-ish organ.

Cameron’s dad rock funhouse of an album ultimately twists and subverts the genre: it recalls classics the white male ego has historically visited for its regular adrenaline injection, and morphs them into a singular “stepdad” rock that largely turns its lens away from the dads, celebrating the demise of old norms of gender and power. In his depiction of his relationship, Cameron reveals a striking honesty about love and sex in a time where a palpable fleetingness hangs over everything from relationships to human life on this planet—but also where constricting mores have deteriorated enough to let “family life,” in all its morphing forms, exist outside of social obligation. With arresting straightforwardness, Cameron now sings as himself, paying tribute

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Huge stadium-rock choruses and growling synths provide a glitzy and sturdy backdrop for Cameron's soaring vocals and robust 80's-tinged pomp. Huge, overblown, and great fun all round.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Stepdad
2. Miami Memory
3. Far From Born Again
4. Gaslight
5. Bad For The Boy

SIDE B:
6. End Is Nigh
7. PC With Me
8. Divorce
9. Other Ladies
10. Too Far

(Sandy) Alex G, aka singer, songwriter and musician Alex Giannascoli, announces new album ‘House of Sugar’. The album is the Philadelphian’s ninth overall and third for Domino.

Giannascoli worked closely with Jacob Portrait, who mixed both ‘Rocket’ and 2015’s ‘Beach Music’ and helped to balance each of ‘House of Sugar’s dense, multi-faceted tracks. As the product of extended focus and planning, ‘House of Sugar’ emerges as Giannascoli’s most meticulous, cohesive album yet: a statement of artistic purpose, showing off his ear for both persistent earworms and shifting textures and the out-there sonic adventurism that’s made previous (Sandy) Alex G records so singular.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: From twisted, Beck-y ballads to euphoric synth-led stormers, Alex G has always had an uncanny knack for writing a tune and these richly orchestrated, beautifully constructed off-piste tunes show more and more ability in every passing album. This stuff is properly gorgeous ; heartfelt, soaring and emotive works of genius. Spellbinding from the outset.

TRACK LISTING

Walk Away
Hope
Southern Sky
Gretel
Taking
Near
Project 2
Bad Man
Sugar
In My Arms
Cow
Crime
SugarHouse (Live)

Alex Jann returns to Censor for the label’s second excursion into the unknown with three direct communications and a mix of the title track from Rotterdam’s Animistic Beliefs.

The EP’s title track "Computoid.Transmission.X" is a pulsating drum workout laced with dystopian pads, laser-cut leads, anxious bass lines and an evocative mutant vocal from an A.I. system gaining consciousness.

Animistic Beliefs create a darker texture on their 'Electric Eye Mix' of the title track, sending the vocal and lead sound straight through the stratosphere via complex bass and arp phrases that filter and stalk around the lead bringing a deeper and more contrasting A2.

"Firewall Culture" comes as an intoxicating trip on the B1 with off-world FX, feral acid lines and a spacetime-defying style of vocal that haunt Alex’s work.

"Jupiter Storms" on the B2 ascends the EP to a higher plane with deep washes created from evolving pads adding space and movement to the final track of the release, all accented with glacial micro drops, syncopated beats and tight trickling synth sections. The release was mastered by Keith Tenniswood at Curve Pusher.

Look, I know you're totally barraged with nu-electro vibrations at the moment, but you can rely on us to sort the wheat from the chaff. And this is wholegrain goodness for all the 'fam! Keith Tenniswood's even involved for Christ's sake - it may as well have Her Majesty's seal of approval!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Computoid.Transmission.X
A2. Computoid.Transmission.X (Animistic Beliefs Electric Eye Mix)
B1. Firewall Culture
B2. Jupiter Storms

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

Third album from Liverpool born singer-songwriter Alex Highton. Rather than the acoustic bucolic musings of "Woodditton Wives Club" ("a masterpiece," according to Heaven Magazine in Holland, "World class," said the Guardian) or his disconcerting take on existence that was "Nobody Knows Anything" ("Sufjan Stevens like audacity....4 Stars" Mojo Magazine"), his new album expands his sound into a something much more complex and sonically adventurous.

As a kid his time was split between his native Liverpool and Florence, Italy, after his parents' divorce. Liverpool has a musical heritage that is impossible to escape but it was during the summers, whilst devouring his Dad's amazingly eclectic record collection , that his musical education began, taking in everything from Talking Heads & Penguin Cafe Orchestra to David Ackles & Bowie. He lost his twenties to bad decisions and then struggling through some kind of breakdown, he started to take songwriting seriously. The songs he wrote (part therapy / part love letter his new life) formed the basis of his debut album, a record replete with tales of rural S&M, mental, emotional and economic collapse, and ultimately salvation through love and family. For the new album Alex locked himself away in the studio with producer/multi instrumentalist Jonathan Czerwik, and started putting together the songs that would fill "Welcome To Happiness".

In their downtime they discussed artists they loved and would inform the new album - Can, The Flaming Lips, Beck, Prince, Steely Dan, Bon Iver, Serge Gainsbourg, Here We Go Magic, The Beach Boys, Bowie, Neu, tons more..."We threw all this stuff into the pot and just said 'let's see what happens'. Witness "Benny Is A Heartbreaker" reminiscent of Hot Chip & Talking Heads with it's electro beats and slick grooves and "Love Is Enough", referencing David Ackles & Luis Bunuel but sounding like something cooked up by Luke Temple and ELO. 

A landmark in cinematic wildlife fi lmmaking, Earth: One Amazing Day dramati cally brings to life the crucial role the sun plays in shaping the destinies of life-forms on the planet, including ourselves. It’s a spectacular vision of the rhythms of day and night and how a relati onship with the sun binds every species together.

The score is produced by Alex Heffes, one of fi lm world’s most exciting composers, with credits such as Touching The Void, The Last King Of Scotland and Queen Of Katwe.

This vinyl edition is packaged as a gatefold double LP on blue and green translucent heavyweight vinyl. The artwork contains numerous photos from the
film itself.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1:
Earth
Sunrise
Serval
Iguanas Vs. Snakes
Waltz Of The Flowers
Baby Panda
Cloud Building
Zebra River Crossing
Narwhales
Brown Bears
Sleepy Lions
Giraffe Battle
Sand Dunes
Sperm Whales

LP 2:
Sloth Story
Penguin Colony
Penguin Raiders Return
Penguins Reunited
Racket Tailed Hummingbird
Field Mouse
Mayflies
Zebra Survives Another Day
White Headed Langurs
Creatures Of The Night
Click Beetle
Bioluminescence
Night Sky
Fireflies
Another Ordinary Day
End Credits

The first thing that hits you is the voice. Alex Lipinski’s caressing sympathy, full-throated resentment, and the raw rockabilly excitement of earliest Elvis have grabbed unwary listeners from the West Country to Krakow, Berlin and New York, since he first left Somerset to become a crucial habitué of Soho’s legendary, lost 12-Bar Club. He has followed in the footsteps of his hero Dylan to write in the Chelsea Hotel, and sung Elvis songs in the home of an admiring Liam Gallagher, who responded with a roaring “Acquiesce”. With older brother and fellow musician Adam Lipinski by his side at Newcombe’s residential studio in Berlin, ‘Alex’ basically took six hours. “Anton put a lot of time and energy in.

I recorded with an old guitar, because he wanted to capture the effortless, timeless ‘60s records that he had in his mind. We had initially planned to be in the studio for three or four nights. The first evening we rattled though the songs, a take or two of each and in those six hours everything clicked. By midnight we were done. We ended the evening by going to a great bar called 8mm. Anton set up a gig there the following night and played old folk records, then we played a live set. We added small overdubs on the record later. But the album captures the character of the songs live with no frills. The slight imperfections add to the feel. Anton taught me about perfect mistakes.”

TRACK LISTING

1) Going Nowhere Fast ,
2). Dandylion Blues ,
3). Carolyn ,
4). Hurricane ,
5). Come On People ,
6). Sophie’s Song
7). The Devil You Know ,
8). Lonely Kid ,
9). Another Travellin’ Song ,
10). This Girl

I Love You Like A Brother is the highly anticipated album from Melbourne’s Alex Lahey. An infectious debut that shines with a rare confidence, I Love You Like A Brother is a riotous record, packed with relatable fuzzpop gems. 

After finishing school, Lahey initially went to university to study jazz saxophone, but unimpressed with “learning music in such a regimented way” she switched to an arts degree. While studying, Alex cut her teeth as a member of cult party collective Animaux, which allowed her restlessly rebellious streak to flourish. Alex began to form the blueprint for her own solo material by writing songs inspired by the two people she considers the greatest songwriters of all time, Dolly Parton and Bruce Springsteen, whilst retaining the punk spirit of her first musical outing. These songs found themselves on her first solo EP, the acclaimed B-Grade University.

The EP included the single. ‘You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me’; a mainstay on Australian radio, landing on triple j’s prestigious Hottest 100 of 2016. The song’s universal tale of rejection took Lahey global - its message, she says, is the flipside of the usual break-up scenario: “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not me. It IS you”. This no-shit-taken attitude forms the backbone of I Love You Like A Brother as evidenced by the uproarious opening track ‘Every Day’s The Weekend’.

Throughout the records’ ten songs, Alex’s lyrics deftly move between wry, often hilarious witticism to heartbreaking poignancy. For every uplifting anthem, such as ‘I Love You Like A Brother’ and the unruly ‘Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder’, there’s painfully relatable tracks like ‘Backpack’ and ‘Awkward Exchange’. Despite the instant pop chops of I Love You Like A Brother, there’s introspection, self-doubt and sense of working out the complexities of growing up in this limbo period between youth and adulthood.

The themes of Alex Lahey’s album might be universal, but it’s the unique approach she takes unpacking them that’s earned her millions of Spotify streams, buzz-worthy showcases at SXSW and festival sets alongside the likes of Flume, The Kills, At The Drive-In and James Blake as well as guesting on tours with Tegan & Sara and Blondie.

TRACK LISTING

1 Every Day's The Weekend
2 I Love You Like A Brother
3 Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder
4 I Haven't Been Taking Care Of Myself
5 Backpack
6 Awkward Exchange
7 I Want U
8 Lotto In Reverse
9 Let's Call It A Day
10 There's No Money

Weird World introduce Los Angeles’ Alex Izenberg and his debut album, ‘Harlequin’.

‘Harlequin’ may be Izenberg’s debut album proper but it also marks the culmination of over five years of highly prolific writing and recording under a variety of pseudonyms.

‘Harlequin’ is almost a study in distraction - a restless, feverish dream sequence which variously invokes Scott Walker’s obtuse, off kilter worlds of sound, Simon and Garfunkel’s psychedelic yet practical string arrangements, the vaudevillian pomp and preening of Wild Beasts’ early material and Grizzly Bear’s pastoral early steps. All this is cut through with moments of total silence, patches of noise, found sound and countless dynamic leftturns and moments of non-sequitur.

TRACK LISTING

The Farm
Grace
Libra
Archer
Hot Is The Fire
Changes
To Move On
A Bird Came Down
The Moon
Waltz Of The Roots
People

'My name is Alex Cameron and I won't waste your time. When you're talking about me and my business partner, Roy Molloy, you're talking about the online cowboys in the wild-west days of the World Wide Web. And if you want to know what we're really about just look at all the things you wish you'd done differently. All the things you stopped yourself from doing on account of the fear of failure, or rejection. Weigh that up against your ambitions. Think about your work ethic. We're reclaiming failure as an act of progress. An act of learning. Something to celebrate.

A word's meaning can change depending on who utters the thing; and so we present characters - shapes are morphed and stories are delivered. This is a collection of 4-minute tales written to provide you with insight into the inner workings of failed ambitions and self-destruction. Unedited, uncensored, and without inhibition. I've learned to reveal what I want to unlearn. I cast a light on the darkness and in doing so understand love and compassion. Fear is to be confronted, and to learn strictly requires failure - over and over. Celebrate failure with Jumping The Shark.'

TRACK LISTING

1 Happy Ending
2 Gone South
3 Real Bad Lookin
4 The Comeback
5 She's Mine
6 Internet
7 Mongrel
8 Take Care Of Business

Philadelphia’s Alex Giannascoli aka Alex G releases ‘Beach Music’, his forthcoming new album and his first for Domino.

The album, his seventh full-length, follows on from previous beloved albums ‘DSU’ (Orchid Tapes), ‘Trick’ and’ Rules’, all which have led to a fervent cult fanbase and a number of Artist To Watch designations from publications such as Fader and Rolling Stone.

The album was mixed by Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

TRACK LISTING

‘Beach Music’
Intro
Bug
Thorns
Kicker
Salt
Look Out
Brite Boy
In Love
Walk
Mud
Ready
Station
Snot

Alex G Live At The Headroom
(Bonus LP - With Deluxe Vinyl Edition Only)
Look Out
Black Hair
Bug
Kicker
Wicked Boy
Mary
Ice Head
Boy
Snot
Rules
Soak
Mis
After Ur Gone

A strong love for classic 60s/70s guitar pop (Beach Boys, Beatles) as well as soft spots for Prince and Hall & Oates display his self proclaimed 'fascination with pop music'. While his influences certainly shape his work, it is his natural ear for melody and movement which make Calder's work both fluid and engaging.

His knack and ambition both in his song writing and production provide a solid foundation for Calder's music to drift in an out of psychy realms. There are no over drenched chorus or walls of sound, instead leaving space for melody and texture to beneatly co-existent. Alex has found the sweet spot between slacker-pop jangle and snug rhymtic production to create reassurance his songs are going somewhere. Intimate handclaps and shakers make it easy for one to visualize the living from which it came as Calder's questions what to do with his time both literally and existentially.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sukie And Me
2. Light Leave Your Eyes
3. Location
4. Time
5. Captivate
6. Fatal Delay
7. Lethargic

A six track mini album of original songs from the film ‘Submarine’, recorded by Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner and released by Domino.

The tracks here are much more stripped down than anything the band have released, and this suits Alex’s wry, poetic songwriting perfectly.

‘Submarine’, the debut film from Richard Ayoade, based on the novel by Joe Dunthorne, will be shown nationwide in cinemas from the 18th of March.

The remarkable career of Scotland's Alex Harvey is one laced with tragedy and wild creativity. His brother Les, guitarist with Stone The Crows, died on stage in the early 70s and the accident seemed to galvanise Alex into a burst of creative energy, forming a new band, one that cemented his own legend as leader of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. His career began in the early 60s, (he won a competition as Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele), through a stint in "Hair" and then the SAHB's always fighting the bottle and fate. This comprehensive double is a perfect overview of the career of one of rock's true characters.

A kettle drum roller with enuff lush sweeping synth washes to satisfy. Flip for "Brainwash" and "Northwest".