The Lilac Time are original members Nick & Stephen Duffy, with Claire Duffy who joined in 1999 and helped out immeasurably here by Ben Peeler.

John Paterno returns to mix and master as he has done since No Sad Songs of 2015.

Without conventional drums or bass their fondness for country and folk hues are clearer. These are unequivocally and absolutely the best songs Stephen Duffy has ever written in his twenty or so long playing album career. The first single release is "A Makeshift Raft". A song that asks if those seeking freedom need drown, then ponders the inevitability of continuous wars. It praises the America of Allen Ginsberg before a few bars of yodelling. It ends by eulogises fingers, guitars and songs of love. Something for everyone then. The song is accompanied by a video created by Martin Carr.

They love being who they are and they love this album and they hope you will find time to dance till all the stars come down with them.

• 4 CD box set celebrating the Madchester/baggy scene and the indie dance crossover.

• Featuring The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, The Charlatans and more.

• With tracks presented in their extended mixes as played at clubs such as The Hacienda.

As the Berlin Wall came down and a new decade beckoned, indie and dance collided and bands like The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets and The Charlatans spearheaded a new music movement dubbed ‘baggy’ or ‘Madchester’. While the focus was on Manchester, it was an explosion that stretched from the Glasgow area with The Soup Dragons and Primal Scream to Liverpool with The Farm, Leeds with the Bridewell Taxis and Flowered Up in London.

The ‘Madchester’ sound incorporated elements of 60s psychedelia, 80s indie, 70s funk and contemporary house and hip hop; 808 State were an electronic dance act, The Stone Roses, a guitar band with a funky rhythm section, Inspiral Carpets used a Farfisa organ associated with 1960s garage punk and Happy Mondays played a truly unique blend of indie funk.

The Hacienda night club in Manchester co-owned by New Order was a catalyst and cultural centre for this music explosion, having played US house music from 1987. Another influence was the increasing availability of MDMA in the city.

Remixes were an important part of the indie dance crossover scene and 12” remixes here include Paul Oakenfold ’s pioneering ‘Think About The Future Mix’ of Happy Mondays’ ‘W.F.L.’, Terry Farley’s mixes of Primal Scream’s ‘Come Together’ and The Soup Dragons’ ‘I’m Free’ and Andy Weatherall’s reconstruction of James’ ‘Come Home’.

Also included are other indie bands who embraced dance music after discovering sampling and the new music technology including Aberdeen’s The Shamen who’d started out as a psychedelic guitar band before evolving into a dance act and Stourbridge’s self-styled grebos, Pop Will Eat Itself whose music metamorphosised from pop punk into a hybrid of rock, hip hop and dance.

Hits include The Stone Roses ‘Fool’s Gold’ (UK #9) and Happy Mondays ‘Step On’ (UK #5) plus there’s dancefloor favourites such as The Charlatans’ debut Hammond groove ‘Indian Rope’ and rarities including the excellent but forgotten ‘Perfect Person’ by Sinister Groove.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE:
1 Happy Mondays - W.F.L. ‘Think About The Future’ Mix (The Paul Oakenfold Mix)
2 Inspiral Carpets – Joe
3 808 State – Pacific State – Origin (12” Version)
4 James - Come Home (Weatherall Remix A.k.a. Skunk Weed Skank Mix)
5 The Farm - Stepping Stone (12” Ghost Dance Mix)
6 Hypnotone – Dream Beam (Ben Chapman Remix)
7 New Fast Automatic Daffodils – Big (Baka)
8 Paris Angels – All On You (Perfume) (12” Version)
9 The Bridewell Taxis – Spirit (LFO Decision Remix)
10 Electronic – Get The Message (DNA Groove Mix)
Future Sound Of London – Papua New Guinea (12” Original Mix AKA Dali Mix)
11 The Beloved – The Sun Rising (Danny’s Love Is… Remix)
12 The Times – Manchester (Single Version)
13 Candy Flip – Strawberry Fields Forever (Raspberry Ripple Remix)

DISC TWO:
1 The Stone Roses – Fools Gold 9.53
2 The Charlatans – Indian Rope
3 Moonflowers – Get Higher (Rather Large In The Bristol Area Mix)
4 Northside - Shall We Take A Trip (12” Version)
5 The Mock Turtles - Can You Dig It?
6 Spin – Scratches (In The Sand)
7 World Of Twist – She’s A Rainbow (12” Version)
8 Sinister Groove – Perfect Person
9 Spirea X – Re: Action
10 The Candy Skins – For What It’s Worth
11 Honey Smugglers – You Are The Sun
12 Airhead – Counting Sheep
13 The Telescopes – Celeste
14 The Hollow Men – Thrilled
15 Spacemen 3 – Big City (Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here) (12” Version)

DISC THREE:
1 Primal Scream – Come Together (Terry Farley
Extended 12” Mix)
2 Flowered Up – It’s On
3 Saint Etienne – Kiss And Make Up (Midsummer Madness Mix)
4 Inspiral Carpets – Commercial Reign
5 The Shamen – Pro>Gen (Land Of Oz Mix)
6 Intastella – Century (12” Version)
7 Happy Mondays – Step On (Twisting My Melon Mix)
8 The Primitives – You Are The Way (Re-Ravishing Mix)
9 The Wendys – The Sun's Going To Shine For Me Soon
10 Chapterhouse – Pearl (12” Version)
11 Raintree County – Mad Dog
12 King Of The Slums - Bear Wiv Me (Flourescent Mix)
13 A Certain Ratio – Twenty Seven Forever (12” Version)

DISC FOUR:
1 The Soup Dragons - I’m Free (Terry Farley Boys Own Remix)
2 Stereo MC’s – Connected
3 Ruthless Rap Assassins – And It Wasn’t A Dream (Dare To Be Aware Mix)
4 MC Tunes Versus 808 State – Tunes Splits The Atom (Original Rap)
5 That Petrol Emotion – Tingle (Hard Boppin’ Mix)
6 Julian Cope – Love L.U.V. (Beautiful Love Remix)
7 Jesus Jones - Real Real Real (Rhythm 3 - Ben Chapman "Spaced" 12” Mix)
8 The Charlatans – Opportunity Three
9 The Dylans – Lemon Afternoon
10 Pop Will Eat Itself – X,Y And Zee (Electric Sunshine Style)
11 Stan – My Delight (Extended Mix)
12 Cud – Magic (Extended Farsley Mix)
13 Blow-Up – World (Long Version)
14 The Popguns – Crazy
15 Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine – After The Watershed (Early Learning The Hard Way)

Originally released in 1996, Come’s third album ‘Near Life Experience’ was the sound of a band heading into new territory, refining their dense mix of hypnotic noise-rock, blues and rock’n’roll song-writing. Lovingly remastered, this new version features three incredible bonus tracks ‘Prize’, ‘Strike’, ‘Hurricane II’ stemming from the same era, additional liner notes and photographs.

After Come's seminal 1994 release ‘Don't Ask Don't Tell’, bassist Sean O'Brien and drummer Arthur Johnson left the band to pursue other careers. Remaining members Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek recorded Near Life Experience with two different rhythm sections: one half of the album was recorded with drummer Mac McNeilly of the Jesus Lizard and Bundy K. Brown of Tortoise and Gastr Del Sol, the other half recorded with Kevin Coultas and Tara Jane O'Neil of Rodan and The Sonora Pine. Other contributors to the album included Edward Yazijian from Kustomized and Jeff Goddard from Karate, both rock bands hailing from Boston, MA.

The title of the album resulted from "a slip of the tongue, as Zedek states, she "was telling someone [she had] had a 'near life experience,' but meant to say near death experience. Chris [Brokaw] was cracking up at the imagery of that. Thus, the phrase was chosen as the album's title.
"Near-Life Experience is heavier, and at the same time prettier, than Come has ever sounded." CMJ New Music Monthly.

“Come is a re-energized, even more powerful band than they used to be, and Near Life Experience is their most concise and affecting release yet.” All Music.

Zedek and Brokaw might have compensated the loss of band members by recruiting new blood but the reward was huge, ‘Near Life Experience’ is Come’s most cinematic, diverse and accessible album.

TRACK LISTING

Side One
A1 Hurricane
A2 Weak As The Moon
A3 Secret Number
A4 Bitten
A5 Shoot Me First
Side Two
B1 Walk On's
B2 Half Life
B3 Sloe-Eyed
B4 Prize
B5 Strike
B6 Hurricane II

Expanded 30th anniversary re-issue of The Lemonheads’ classic 1993 album. The breakthrough record that took American alt rock global and catapulted Evan Dando into the hearts of a generation. With a wealth of unreleased demos, alternative versions and rarities - including covers of Victoria Williams, Buddy Holly and The Flying Burrito Brothers plus The Lemonhead’s take on the Cole Porter standard ‘Miss Otis Regrets’.

In the 90’s Evan’s Lemonheads produced hit after a hit, a string of super cool singles: ‘Big Gay Heart’, ‘Into Your Arms’, ‘It’s About Time’, and ‘The Great Big NO’. Pure genius filling the radio waves and taking the stage... Some 30 years on; Evan is still knocking that song writing thing out of the park and ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’ sounds as fresh and perky as it ever did. Amid the hits on the original record are stencils and outlines for yet more magical music and now this deluxe edition adds a second disc of demos and acoustic versions, plus a host of one-offs from sessions and compilations that add further colour to the myth and how it was created.

There’s the in-demand combo lovingly covering Victoria Williams’ ‘Frying Pan’ from her ‘Sweet Relief’ album, which is joined by an eclectic set of flipsides and out-takes, like their version of original garage punk nugget ‘Little Black Egg’ by The Nightcrawlers, Evan’s homage to Gram Parsons on the winsome ‘Streets Of Baltimore’ and Buddy Holly’s melancholy ‘Learning The Game’. Evan knows a good song when he hears it, as ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’ certainly proved.

TRACK LISTING

Disc One
Side A
A1 The Great Big No
A2 Into Your Arms
A3 It's About Time
A4 Down About It
A5 Paid To Smile
A6 Big Gay Heart
A7 Style
A8 Rest Assured
Side B
B1 Dawn Can't Decide
B2 I'll Do It Anyway
B3 Rick James Style
B4 Being Around
B5 Favorite T
B6 You Can Take It With You
B7 The Jello Fund ( + Lenny - Hidden Track)
Disc Two
Side C – Alternative & Acoustic
C1 Big Gay Heart (Demo)
C2 Being Around (Alternative)
C3 Into Your Arms (Acoustic)
C4 Down About It (Acoustic)
C5 Deep Bottom Cove
C6 Acoustic Rick James Style
C7 It's About Time (Acoustic)
Side D – Covers & Curiosities
D1 Miss Otis Regrets
D2 Learning The Game
D3 Little Black Egg
D4 Streets Of Baltimore (Acoustic)
D5 Frying Pan
D6 He's On The Beach
D7 Favorite T (Live In Session)

First released back in 2014 on Greg Wilson’s Super Weird Substance label, as a limited 12'' vinyl run of 500, ‘Don’t You Worry Baby The Best Is Yet to Come’, has subsequently become a much sought after record with modern soul enthusiasts, copies currently selling at well over £100.

It was soul legend, Colin Curtis, who suggested, at last year’s We Out Here festival, that a 7'' pressing may be timely. Colin’s connection with the track goes back to hallowed Northern soul club, the Blackpool Mecca, in ‘70s, where the Bessie Banks original, never issued in the UK, was a cult-classic.

The Reynolds are Merseyside twins, Carmel and Katherine Reynolds, who worked with Greg across various projects on the label. Katherine takes the lead on this track, and handles it like a veteran, her vocal elegantly gliding the groove – Greg working in collaboration with Wolverhampton DJ/musician Peza, who programmed and co-mixed the track.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Part 1
B1. Part 2

Released in 1970 and produced by the prestigious Charles Stepney, “Come To My Garden” is the debut studio album by R&B/Soul singer Minnie Riperton. The purity and virtuosity of Minnie Riperton’s vocals are seeped in Stepney’s orchestral flourishes and jazz-inspired driving grooves courtesy of Ramsey Lewis’ rhythm section. Minnie Riperton is arguably one of the most overlooked soul voices of this era. An unforgettable piece of seductive chamber-soul history.

TRACK LISTING

A1.  Les Fleurs
A2.  Completeness
A3.  Come To My Garden
A4.  Memory Band
A5.  Rainy Day In Centerville
B1.  Close Your Eyes & Remember
B2.  Oh! By The Way
B3.  Expecting
B4.  Only When I'm Dreaming
B5.  Whenever, Wherever

Thy Kingdom Come is the fifth studio album by West Coast hip hop artist King T. Recorded at the same time as the multi-platinum albums Dr. Dre - "2001" and Eminem - "The Slim Shady LP", "Thy Kingdom Come" features guest appearances by Dr. Dre, MC Ren (N.W.A.), DJ Quik, Too $hort, NBA legend Shaquille O'Neal, Ice-T, Kool G Rap, Dawn Robinson (En Vogue, Lucy Pearl) to name a few. When Dr. Dre departed from Death Row Records to form Aftermath Entertainment in 1996, one of the rappers he intended to build his new label with was veteran Compton rapper King Tee. Tee appeared on "Dr. Dre presents... The Aftermath" (and soon hit the studio to record an album. But the album release didn't happen, and finally here is the long-awaited official release.

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

Lovingly re issued on double vinyl for the first time since 1998. Come's final chapter sees Thalia Zedek and Chris Brokaw at their peak, refining their incredible blend of dissonant blues and cathartic noise-rock heightened by the intricate guitar dual-play and the added melody that permeates the songwriting. Includes full album download and new liner notes.

‘The penultimate song on the first disc of The Coral's double concept-album 'Coral Island', 'Autumn Has Come' is a song that foreshadows a time when the tourists would leave the island-town that the record imagines. Recorded in Liverpool & released in 2021, the Band's 10th Studio Album drew comparisons to the Kinks' 'Village Green Preservation Society' and went on to reach number two in the UK charts. It tells the story of "a world of end-of-the-pier day-drinkers and kids who get where they shouldn't”; which The Telegraph called a “carnivalesque cornucopia of strange delights” and Clash Magazine hailed as an "extraordinary piece of world building”. Our version captures the melancholy of the vocal melody and echoes the music box described in the song's lyric. So with this beautiful Coral Music Box you can almost...  TAKE A WANDER THROUGH THE EMPTY FAIRGROUND YOURSELF!

The newly revived Undaground Therapy Muzik label comes with one of the most sought after releases of the label... the 1999 classic Men From The Nile ft Peven Everett “Watch Them Come”. A highlight in DJ sets from people such as Theo Parrish, Kerri Chandler and many others. Standing the test of time and a testament to its dancefloor-ready grooves, “Watch Them Come” opens up the EP and still sounds as fresh as ever. Men From The Nile is a collaboration between Roy Davis Jr. and Jay Juniel, and for “Watch Them Come” they enlisted the legendary vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Peven Everett to complete the tribal cut. For the reissue, Men From The Nile are joined by some of the biggest names in dance music. Green Velvet aka Cajmere has been a mainstay in the Chicago circuit since the 90s, making a name for himself as a multifaceted artist as well as label head at Cajual Records and Relief Records. Key players in the club scene for over two decades, Boston duo Soul Clap add one of their tight, minimalist reduxes, while Matt N Ricky turn the swing up to +11 for a seriously wriggly Chi-town flavoured tweak. Recommended tribal pressure for every serious house head!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Tribal house zenith from '99 which Theo Parrish and many others got many dancing miles out of. Nothing epitomizes that red-lit, bassment buggin' house sound more than this. A true classic of the genre.

TRACK LISTING

Watch Them Come - Original Mix
Watch Them Come - Green Velvet Rmx
Watch Them Come - Soul Clap Rmx
Watch Them Come - Matt N Ricky Rmx

Ace is delighted to continue with Jon Savage’s highly respected year-by-year series documenting the music scene on a world stage, which began with a volume based on his successful 1966 book for Faber.

A genre-spanning two-disc array of pivotal singles, extended mixes, context-providers, scene-stealers and lost gems from disco, b-boy, new wave, rap, indie and synth: these are the decks that defined the dawn of the 80s, captured the mood and crystallised Jon’s personal experiences of these years. Artists include the Associates, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, the Human League, Grace Jones, New Order, Yello, the Peech Boys and Zapp

Living in Manchester, working for Granada TV in tandem with Tony Wilson and spinning discs at Joy Division and New Order gigs, this was a time where clubs were key for Jon. It’s no surprise that this is the first volume where 12-inch singles make their mark in the series.

The 80s began with Thatcher in power, the rise of the New Right in America and the death of Ian Curtis, but by 1982 the world was travelling out of post-punk darkness into the light of a bright new decade. It was beginning of the art of things to come.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE
1. UNDERGROUND - The Bizarros
2. TWIST AND CRAWL - The Beat
3. CANDY-O - The Cars
4. THESE DAYS - Joy Division
5. SIMPLE STUFF - Echo & The Bunnymen
6. OUR LOVE (12-inch Version) - Donna Summer
7. THE APARTMENT - Giorgio Moroder
8. SHE'S LOST CONTROL - Grace Jones
9. FAITH - Manicured Noise
10. WHIP IT - Devo
11. MORE BOUNCE TO THE OUNCE - Zapp
12. I TRAVEL - Simple Minds
13. FLIGHT (12-inch Version) - A Certain Ratio
14. DIRTY BACK ROAD - The B-52's
15. EUTHENICS - Modern Eon
16. TOO MANY CREEPS - Bush Tetras
17. HOW WE GONNA MAKE THE BLACK NATION RISE?
(12-inch Version) - Brother "D" With Collective Effort
18. HELLO OPERATOR...I MEAN DAD...I MEAN POLICE...
I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER WHO I AM - Was (Not Was)
19. MACK THE KNIFE - The Psychedelic Furs
20. HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS (12-inch Vers.) - Public Image Ltd
DISC TWO
1. POOR OLD SOUL PT 2 - Orange Juice
2. PRIMARY (12-inch Version) - The Cure
3. THE SOUND OF THE CROWD - The Human League
4. PICTURES - Josef K
5. EVERYTHING'S GONE GREEN (12-inch Version) - New Order
6. BOSTICH (12-inch Version) - Yello
7. MESSAGE OBLIQUE SPEECH (12-inch Version) - The Associates
8. BEDSITTER (12-inch Version) - Soft Cell
9. ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH ON THE WHEELS OF
STEEL (12-inch Version) - Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
10. ART ON 45 (12-inch Version) - Royal Family And The Poor
11. HYDRAULIC PUMP PT 2 (12-inch Version) - P-Funk All Stars
12. PLANET ROCK - Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
13. WE'RE SO COOL - Au Pairs
14. DON'T MAKE ME WAIT (12-inch Dub Mix) - Peech Boys
15. MY CITY WAS GONE - Pretenders

24 years after its initial release, Mogwai’s iconic second album ‘Come On Die Young’ is to be reissued on coloured vinyl. Presented in a gatefold sleeve with original artwork, the white vinyl will come with a digital download code.

Originally released in March 1999, ‘Come On Die Young’s artwork references The Exorcist and a title scalped from a well-known Glasgow gang slogan. Instead of the cover’s suggested apocalypse-harbouring, pre-millennial assault on the senses however, this second offering from the band was a darkly elegiac – and surprisingly restrained – response to the aural fireworks of their ‘Young Team’ debut from two years earlier.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: CODY was quite a sidestep from the incendiary heft of Mogwai's debut, but showcases the side of the band that (for me) is their best iteration. Quiet, contemplative melody and shadowy vocals below oft-beautiful and also oft-crushing post-rock instrumentation. Absolutely classic 'Gwai.

TRACK LISTING

Punk Rock:
Cody
Helps Both Ways
Year 2000 Non-Compliant Cardia
Kappa
Waltz For Aidan
May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door
Oh! How The Dogs Stack Up
Ex-Cowboy
Chocky
Christmas Steps
Punk Rock/Puff Daddy/Antichrist

The Liverpool ‘Kitchencore’ band follow up their critically received album England’s Up For Sale in 2020 with their most commercial and musically ambitious album to date. Full of razor-sharp lyrics and musical twist and turns, What’s On The Inside Has To Come Out is briming with energy and ideas.

Whereas the previous album was an observational, sparse, post-punk style snap-shot of a Brexit Britain, the new record has a more personal style with witty tales of northern, working class life in songs like I’m Shy, Mum & Dad, Money & Art and the title track What’s On The Inside Has To Come Out, that you can easily relate to.

Through the bands constant gigging and riotous theatrical live shows, they have gained a big reputation as a great live act with festivalflyer.com including them in their list of the top festival bands in the UK. However, behind the fun and theatrics, the band have always had something serious to say.

The album has their usual garage punk and artrock sound fused with post-punk, folk and even gospel elements for a more eclectic record that should please their hardcore fans and those new to their lo-fi but accessible sound. This is a joyous, life-affirming record for the post-Covid era, by the ultimate people’s band... This is Kitchencore!

TRACK LISTING

1. What's On The Inside Has To Come Out
2. Mum & Dad
3. I'm Shy
4. Money & Art
5. In Toxteth
6. Elvis In My Dreams
7. Life Is Beautiful
8. Kind
9. Happy Birthday Syd
10. Jarg Bizzie
11. Badges
12. Everybody Has A Song

Two classic Rahaan productions on the same 12” for the first time. His take on "Luv Bug" by Bumblebee Unlimited is something to beyond. Extending out the bass and percussion sections, stripping it right back to its low-slung, skeletal groove before building it all back up again to its honey-suckling sweet disco glory. Unconfirmed but I can't help but think Rahaan's had access to the original stems for this super clean, high fidelity re-edit which is in serious breach of superseding Patrick Adam's original version!

Another highly celebrated tweak from the Chicago don - "Rain Come Down" revists the GAMM release "Down Comes The Rain", which was in itself a tweak of Prince's "17 Days". Rahaan strips back all the superfluous elements, leaving nowt but that tastefully picked guitar line, invigorating piano chords and killer bass and drum interplay. Extending out the best bars of this B-side beast from the king of disco - it's a prime slice of late night deep disco boogie that few will be able to resist shaking a tail feature too.

Highly sought after cuts from the legend - 300 copies only - don’t sleep!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Rahaan's edit of Prince's B-side killer "17 Steps" has gone down in history and become a cult collected item. Now repressed as a limited run, heavy vinyl; it comes b/w "Luv Bugz" - a stripped down groove-heavy edit of Patrick Adam's iconic Bumblebee Unlimited project.

TRACK LISTING

Luv Bugz
Rain Come Down

Now based in the township of Castlemaine, Central Victoria, the Australian artist returns self-assured and firmly settled within the dense eucalypt bushlands. Dal Forno grapples with ideas of home, disorder and insomnia in the swift pop structures of her DIY/post-punk forebearers such as Young Marble Giants, Virginia Astley and Broadcast. Three years since the launch of her label, Kallista Records, dal Forno finds stability in Castlemaine (pop. 6,750), her third home city in as many albums. After nearly a decade of moving, recording and touring out of Berlin and London, Come Around embodies a newfound solitude born of/in elemental pop hooks and enlightened songwriting.

The title track, “Come Around,” offers the best example of this confident, fresh candor. It’s an elegant invite into dal Forno’s sharp new focus beckoning old friends, relationships and audiences into her resettled home: ‘And it’s not every day that I’ll want you beside me here and I’ll say / Come over here and be around.’ This meandering pop hit strikes between the melodic simplicity of Anna Domino and YMG and the arrangement hooks of The Cannanes and Movietone, capturing dal Forno at her most welcoming with arms wide open.

Other tracks like “Mind You’re On” recalls the bass driven heft of dal Forno’s previous work but where past albums projected the pastoral idyll from the urban jungles of Berlin and London, the lyricism and production on Come Around embody her current lived experience in the Australian regions where space, strong bonds and solitude are in high supply. As she sings on “Side By Side:” ‘It's been some years since I’ve seen this place / Kiss on my neck / Sending shivers it’s good to be back.’ Returning to rekindle relationships with people and places and joining in trysts amidst the foreboding badlands cuts through the whole record, as on “The Garden of Earthly Delights,” a cover of The United States of America’s 1968 track: ‘Luminous petals / Dissident Play / Dancing by night / Dying by day.’ There is joy if you look for it but, as dal Forno warns on “Caution”: ‘I sell caution word of you.’ Mistrust and doubt are not completely vanquished.

Having embarked on such a radical physical and creative journey since the last record, dal Forno lays bare the passing of time and the oscillating waves of energy and ennui that go with it. This is plain to see on “Stay Awake” and instrumentals like “Deep Sleep” and “Autumn,” which gives rise to anxiety and insomnia in her new sunburnt home: ‘Stay awake all the time in the endless heat / Find it hard to relate in amongst the weeds.’ Yet “Slumber” offers a glimmer of respite sitting within the chaotic circus of production that channels Kendra Smith, General Strike and The Flying Lizards. This track, a duet with English artist, Thomas Bush, searches for solace in the arms of another: ‘My Dear there’s so much to be done / I never finished what I start am / I’m losing / I should be rushing out the door, but you say slumber.’

Nothing is left unsaid on Come Around. Having finally found limitless time and space, dal Forno does well not to waste any sceric of it. Are you around? Then come around. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Carla Dal Forno brings us another meticulously crafted selection of off-piste electronic numbers, this time straying even further into slo-mo dub territory she's been known to inhabit on previous offerings. Richly produced and wonderfully evocative, and skilfully straddling a variety of genres.

TRACK LISTING

1. Side By Side
2. Come Around
3. The Garden Of Earthly Delights
4. Stay Awake
5. Autumn
6. Mind Your On
7. Slumber (ft. Thomas Bush)
8. Deep Sleep
9. Caution

Last year, Nice Swan Records started the monthly ‘Nice Swan Introduces…’ series, shining a light on the most exciting emerging talent. Following releases with the likes of Sports Team, Pip Blom, FEET & FUR, the Series introduced a whole wave of new and exciting talent including Courting, Sprints, Malady, English Teacher & Opus Kink, which cemented the label as one of the country’s most exciting independent record labels for discovering the hottest new talent. Volume two of the series ha already unearthed Prima Queen, Deadletter and Saloon Dion and next up are Brighton’s Shady Baby.

It is with impeccable timing that the week after Brighton’s Great Escape Festival, the UK’s most famous multi venue event showcasing the best new music – Nice Swan Records, today, have announced their latest signing, Shady Baby – one of Brighton’s own! Shady Baby is the musical project of Brighton based Sam Leaver. Inspired by the sounds of Madchester & Britpop, and with a love for John Cooper Clarke, Leaver began making his own brand of angst ridden pop during the height of lockdown where songs were formed out of frustration whilst locked in his bedroom.

Having approached Brighton based producer Theo Verney (English Teacher, FEET, FUR, Egyptian Blue, TRAAMS etc) with his early demos, the two instantly formed a musical bond that has seen them work closely together in the studio ever since and Verney has helped hone the exciting sound of the debut tracks of Shady Baby.

Speaking on the track, Leaver said:

“‘Come To Life’ is an angry response to feeling like people treated you like shit but you let them get away with it. Feeling both angry at them but also at yourself for letting it happen.”

Leaver then enlisted the support of old childhood friend Laurie Debnam, on guitar after bumping into him at a house party in Brighton having not seen each other in a decade. Nick Varnava (Bass) and Tom Jackson (Drums) complete the line-up, having joined from other bands on the scene in the legendary musical city.

To wit, if you think you know already what you’ll be getting into here heady, Television-esque multi-guitar jams played with motorik precision and a fiercely American intensity: you know, a Forsyth record well, go ahead and think that. I won’t stop you. Only . . . maybe the pulsing bass, curiously lurching drumbeat, and lunar synth squiggling of Sun Ra Arkestra maestro Marshall Allen that opens “Experimental & Professional” will set you back on your heels. But just for a moment, before Ryan Jewell’s drums and Tortoise alum Douglas McCombs’s bass twine into perfect alignment and then guitars played by Forsyth and Tom Malach (of Garcia Peoples) start chipping and hammering, twittering and sparring, the whole thing managing to evoke Remain in Light without sounding remotely like it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Experimental & Professional
2. Heaven For A Few
3. Bad Moon Risen
4. You're Going To Need Somebody
5. Hey, Evolution
6. Long Beach Idyll
7. Robot Energy Machine

Article 58, named after the Soviet classification for counter-revolutionaries, were formed in Scotland by Gerri McLaughlin (vocals), Douglas MacIntyre (guitars) and Ewan MacLennan (bass), with Stephen Lironi (drums) on these recordings. The group existed for a short period of time, burning brightly before burning out.

A single, ‘Event To Come’, was produced by Postcard Records’ Alan Horne and Malcolm Ross and released on Josef K manager Allan Campbell’s Rational label.

Article 58 were the opening group on many bills in Scotland, including support slots circa 1981 with A Certain Ratio, Scars, Josef K, Delmontes, Bauhaus, Restricted Code, among others.

Josef K invited Article 58 to support them on some dates in England to promote their only album, ’The Only Fun In Town’, after which Article 58 recorded tracks for an as-yet unreleased album. One track, ‘Reflection’, did surface on a cassette/ zine product (‘Irrational’) released by Rational Records. However the teenage tension and strain of all that accompanies being in a group proved too much and Article 58 split up at the end of 1981.

‘Event To Come’ was to be the only single released by Article 58. The B side, ‘Icon’, is a previously unreleased recording. Both tracks are presented in a brand new sleeve designed by The Creeping Bent Organisation for release on the Optic Nerve label. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Event To Come
Side B
Icon

‘Devasting, with slow, burning songs that shudder and wince’ NY TIMES

Peel Sessions is an essential nine-track set catching Boston’s mighty Come at the peak of their powers. The collection includes two sessions recorded for John Peel in both 1992 and 1993, plus a previously unreleased live track ‘Clockface’ from 1991, unwrapping the blueprint of their sonic idealism. Raw, loud and live, exactly where the band’s dissonant blues noise rock originates.

1992’s four track session is direct from their debut; but more mangled, strangled and abrasive. The follow-up set from a year later includes live favourite ‘Mercury Falls’ and ‘City Of Fun’ neither of which surfaced as studio recordings.

The sessions feature the masterful guitar interplay of two central pivots of the post-post-punk and alternative noisnik underground, Chris Brokaw (Codeine, Pullman, Thurston Moore, Ryley Walker, Lemonheads) and Thalia Zedek (Uzi, Live Skull, solo). The session’s line-up is completed by the addition of Sean O'Brian and Arthur Johnson’s visceral bass and percussion, documenting an essential era for the band.

Peel Sessions follows their recently released ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ reissue, part of Fire Records forthcoming reissue series for the seminal group.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Dead Molly (Peel Session, 1992)
Bell (Peel Session, 1992)
William (Peel Session, 1992)
Off To One Side (Peel Session, 1992)


Side B

Wrong Side (Peel Session, 1993)
Sharen Vs. Karen (Peel Session, 1993)
Mercury Falls (Peel Session, 1993)
City Of Fun (Peel Session, 1993)
Clockface (Live In Boston, 1991)

Planningtorock, the nom-de-plume of Jam Roston, has been creating celebratory queer music with a political edge for over 15 years. Initally working with James Murphy and DFA, alongside releases on Chicks On Speed before starting their own imprint, Human Level; they've opened for LCD Soundsystem and contributed to some amazing collaborations with fellow culture subverters Peaches and The Knife.

Comprised of three celebratory, joyful, saccarine-sweet house tracks, "Gay Dreams Do Come True" is Planningtorock’s aural mission to own their queer happiness, and to share that joy with anyone who wants to listen. Thru heavily manipulated vox, cheeky lyrics and super crisp digital beats, "Gay Dreams Do Come True" finds natural bedfellows alongside fellow PC Music innovators Sophie, Charlie XCX and GFOTY.

'This song is a dedication to my love, my wife Riinu and to the Black trans women who fought for the rights we have today as queer, gay, non binary lesbians.' 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Gay Dreams Do Come True
A2 Gay Dreams Do Come True (Instrumental)
B1 Girl You’ve Got My Heart
B2 Her Heart Is Now My Home

Daniel Blumberg has composed an enchanting new original score for Mona Fastvold’s critically acclaimed The World To Come. The film premiered at the 77th Venice Film Festival 2020 and was released in UK cinemas during Summer 2021. Highlighted as “a marvelous score” in Variety and “powerfully moving” by The Film Stage, the score includes the title track featuring Josephine Foster. Blumberg enlisted the talents of an ensemble of radical, internationally revered musicians, whilst the score was co-produced with world-renowned producer Peter Walsh (Scott Walker).

Released on Limited edition double clear vinyl and CD.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Opening (Dyer’s Farmhouse)
A2 Nellie
A3 Abigail’s Walk
A4 Tallie
A5 Flummoxed
A6 Chicken Plucking
A7 The Storm
A8 Falling In Love
B1 First Kiss
B2 The Orchard
B3 The Woods
B4 Spying House
B5 Thoughts And Townships
B6 The Fire
B7 Empty House
B8 Tallie Missing
C1 Finny Letter
C2 Atlas
C3 The Wagon
C4 Love And Death
C5 Rooftop
C6 The World To Come
D1 Abigail’s Theme (Brötzmann Solo)
D2 Tallie’s Theme (Brötzmann Solo)

'Ships Will Come' is the highly acclaimed debut album from Leipzig, Germany-based outfit Warm Graves. On the LP, Warm Graves deliver surreal, dream-like atmospherics that are underpinned by repetitive, organic rhythms and echoing vocals, performed by a self-taught choir composed of a collective of friends. Across the seven perfectly structured and interwoven tracks, Warm Graves create a sci-fi soundtrack that manages to be as gorgeously mesmerising and ethereal as it is anthemic and empowering. Originally released in 2014, the album is now being reissued by their new label home, the London-based Fuzz Club Records. Having spent the last few years out of sight and quietly working on new music, Jonas Wehner’s Warm Graves have now completed their long-awaited second album which is set to be released via Fuzz Club in 2022. Until then, their fantastic debut, ‘Ships Will Come’, is now available to stream/download on all digital platforms once again and will have a vinyl reissue arriving on December 3rd. Warm Graves have previously toured with Exploded View and Moon Duo and also supported The Soft Moon, Crystal Stilts, Efterklang and Moonface.

TRACK LISTING

1) Ravachol
2) Penumbra
3) Cold Women
4) Ships Will Come
5) Best Ezra
6) Headlines
7) Rouleaux 

Conceptualized and written during the chaotic fall months of 2020, Hiss Golden Messenger’s O Come All Ye Faithful recorded shortly after the widely hailed Quietly Blowing It is a meditation on grace, loss, hope, and community. Explains songwriter M.C. Taylor, “Big, brash holiday music the type that we hear in big box stores in the middle of December has never resonated with me, and this past year it felt absolutely dissonant. I wanted to make a seasonal record that felt more in step with the way that I, and so many others, experience this time of year: quiet, contemplative, searching, and bittersweet.”

Contributors to O Come All Ye Faithful include many members of Hiss Golden Messenger’s extended family, as well as special guests like GRAMMY Award winner Aoife O’Donovan, Nathaniel Rateliff, Erin Rae, and Buddy Miller. The tracklist includes new tunes written by Taylor, classic hymns, and renditions of songs by Spiritualized, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Woody Guthrie, all arranged in the inimitable Hiss Golden Messenger style. Adorned with a beautifully spare design created by celebrated artist Cody Hudson. The deluxe vinyl version of O Come All Ye Faithful includes an additional collection of remixes by Revelators, Taylor’s spiritual jazz and dub-influenced project with Cameron Ralston.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A

1 Hung Fire
2 O Come All Ye Faithful
3 Grace
4 By The Lights Of St. Stephen
5 Shine A Light

SIDE B

6 Joy To The World
7 Silent Night
8 Hanukkah Dance
9 As Long As I Can See The Light 

Peak Vinyl Bonus LP :

The Sounding Joy: Hiss Golden Messenger Meets Revelators On South Robinson Street: LP

SIDE C

1 Shine
2 Light
3 Sounding Joy Dub

SIDE D

4 Grace Version
5 King Of Angels Dub
6 Silent

In 1994 Come responded to the difficult-second-album stereotype with the hypnotic, intense and emotional masterpiece ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’. Featuring the original line-up of Thalia Zedek, Chris Brokaw, Sean O’ Brien and Arthur Johnson, the Boston band broadened their sound by slowing down the tempos and creating a dense urban stream of consciousness that mixes noise, city blues and… catharsis. The album hits you immediately as one of the greatest dissident records ever made.

Lovingly remastered, this expanded edition includes 'Wrong Sides', an additional albums worth of b-sides and unreleased tracks, including the band's very first single 'Car' and their last recorded song, 'Cimarron', featuring this core line-up. These gems showcase the rawness and incredible growth of a band completely in command of their songwriting and at the same time paying homage to some of their punk roots with beautiful renditions of Swell Maps 'Loin Of The Surf' and X's 'Adult Books'. Also Includes new artwork with unearthed photos and fresh liner notes by the band.

Dissident from traditional rock this is a band playing music that thematically and structurally seems to pull from old Europa, from Eastern folk and modernist classical music as much as US and UK rock. Dissident from traditional ideas about singing and songwriting Thalia’s (ex of Live Skull) presence on songs like ‘Yr Reign’ and the astonishing closer ‘Arrive’ isn’t the pushy self-aggrandizement of a lead singer but the internal voice of the eternal migrant, someone who knows about survival, hiding, how living between multiple worlds can become its own refuge of distance, its own sanctuary of unbelonging Don’t Ask Don’t Tell emerged from a period of cohesion, a break from the tight and hectic touring schedule Come had been plunged into after the acclaim accorded 11:11, and you can hear that increased focus in every moment the layers of guitars and feedback are even more precise, the structuring of songs takes on a new openness and ambition, and the whole narrative arc of the record from ‘Finish Line’ to ‘Arrive’ is more exquisitely realised and sequenced.

TRACK LISTING

Don't Ask Don't Tell - Disc 1
A1 Finish Line
A2 Mercury Falls
A3 Yr Reign
A4 Poison
A5 Let's Get Lost
B1 String
B2 German Song
B3 In/Out
B4 Wrong Side
B5 Arrive

Wrong Sides - Disc 2
A1 Car
A2 Last Mistake
A3 Submerge
A4 Loin Of The Surf
A5 SVK
B1 German Song (Demo)
B2 Adult Books
B3 Who Jumped In My Grave
B4 Angelhead
B5 Cimarron

Spiritualized and Fat Possum Records announce the final instalment of The Spaceman Reissue Program. The album is the fourth in this series of 180g double albums mastered by Alchemy Mastering, presented in a gatefold jacket with reworked artwork by Mark Farrow and available in both a standard black vinyl pressing and limited edition ivory-coloured vinyl.

Let It Come Down saw Jason Pierce rebuilding Spiritualized after the core line-up dissolved following the intensive touring process of Ladies And Gentlemen... Dion’s Phil Spector-produced ‘Born To Be With You’ was an influence. The initial recordings were made at John Coxon’s studio before some 115 different musicians were brought into Air and Abbey Road Studios to work on these 11 songs. Spiritualized had always made wide-screen music but this time the movie theater was the size of the Coliseum

TRACK LISTING

1. On Fire
2. Do It All Over Again
3. Don't Just Do Something
4. Out Of Sight
5. The Twelve Steps
6. The Straight And The Narrow
7. I Didn't Mean To Hurt You
8. Stop Your Crying
9. Anything More
10. Won't Get To Heave (The State I'm In)
11. Lord Can You Hear Me

Swedish multi-instrumentalist Joel Wästberg’s third album as sir Was following 2019’s “Holding On To A Dream”.

Meditating on love, growth, self-acceptance, forgiveness, mortality and the passing of time, after realized a terminal health condition leaving him prone to strokes; “Let The Morning Come” contains his most candid writing to date. And yet, for all the heartache that comes with being cruelly confronted with one’s own mortality, the prevailing impression Wästberg leaves listeners with is one of hope, resulting in a collection that is life-affirming in the very truest sense.

An artist renowned for conjuring dreamy melodies from unconventional arrangements, the album draws on the luxurious sounds of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”, and utilizes an eclectic palette that encompasses complex polyrhythms, Medieval recorder harmonies and the languid sigh of a second hand Hammond organ. Wästberg sought to condense his songwriting, with the aim of evoking the immediacy of the music of his youth.

Lyrically too, time is of the essence, as displayed in song titles like “Waiting For The Weekend”, “Before The Morning Comes”, “I Don’t Think We Should Wait” and “Time To Let It Out”.

sir Was, praised initially by Stones Throw Records founder Peanut Butter Wolf, has received support around the world with multiple plays on BBC 6 Music & BBC Radio 1, KCRW, Radio Nova, Radio Eins and more. Alongside this, he has performed and collaborated with Little Dragon, Efterklang’s Clasper Clausen, Falle Nioke (on the recent collaborative “Marasi” EP) and Junip, as well as performing at Eurosonic, Mad Cool and Benicassim Festivals.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Dreamy melodies and sensitive electronic beats, if Sir Was aim was to evoke nostalgia then it worked perfectly, it’s taken me right back. Definitely check this out if you like Foals, Tame Impala, it’s that kind of vibe but more toned down… just Indie music at it’s best.

TRACK LISTING

Hope We’ll Make It Through
I Need A Minute
Spend A Lifetime
Before The Morning Comes
One Day
I Don’t Think We Should Wait
Waiting For The Weekend
You Float
I Wanna Feel Like That
Time To Let It Out

‘The Time Has Come’ is an absolute master class on words and guitar twisting into one another - the poetry goes beyond simple observation into deeply personal and profound lore. A timeless document of sweet and haunting melodies. My favorite record of all time.’ Ryley Walker. // "I've never written songs, regularly, because I never considered myself a song-writer. I've only ever really considered myself a ballad singer, which is what is most important to me. The stories... the ancient nature of the situations and the human condition. And obviously, it's changed so much over the centuries that those songs have been sung, but it always retains that essence of something that's universal... to humanity, and I've always wanted to touch that. I think I wanted to understand people; I think I wanted to understand myself. It's a way of finding the truth. I felt I belonged to that music.” Anne Briggs // Offering some of her first original compositions, ‘The Time Has Come’ was a break from tradition in more ways than one for Anne Briggs.

Where previous recordings displayed the unaccompanied melodies of her voice, this album - originally released by CBS in 1971 - brings additional instrumentation in the form of guitar and bouzouki. The result is that her vocals are not submerged, but heightened - the plucked strings providing the perfect foil for her crystalline inflection. ‘The Time Has Come’ is a mix of Anne’s own songs alongside some notable covers (Lal Waterson, Steve Ashley, Stan Ellison, Henry McCulloch). All are graced with the quietly self-assured elegance of Anne’s playing, with sounds ranging from the breezy ‘Clea Caught A Rabbit’ to the terrible beauty of ‘Wishing Well’ - each song typifying the bouzouki or guitar style. To say that Anne was an accomplished picker is to do her something of an disservice - the intricacy of her finger-work rivals - and more often than not eclipses - any number of her contemporaries.

TRACK LISTING

1 Sandman's Song
2 Highlodge Hare
3 Fire And Wine
4 Step Right Up
5 Ride, Ride
6 The Time Has Come
7 Clea Caught A Rabbit
8 Tangled Man
9 Wishing Well
10 Standing On The Shore
11 Tidewave
12 Everytime
13 Fine Horseman 

I always wonder about music from across the Pennines. Given it's northern proximity and rugged Yorkshire spirit, murmurings from our Leeds-based cousins has been relatively quiet of late.

Cue, "Boundless" the latest in a series of compilations from the respected label. It follows last year’s "Come Stay With Me" compilation, a fundraiser for local artists, and "Side to Side" a callout to support women, marginalized genders and LGBTQ+ artists. The album features a collection of 10 new and eclectic tracks from an exceptionally talented group of artists including hypnotic Punjabi folk artist Satnam Galsian, DJ and sound artist Nik Nak, alt funk rock collective Blue Kubricks and poet-rapper Knomad Spock.

If you're stuck in the sometimes insular bubble of Manchester music, then it's refreshingly and inspiring to see a load of bands and artists also following their independent spirit an

Choice moments for me are the 'Lewis Capaldi on auto tune', intimate indie-pop epic, "Even When It Hurts" by Seth Oraeki. The psychedelic electro-folk of Dwellhead (recalling the embryonic Bibio...) and the rawkus tropical-rock-n-roll of KAIROS.

From tasteful, electronic-leaning indie, new soul and experimental pop to the more traditional band set ups, the compilation is a brilliantly curated snapshot of the Leeds music scene right now.

TRACK LISTING

1. Seth Oraeki - Even When It Hurts 
2. Dwellhead - Butterfly Soup 
3. Denmarc Creary - Blame Game 
4. KAIROS - Cruel 
5. NikNak - Whispers 
6. Knomad Spock - Fate 
7. Satnam Galsian - Ride On/Take Me With You 
8. Cosy Room Music - Telemi 
9. Laeeqa - Blossom 
10. Blue Kubricks - 4 Seasons Of Elizabeth

Come Away With ESG - 35-year anniversary release of the classic genre-busting debut album by the Bronx sisters ESG. The sample-friendly opus that’s the inspiration for hip-hop, house and post punk. Music that falls outside of the no wave, new wave and post punk library, it’s for the dance floor but it’s not funk, there’s no horns, no driving organ; it’s the opposite of Sly And The Family Stone but no less cool and no less groovy. “A lasting document of their unique brand of minimal funk that would influence subsequent post-punk, hip-hop, and dance music acts. Stripped down to the most basic of drumbeats and rudimentary bass lines, ‘Come Away’ confirms the notion that the real rhythm is what happens between the beats.

TRACK LISTING

1. Come Away
2. Dance
3. You Make No Sense
4. Parking Lot Blues
5. Chistelle
6. About You
7. It’s Alright
8. Moody ( Spaced Out )
9. Tiny Sticks
10. The Beat
11. My Love For You

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2021 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY JUNE 12TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 6PM ON THE SAME DAY (SATURDAY JUNE 12TH).

Wedding Present bass player covering Duran Duran James Bnd theme and Wedding Present track

Come Play With Me proudly presents a collection of 20 Bond themes covered by current and former members of The Wedding Present. 100% of the profits from its sale will be donated to the ‘Campaign Against Living Miserably’ (CALM). Questioned about the origins of the project, David Gedge of The Wedding Present said: “Where do ideas like this come from? Well, I can tell you that this one was born during a soundcheck in New Zealand, in 2013, when the band were playing around with the main melody of the classic Bond theme ‘You Only Live Twice’. We decided then that, one day, we should probably attempt to cover this amazing song. We ended up doing just that dur-ing the recording sessions for our ‘Going, Going...’ album in Studios La Fabrique (Saint-R my-de-Provence, France). And that was that. For a while, anyway. During a later tour, drummer Charles Layton was driving the van and I was sitting in the front passenger seat. On journeys like these Charlie would often plant little seeds of ideas into my mind, knowing that I would go away, think about it, and then return with some kind of master plan.

“You should release a compilation of Bond songs,” he declared. And that was all that he needed to say, really. Most of the themes from the Bond films would effortlessly feature in a list of my favourite ever pieces of music, so I was never not going to be excited by the idea of re-imaginings of twenty of them! One of the defining moments of my career was when I per-formed with the BBC Big Band in 2009 and got to meet Derek Watkins, who had played the lead trumpet on every single one of the Bond themes up until his death in 2013. And then came another idea. Each of the artists on this proposed compilation would be required to have a physical connection to Cinerama or The Wedding Present. I liked the unifying feel of that. I suppose it appealed to the collector in me. None of the artists I approached asked for payment for their track and so the obvious thing to do was to make this a benefit album. The ‘CALM’ organisation was suggested to me as a charity that’s doing great work and, af-ter we’d heard more, we were keen to support it. Throw in a beautiful sleeve design and here, seven years after that fateful sound check in Auckland, you have The Wedding Pre-sent... and their lovely friends... saluting the astounding music of Bond. James Bond.”.

The Wedding Present are a band that have always been keen to explore new ways to showcase their music but this album also serves as a fascinating insight into the strength and diversity of the musicians that have been members... as well as revealing their favourite Bond tunes! In addition to the expected contributions from Cinerama and The Wedding Present, the album features a first ‘super-group’ outing for ‘Sleeper featuring David Gedge’ and also a solo rendition of Louis Armstrong’s classic ‘We Have All The Time In The World’ by David himself. There's also, potentially, the first-ever Ukrainian-language cover of a Madonna track!

TRACK LISTING

View To A Kill - Terry De Castro
James Bond Theme - The Sleazoids
Live And Let Die - The Donalds
Nobody Does It Better - Samuel Beer-Pearce
Die Another Day - The Ukrainians
You Only Live Twice - The Wedding Present
The World Is Not Enough - Maria Scaroni
For Your Eyes Only - Klee
Skyfall - Such Small Hands
Goldfinger - Simone White
Diamonds Are Forever - Cinerama
Thunderball - The Legendary Len Liggins
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service - Shaun Charman
Goldeneye - Follow The Moths
Tomorrow Never Dies - Danielle Wadey & Charles Layton
Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Sleeper Featuring David Lewis Gedge
We Have All The Time In The World - David Lewis Gedge
The Man With The Golden Gun - Jetstream Pony
All Time High - Minitel
From Russia With Love - Graeme Ramsay

The King & City reissue series continues with Paul Robinson's disco boogie jam Come On Sister. Moving from the Lovers sound of his early productions, his first solo recording was aimed straight at the blues, clubs and pirate stations of South London and beyond - a prolific artist on the rise.

Appearing as a 13 year old protegee drummer in The Simeons, recording for the legendary Freedom Sounds label out of Kingston; to forming the influential Roots / Lovers Rock outfit One Blood; then vocalist in the Nick Straker Band; and through to a 30 year career as "dubplate" producer / singer Barry Boom, Robinson is a man of talents and serious legacy.

This highly sought after debut, part of Neville King and Lee Laing's family of labels, followed releases in One Blood and productions for female Lovers groups Blood Sisters and Charisma. A pure disco boogie party cut, Come On Sister sees the Robinson family hit the Brit funk.

In label style, the flip is given the Discomix treatment, here by up and coming digger, dealer and producer, Bruno (Perfect Lives). Letting the horns, dub bass and drums build in anticipation before the keys and guitar join and it all drops to Robinson's vocals - Come On Sister.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Come On Sister
A2. Come On Sister (instrumental)
B1. Come On Sister (Bruno Discomix) 

The long-awaited first-ever vinyl pressing of Dashboard Confessional’s The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most finally arrives in 2020. The monumental emo album, produced in 2001 by original collaborator James Paul Wisner, marked the first time Chris Carrabba’s hyper-personal acoustic singalongs were amplified by additional instrumentation. Vinyl collectors and fans alike will finally be able to add the iconic emo anthem “Screaming Infidelities”, as well as cult favorites like “Again I Go Unnoticed” and the title track to their collections.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Brilliant Dance 
2. Screaming Infidelities 
3. The Best Deceptions 
4. This Ruined Puzzle 
5. Saints And Sailors 
6. The Good Fight 
7. Standard Lines 
8. Again I Go Unnoticed 
9. The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most 
10. This Bitter Pill

Taken from live improvisation to live sampling & recomposition to borderdefying beat collage – a new jazz mixtape tells a many-splendored tale of Trans-Atlantic collaboration in constant cadence. The vinyl edition of Where We Come From (CHICAGOxLONDON Mixtape) is a split-label release with London’s Total Refreshment Centre.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Halls
A2. McCraven On The Mic
A3. Ox Tales
A4. Suite For Artis Gilmore
A5. Jupiter Jawn
A6. The Oracle
B1. The Bounce!
B2. King Drive, '86 Cutlass, No Plates
B3. Run 'Dem
B4. Too Shy
B5. Drums&Bruk&FeelTheVibe
B6. Birthday Solo
B7. TRC Thank You Outro
B8. Where We Come From

Rumbling, angular post-punk FFO: The For Carnation, Lungfish, The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Hey Colossus. "it's the ugliness of this that makes it beautiful to me" - Jon Hillcock, BBC 6 Music // The Sweet Williams on new album Where Does The Time Come From is one Thomas House, a South coast native guitarist and songwriter whose bands have a habit of dissolving. This latest LP contains ten post-punk infused songs of an almost brutalist nature, House's music in its purest form, performed almost entirely by himself.

The first single is 'Ride A Gold Snail', a rumbling post-rock juggernaut that sets a backwards drum beat to a filthy, holding pattern bassline, with guitar amps on the verge of burning out and elliptical, elusive lyrics. "It's probably my most romantic song," says House. The video was shot and assembled in Zaragoza, Spain, the town House calls home since October of 2018 In 2016, the Sweet Williams line-up responsible for the open, organic sound of that year's album 'Please Let Me Sleep On Your Tonight' dissolved in a potent formula of work, babies, babies and work. Armed with a clutch of new songs and no time to break in a new band, House repaired to Agricultural Audio in the heart of rural Sussex with trusted producer Ben Hampson and set to work. The resulting recordings reflected House's fascination with, and horror for, busted mechanics; in place of the live band's fluid, entropic interplay, structured patterns lurch and correct, a crowbar jammed in every gear. "It doesn't represent a performance," he explains. "It represents the songs as I hear them in my head." However, the record was not conceived in a bathysphere.

These compositions could be seen as the culmination of twenty-plus years playing in countless bands, from the incandescent fury of House's old vehicle Charlottefield, to the discipline honed on guitar in post-punk stalwarts Joeyfat, to a newfound confidence in vocal texture and melody in Haress. Lyrical themes cover love, dread, betrayal, bliss, injustice, death, sex, the end of the world. You might struggle to ascertain the narrative. House takes an impressionistic approach to his subject matter. "My dad read me Elidor and The Owl Service when I was sick as a kid. And his own made up stuff. There's another world behind this one." After the bracing opening two tracks, the celebratory 'Stop It I'm Killing You' and its stinging hangover 'Stunt Freeze', the album proceeds to its dusky heart. By the time of 'Two Golden Sisters', House's hands barely brush the strings of his guitar as he croons to the memory of a long lost love.

TRACK LISTING

1. Stop It I'm Killing You
2. Stunt Freeze
3. Fifties
4. RF
5. Very Long Division
6. Ride A Gold Snail
7. Rusted Mouth
8. Two Golden Sisters
9. Facing East
10. Discomforter

Set to be a collector’s item, the single is available on 7” and limited edition 10” picture disc – the band’s first! – including specially commissioned artwork by Darren Hayman (Hefner). Co-written by David Gedge and new guitarist Danielle Wadey – she was previously the band’s bass player – both tracks were recorded at the legendary Monnow Valley studios in Wales under the watchful eye of multi-Grammy award winning producer Andrew Scheps and engineer Matt Glasbey.

Opening with squalls of feedback, ‘Jump In, The Water's Fine’ is an epic tale with trademark whirlwind Wedding Present guitar and a deceptively sweet melody. “Danielle came up with the solo bass part after I said I wanted to do a song that was ‘bass-driven’ and it just got fatter and heavier! We also now have three vocalists in the band so we used the opportunity to experiment with some a cappella singing, too,” says David.

B-side ‘Panama’, is a frenetic slice of indie-pop, where ferocious guitars and heavy drums collide with honest lyrics about love and friendship. Of the recording, David adds, “As well as including one of my favourite palindromes, ‘Panama’ references‘Earthrise’, the iconic photograph of Earth taken by astronaut Bill Anders (during the Apollo 8 mission) on Christmas Eve, 1968. We decided to incorporate samples of the astronauts talking to Mission Control.”

Rather surprisingly, this is The Wedding Present’s first ever picture disc. Close friend to the band Darren Hayman (Hefner, The French, etc.) was commissioned to do the artwork but his paintings were so impressive that the band decided that the time was right to embrace what is a new format for them. “It’s only taken us thirty-something years to get around to it!” says David. From their C86 roots in the mid-80s, John Peel favourites The Wedding Present have gone on to become one of the UK’s most loved bands, charting no less than 18 Top 40 hit singles. Emerging from Leeds with the classic debut album ‘George Best’ in 1987, The Wedding Present built a reputation for blending bittersweet love stories with everyday mundanity, set against a backdrop of heavy distortion and exquisite indie-pop.

In 2016, The Wedding Present released their ninth studio album, ‘Going, Going...’, which featured references to Gedge's previous work, including self-referential lyrical moments and has been described as his masterpiece. Loosely based on a road trip across the U.S.A., the double LP was described by Louder Than War as “A remarkable album. A joy from start to finish." The same year, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their debut album, ‘George Best’, The Wedding Present released ‘George Best 30’. This album featured brand new versions of the original twelve songs recorded by Steve Albini and mixed by Andrew Scheps. 2017 also saw the publication (by Red Planet) of ‘Sometimes These Words Just Don't Have To Be Said’ – a 450 page 'fanthology' of the band.

In 2018, KneejerkFilm released ‘Something Left Behind’ – a feature length documentary telling the story of the ‘George Best’ album. The film, which featured interviews with all four original band members and was produced and directed by Andrew Jezard, has appeared at several film festivals.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jump In, The Water’s Fine
2. Panama 

Golden-era, 1977, Brazilian jazz-funk-fusion album from the legendary Azymuth. Lush Rhodes, soaring synths and fusion guitars from Malheiros and Bertrami combine with the inimitable drum grooves from Ivan “Mamao” Conti that create the signature Azymuth sound. The album moves from mellow soulful moods, into screaming disco-jazz-fusion, samba funk, synth boogie and ends with a tough 160bpm Batucada workout.

TRACK LISTING

Voo Sobre O Horizonte
Aguia Nao Come Mosca
Despertar
Tarde
Circo Marimbondo
Tamborim, Cuica, Ganza, Berimbau
A Presa
A Caca
Falcon Love Call (Armazem No 2)
Aguia Negra X Dragao Negro

Technological force-of-nature Leafcutter John teams up with fellow stalwarts of idiosyncratic electronica Border Community for the release of his masterful seventh artist album: the small-yet- perfectly formed joyously utopian artefact ‘Yes! Come Parade With Us’.

Interweaving layers of lyrical modular synth and occasional guest drums (from Tom Skinner and Sebastian Rochford) with a set of field recordings collected during his sixty mile walk along the Norfolk coastal path during the summer of 2017, these seven bright-eyed folk anthems sing with positivity and a sense of place and see Leafcutter John on career-defining form.

TRACK LISTING

Doing The Beeston Bump
Yes! Come Parade With
Us
Pillar
Elephant Bones
Stepper Motor
This Way Out
Dunes

Come Out to Play bridges the gap between my previous two singles and combines the pad soundscape of Whispers with the angular unpredictability of Alone Again - though Come Out to Play is far more upbeat and lighthearted in terms of musical and lyrical themes.

Musically it draws inspiration from the classic songwriters of the 60/70s, but also harks to Aztec Camera and the Smiths. I've been told that it sounds as if Johnny Marr had joined the Beatles / Beach Boys in the studio for a day which is a huge compliment.

It is probably the catchiest chorus I’ve written to date, and it’s become a crowd favourite at gigs (not least because of my anecdotal monologue, with a slice of crowd interaction, before I play the song).

Lyrically, the song is a journey through the life of a shy, introverted person, and their struggle to socialise. There’s never an explicit reason why, but there are hints that they’re hoping for something more (“But I just keep holding on, for a day to reminisce on…”). Each verse is a different stage of his life, represented by the references to different seasons, but it’s in the last verse where our character sees himself in his son and tells him not to make the same mistakes he has made.

TRACK LISTING

1. Come Out To Play
2. Whispers
3. Alone Again
4. Burning Moon
5. Whatever Happened To John? 

30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Pixies’ Debut EP and Album, Come On Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa, includes Bonus 1986 Radio Concert Live From The Fallout Shelter

“An unparalleled example of rule-smashing innovation in independent music.” Pitchfork

“Smack in between hardcore punk and alternative, their secret weapon was leaping from sweet to screaming, driving a spike into Eighties rock.” Rolling Stone

“Surfer Rosa quickly cemented itself as a must-have album (and) 30 years on, its aged into timelessness rather than becoming a period piece.” The Quietus

It’s been thirty years since the release of Surfer Rosa – a record made up of rage, religion, gore, incest and superheroes named Tony – a debut album so good that it’s since seen as a masterpiece. A year prior came Come On Pilgrim, an eight-track mini-album released in 1987 which contained cuts culled from their first ever studio session, where they famously recorded seventeen tracks in just three days (in full, this session makes up the band’s much bootlegged and now officially released The Purple Tape).

These formative records showed the Pixies to be an alien breed; four oddball outsiders from Boston blending US underground thrash rock, indie surf pop and Spanish-language flamenco with the Biblical mythology of Frances’s childhood. They would go on to record another masterpiece in 1989’s Doolittle but it’s the gruesome glory of Surfer Rosa, and the ruined sexuality of its cover image (a topless flamenco dancer in a crumbling Mexican bar) that set a fresh blueprint for an indie rock dynamism that not only planted the seeds of grunge (Kurt Cobain would admit that he was trying to imitate the record while writing Nevermind) but of much of the best rock music made since.

To celebrate this milestone, Pixies are playing fi ve sold-out intimate shows at London’s Roundhouse this October and preceding them is the release of Come On Pilgrim… It’s Surfer Rosa, the thirtieth anniversary edition which contains Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and Live From The Fallout Shelter, a concert-cum-session that first aired in late-1986 on WJUL in Lowell, MA.

In addition to both a three CD and three LP edition, there’s also a super-limited and stunning deluxe clothbound hardbook three LP version, which will be a must for all fans. Like all other Pixies sleeves, Vaughan Oliver returns as designer, stunningly reinterpreting his original artwork with Simon Larbalestier’s iconic photographs remaining these record’s crowning glory.

TRACK LISTING

CD1/LP1
Caribou
Vamos (Pilgrim)
Isla De Encanta
Ed Is Dead
The Holiday Song
Nimrod's Son
I've Been Tired
Levitate Me

CD2/LP2
Bone Machine
Break My Body
Something Against You
Broken Face
Gigantic
River Euphrates
Where Is My Mind?
Cactus
Tony's Theme
Oh My Golly!
Vamos (Surfer Rosa)
I'm Amazed
Brick Is Red

CD3/LP3
Holiday Song (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
I'm Amazed (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Rock A My Soul (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Isla De Encanta (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Caribou (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Broken Face (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Subbacultcha (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Build High (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Ed Is Dead (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Nimrod's Son (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Down To The Well (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
I've Been Tired (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Boom Chicka Boom (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Vamos (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
In Heaven (Live From The Fallout Shelter)
Pixies Interview (Live From The Fallout Shelter) (CD Only)

One of Fatboy Slim's crowning glories, "You've Come A Long Way Baby" saw the Brighton luminary take the big beat grenade and detonate it overground, taking the sound to the clubs, beaches, adverts and coffee tables of Great Britain and beyond. If you were conscious in 1998 it was impossible to ignore this album, with companies queuing up to align themselves with the coolest new trend in club land. Fatboy himself used the platform to elevate his Big Beach Boutique brand - two phenomenal parties on Brighton beach (the first seeing 65K revellers, the second - 250K!!); the likes of which sadly, I doubt, we will ever see again. I can personally remember exactly where I was the first time I heard "Rockafella Skank" and to me this is up there with "Dig Your Own Hole", "Music For The Jilted Generation" and "Homework" as one of the most iconic dance music albums of the nineties. I wasn't old enough to hear the tracks in the club, but its cultural impact travelled up and down the generational ladder from everyone at high school to people's Mum's cleaning the kitchen.

A celebratory 20th anniversary reissue as part of BMG’s ‘Art of The Album’ series showcasing seminal albums that broke new ground in concept, production, song writing, and genre, leaving a lasting legacy as a complete album work of art. Deluxe edition CD and LP format packaging including 180g gatefold vinyl, 6 page 12” roll-fold booklet (LP), 12” display art card (LP) and 28 page booklet (CD).

Exclusive anniversary sleeve notes from Ralph Moore (Editor at Large, Mixmag) and album timeline from Damian Harris (Skint Records).
Number one on the UK albums chart, number one in New Zealand, number two in Australia and number thirty-four on the US Billboard 200 containing four top ten singles. These tell a beautifully story much better than I can hear and really give creedence to this golden age of dance music that Norman was spearheading.

Ranked number 81 in Q magazine's readers' poll of the "100 Greatest British Albums Ever".

Brit Awards: Best Dance Act 1999, 2001. Brit Awards: British Single 1999 (nominee), Male Solo Artist 1999 (nominee).

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Makin' me all teary eyed comes this 20th anniversary of THAT, seminal, big beat opus. The one that broke the sound overground, if you don't end up watching youtube videos of Brighton Beach I'll eat me slipmats...

TRACK LISTING

Right Here, Right Now 6:28
The Rockafeller Skank 6:54
Fucking In Heaven 3:55
Gangster Tripping 5:20
Build It Up - Tear It Down 5:05
Kalifornia 5:53
Soul Surfing 4:57
You're Not From Brighton 5:21
Praise You 5:24
Love Island 5:18
Acid 8000 7:28

Originally released in 1967.

Produced by Shel Talmy.

Orchestral arrangements by Keith Mansfield.

Remastered audio reissued on 180gm vinyl.

Packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, extra notes and images.

Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce.

TRACK LISTING

Freak Suite
You Don’t Need Money
Aging Raver
In A Beautiful Rambling Mess
All You Need Is
What You Have
Circle
Highgate Cemetery
Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

Oft overlooked for over half a century while misfiled amongst exploit bellydance records and holidaymaker souvenirs this one-off 12 track album is the only existing full-length record by the best-kept mutant musical secret of the Armenian American diaspora, oud pop maestro Charles ‘Chick’ Ganimian.

One of the earliest examples of any kind of recorded fusion between rhythm heavy pop music and traditional Turkish music, Ganimian’s developments in New York City - with his sadly unrecorded Turk jerk combo The Nor-Ikes (New Dawn) combo - ran almost simultaneously alongside the rising Anadolou pop scene in Turkey, resulting in his short lived powerhouse of Kif proto-rock under the changing names of Ganim’s Asia Minors, Ganimian & His Orientals and Ganimian & His Oriental Music Orchestra. Combining a line-up of mostly unknown musicians from his local community, Ganimian, in a short unison with ATCO records, was fortunate enough to accommodate jazz guitarist Al Schactman as part of his studio personnel as well as French born Armenian folk singer Onnik Dinkjian and reid player Steve Bogoshian as well as the esteemed Turkish raised Kanun player Ahmet Yatman. As one of the very few early American recorded authentic Middle Eastern fusion record 'Come With Me To The Casbah' has piqued a refined interest in a new generation of progressive world music collector resulting in a distinct drought in original Ganimian pressings on the collectors’ market earning Chicks name a rising placeholder on the want lists of DJs, vinyl hounds and ethno psychedelia collectors.

This LP includes all of Ganimians recordings including the rare singles for Atco and East West which sit awkwardly next to bizarre and unique takes on popular American standards enhancing the exciting freak factor of this record which simply could not be made by today’s stifling self-aware anti-standards. Aside from rare (poorly recorded) private family tapes this album is the only chance to hear the music of this lost enigma of early world music, Eastern fusion and a missing kink in the fabric of New York pop music history captured before his short stint as an exotic Herbie Mann sideman which proceeded his migration into obscurity and his well-imparted tragic struggle with alcohol dependency depriving pop culture of a forward thinking pioneer who paved the way for the more credible exponents of the cross-continental Indo fusion enigma such as John Berberian and the later well pruned hard rock efforts of The Devils Anvil.

TRACK LISTING

Oriental Jam
Over The Rainbow
The Whirling Dervish
Play Girl Play
Swingin’ The Blues
Daddy Lolo
My Funny Valentine
Come With Me To The Casbah
Hedy Lou
Hayastan Moods
Halvah
Nine-Eight

The album finds Alex Turner and Miles Kane reunited with James Ford (production and drums) and Owen Pallett (string arrangements) and joined by Zachary Dawes (Mini Mansions) on bass, recording the follow up to 2008’s ‘The Age Of The Understatement’ at Shangri La Studio in Malibu.

Featuring current single ‘Bad Habits’, ‘Everything You’ve Come To Expect’ is a more open and expansive work than its predecessor, wearing its influences less obviously on its sleeve – by turns the album is soaring, snarling and breathlessly seductive.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Once again, Alex Turner and Miles Kane deliver a minor-key slice of melancholic yet melodic indie-rock. Dark reverbed vocals, snappy snare hits and oy-like shouting appears completely naturally, the sound not suffering at all from a change of pace. The strings on show here further emphasising the crescendo of both tone and density, and exacerbating the lifting tension present. Low-fi but meticulously crafted, and yet another reason (as if you needed one) that Turner and co. deserve your attention.

TRACK LISTING

1. Aviation
2. Miracle Aligner
3. Dracula Teeth
4. Everything You’ve Come To Expect
5. The Element Of Surprise
6. Bad Habits
7. Sweet Dreams, TN
8. Used To Be My Girl
9. She Does The Woods
10. Pattern
11. The Dream Synopsis

7"  Bonus Tracks (Indies Exclusive Vinyl Only)
1. Bad Habits
2. The Bourne Identity

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

"A World Of Peace Must Come is his masterpiece. That was fantastic." - Brian Wilson
"'Be Still' is the only song I've ever heard that made me want to be a better person." - Brian Barr, The Seattle Weekly

"The only other artist as pure as him is Captain Beefheart." - Bill Bentley

Stephen John Kalinich was born in Endicott, New York and grew up in Binghamton. In his early teens, he stared writing poems and articles about World Peace. He first came to California around 1964, fell in love with it, and promptly transferred from Harper College in upstate New York to UCLA.

Kalinich found himself immersed in the vibrant anti-War culture of late 60’s California, often writing songs and poems against the War. He found a musical partner and kindred spirit in Mark Lindsey Buckingham. They cut a demo for a track called "Leaves of Grass," inspired by the famous Walt Whitman poem "Leaves Of Grass", and Kalinich started taking demos around.

In the mid 60s, it was either at Brother Records or while pumping gas that Kalinich first met the Beach Boys. He hit it off with Brian, Carl and Dennis right away. As the first artist signed to the Beach Boys new label Brother Records, Carl Wilson produced a record for him. His first songs that saw release were "Little Bird" and "Be Still," which he wrote with Dennis and were released on the Friends album. His relationship with Dennis would lead to a number of further collaborations and Kalinich / Dennis Wilson co-writes, including: 20/20 - "All I Want To Do," Hawthorne, CA - "A Time to Live in Dreams", Pacific Ocean Blue - "Rainbows," and Bambu - "Love Remember Me.”
A World of Peace Must Come was recorded at various LA studios and Brian's house in Bel-Air in 1969. The tapes were promptly lost, not to be heard again until our discovery of them in 2008. Following the CD-only reissue in that year, this is the first time this timeless snapshot of an era and an ethos will be available on vinyl for Record Store Day 2014.

The first Ralfe Band single from the forthcoming ‘Son Be Wise’ album, the follow-up to their acclaimed album and soundtrack to the Warp film ‘Bunny And The Bull’.

New single ‘Come On Go Wild’ is a madcap Bossa nova sure to brighten your ears and bring a smile to your face.

For fans of Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Beirut, Villagers, Andrew Bird, M.Ward and Sufjan Stevens.

TRACK LISTING

Come On Go Wild
Horse To The Hinterland

Whilst nearly all of The Smiths themselves cite this as their favourite album, in reality it couldn't quite match the splendour and indeed songs, of "The Queen Is Dead". It has a subdued, more mysterious and rock-classicist flavour and again introduces song types not to be found elsewhere: they seldom repeated themselves The Smiths. The enormo anthem here is the heartrending, absolutely beautiful "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me", but the whole record flows in an utterly compelling way. There's only one weakish track ("Death At One's Elbow" is intentionally daft and trashy) and when that's followed by the gorgeous "I Won't Share You" well you'd be a fool to complain. This was their final album together. The spell was broken. The dream was over!

CANT is the solo project of composer Chris Taylor, better known as the bassist, vocalist and producer for Grizzly Bear. His first solo album, 'Dreams Come True' features Taylor collaborating with George Lewis Jr. (Twin Shadow). Twin Shadow's critically acclaimed record 'Forget' was recently released by Terrible Records (in the US) and was also produced by Taylor.

Soon after finishing work on 'Forget', Taylor and Lewis turned their attention to 'Dreams Come True'. The pair wrote and recorded most of the material in a week and a half in a bedroom connected to the former Allaire Studios, where Grizzly Bear's Veckatimest was recorded. Terrible Records was founded by Taylor in 2009 with Ethan Silverman to devote more time to working with emerging artists.

Cliffie Swan used to be the American band called Lights who put out two CDs - a self-titled release on Language Of Stone and ‘Rites’ on Drag City.

Not a debut, nor really a third album, ‘Memories Come True’ is equal parts bravado and vulnerability. A story of leaving, perhaps, unrolls over the course of these eleven songs, resulting in an album of absolutely soulful and sultry rock gems.

Physically separated by the vast spaces of America during the writing of the album, Linnea Vedder and Sophia Knapp built ‘Memories Come True’ like a bridge across the air.

This is a hyper real version of pop, the colours super saturated, the contrast upped. The songwriting is concise and aims straight for the heart. Linnea and Sophia sing with the voices of angels dragged through Nashville and Laurel Canyon in the 70s, crystalline and crying inside.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dream Chain
2. Soft And Mean
3. Yes I Love You
4. Memories Come True
5. Full Of Pain
6. California Baby
7. Home
8. She’s Almost Gone
9. Take It Easy
10. So Long
11. Climb On Top

Pomegranates formed in 2006 and have so far self recorded and released 2 EPs and 2 full length albums in the US. Debut album "Everything is Alive" brought the band to the attention of the US tastemakers. KEXP and WOXY, among others, fell for the band’s quirky and charming blend of pop rock, and listeners followed suit, blogging the band up to #11 on Elbo.ws blog aggregate. The band also caught the attention of their peers. Artists such as French Kicks and Islands responded to Pomegranates’ dynamic live set by inviting them out on the road. "Everybody, Come Outside!" is a step up sonically and musically for the band. It’s an album of shimmering and dreamy indie pop, channelling influences that range from Talking Heads and Brian Eno, to French Kicks and Fela Kuti. Pomegranates enlisted the mixing services of TJ Lipple (Aloha, MGMT, Headlights) who has brought the band’s huge vision to fruition and helped create a magical explosive indie pop record.

Swiss indie-rock band 7 Dollar Taxi give out blasts of 60s beat music clashing with 80s post-punk, all freshly and colourfully wrapped up in a British manner and with a garage attitude that makes established bands look like greenhorns.

West Coast psychedelic folkie Nick Castro is currently making some of most dynamic and truly original sounds to emerge from the much-ballyhooed new folk movement. As 'freak-folk' and assorted hairy-fairy type labels grab the headlines in the underground, Castro strives for a solemn, serene sort of beauty, summoning utterly melodic incantations in song and sound. Gracefully immersing 60s / 70s British Isles acid balladry with Middle-Eastern traditional music and heady, pan-cultural communal jams, Castro succeeds in reaching otherworldly vistas and ocean-spanning folk transcendence. Following up 2005's lauded "Further From Grace", Castro unfurls his sprawling third album "Come Into Our House", easily his most far-reaching and deeply molecular outing yet. Previously backed by The Poison Tree, which included Josephine Foster and members of Espers, Nick Castro has assembled a new band of players under the moniker The Young Elders - a truly stellar cast of musicians whose combined resumes include folk and avant rock ensembles Current 93, In Gowan Ring, Damo Suzuki's Network and Cul de Sac. Effortlessly mating Bert Jansch-style folk song ("Winding Tree"), psychedelic folk rock ("One I Love"), Middle Eastern traditional music ("Attar") and Bay Area acid-raga ("Lay Down Your Arms") to a kind of organic studio Musique Concrete that Can forged on albums like "Tago Mago". The results are astonishing, challenging and utterly psychedelic. By reaching for the sky Castro achieves the heavens, and "Come Into Our House" is the evidence. A modern acid-folk masterwork.

Superb collection for the seeing in of spring. 24 tracks of American soft pop including Harpers Bizarre, Association, Music Machine, the Monkees and loads more. Special mention must be given to the packaging which is a gorgeous foldout digipack with a psychedelic colour wheel. Grooovy and essential!!

Very promising debut from Bluestar who are, or is, one person, called Darren. He wrote all the music and lyrics, and played all the instruments (except the drums, where a friend helped out). The seven tracks on this CD range from epic "Feelin'" to gentler melodic tracks. There's an obvious Stone Roses influence in some of the guitar and vocal melodies, but other influences from the likes of Oasis, Doves, Teardrop Explodes and The Bunnymen are also present.

Mark Mitchell is a young guy, unlucky in love judging by some of these lyrics, from Australia who as Club To Kalo presents on "Come Here When You Sleepwalk" a set of loops, voice and atmospherics that weave an ambiguous dream-like electronic spell. If you like Iceland's Mum or Notwist you'll go a bundle on this gently hypnotic set of tracks that has gentle melodies that meld into hushed songs with real vocals. Always sweet, always interesting.

If you don't already own this CD - why on earth not??? "Come On Pilgrim" was their first mini album, released in 1987, it was followed by the Steve Albini produced "Surfer Rosa". Abrasive, clever, and totally unique, it defined their sound and became one of the most influential albums of the 80s. With the tracks from both albums now available on one CD, you'd be a fool not to buy it!

Remastered version of this CD which combines the tracks from their previous two albums "Trigger" and "Got Bodi-gram" and the 7" single "Sun".

And Lo! The mantle of the great god Hendrix descended onto the shoulders of the Nipponese son - Shigeru Narumo and a joyful sound was heard. Guitar, guitar, guitar.

Subtitled the "Early Recordings Of The Copper Family Of Rottingdean", "Come Write Me Down" features all the 1950s and 1960s recordings of this unique folk singing family. These rare performances were amongst the first to highlight the vocal harmony folk traditon of England's home counties and played a hugely influential part in the English folk revival of the 1960s. The remastering here is first rate and the in-depth booklets make this a very special release indeed.