Jon Savage's second eclectic voyage through Post-Punk era Electronic music, Disco, Experimental & Proto-Techno 1978-82.

Re-mastered with care & attention from the very best available audio sources for maximum listening pleasure..

This compilation is selected and curated by renowned cultural commentator, writer and film-maker Jon Savage. Amongst many highly revered projects Jon has produced the definitive work on Punk Rock in “England's Dreaming” and the documentary & book “Teenage” The Creation of Youth, 1875 - 1945. He is also the biographer of Joy Division & author of the top 10 Sunday Times best seller "This Searing Light, The Sun & Everything Else" The Oral History Of Joy Division in 2019. His new book The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955-1979) is published in in 2024.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Dee D. Jackson-Automatic Lover 4:07
A2 Telex - Moscow Diskow (Original 12" Version) - 5"20
A3 Soft Machine - Soft Space 8"56
B1 Qondile-African Dawn 2"54
B2 Gaz Nevada - I.C. Love Affair 6"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
B3 I Signori Della Galassia - Archeopterix 4"00
B4 Cerrone - La Secte De Marrakech Suite 4"33
C1 John Foxx-Burning Car 3”15
C2 Thomas Leer & Robert Rental – Monochrome Days 4”01
C3 Cabaret Voltaire-Red Mask 6”54
C4 Caution – UFO 5"30 (Original 12" Mix Version)
D1 Martin Rev - Nineteen 86 4"36
D2 Pascal Comelade - Sequence 1 2"55
D3 The Flying Lizards - An Age 2"31
D4 Throbbing Gristle - Beachy Head 3"39
D5 Terminal City -Mugin For Unknown 5”40

Following on from 2012’s acclaimed “Fame” Post-Punk , 2015's "Perfect Motion" Psychedelic-Baggy 1988-93 compilations & 2020’s “Do You have The Force ?” Electronic 1978-82, all critically acclaimed. Jon Savage decided to focus upon Electronic music from the 1990s & has compiled an album that trips through a futuristic & musically fertile era highlighting both lesser-known gems & genre-defining cuts ..

” This music is a new way of looking at the world, a new language” (Jon Savage -Jockey Slut Magazine 1992 )

This compilation is selected and curated by renowned cultural commentator, writer and film-maker Jon Savage. Amongst many highly revered projects Jon has produced the definitive work on Punk Rock in “England's Dreaming” and the documentary & book “Teenage” The Creation of Youth, 1875 - 1945. He is also the biographer of Joy Division & author of the top 10 Sunday Times best seller "This Searing Light, The Sun & Everything Else" The Oral History Of Joy Division in 2019.

TRACK LISTING

Sandoz (richard H Kirk) - Limbo 8:48
Lobe - Placebo 7:02
2 Cabbages On A Drip - Calm 6:34
React 2 Rhythm - Intoxication (clubfield Mix) 6:10
Strange Cargo - Montauk Point 7:12
Rapoon - Bol Baya 9:07
Aphex Twin - Utopia 3 - 7:19
Gol - No Bounds 5:06
Moonwater - Space Indian 6:55
Underworld - Blueski 2:56
U-ziq - Phiesope 6:04
Biosphere - En-trance 4:41

Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is Polachek’s first album release since her 2019 experimental pop masterpiece PANG which cemented her as a generational talent. Her profile has grown exponentially since – landing her everywhere from the direct opening spot on Dua Lipa’s 2022 North American Future Nostalgia Tour, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Glastonbury, Primavera, All Points East, Governors Ball, Pitchfork Music Festival and Outside Lands, and involved with campaigns & shows for Loewe, Dior, Eckhaus Latta and Chloé, to late night performances on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Late Night Show with James Corden. Standout viral tracks like “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings,” have contributed to the album’s 175M global streams and counting and ignited a dance trend on TikTok.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ethan says: Back in 2019, Caroline Polachek’s first fully-realised solo outing was a surprising-yet-welcome entry into the slowly emerging glitch and ‘hyperpop’ scene. By comparison, ‘Desire, I Want to Turn into You’ is an equally polished yet more outlandish attempt at pop perfection. Every track has some left-field eccentricity over a beautifully-executed synth-pop backing that keeps you thoroughly entertained, from the flamenco guitars of “Sunset”, to a children’s choir on my personal favourite track “Billions”, to even a bagpipe solo on “Blood and Butter”.

That’s not to say that the album isn’t enjoyable as a standard synth-pop experience; production from hyperpop-aficionado Danny L. Harle ensures you’re filled with a desire to bounce around the room. However, no song on this project would work without the glue that is Caroline’s exceptional vocal performance, highlighted through a virtuosic solo in the opening seconds of the album. This opening moment guarantees you know what a talent-filled, delicate and charming listening experience you’re in for; and I guarantee you’ll listen again just for the choruses!

TRACK LISTING

Welcome To My Island
Pretty In Possible
Bunny Is A Rider
Sunset
Crude Drawing Of An Angel
I Believe
Fly To You
Blood & Butter
Hopedrunk Everasking
Butterfly Net
Smoke
Billions 

Features previously unreleased tracks including early recordings by Gang Of Four/Mekons/Delta 5/Sheeny & The Goys & much more.. (20 Tracks)

The Leeds post-punk scene, and the impact of the city’s art schools on its music, have been unjustly overlooked – until now. This double vinyl set compiled by author Gavin Butt comprises hitherto unreleased, unheard & rare tracks, plus several favourites, by diverse art school acts who experimented with art-punk, electro, pop, dada, fluxus and punk-funk. Contains extensive liner notes and reproductions of unseen ephemera and artworks.

Re-mastered with care & attention from the very best available audio sources for maximum listening pleasure.. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Focussing on the Leeds post-punk scene this wonderful compilation features early recordings from a host of well known artists like The Gang Of Four, Soft Cell, Delta 5, Mekons, and The Three Johns as well as more obscure acts. All bases are covered here from art-punk, primitive synth, punk-funk and indie.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
The Mekons - Trevira Trousers (Demo 1979)
Sheeny And The Goys - Pretty Girls (previously Unreleased)
Gang Of Four-The Things You Do (Previously Unreleased)
Delta 5-Alone (Live At Hurrahs)
Scritti Politti - Messthetics
Side 2
Soft Cell-The Girl With The Patent Leather Face (Demo)
Steve Shill & Graeme Miller (The Commies From Mars) - Moomins Theme
Fad Gadget-Incontinent
Ron Crowcroft -Go Go Dancer
Smart Cookies-Loud & Lonely (Previously Unreleased)
Side 3
Another Colour-Wartime Working Woman (Previously Unreleased)
Cast Iron Fairies-Tengo Tengo Tengo (Previously Unreleased)
Household Name-Indoctrination
Shee Hees-(I Made Love On The ) Astroturf (Previously Unreleased)
The Three Johns-Snitch
Side 4
Gang Of Four-Disco Sound (Previously Unreleased)
MRA-I Am A Monument
Another Colour-World From A Chair (Previously Unreleased)
The Three Johns - Bloop
Sheeny & The Goys-You Let Me Down (Previously Unreleased)

"If I knew I were alive, I could do so much better. If I knew what I had, then I could use it more wisely. If only I’d known before then I’d be in a better place already. If only."

London-based singer-songwriter Douglas Dare releases new EP, following on from his debut album Whelm. Named after album track Caroline and new track If I Knew I Were Alive, it also features remixes by fellow label mate Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles and Houndstooth’s own electronic producer Ross Tones aka Throwing Snow.

Caroline has always been a precious track for Douglas, one of the first tracks he recorded and a story in which he imagines his grandfather is writing to a loved one during the war. As the only song on his debut album that is stripped down to just his voice and piano playing, and it being a favourite amongst fans at his concerts, it was a natural choice as a first single.

The new track If I Knew I Were Alive Douglas wrote by creating beats, looping them and recording parts live. Dancing around to the beats in his room, he started singing melodies and coming up with ideas that he wouldn’t usually have, sitting at the piano. The idea that we can do a lot more if only we appreciated our own ability and opportunity encouraged Douglas to not take the track to anyone else to re-record it, but to work with what he had created himself.

“The recording has this demo quality, which I really enjoy. I love how revealing a demo can be. It seems to expose the fundamental ideas the songwriter had and the basic quality of the recording is very revealing. One of my favourite records is PJ Harvey’s ‘4 Track Demos’, where the songs are so stripped back that you can appreciate the finest details.” – Douglas Dare

Ryan Lee West, who crafted the Rival Consoles remix of album track Swim explains, “the track existed in a minimal state for a while, and I kept thinking something was missing. There's always something missing! And then out of casual chance, I was sorting through my portable recorder files, and I came across a recording of an installation that I did, which included four motors hitting glockenspiel or xylophone notes at random. I chopped it up in a few seconds and it worked perfectly. It adds texture and movement to the remix. But what's important about these sounds is that they are not in time. I think this remix creates sense of space, subtlety and physicality.”

"The original is so well put together, and the vocal so unique that it was a hard one to approach. I set out to reflect the beauty of the vocal in the intro, so that I could build it into something darker later on. This also mirrors the meaning of the vocal. The last sections are meant to evoke feelings of being washed away by a torrent” – Ross Tones about his Throwing Snow remix of Nile.

UK eight-piece caroline’s eponymous debut album often cascades with force like an avalanche, squalling and rumbling on the edge of all-out collapse. At other points they slip back into impossibly fragile moments of quiet – a simple bassline or a rattle of snare the only sound amid a dark sea of silence. caroline know exactly the right balance between restraint and release. These songs are expansive and emotive pieces, their rich palette drawing on a mixture of choral singing, Midwestern emo and O’Malley and Llewellyn’s roots in Appalachian folk.

“Sometimes things sound much better when there’s empty space,” says Llewellyn. “Sometimes you might populate [a song] with too many things and forget that an element on its own is enough.” Elsewhere on the record the band have employed a collage-like technique, combining snippets of lo-fi recordings from a myriad of different locations – a barn in France, the members’ bedrooms and living rooms, the atmospheric swimming pool in which they also filmed sublime live sessions for ‘Dark blue’ and ‘Skydiving onto the library roof’ – with more traditional group sessions at the Total Refreshment Centre and their studio in Peckham.

The growth that began as a scrappy guitar band above a pub many years ago is still continuing. caroline’s astounding debut album is merely the first step. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: What a fascinating sound caroline have managed to coax out here. It's a heady mix of post-rock, folk and avant rock pulled together with a keen ear for melodies and tempered with airy group vocals, a-la ASMZ. A dynamic and ever-shifting landscape of melody and texture.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Dark Blue
Good Morning (red)
Desperately
IWR
Messen #7
Side B
Engine (eavesdropping)
Hurtle
Skydiving Onto The Library Roof
Zilch
Natural Death

Dinked Edition 7” Tracklisting:
Side A - Good Morning (red) Demo
Side B - Dirty Triple (3) #2

Drug Store Romeos formed at college in nearby Farnborough when childhood friends Jonny (Gilbert) and Charlie (Henderson) pinned an ad about finding a bassist for their new band to the school’s notice board – Sarah (Downie) replied and quickly proved herself a better vocalist than either of them. The trio spent the subsequent 24 hours discussing their love of Stereolab over messenger and watching Portishead and Mild High Club videos in the college’s computer lab.

The band soon cut their teeth playing live at college, at Guildford Boiler Room and Aldershot West End Centre, rather than the familiarly trodden paths in London although they did frequent Brixton Windmill as often as three times a week at one point; carrying all of their equipment back to Fleet by train as none of the band were old enough to drive. The 3am walk home from Fleet station, with amps and flight cases slung over their shoulder, would become a rite of passage; the quiet countryside influencing their hushed atmospheric sound and nocturnal aesthetics as much as their shared affection for Suburban Lawns, Broadcast, and Tom Tom Club.

Lyrical abstractness / concrete meaning. Danceability / lyingdownability. Minimalism / fullness. Introspective melancholy / playfulness. Lo fi / hi fi. Drug Store Romeos play with the senses and flip the expectations, finding the sweet spot every time. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's impossible not to hear a wealth of influence when listening to Drug Store Romeos, but each hint of another band really only serves to exacerbate how unique their sound is. It's wistful and wonderfully written, but melodically interesting with time signature changes and sonic curveballs being wonderfully woven into the fabric of the pieces.

TRACK LISTING

THE FUTURE BITES explores ways that the human brain has evolved in the internet era. Where 2017’s Top 3 album TO THE BONE confronted the (then) emerging global issues of post truth and fake news, THE FUTURE BITES places the listener in a world of 21st century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments with nascent technology on our lives take place constantly; where clicks and Tiks have become more important that human interaction. THE FUTURE BITES is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia and more a curious and playful reading of a world made all the more strange and separated by the events of 2020.

Musically, THE FUTURE BITES positively gleams. Across the album, there’s tracks that deal in gorgeous electronics warped by human intervention (KING GHOST) and soaring acoustics that hit the stratosphere (12 THINGS I FORGOT); a ten minute treatise on the joys of oniomania laid out by Elton John over a Moroder-esque whirlwind (PERSONAL SHOPPER) and a relentless bass-driven Motorik groove that dives right into the murk of clickbait and online radicalisation (FOLLOWER). The album’s new recording, COUNT OF UNEASE, is a beautifully plaintive close to the album that floats out on a mix of piano and ambient sound. Together, the nine tracks form Steven’s most consistently brilliant work to date. THE FUTURE BITES was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and Steven Wilson. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: As one of the greatest producers on the alternative scene, Steven Wilson was never going to stagnate in the psychedelic waters (Porcupine Tree, whilst brilliant admittedly sound a little dated now), and continues moving forwards with this varied and enduring collection of wry songwriting, clever lyricism and pitch-perfect instrumentation.

Twenty-five years ago this month, the cream of the British music industry walked into Abbey Road and studios around the UK and recorded an album for War Child in response to the plight of the thousands of families caught up in the bloody Balkans war.

It went onto become the most legendary charity album of all time. Inspired by a John Lennon quote "The best record you can make, is recorded on Monday, cut on Tuesday, pressed up on Wednesday, packaged on Thursday, distributed on Friday, in the shops on Saturday”, Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller formed the super group Smokin’ Mojo Filters and Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Portishead, Massive Attack, Suede, The Charlatans and many more contributed tracks.

Go! Discs’ Tony Crean and Andy McDonald, press officer Terri Hall and others rallied artists, media and the industry to come together in those few days. Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic wrote the sleeve notes, John Squire designed the artwork and Johnny Depp even popped in to play guitar.

Within 24 hours, 20 tracks had been recorded and it was in store five days later selling 70,000 copies in its first day. The album went on to make £1.25 million and launched War Child not only as the charity for British music, but more importantly, the only charity who specialise in protecting, educating and supporting children in war.

The difference this album made for War Child cannot be over emphasised. It was the starting point of a relationship with the British music industry that has seen some of the world’s biggest artists come together - but more importantly, it has enabled War Child to reach more than a million children caught in the crossfire of war over the last 20 years.

You only need look at the news today to see that War Child’s work is more important than ever. Four million Syrian refugees have fled the conflict, two million of these are children, some of whom are alone, all of whom are terrified and traumatised by what they have seen.

Since the HELP album, War Child’s work with music has gone onto raise more than £7 million for children in conflict. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Oasis And Friends – "Fade Away"
2. The Boo Radleys – "Oh Brother"
3. The Stone Roses – "Love Spreads"
4. Radiohead – "Lucky"
5. Orbital – "Adnan"

Side B
6. Portishead – "Mourning Air"
7. Massive Attack – "Fake The Aroma" (alternate Version Of "Karmacoma")
8. Suede – "Shipbuilding"
9. The Charlatans Vs. The Chemical Brothers – "Time For Livin'"
10. Stereo MCs – "Sweetest Truth (Show No Fear)"

Side C
11. Sinéad O'Connor – "Ode To Billie Joe"
12. The Levellers – "Searchlights"
13. Manic Street Preachers – "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"
14. Terrorvision – "Tom Petty Loves Veruca Salt"
15. The One World Orchestra Featuring The Massed Pipes And Drums Of The Children's Free Revolutionary Volunteer Guards (aka The KLF) – "The Magnificent"

Side D
16. Planet 4 Folk Quartet – "Message To Crommie"
17. Terry Hall And Salad – "Dream A Little Dream Of Me"
18. Neneh Cherry And Trout – "1, 2, 3, 4, 5 "
19. Blur – "Eine Kleine Lift Musik"
20. The Smokin' Mojo Filters – "Come Together"

For Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, 'Color Theory' is a distillation of hard-won catharsis. The album confronts the ongoing mental health and familial trials that have plagued the 22-year-old artist since pre-pubescence, presenting listeners with an uncompromisingly honest self-portrait, and reminding us exactly why her critically-acclaimed debut, 2018’s 'Clean', made her a hero to many. Wise beyond her years, Allison is a songwriter capable of capturing the fleeting moments of bliss that make an embattled existence temporarily beautiful. With 'Color Theory', Allison’s fraught past becomes a lens through which we might begin to understand what it means to be resilient.

'Color Theory' investigates a traumatic past in exacting detail; in doing so, Allison finds inroads for healing through self-acceptance, and occasionally, humor. (“I’m the princess of screwing up!” she declares at one point.) This isn’t a quest to uncover some long-since forgotten happiness so much as it is an effort to stare-down the turmoil of adolescence that can haunt a person well into adulthood. Allison is a gifted storyteller, one who is able to take personal experience and project it to universal scale. On 'Color Theory', she beckons in outsiders, rejects, and anyone who has ever felt desperately alone in this world, lending them a place to unburden themselves and be momentarily free.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful mixture of nostalgic, hazy pop and brilliantly written vocal melodies coalesce into the most heart-wrenching and thematically consistent outing for Allison yet. Shimmering, ambient pieces like 'Night Swimming' fit perfectly alongside the more direct pieces, 'Circle The Drain' being one of my favourite tunes i've heard for quite some time. Genuinely gorgeous stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bloodstream
2. Circle The Drain
3. Royal Screw Up
4. Night Swimming
5. Crawling In My Skin
6. Yellow Is The Color Of Her Eyes
7. Up The Walls
8. Lucy
9. Stain
10. Gray Light

Completing a compelling trilogy of albums since his late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago, Ben Watt releases his fourth LP, "Storm Damage" on 31 January 2020, and with it a new sound and fervency.
"I needed a fresh approach," says Watt, 56. "The album came out of an intense period of personal anguish and political anger. Sometimes repeating yourself musically feels disrespectful to the sharpness of your feelings. You have to search for a new way to capture the energy."

Across four decades Watt has maintained a committed forward-looking course, from the ardent echo-drenched folk of his early solo work with Robert Wyatt, through seventeen years as musical mainspring and co-lyricist in the best-selling Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn - and ten at the helm of his smart electronic label Buzzin' Fly - to his recent moving non-fiction and mid-life solo albums, the award-winning "Hendra" (2014) and "Fever Dream" (2016). New album "Storm Damage" is no exception. Sonically adventurous, lyrically detailed and engaged, the album - written and produced by Watt - is a personal journey through anxiety and change cut through with an insistent defiance. 

What is "Drift"?

• It’s precisely one year inside the minds of Underworld.

• It’s a journey that began on 1st November 2018 when Underworld released the track "Another Silent Way" and set off with no map, no fixed destination and a simple mantra ('Drift is the opposite of ‘normal’ or ‘usual’ practice; we’ll do this until we’re dust'). Rick Smith and Karl Hyde’s aim was to create and publish music and film episodically for 52 weeks and see where the journey took them. Within a few weeks, the experiment found its own path, prompting the electronic pioneers to react to previous releases and create new works accordingly. Over time, the duo’s innate curiosity opened up a unique space in which they could experiment, learn and explore new frontiers - together and with others (including Tomato’s Simon Taylor, Australian improv-trance band The Necks, techno producer Ø [Phase], Japanese noise band Melt-Banana, economics writer Aditya Chakrabortty and members of Black Country, New Road). During the 52 weeks, five self-contained episodes were released (respectively in November, January, March, May and August) - collectively, they form "DRIFT Series 1". 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: An impressively on-going, interactive, year-long project from the band culminates in the album's actual release in October. Always keen to push the envelope, the idea behind this is very satisfying.

TRACK LISTING

Appleshine
This Must Be Drum Street
Listen To Their No
Border Country
Mile Bush Pride
Schiphol Test
Brilliant Yes That Would Be
S T A R (Rebel Tech)
Imagine A Box
Custard Speedtalk

The first new Iggy Pop album since 2016’s Post Pop Depression.

While it follows the highest charting album of Iggy’s career, Free has virtually nothing in common sonically with its predecessor—or with any other Iggy Pop album. On the process that led Iggy and principal players Leron Thomas and Noveller to create this uniquely somber and contemplative entry in the Iggy Pop canon, Iggy says:
"This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice...By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long. But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free. So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Iggy's back! One of the most recognisable figures in the punk community returns with his latest solo effort, shining with contemplative melodies and loungey percussive pieces, clearly showing a move towards a more freeform approach than his previous outings, with smooth jazzy horns and slow-burning developmental shifts. Lovely stuff, and perfectly illustrative of his mastery of a wide variety of disciplines.

TRACK LISTING

1. Free
2. Loves Missing
3. Sonali
4. James Bond
5. Dirty Sanchez
6. Glow In The Dark
7. Page
8. We Are The People
9. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
10. The Dawn

The Center Won’t Hold is the tenth studio album by Sleater-Kinney. It addresses transformation as it relates to the corrosion and decomposition of forms. Fractured and frayed by age or by loss, by internecine politics, by trauma or depression, these eleven songs ask what remains of a body, a human spirit, a relationship, a city, a country. The narrators herein sing from the brink of madness, corruption, loss, or grief. And though they speak to us from the narrow, near desperate strands to which they are consigned by others, or upon which they’ve self-exiled—feeling small, fearing obsolescence—they ask to be heard on the most sprawling of canvasses. By couching these personal stories in a sonic palette that unabashedly takes up space, what remains is a tale of survival: a treatise on female friendship, inner strength, resilience, and community.

If The Center Won’t Hold forces a reconsideration of a band people thought they knew, it’s due to the methodologies employed in the writing and making of the album. The tools upon which Sleater-Kinney had relied proved inadequate, both metaphorically and literally, so they sought new ones. They used the geographical distance between them, along with the larger uncertainty and brokenness swirling around them, as a means of inducing and exploring sonic change. Most concretely, they worked with producer Annie Clark (St. Vincent), who treated each song as its own world, letting them find a specific vernacular through careful construction and deliberation.

The most succinct thing to say about The Center Won’t Hold is that Sleater-Kinney continue to challenge the idea of what three women sound like when they create music together over the course of twenty-five years.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Sleater-Kinney have been one of the most interesting outfits to have come out of the 90's post-grunge indie boom, and have remained a fierce musical force since then. Through a myriad of splits / reformations and stylistic turns they have returned with their beautifully crafted powerhouse, 'The Centre Won't Hold'. Huge stadium choruses and anthemic turns are infused with snapping percussion and echoing distorted guitar, all topped with those unmistakable vocals.

TRACK LISTING

CD
1. The Center Won’t Hold
2. Hurry On Home
3. Reach Out
4. Can I Go On
5. Restless
6. Ruins
7. LOVE
8. Bad Dance
9. The Future Is Here
10. The Dog / The Body
11. Broken

DELUXE VINYL
Disc 1 (LP)
SIDE A
1. The Center Won’t Hold
2. Hurry On Home
3. Reach Out
4. Can I Go On
5. Restless
SIDE B
1. Ruins
2. LOVE
3. Bad Dance
4. The Future Is Here
5. The Dog / The Body
6. Broken
Disc 2 (7” Vinyl)
1. Hurry On Home

Dark green 7” - the first time ‘Pain & Suffering’ has been on vinyl. Numbered. 

The songs and narrative’s on LONER reflect my life over the last couple years––I joined Tinder, I got my first apartment and painted it teal, I went to par¬ties, I discussed politics, I had a girlfriend, we traveled the country, we broke up. I learned, for better or worse, how to be a member of the modern world. Turns out the modern world is terrifying.

Tired of the bottomless pit of sad songs, I decided to put a spin on my greatest songwriting inspirations––misogyny, unplanned pregnancy, Capitalism, anxiety, loneliness and death––and wrap such depressing subject matter in a sprightly, angsty pop burrito…Because it’s hard being serious all the time and sometimes sad songs just need a cocktail. Loner reflects the styles of music I love––pop, folk, punk, electronic, and surf music––all thrown into a blender with a ladle full of cheeky satire. I call it Schizodrift. It sounds like Blondie drunk on mai tais.

Loner was co-produced by myself and the wonderful Paul Butler (Deven¬dra Banhart, Michael Kiwanuka, St. Paul & The Broken Bones) and recorded in freezing Northern California, in addition to my parent’s attic and my last apart¬ment. It was mixed by sound guru Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Nick Hakim, Show Me The Body) in Brooklyn, NY.

Nine Inch Nails new full-length Bad Witch completes the trilogy that began with 2016’s Not The Actual Events and 2017’s Add Violence. 

We kick things off in spectacular style, with 'Shit Mirror' echoing the early days of NIN, all perilous ambient distortions and thumping machinated drums, while retaining the momentous drive of their later records. 'Ahead Of Ourselves' features Reznor's vox twisted out of all proportion, with a wizened percussive detritus trailing behind before snapping into a cutthroat about-turn into the trademark fuzzed-out static redux we've come to expect from them 

'Play The Goddamned Part' on the other hand is much more reminiscent of the scattered but cohesive ambience of their greatest full-scope cinematic epic, 'The Fragile, scattered insectile stutters and electronic static underpins the oft-uncomfortable dissonance of a chorus of horns and jazzed-out abstractions.  

Flipping over, we get a continuation of the horn-filled dissonance, but pulled along by a frenetic resonant saw-wave, lending an acidic undertone and momentous drive to proceedings before breaking down into a bleak and uncompromising closing duo of the full-spectrum gothic gloom of 'I'm Not From This World' and the twinkling syncopated shuffle of the chillingly deep 'Over And Out'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shit Mirror
2. Ahead Of Ourselves
3. Play The Goddamned Part
4. God Break Down The Door
5. I’m Not From This World
6. Over And Out 

Moving beyond the surf-folk foundations of her debut, on No Fool... Sallee loosens her earthly tether, allowing her songs to float to ever higher altitudes on clouds of loops, immaculate melodies, and hypnotic harmonies, as she sings about aging, the daily grind, and hometown stymie. Moving to Austin in 2013 gave her a new perspective on her hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, which informed the overall vibe of the album. "I think leaving my fairly small hometown and then going back to visit it inspired the feeling I went for on this album. I observed that so many people I knew were content doing basically nothing.

Or that they were scared to try to do anything or leave town, like they felt stuck there." The ¬first few notes of the Daniel Rossen-esque opener “First Song” dutifully establish the surreal and slightly tragic tone of longing maintained throughout the album. The curiously upturning melodies ride out on a rich ambient texture before “Sweet Home Alabama” cuts the fog with a crackling 60's soul loop that's charming and catchy enough to induce a cathartic laugh from the listener. The brightness fades with the frosty and propulsive “A Good Thief Steals Clean,” which features lyrics inspired by the 1971 ¬lm Panic in Needle Park, and the idea of being in love with a heroin addict. “I tend to write from the perspectives of characters in dark situations, even though my songs may sound bright,” Sallee notes of her alluring juxtaposition of sunny production and grim lyrics.

She employs this dynamic again on “Rip O ,” a frenetically percussive song with lyrics inspired by an NPR story about a young Iraqi man who was killed in an ISIS bombing just before moving to NYC to become a professional dancer. Inspired by Terrence Malick's Badlands and Bruce Springsteen's "Nebraska," the song “Black Hole" features multi-voice harmonies sung from the perspective of 50's spree killer Charles Starkweather. The hurdles she navigated to record naturally led to ad hoc recording techniques, and endless sonic experimentation, often leading to her use of the computer as an instrument. A tireless worker, and a wellspring of creativity, whatever Caroline Says, we will be listening.

TRACK LISTING

01 First Song 3:55
02 Sweet Home Alabama 3:22
03 Mea Culpa 2:54
04 A Good Thief Steals Clean 2:35
05 Rip O 3:40
06 Black Hole 2:31
07 Cool Jerk 3:03
08 I Tried 3:39
09 Lone Star Tall Boy 3:36

Continuing their endless string of essential releases, Caroline True bring us the latest collaborative project from the mighty Matt Sewell, this time with london producer DrumTalk. Taking to the Secret Sundaze studio, DrumTalk drifts away from the club-focus of his releases on Tru-Thoughts, Soundway and Huntley & Palmers, syncing into the sublime vibrations of A Crushing Glow for two meditative synth suites. On the A-side, "Out Of The Blackness, Into The Blue" delivers drum box bossa, dreamlike sequences and celestial bliss-tones, making a connection with a wider cosmic consciousness. If you dig on the library styles of Clara Mondshine, the spacier, synthier end of the kosmische spectrum or the slow and spangled moments of Patrick Cowley's porn oeuvre, you're gonna love this. The flip continues the cosmic voyage, enjoying a little extra thrust from a blorpy bass synth as we lose ourselves in the nebulous goo of e-flute, fluttering sine waves and warming white noise. I imagine this is what Arthur C Clarke's Starchild listened to when he was getting stoned...

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Well this is a delight! Aside from the sublime space-prog sleeve art, and eye catching coloured disc, this release holds a pair of stunning intergalactic synthscapes, perfect for fans of European library music, Berlin school electronics or Patrick Cowley's post-orgasmic bliss outs.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Out Of The Blackness, Into The Blue
B1. The Celestial Garden

The album title seems to refer to the contrast between what our elders tell us and the perspectives we form out of our own experiences. There's a vacillation between idealism and realism, and it expresses itself musically in the hairpin turns from gentle folk into brazen experimental flourishes, like on “Funeral Potatoes.” The track opens with lilting, somber, Satie-esque piano, but at the halfway point, typical choices of song structure and transition are discarded in favor of a screeching, static-washed loop of violin and feedback that transcends the formality of songcraft, becoming something altogether more daring and collage-like.

The more band-driven songs on 50 Million recall an early-1990’s style of production in the way chorus-twinged electric guitars and tight, papery drumbeats point our mind’s eye to the West Coast sunset, like on the mid-album standout “Gravy Days.” Sallee decorates the background of most songs with hushed humming that could stand alone as a minimalist-ambient choral album, and when employed on her songs, elevates the ¬final product to an astral level. Sallee’s gift lies in pitting the familiar against the unexpected with a delicate assuredness, never compromising the one for the other. These kinds of debuts can sometimes feel like an over-promise of what is to come, but in the case of Caroline Says there's clearly plenty more thread to be unraveled. It'll be a pleasure to see where the next bus ride takes us. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Winter Is Cold
2 I Think I'm Alone Now
3 Funeral Potatoes
4 Streetlights
5 My Fiance's Pets
6 Gravy Dayz
7 Ghost Pokes
8 God Knows
9 Lost Feeling 

Whiteout Conditions, the new full-length record from critically acclaimed supergroup The New Pornographers, is released via Caroline and the band's own imprint, Collected Works.

Of writing the new record, founder and frontman A.C. Newman notes that, "At the beginning of this record, there was some thinking that we wanted it to be like a Krautrock Fifth Dimension. Of course, our mutated idea of what Krautrock is probably doesn’t sound like Krautrock at all. But we were thinking: Let’s try and rock in a different way.”

"A lot of geezers my age don't work out of their comfort zone anymore because once you become legendary you don't want people challenging you.”- Iggy Pop.

'Post Pop Depression' is the 17th Iggy Pop album, and a worthy addition to the 22 album legacy spawned with the immortal trilogy of The Stooges, Fun House and Raw Power, spanning massively influential solo outings including 1977’s opening 1-2 combo of The Idiot and Lust For Life, and 1990’s gold-certified Brick By Brick.

The first Iggy Pop album co-created with producer / guitarist / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / bandleader Homme, Post Pop Depression began with a succinctly worded text from Iggy to Joshua, and was realized in seclusion with Homme's enlisted aid of his Queens Of The Stone Age bandmate and Dead Weather-man Dean Fertitia and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. Both became instantly integral in creating and shaping the Detroit meets Palm Desert by way of old Berlin vibe of Post Pop Depression: Interweaving with and augmenting even more superhuman than expected Iggy vocal performances and Homme's tapestry of guitar, bass, piano and backing vox, Fertitia's talent for wringing the most out of only the most essential notes worked in seamless tandem with Helders' pushing himself and his new bandmates to unforeseeable heights and depths.
The result would be a timeless work, one that sounds as if it's always been there, has existed before any of the musicians were even born-yet imbued with the ramshackle energy of a garage band that threw itself together yesterday.

"I wanted to be free," recalls Iggy of the earliest germ of the partnership with Homme that culminated in Post Pop Depression. "To be free, I needed to forget. To forget, I needed music. Josh had that in him, so I set out to provoke an encounter-first with a carefully worded text, followed by a deluge of writings all about me. No composer wants to write about nothing. He got revved up and we had a great big rumble in the desert USA.”

"This was to go where neither of us had gone before," adds Homme. "That was the agreement. And to go all the way."

Post Pop Depression is equal parts a dream come true for co-creator Homme as it is a record that defiantly takes its place in Iggy's storied discography alongside the twin towers of The Idiot and Lust For Life-two records and the mythic Berlin era of their creation canonized as much lyrically ("German Days") as sonically ("Sunday") on this new record. The album will be supported by a tour realizing Homme's ambition to assemble a live outfit worthy of both bringing the new album and doing justice to the gems and wreckage of the Ig's sprawling solo catalogue: The core band that recorded the album will be expanded by QOTSA's Troy Van Leeuwen and journeyman guitarist Matt Sweeney.

Post Pop Depression is a singular work that stands proudly alongside the best works of either of its principles, from The Stooges to Queens Of The Stone Age, bearing its creators' undeniable sonic DNA while sounding like nothing they've done before. It's a record that wouldn't exist without either Pop or Homme-and one that probably shouldn't in theory if you really think about it-but it does, and we and rock n roll are all the better for it.

TRACK LISTING

1) Break Into Your Heart
2) Gardenia
3) American Valhalla
4) In The Lobby
5) Sunday
6) Vulture
7) German Days
8) Chocolate Drops
9) Paraguay

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Brand New single.

Limited to 500 copies.