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FIRE RECORDS

Cover of Flock by Jane Weaver.

Jane Weaver

Flock

Fire Records

    ‘Flock’ is the record that Jane Weaver always wanted to make, the most genuine version of herself, complete with unpretentious Day-Glo pop sensibilities, wit, kindness, humour and glamour. A consciously positive vision for negative times, a brooding and ethereal creation.

    The album features an untested new fusion of seemingly unrelated compounds fused into an eco-friendly hum; pop music for post-new-normal times. Created from elements that should never date, its pop music reinvented. Still prevalent are the cosmic sounds, but ‘Flock’ is a natural rebellion to the recent releases which sees her decidedly move away from conceptual roots in favour of writing pop music. Produced on a complicated diet of bygone Lebanese torch songs, 1980's Russian Aerobics records and Australian Punk.

    Amongst this broadcast of glistening sounds is ‘The Revolution Of Super Visions’, an untelevised Mothership connection, with Prince floating by as he plays scratchy guitar; it also features a funky whack-a-mole bass line and synth worms. It underlines the discordant pop vibe that permeates ‘Flock’ and concludes on ‘Solarised’, a super-catchy, totally infectious apocalypse, a radio-friendly groove for last dance lovers clinging together in an effort to save themselves before the end of the night.

    The musician’s exposure to an abundance of lost records served as a reminder that you still feel like an outsider in this world and that by overcoming fears you can achieve artistic freedom. Jane Weaver continues to metamorphise…

    “A mind-expanding delight, devoid of retro posturing.” The Guardian.

    “Ominous and luminous, expansively spacious and sonically imploding, scientific, ephemeral and eternal” The Quietus.

    FORMAT INFORMATION

    Coloured LP Info: Light Rose Vinyl, includes DL card.

    Indies Exclusive LP Info: Indies Only vinyl is on Cream Vinyl, includes DL card.

    Signed LP Info: PICCADILLY EXCLUSIVE SIGNED EDITION.
    Indies Only vinyl is on Cream Vinyl, includes DL card.

    Signed CD Info: PICCADILLY EXCLUSIVE SIGNED EDITION.

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    Cover of Celestial Scuzz by Vapour Theories.

    Vapour Theories

    Celestial Scuzz

    Fire Records

      New album from brothers John and Michael Gibbons, the guitarists from psychedelic drone legends, Bardo Pond. A “heavy ambient” instrumental masterpiece that explores the symbiotic relationship of the duo as they build and dismantle sounds on a unique ethereal trip.

      A full-length follow up to ‘Joint Chiefs’ from 2006, ‘Celestial Scuzz’ is a monumental sound piece created from hours of jam sessions and crafted into a cohesive mind-blowing trip. The result has a heavy ambience, like Eno locked in a dark room with Sunn-O))))) rehearsing next door.

      While Bardo Pond’s trajectory takes them deep into rock music’s ever-imploding sound, the brothers Gibbons surf a more ethereal and eclectic plain; from a heady and consuming space, a “sanctuary; balm for the soul.” Describing the writing process, Michael Gibbons explains it as “a kind of spiritual experience. Most of the time it leaves us stunned; the more stunned we are the better the jam.”

      FORMAT INFORMATION

      Coloured LP Info: Limited edition gold vinyl.

      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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      Cover of Private LIFE by Virginia Wing.

      Virginia Wing

      Private LIFE

      Fire Records

        One of the year's most daring and true pop records, private LIFE comes as the result of Virginia Wing living through, and with, huge personal emotional and mental traumas. It is a document of how the very process of music creation in a group can be of huge therapeutic benefit to people. The three members of Virginia Wing have explored the depths of their creative and artistic inspirations within performance, production and composition, and have made a candid and brash pop record that speaks clearly about hope, desperation, impulse, addiction, urge and shame.

        More tumultuous than its predecessor, private LIFE knocks hard. The evolution of Virginia Wing’s sound continues to build on the broad creative flow of the last album whilst being another audacious contribution to contemporary pop. The drums are huge and playfully unquantized. Edits are both assured and heavy handed, the instrumentation lightly mediates the two and finds itself on the edge of collapse alongside them. The icy facade of Merida Richards’ words are still front and centre, but are contrasted by dense, multilayered improvisations, vying for attention throughout the record. Over ‘I’m Holding Out For Something’s relentless juggernaut of 90’s R’n’B beats, Richards examines the relentless hope and desperation glued to modern consciousness, and speaks of how we often find the answer, or the route through, right at the breaking point. Subsequently, ‘St Francis Fountain’ compounds the issue, observing that often our own coping mechanisms can grow into full blown traumas of their own. Virginia Wing’s last record opened its arms into euphoric light, private LIFE invites you through a door and closes it. It examines what we’re doing at night, on our own, after work. What we do to enjoy ourselves, to cope, to be together, to be alone. It shines a dim blue light on what might be happening, causing us anxiety, stress and desire.

        FORMAT INFORMATION

        Dinked Edition LP Info: • Blue & black marbled vinyl *
        • 24" x 24" artwork poster *
        • Hand numbered *
        • Download postcard
        • LTD to 400
        * EXCLUSIVE to Dinked Edition

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        Cover of Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths by Rats On Rafts.

        Rats On Rafts

        Excerpts From Chapter 3: The Mind Runs A Net Of Rabbit Paths

        Fire Records

          The third album from Dutch punk-laced noiseniks adds new maturity and a conceptual feel that pulls the extremes of their sound together. A psychefuelled journey into the id punctuated with rhythmic kabuki modal mood swings, thunderstorms, digital beeps, traffic noise, and just plain old beautiful cacophonous reverb-drenched sound when needed.

          The ‘third chapter’ refers to the last five years that the Dutch band have spent creating their “difficult” third album. Each song spins a yarn; there are plagues, dreams, wind and fire, ‘mythical’ characters, and the search for the secret government warehouse. Lead single, Tokyo Music Experience, resonates with a conveyor belt-propelled modal guitar, reflecting the halcyon days of Japanese super-productivity; a mesmerising mantra, infected with news bulletin on-thehour bleeps underlining its time-sensitive nature; a pristine super-commercial anthem to drive loyalty and reinforce solidarity with the party!

          Having been described as creating “underground noise with a bracing, warped pop appeal” (Mojo), their new album is a coming-of-age post-classic with a unique worldview - inspired by Van Dyke Parks (Song Cycle) Scott Walker (3 & 4), Moondog (Elpmas), White Noise (An Electric Storm) and Beach Boys (Smile).

          If their previous effort (Tape Hiss) was their very own sketch of a sketch for an incomplete concept album, a noisy reaction to their previous life, then ‘Excerpts From Chapter 3..’, with all its interlaced intricacies, is the realisation of their transition from punk-spiked-pop to psyche-pop protagonists. Evolving, testing, infectious...

          FORMAT INFORMATION

          Dinked Edition LP Info: • Dark green vinyl LP in deluxe origami sleeve *
          • Bonus 7” in origami sleeve with exclusive b-side *
          • Dinked OBI strip *
          • LTD to 400
          • Download Code

          * Exclusive to Dinked.

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          Cover of Head Above The Water by Brigid Mae Power.

          Brigid Mae Power

          Head Above The Water

          Fire Records

            Brigid Mae Power paints expansive songs that are effortless, hypnotic and folk-oriented like Judee Sill, Bill Callahan and Sharon Van Etten.

            The third album from the celebrated singer/songwriter, ‘Head Above The Water’ is a coming of age opus featuring a ground-breaking amalgamation of traditional folk and country - an engaging blend of strings, bouzouki, piano and Power’s distinctive vocal make this an achingly beautiful body of work.

            Recorded in analogue studio The Green Door in Glasgow with Alasdair Roberts co-producing alongside Brigid and Peter Broderick. It’s a continuing tale of everyday survival; more diverse, different, a bigger canvas, with broader brushstrokes…

            Country and traditional folk rub shoulders, making for a juxtaposition of threads, with added instrumentation from five musicians lured into the studio to provide larger dynamics.

            “Power meditates on the dichotomy that’s always existed in her work, melding atmospheric bliss and stark desperation.” Pitchfork.

            “Power invokes the elements, either in contrast to internal weather or in sympathy with it.” The Guardian.

            “Haunting and haunted” (The Line Of Best Fit), ‘Head Above The Water’ continues in that vein becoming more ethereal, more personal and even more alluring.

            FORMAT INFORMATION

            Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive white vinyl.

            Coloured LP 2 Info: Indies exclusive gold vinyl + Fire Records Compilation CD

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            Cover of Eyelet by Islet.

            Islet

            Eyelet

            Fire Records

              A Powys trio whose free-spirited invention and exuberant intensity flows through experimental pop: hypnotic, exhilarating and defiantly unique. The Welsh band Islet return with the release of their long-awaited new album.

              Eyelet was recorded at home tucked away in the hills of rural Mid Wales. It took form the months following the birth of band members Emma and Mark Daman Thomas’ second child and the death of fellow band member Alex Williams’ mother. Alex came to live with Emma and Mark, and the band enlisted Rob Jones (Pictish Trail, Charles Watson) to produce.

              ‘Caterpillar’ described by Emma as “a song for my unborn child”. It's followed by syncopated lullaby ‘Good Grief’ with its haunting keyboard hook and icy percussion thawed by Emma’s yearning vocals about the quiet strength of generations of women. With nods towards Arthur Russell and Jenny Hval, ‘Geese’ is a mini symphony of driven electronica inspired by Welsh cultural theorist Raymond Williams’ novel People Of The Black Mountains.

              Young Fathers inflected rhythm can be heard on ‘Radel 10’ that accompanies the multi-tracked variations of Emma and defiant lyrics that were inspired in part by The Good Immigrant - the landmark anthology of essays on race and immigration by BAME writers.

              STAFF COMMENTS

              says: Islet were one of the first bands I saw play when I moved to Wales, and remained a mainstay on my shelves since that day. Whilst their groove has morphed, and the frenetic energy has both waxed and waned, the output has remained undeniably brilliant. 'Eyelet' is on the more relaxing side, but absolutely glimmers with astoundingly written pop songs and immersive, soaring heft. Their greatest work to date, in a catalogue of gold.

              FORMAT INFORMATION

              Coloured LP 2 Info: Indies exclusive pink vinyl repress + Fire Records Compilation CD

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              Cover of The Weight Of The Sun by Modern Studies.

              Modern Studies

              The Weight Of The Sun

              Fire Records

                New album from kosmiche folk-rock quartet Modern Studies. A glorious compendium of haunted disco hallelujahs, mercurial krautrock chorales, cosmic pop adagios and euphoric, resilient, anthems. ‘The Weight of the Sun’ sees principal songwriters Emily Scott and Rob St John further their warm, esoteric field studies with Pete Harvey and Joe Smillie, as previously reconnoitred on ‘Swell To Great’ (2016) and ‘Welcome Strangers’ (2018).

                “The exact point where Fairport Convention meet Jim O’Rourke at a remote Scottish railway station.” Tim Burgess.

                “Melancholic magic… recalls Johnny Marr’s hazier reveries and the febrile, electrified folk of Polly Harvey’s Let England Shake.” UNCUT

                There is a strange familiarity, and a welcome strangeness, in the quiet alchemy of Modern Studies.

                FORMAT INFORMATION

                Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive yellow vinyl repress + Fire Records Compilation CD

                Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

                LP Info: Standard black vinyl with DL card.

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                Cover of Crazy Hearts by Half Japanese.

                Half Japanese

                Crazy Hearts

                Fire Records

                  Half Japanese return with another thrilling ride into unknown charters encountering beasts, celebrities, and menaces.

                  Purveyors of noise and indie rock for over four decades, Half Japanese have inspired generations of fans from musicians and critics alike.

                  Now set to release their 19th studio album ‘Crazy Hearts’ continues with their detuned, outsider pop capturing you in the way that only Jad Fair ever can.

                  A philosophical psych-tinged journey, these whip-smart observations are uplifting with life-affirming sentiments (‘Wondrous Wonder’) that we are familiar with. They meld melodic classic rock riffs with heavier bass lines and darker, more twisted tones on ‘My Celebrity’ and ‘A Phantom Menace’.
                  Their last excursion saw Uncut praising them for their “unchanged, more ecstatic musings on love and science fiction” that continues to resonate here.

                  Half Japanese deliver another well-wrought album with their usual DIY ethos and art punk spirit at its core (‘Undisputed Champions’), all whilst wearing Jad’s heart firmly on its sleeve (‘Crazy Hearts’).
                  Recorded across various studios in Spain, France and the US, Jad Fair is accompanied by his longstanding band members John Sluggett, Giles Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett. Mastered by Brian Pyle and mixed by Jason Willett of the band. Album includes artwork from American illustrator and cartoonist, Gary Panter and David Fair.

                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                  Coloured LP Info: Limited edition transparent turquoise vinyl

                  Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                  Cover of Sun Racket (Monochrome Edition) by Throwing Muses.

                  Throwing Muses

                  Sun Racket (Monochrome Edition)

                  Fire Records

                    ‘Sun Racket’ is the brand new album from legendary Boston trio Throwing Muses, consisting of Kristin Hersh, David Narcizo and Bernard Georges. The follow up to 2013’s ‘Purgatory/Paradise’ is an outpouring of modal guitars, reverbed shapes, echoey drums and driving bass set behind Kristin Hersh’s well-thumbed notebook of storylines. A ten-song opus of suitably wrought tales set against a wall of sound that’s at once calm and ethereal before building into glorious cacophonous crescendos. When Throwing Muses wrote their last album, they were shattered. Pieces were coming and going, elements repeating and charging the whole. “It sounded beautiful jumping around like that”. Two-minute songs reappearing as twisted instrumentals or another song’s bridge. They mimicked the effect live which kept them on their toes. Whatever was happening was already over in other words. ‘Sun Racket’ is the opposite. It refused to do anything but sit still. It says, “sit here and deal”. “All it asked of us was to comingle two completely disparate sonic vocabularies: one heavy noise, the other delicate music box. Turns out we didn’t have to do much. Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best. After thirty years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust the music more” - Kristin Hersh And so, they continue. Business unusual.

                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                    Coloured LP Info: LP Ltd edition WHITE vinyl with DL code in new monochrome edition sleeve.
                    This is strictly limited to 1000 copies only.

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                    Cover of No Harm Done by Josephine Foster.

                    Josephine Foster

                    No Harm Done

                    Fire Records

                      Brand new album from Colorado’s freewheelin’ melodist Josephine Foster.

                      Revolving between her adopted Spain and her native American West, Josephine was stationed this spring in Nashville with maverick guitarist and comrade-in-arms Matthew Schneider. The result: ‘No Harm Done’, a spacious and enveloping love letter of an album.

                      Eight new slow-burning songs branch forth from idiosyncratic country folk blues, sung with sibylline wit and a hint of the absurd, awash in sensually anachronic lyricism.

                      “The Wheel of Fortune”, nearly a title track by virtue of its refrain: 'No harm will come/if there's no harm done', are words of a homebound wanderer finding refuge in healing stillness with her beloved, having 'time to kill' in the midst of 'hard times to feel at home'. All delivered with calm sagacity upon the pedestal of Mr. Schneider's pedal steel and underscored by a knowing trebled chorus in Foster's lower register. Going nowhere never felt like so righteous of a destination before.

                      Devotion in all its permutations, spiritual to carnal, are seamlessly explored.

                      In 'Conjugal Bliss', overtones of the 12-string and autoharp gently interplay, sounding like some unearthed Carter family wedding hymn (it bears the subversive subtitle '69' ) while 'How come, Honeycomb?' bounces low in the hips like a sultry old music hall number à la Harry Nilsson. The obliquely sapphic 'Leonine', it's unquiet harp scaling right out of ancient Lesbos, dreams of a kingless land; in 'Sure Am Devilish', a stargazer humbly confesses to a lowercase lord. 'Old Saw', the mesmeric album closer, is a medium's petition to cross the threshold and merge with the holy spirit.

                      Josephine's enigmatic voice captured once more by frequent co-producer Andrija Tokic in his analog Bomb Shelter studio, where layers of her guitar, piano, organ entwine with Schneider's 12-string, pedal steel and electric bass to rouse a spectral yet full blooded band. The ensuing cycle of songs pulse and glow within the ruins and deep fundamental roots of American song.

                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                      LP Info: Black Vinyl, Reverse board sleeve, DL card.

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                      Cover of Separations by Pulp (2020 Reissue).

                      Pulp (2020 Reissue)

                      Separations

                      Fire Records

                        Pulp’s 1992 album ‘Separations’ is part of the Fire Embers reissue series with unreleased bonus material. Their third and last album on Fire, Pulp had already transformed from their debut ‘It’ through the dark electronic phase of Freaks and were garnering significant momentum. Now critically acclaimed and with a live reputation matched by only a few, most of the songs on Separations sound fully-realised in that undeniably Pulp manner that was soon to be experienced everywhere. And, for the first time, there was an inescapable disco pulse. This is the transition album where Pulp, caught between a doomed romantic outsider past and an acid-bright future, made an album that brilliantly reflects both. Remastered and repackaged. Liner notes by Everett True. Featuring 4 bonus tracks ‘Death Goes To The Disco’ and ‘Is This House’, as well as an extended version of the single ‘Countdown’ and the previously unreleased ‘Death Comes To Town’. Separations spawned two of Pulps most successful singles to date in ‘Countdown and ‘My Legendary Girlfriend’ with the latter being placed on many top singles of 1991 lists by major music publications. Pulp’s ‘It’ and ‘Freaks’ will be reissued at the same time for the complete Pulp on Fire collection. 

                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                        LP Info: Vinyl repress is 180 gram vinyl and include download card.

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                        Cover of On The Ellipse - RSD Edition by Bardo Pond.

                        Bardo Pond

                        On The Ellipse - RSD Edition

                        Fire Records

                          The sixth album by Bardo Pond, a critically revered space rock masterpiece, lovingly reissued on double purple vinyl for the first time since 2003.

                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                          2xColoured LP Info: Double purple vinyl.

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                          Cover of Valedictory Songs - RSD Edition by The Bevis Frond.

                          The Bevis Frond

                          Valedictory Songs - RSD Edition

                          Fire Records

                            Recorded in Gold Dust Studios with a new sense of optimism and a fuller sound down to lots of extra energy (Nick believed it might be their last ever record) and the addition of piano and keyboards brings an instrumental direction.

                            Released on double LP with gate-fold sleeve for Record Store Day.

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                            Cover of What Did For The Dinosaurs - RSD Edition by The Bevis Frond.

                            The Bevis Frond

                            What Did For The Dinosaurs - RSD Edition

                            Fire Records

                              Originally released in 2002, two years after Valedictory Songs, The Bevis Frond returned with a more progressive sound with complex structures and instrumentation.Bursting with their trademark guitar licks, impeccable songwriting and a more upbeat sound.

                              Out on double LP with gatefold sleeve for Record Store Day.

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                              Cover of Lovey - 30th Anniversary Edition by The Lemonheads.

                              The Lemonheads

                              Lovey - 30th Anniversary Edition

                              Fire Records

                                Ltd edition BOOKBACK Double LP, black vinyl with DL Code (2000 worlwide).
                                Deluxe reissue of The Lemonheads ‘Lovey’ for Record Store Day 2020, housed in a bookback sleeve with expanded liner notes and unseen photos – this is the definitive document of Dando’s first steps towards the mainstream. The lovingly repackaged LP is accompanied by a second vinyl, ‘Triple J Live at the Wireless’, an unearthed radio session taken from their 1991 trip to Australia.

                                The major label debut for Evan Dando’s Lemonheads from 1990, following three “ramshackle punk” (©Select magazine) albums for Taang! Pivoted on a more approachable set of sweet melodies still rife with punky spirit. A light and dark album, polished in the arrangements, nodding to the excess of American culture (Manson and Gummi Bears), hectoring Reagan’s drug laws (‘Lil’ Seed’), riffing on everyday life. Remastered with a freshly-dusted off second album featuring a full radio session recorded during their trip to Australia to promote the album and their gorgeous cover of Gram Parsons’ ‘Brass Buttons’. “Like Hüsker Dü when they were at their most ferocious or REM when they were at their most Byrdsian hypnotic.” NME. 

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                                Cover of Lovey by The Lemonheads.

                                The Lemonheads

                                Lovey

                                Fire Records

                                  Ltd edition BOOKBACK CD companion to the Deluxe vinyl reissue of The Lemonheads ‘Lovey’ for Record Store Day 2020, housed in a bookback sleeve with expanded liner notes and unseen photos – this is the definitive document of Dando’s first steps towards the mainstream. The lovingly repackaged CD is accompanied by a second disc, ‘Triple J Live at the Wireless’, an unearthed radio session taken from their 1991 trip to Australia.

                                  The major label debut for Evan Dando’s Lemonheads from 1990, following three “ramshackle punk” (©Select magazine) albums for Taang! Pivoted on a more approachable set of sweet melodies still rife with punky spirit. A light and dark album, polished in the arrangements, nodding to the excess of American culture (Manson and Gummi Bears), hectoring Reagan’s drug laws (‘Lil’ Seed’), riffing on everyday life.

                                  Remastered with a freshly-dusted off second album featuring a full radio session recorded during their trip to Australia to promote the album and their gorgeous cover of Gram Parsons’ ‘Brass Buttons’.

                                  “Like Hüsker Dü when they were at their most ferocious or REM when they were at their most Byrdsian hypnotic.” NME

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                                  Cover of Curanderos by Curanderos (Bardo Pond).

                                  Curanderos (Bardo Pond)

                                  Curanderos

                                  Fire Records

                                    With Bardo Pond’s RSD trilogy coming to an end, last year’s acclaimed Acid Guru Pond brought Bardo, Acid Mother’s Temple and Guru Guru together. The Philadelphia groups output for Record Store Day have been some of the most exciting and rewarding releases in recent years. Now for 2017’s RSD they return with yet another special release, this time side project ‘Curanderos’. Formed by the improvised journeys of the formidable Bardo Pond and experimental ensemble Kohoutek, these compositions take you on a cosmic voyage through kosmiche, drone, noise, prog and free jazz. Purveyors of psychedelic rock, Bardo Pond have the outward specifications of a rock band but the rivers that converge into the band’s oneiric flow have their headwaters in the outlands of ecstatic jazz, free noise and the avant-garde. 

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                                    Cover of Harry by Dead Famous People.

                                    Dead Famous People

                                    Harry

                                    Fire Records

                                      Back in the 80s Dons Savage of Dead Famous People joined her first band Freudian Slips which soon ended so she along with fellow Freudian Slip refugee Biddy Leyland could pursue their own talents. A chance encounter with Flying Nun's spiritual guru, Chris Knox, led to a one-off deal with the label that resulted in a five-song EP, ‘Lost Persons Area’. Moving to London in 1986 the fabled "Flying Nun sound" began making an impact outside New Zealand. The release of near-perfect compilations by The Clean and The Chills except Dead Famous People were a little early for that buzz. Stumbling into a deal with Utility Records, Billy Bragg and legendary manager Pete Jenner. Dons later started singing with new combo, Saint Etienne, her vocals feature on the original version of their cover version hit, ‘Kiss And Make Up’, as well as a cover of Gil Scott-Heron's ‘Winter In America’. Around this same time, Martin Phillipps of The Chills asked Dons requested she sing on ‘Heavenly Pop Hit’. Dons soon returned home to Auckland without an outlet for her music, three decades later Fire tracked her down and the rest is history. Now set to release her new album ‘Harry’, it’s more philosophical than her earlier work. It feels like the right one for a world of apocalyptic pandemic, uncertainty and quarantine. Dons' power over melody and knack for profundity remains unchanged since Dead Famous People's original incarnation. A rare record in a time of musical factionalism and a world divided into camps of willful obscurity and grotesque mockeries of stardom and art, it’s a document of unadorned perfection.

                                      "Bob bought a DFP single which we both really liked, we were drawn to the mystery of the band's name and the melancholy tone of Dons' voice." Pete Wiggs - Saint Etienne.

                                      “There was a sense of excitement that something special was happening." Martin Phillipps – The Chills.

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                                      Cover of The Lodger by Graham Reynolds.

                                      Graham Reynolds

                                      The Lodger

                                      Fire Records

                                        Part of Fire’s ongoing series of re-imagined soundtracks. Following on from Fenella, Jane Weaver’s score for Marcell Jankovics’ ‘Feherlofia’, and Death and Vanilla’s reworking of ‘The Tenant’ and ‘Vampyr’. A specially recorded soundtrack for Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary Ripper-based drama by multi-award-winning composer Graham Reynolds (Where Do You Go, Bernadette/A Scanner Darkly). ‘The Lodger’ – based on Marie Belloc Lowndes’ 1913 novel with a nod to the infamous Jack The Ripper case – set many hearts racing when visiting the East End of London and an unexpected fog descended.

                                        The drama was afoot, and the tension has been further escalated with a re-imagined score by multi award-winning composer, bandleader, and innovative improvisor, Graham Reynolds. This tale of murder and suspense set on the streets of terrorised London is eerily completed as Reynolds’ sweeps from light to dark; it’s playful in places, haunting, a tease – like Hitchcock at his best. Nowhere is safe, even the seemingly innocuous ‘Police Station’ which is accompanied by a brooding piece of maniacal piano that underpins a gloriously evocative theme; a haunting and suggestive muse that stutters with tension. It’s another Reynolds’ master stroke on the heels of his score for Richard Linklater’s ‘Where Do You Go, Bernadette’, his work on Ballet Austin’s ‘Grimm Tales’ and his contribution to ‘The Sound Of Science’, a multimedia collaboration with Kronos Quartet’s former cellist Jeffery Zeigler.

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                                        Cover of Some Kind Of Happiness: Singles 1995-1999 by Television Personalities.

                                        Television Personalities

                                        Some Kind Of Happiness: Singles 1995-1999

                                        Fire Records

                                          THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE SEPTEMBER 26TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
                                          LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                          Double Black Vinyl.A two-disc retrospective of every single track released by The Television Personalities between the tail end of 1994 and 1999.Featuring legendary songwriter Dan Treacy, a gifted storyteller who places the world in his own hazy shade of focus, heading deep into introspection.

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                                          Cover of Empty Horses by Tobin Sprout.

                                          Tobin Sprout

                                          Empty Horses

                                          Fire Records

                                            Artist, illustrator, writer and lo-fi innovator, Tobin Sprout was the super-productive partner of Robert Pollard in the legendary Guided By Voices. The gifted songwriter returns with a pensive, expansive part autobiographical new album ‘Empty Horses’. Here he’s part Townes Van Zandt, part John Prine, part Robbie Robertson at his retrospective best.

                                            The album is a meticulously observed study of America and Americana (not the music, but the state of mind). An alternative American Songbook, if you will, a collection of laments to simpler times and the struggle for what’s right, peppered with an examination of faith and the search for a sense of justice. Close up and personal, ‘Empty Horses’ is a poignant carefully etched experience, a rolling journey in modern times, nodding back to tradition, a personal snapshot filled with honesty.

                                            ‘Empty Horses’ is released on vinyl LP and also a deluxe bookback CD, beautifully packed with 24 pages of paintings and lyrics by Tobin Sprout, a true collectors piece for fans of Tobin’s music and art.

                                            “The perfect aural encapsulation of melancholy: in turns somnambulant, romantic and all-consuming” Rolling Stone.



                                            “Raw, honest and often revelatory” Consequence Of Sound

                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                            LP Info: LP Standard Black Vinyl with download.

                                            CD & Book Info: CD BOOK ‘Bookback’ CD, Exclusive artwork & paintings.

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                                            Cover of Sun Racket by Throwing Muses.

                                            Throwing Muses

                                            Sun Racket

                                            Fire Records

                                              ‘Sun Racket’ is the brand new album from legendary Boston trio Throwing Muses, consisting of Kristin Hersh, David Narcizo and Bernard Georges. The follow up to 2013’s ‘Purgatory/Paradise’ is an outpouring of modal guitars, reverbed shapes, echoey drums and driving bass set behind Kristen Hersh’s well-thumbed notebook of storylines. A ten-song opus of suitably wrought tales set against a wall of sound that’s at once calm and ethereal before building into glorious cacophonous crescendos. When Throwing Muses wrote their last album, they were shattered. Pieces were coming and going, elements repeating and charging the whole. “It sounded beautiful jumping around like that”.

                                              Two-minute songs reappearing as twisted instrumentals or another song’s bridge. They mimicked the effect live which kept them on their toes. Whatever was happening was already over in other words. ‘Sun Racket’ is the opposite. It refused to do anything but sit still. It says, “sit here and deal”. “All it asked of us was to comingle two completely disparate sonic vocabularies: one heavy noise, the other delicate music box. Turns out we didn’t have to do much. Sun Racket knew what it was doing and pushed us aside, which is always best. After thirty years of playing together, we trust each other implicitly but we trust the music more” - Kristin Hersh And so, they continue. Business unusual.

                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                              says: Throwing Muses bring us their newest selection of gritty, fuzzed-out rock and / or roll, classic rock tinged melodies and deep, bluesy grooves. It's an intoxicating and exciting mix, and one that hasn't tempered any over time.

                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                              Coloured LP Info: Limited edition violet vinyl in die-cut sleeve.

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                                              Cover of This Coming Gladness (RSD20 EDITION) by Josephine Foster.

                                              Josephine Foster

                                              This Coming Gladness (RSD20 EDITION)

                                              Fire Records

                                                THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
                                                LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                Black Vinyl.Essential reissue of Josephine Foster's crucially revered classic 'This Coming Gladness' ñ for the first time on vinyl since 2008.Comes with brand new artwork and housed in a reverse board sleeve with a download card.

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                                                Cover of Split by The Groundhogs.

                                                The Groundhogs

                                                Split

                                                Fire Records

                                                  THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
                                                  LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                  Double Red Vinyl.The second of three ground-breaking albums by the ultimate power trio who morphed blues into hard rock and spawned punk.Remastered and packaged with a second disc of out-takes from the original sessions that spawned this spontaneous monster.'Split' is released on double red vinyl for Record Store Day.

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                                                  Cover of Purgatory/Paradise by Throwing Muses.

                                                  Throwing Muses

                                                  Purgatory/Paradise

                                                  Fire Records

                                                    THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
                                                    LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                    Double Black Vinyl.Throwing Muses released their long awaited Purgatory/Paradise in 2013, 10 years after their previous studio album - a 32 track opus of tangible bliss.Initially devised as both an album and as a book, with writing by Hersh and art by Narcizo, this vinyl reissue features all 32 tracks from the alt-rock heroes.

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                                                    Cover of Come Away With - Repress by ESG.

                                                    ESG

                                                    Come Away With - Repress

                                                    Fire Records

                                                    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.

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                                                    Cover of In Piscina by Vanishing Twin.

                                                    Vanishing Twin

                                                    In Piscina

                                                    Fire Records

                                                      Brand new music from the much-praised Vanishing Twin… Following their hugely successful second album ‘The Age Of Immunology’ (roundly raved over by The Line Of Best Fit, PopMatters, Pitchfork, Q, MOJO, The Quietus and 4 Uncut) and one of Rough Trade, MOJO and Uncut’s albums of 2019. Cocktail umbrellas and chlorinated fantasies! It’s time to get cool in the pool with Vanishing Twin. Here are four streams of analogue consciousness to super-soak your deckchair daydreams. “This is a band that fearlessly floats in the hazy space between the real world and an imagined one, blurring the line between warmly nostalgic and eerily haunted” Pitchfork // “Fantastical soundscapes that are as welcoming as they are unusual.”

                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                      Ltd 7" Info: Very limited edition Blue 7"

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                                                      Cover of Ramp by Giant Sand.

                                                      Giant Sand

                                                      Ramp

                                                      Fire Records

                                                        A Deluxe remastered edition of Giant Sand’s 1991 album ‘Ramp’ with a second disc featuring the Mad Dog sessions from earlier that same year. “Convertino's brush-work and Burns' upright bass provide the perfect foundation for Gelb's parched voice and chaotic guitar, and guests include Rainer, Victoria Williams and country veteran Pappy Allen. It’s one of Giant Sand's strongest and most complete albums.” The Quietus // Featuring piano lounge music for an off-world colony interrupted by an onslaught of guitar when needed, it’s light and dark and the better for it, a musical journey on a road less travelled. With Gelb’s lyrical invention to the fore: “His thoughts unfold in long, rolling sentences that don't always follow conventional rules of grammar or syntax.” The Quietus // The Tucson sound at it very best.

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                                                        Cover of I'm A Dreamer by Josephine Foster.

                                                        Josephine Foster

                                                        I'm A Dreamer

                                                        Fire Records

                                                          Popping up unassumingly in the second season of the popular series ‘End Of The F**cking World’ on Netflix and Amazon. This new release is sided with exclusive B-side ‘All Glow Now’. Taken from her 2013 album of the same name, ‘I’m A Dreamer’ beckons with a gentle hand, each note clear and crisp. ”Another stellar effort” (NME) the album “collects together a set of early country-esque songs” (The Quietus) and is produced by Andrija Tokic. The song sits comfortably at home in salon or saloon with its delicately arranged piano, woozy harmonica and soul-searching lyrics. “A masterclass in songwriting that perfectly invokes old Americana” Time Out // The North American Colorado based singersongwriter breathes new life into archaic forms, embodying the cultural archelogy of Harry Smith’s old weird America. She has lent her warbling mezzo-soprano and interpretive wit to nearly two decades of self-produced recordings. Her songs are rooted in American folkblues as well as classical art song and Tin Pan Alley. (E. Gades)

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                                                          Cover of Suck This Tangerine by Las Kellies.

                                                          Las Kellies

                                                          Suck This Tangerine

                                                          Fire Records

                                                            Argentinian grrl group Las Kellies return with new album ‘Suck This Tangerine’ out 27th March on Fire Records and will be touring Europe in Spring 2020. Sucking you in, Las Kellies takes us straight back to the party reminding us of what we’ve been missing with their libidinous mix of garage, punk and dub. Thrashing it out on the dancefloor, ‘Suck This Tangerine’ deals with the difficulties of a society in never ending crisis (‘Funny Money’) to the highs and lows in relationships (‘He’s Who’, ‘Let You Go’) and there’s a guest appearance from ex-Kellie Julia Worley on ‘Close Talker’. Recorded at home in Buenos Aires, the chemistry of the duo’s formative years remains as does their febrile new wave post-punk sound soaked in fiery dance beats and dub-pop. Their first release since 2016’s ‘Friends & Lovers’ was “impressively varied” (The Vinyl District) whilst “seamlessly melding psych/fuzz pop, post-punk attitude and dance beats” (Louder Than War). Las Kellies are Cecilia Kelly (bass, guitars, vocals) and Silvina Costa (drums, percussion and vocals). "Absolutely love 'em" Lauren Laverne

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                                                            Cover of Bardo Pond - Repress by Bardo Pond.

                                                            Bardo Pond

                                                            Bardo Pond - Repress

                                                            Fire Records

                                                              Critical praise from Pitchfork, Clash, The Wire, Q Magazine and more upon release. New inverted LTD edition artwork. Fire re-issue Bardo Pond’s eponymous eighth studio album from 2010, their debut for Fire from way back when. A lysergic brain wrestler in which the Pennsylvanian drone outfit perfect their modal sound. Teasing the artistry of LaMonte Young and Terry Riley into a guitar shaped cauldron, the album’s compulsive reverbed guitar shapes slowly simmer behind Isobel Sollenberger’s esoteric vocals “Like hearing a tannoy at a station in the voice of Jesus.” The Quietus. A claustrophobic stuttering raga interlocks with their psychedelic leanings best exemplified on ‘Cracker Wrist’ which sounds like something that’s intentionally always just about to happen/and/or spin back in time. Featuring lengthy fully nurtured play offs between the quintet ‘Bardo Pond’ is a heady statement that’s like the most wholesome kind of vegan-friendly mushroom trips. Pitchfork reckons they’re “playing fuzzed out stoner dreams.” Vice’s musical brother Noisey likens them to “Fugazi On Acid.” Allmusic intervenes with: “These are epic, soaring psychedelic ambient power-drone rock noise melodies where partially buried, distant female vocals are laced throughout a roaring, murky/sludge guitar soundscape

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              2xColoured LP Info: Double silver vinyl repress.

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                                                              Cover of Thumb World by Pictish Trail.

                                                              Pictish Trail

                                                              Thumb World

                                                              Fire Records

                                                              Bold, weird, wild, wired, sonically luxurious yet never losing touch with its DIY-‘til-I-die roots, Thumb World is a voyage to the outer rings of Pictish Trail’s mind at its darkest, funniest and most inventive – a plugged-in, fuzzed-out, fucked-up contemplation on, as he puts it, “life repeating and gradually degrading, the inevitable cyclical nature of things, and the sense of their ultimately being no escape.”

                                                              Expect alien abductions, thumping beats, Trump-haired pigs, paternal panic, astronaut sex, bad acid trips, worse hangovers, lashings of distortion and a lot of anthropomorphic thumbs. “Our opposable thumbs are the things that separate us from most other animals on Earth,” Pictish explains, of the fat digit symbolism, “they are also the things that we use to swipe on screens, to separate ourselves from our normal lives, but which in turn trap us within an artificial reality.”

                                                              Produced and mixed by Rob Jones, featuring string arrangements from Kim Moore and drumming from Alex Thomas (Squarepusher, Anna Calvi, Air), Thumb World is Pictish Trail’s most collaborative album to date.

                                                              An audio-visual dialogue with Swatpaz, AKA Scottish artist Davey Ferguson – the man behind the Turbo Fantasy series and an entire episode of cult TV phenomenon Adventure Time – furnished Johnny with not just a graphic aesthetic for the album, but even helped him to shape the sound of the finished record. “I sent Davey a work-in-progress mix of the album,” Johnny says, “he came back with sketches in which he had reimagined Thumb World as an 80’s arcade game. Some of the songs are centered around specific visual images, inspired by Davey’s sketches.”

                                                              Due for release on Fire Records on February 21, 2020. Four years in the making, Thumb World is the much-anticipated follow-up to his critically acclaimed Scottish Album of the Year Award public vote winner Future Echoes.

                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                              says: This definitely falls solidly within my realm of interests,

                                                              videogame aesthetic [x]
                                                              superb production [x]
                                                              brilliantly written tunes [x]

                                                              It's got it all, and only goes to show how the super talented Johnny Lynch keeps smashing it out of the park. Ace stuff.

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              Coloured LP Info: Deluxe LP Arcade Edition is on PINK vinyl, Spot Gloss Gatefold sleeve + Sticker Sheet.

                                                              Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                              Cover of Sing In A World That's Falling Apart by Black Lips.

                                                              Black Lips

                                                              Sing In A World That's Falling Apart

                                                              Fire Records

                                                              “What Black Lips do so well is tease the horror out of wholesomeness and recast golden-age rock’n’roll in a strange, discomforting light” Pitchfork.

                                                              “Cosmic country that comes strutting off a dusty back porch with gritted teeth” Consequence Of Sound.

                                                              It’s country music but not as we know it which begs the question: Have these Bad Kids of 21st Century rock ’n’ roll finally grown up on their ninth studio album? Are they at peace with themselves? Have they made a record their parents could listen to? The Black Lips new album ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ continues to flick the middle finger to one and all. This ain’t another gaggle of bearded southern sons fleeing their collective suburban upbringings and collegiate music education. There aren’t the usual clichés about drinking, honkytonks, and heartbreak. These are, after all, the same Black Lips who rescued the waning garage punk subgenre by not sounding or dressing their musical predecessors. They also dug contemporary hip-hop and punk and actualized themselves Like so many dramatic moments in the Black Lips career, ‘Sing In A World That’s Falling Apart’ was born out of crisis. The band’s stylistic evolution through decades of prolific touring and recording took them where no garage punk band had gone before - huge venues, network television shows, and major music festivals. Here Black Lips are at their grimiest, most dangerous and equipped with the best collection of songs since the aughts. Skidding onto the asphalt in a shower of sparks, they roll on with an unapologetic southern-fried twang, pacing the beast, every now and then dropping a psycho howl into the rubber room madness lurking underneath the truckstop fireworks. This ain’t your granny’s country album. And conversely this ain’t your mama’s Black Lips.

                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                              says: Just as the thigh-slapping hoedown starts, it fades away into rich psychy rock and swinging blues riffage. Black lips have always been one of the most distinctive bands that start with 'Black___' (of which there are A LOT), and 'In A World That's Falling Apart' provides a feelgood alternative to that exact scenario. Turn it up and don't stress. Black Lips got this.

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              CD Info: CD is in a gatefold wallet sleeve.

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                                                              Cover of All The Leaves Are Gone by Josephine Foster And The Supposed.

                                                              Josephine Foster And The Supposed

                                                              All The Leaves Are Gone

                                                              Fire Records

                                                                Could it be that the world is finally ready for the tempestuous folk-rock opera that is "All the Leaves are Gone?" In 2004, only the truly informed and forward-thinking heads "got" this mini masterpiece. Critics scratched their heads and usually resorted to comparisons of past artists, like ol Grace Slick and her Great Jefferson Society, Fairport Convention (but which era? SURELY Judy Dyble's early reign?), and at best, Shirley Collins. A few fans attempted to connect the record to even more obscure "freak folk/rock" like Mellow Candle, Fear Itself, or Trees. "All the Leaves are Gone" was made by unique personalities not concerned with influences or copying any bygone era. Surely, some things are in our DNA or even early childhood, as Josephine Foster's roots in opera manifest themselves as much as any other influence in this organic song cycle. Sure, guitarist Brian Goodman may have heard Richard Thompson before, but his alchemical and molten guitar spray is purely his own, in tunings and intervals still not meant for normal humans to understand, mostly because his 2004 guts were poured into every sublime note (I think even Brian himself never even understood how good he was). That fiery emotion is also in every nuance of Foster's songs--like life, there's disquieting, jagged moments of unease, and there's calm both before and after the storm. There are moments of utter gentleness along the journey---because yes, every concept album should be a voyage, and this is one everyone should take. - Steve Krakow

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                                                                Cover of Glum by Giant Sand.

                                                                Giant Sand

                                                                Glum

                                                                Fire Records

                                                                  A conceptual masterpiece, complete with a second disc capturing a classic KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic session just prior to the original album’s release in 1994, plus five bonus tracks available for digital download. An epic windswept desert dry encounter with one of America’s greatest bands that traverses genres and styles to create a complete masterpiece. “While the guitars still squall and roar, they're used more sparingly, erupting to devastating effect in gloomy, low-key songs.” The Quietus // Emotional and uplifting, and always thought provoking, the band’s line up of Howe Gelb, latter day Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino are joined by Victoria Williams, Pete Holsapple, Chris Cacavas, Pappy Allen and Lisa Germano, the whole shebang produced by Daniel Lanois protégé Malcolm Burn. “Giant Sand move to the darker side of their emotional stew. Within is jazz, country, folk, blues even Glam, we’re led to believe the mainstay is downbeat but the result is monumental

                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                  2xLP Info: 2LP Double Vinyl, 5mm spine sleeve, expanded liner notes

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                                                                  Cover of Fenella by Fenella.

                                                                  Fenella

                                                                  Fenella

                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                    ‘Fenella’ is the latest project from Jane Weaver - musical polymath and one of the most respected electronic composers of recent times - and her long-term bandmates Peter Philipson and Raz Ullah.

                                                                    Having already released three critically-acclaimed LP’s within the last five years Weaver’s creativity continues to expand ever further into the (modern) kosmos with this reimagined soundtrack to Marcell Jankovics’ cult animation Fehérlófia.

                                                                    Released in 1981, Fehérlófia is a remarkable animation based in ancient folklore with a narrative culled from mythical tales of the Scythans, Huns and Avars.

                                                                    Weaver’s richly emotional and psychedelic music offers a perfect contemporary dialogue with Jankovics’ astonishing visual aesthetic.

                                                                    A mixture of ambient textures, menacing drones and spine-tingling vocals combine to create a lavish soundscape saturated with hypnotic moods and cinematic atmosphere.

                                                                    Fenella’s self-titled LP is a continuation of Fire Records re-imagined score series.

                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                    says: F'in-ell-a, this is good. As you'd expect, a project from Raz, Jane and Peter being anything but wonderful would be a rare day indeed, but this woozy slab of arpy psychedelia is pushing the boundaries. Intricate but easily digested, this rich tapestry of fizzing oscillators and analogue saturation is a gift straight from the white mare's mouth. AT LEAST 250ug of pure joy.

                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                    Dinked Edition LP Info: Limited Edition ‘Ink Spot’ Vinyl.
                                                                    Individually Foil Numbered.
                                                                    500 copies only.

                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Crystal clear vinyl.

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                                                                    Cover of Thank Christ For The Bomb by Groundhogs.

                                                                    Groundhogs

                                                                    Thank Christ For The Bomb

                                                                    Fire Records

                                                                      A hugely influential album cited as the embryo for punk, grunge and beyond. Featuring epic 1970 concepts from this far reaching trio much praised by Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Captain Sensible, Stephen Malkmus and a host of others. ‘Thank Christ For The Bomb’ is a visionary tale of cold war fear, alienation and everyday drama. “This is a masterpiece!” New Musical Express.

                                                                      A thinking man’s rumination on alienation, the album is a game of two halves; side one tackling the thermo nuclear threat while side two traces riches to rags alienation in everyday London. First of a trio of ground-breaking albums that steered the band from the Blues into a heavier, more prog-based sound and a true reflection of their much-praised live sound. 

                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                      LP Info: 50th Anniversary reissue with Gatefold sleeve + Bonus tracks as a Download.

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                                                                      Cover of Nostalgia by HTRK.

                                                                      HTRK

                                                                      Nostalgia

                                                                      Fire Records

                                                                      HTRK’s seminal debut gets a new cut to white vinyl with white sleeve and gloss cover. An abrasive record shrouded in sonorous pulses, deafening feedback and tension-soaked reverb that immerses you deep into their world. HTRK’s lo-fi post-punk, post-industrial noise-electronica echoes Suicide, Throbbing Gristle and Joy Division. "Nostalgia" took inspiration from the sound and imagery of David Lynch, The Birthday Party and electronic artist Pita. Rowland S Howard’s ‘Teenage Snuff Film’ was also cited as a big influence, HTRK notably caught the post-punk legend’s attention with their live gigs which saw him endorse the band and go on to co-produce their next release "Marry Me Tonight". A compelling introductory statement that delves into their guilty nostalgia for the nihilistic energies rampant in the 80s underground. 'An agitated haze of addictive ambivalence instead of the swagger and violence of their influences, the overall feeling is of beautiful disharmony'.

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                                                                      Cover of Recounting The Ballads Of Thin Line Men by Giant Sand.

                                                                      Giant Sand

                                                                      Recounting The Ballads Of Thin Line Men

                                                                      Fire Records

                                                                        It’s 33 and a third years since the seminal Giant Sand and its country cousin The Band Of… Blacky Ranchette entered the studio to lay down their second albums. Yes. Both bands had recorded their second albums each. Two sides of the multi-faceted hyper-productive Howe Gelb. “I was turning 28,” he recalls, “and had been wanting to make and release albums since my early 20s, but only recently had figured out how. It was time to make up for lost time.”

                                                                        Time was of the essence. That thin line between then and now has seen journeymen Giant Sand release 27-ish albums, their latest, ‘Recounting The Ballad Of The Thin Line Men’ turning the clock back to 1986’s ‘Ballad Of A Thin Line Man’, picking over the bones and making a whole new soup. All these years on, the latest incarnation of Giant Sand: Howe Gelb (guitars, piano) Tommy Larkins (drums) and Thøger Lund (bass), have dusted off the old vinyl and re-imagined those heady days – they’ve polished these buried gems, reignited some truculent tirades and rekindled an ageless angst. The revamp re-orders the tracks, drops a couple and adds ‘Reptillian’, a previously lost song hailing from their album’s 25th anniversary re-issue, a tune that opens proceedings and basks in all its crinkly glory. There’s also two takes of ‘Tantamount’. The unique thing about Giant Sand’ is they make it all their own, they sound like no-one else. The songs remain the same, but somehow completely different. Howe: “We were a fine storm. The greatest storm in terms of tumultuous velocity and pelting bluster. It proved unstoppable... for a minute”.

                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                        Coloured LP Info: Pink vinyl.

                                                                        Indies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive purple vinyl edition.

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                                                                        Cover of Four Tries Down / It's A Mess by Hater.

                                                                        Hater

                                                                        Four Tries Down / It's A Mess

                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                          “Swoony Swedish indie-pop.” Record Collector. Two new tracks from Malmo’s much-praised Hater. “One of the best bands in the world” Gorilla Vs Bear. Hot on the heels of last year’s ‘Siesta’, their second studio album and first for Fire Records. It’s a compelling slice of angular pop music; dysfunctional, dreamy, tempting, and teasing. ‘Four Tries Down’ presents an acute hand-tooled angular rasp, with its chiming guitar chopped out against a disengaged rhythm, topped with the dreamy ambience of Caroline Landahl’s whispered confessional that cuts through the mesmerising hum. ‘It’s A Mess’ is more subtle, with a teenage Nico admitting to inevitable boyfriend trouble. Drums rattle before cutting down to the basics to let Landahls pontificate as it all goes wrong – it’s a beautiful mess. Beautiful. “Nostalgic for ‘90s indie pop innocence.” MOJO Set for release this Autumn, 7" 'Four Tries Down' coincides with Hater’s first US tour. “Too noisy to be indie pop, too sweet to be post punk.” Clash.

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                                                                          Cover of Loops In The Secret Society by Jane Weaver.

                                                                          Jane Weaver

                                                                          Loops In The Secret Society

                                                                          Fire Records

                                                                          When science fiction turns science fact the effect can be truly momentous. The state demands that no-one wants an unlicensed machine-hum from an outbuilding; no-one wants clever prose mapping the future, no-one wants “music” that is attention-seeking, soul-defining, beneficial, Biblical, baroque and beautiful. No-one told Jane Weaver that.

                                                                          Jane Weaver’s multi-layered synthetics evolved into a welcoming slew with 2014’s ‘The Silver Globe’, continuing through to 2017’s ‘Modern Kosmology’. ‘Loops In The Secret Society’ is a re-imagined journey through parts of both albums, with new ambient pieces primed and polished; with new tangents explored in a lab-friendly blossoming of the Weaver vision that travels yet further into the psych of our future. A continuous experience with one-line observations set in glorious sense-stimulating sound.

                                                                          That source material was then united in an expansionist experiment in late 2018. The ‘Loops In The Secret Society’ tour fused unrelated sounds set off against sympathetic new textures, tones and drones ; hot-housed into an idealistic soundscape that formed the conducive parts of the imminent album of the same name.

                                                                          Co-conspirators include Henry Broadhead, PJ Phillipson and Andy Votel. Renegades all, headed by the enigmatic Weaver – all under surveillance.

                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                          says: Beautiful reinterperations of tracks from Jane's last two albums, interspersed with new ambient style pieces to make a brand new album in its own right. Gorgeous.

                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                          2xDeluxe LP Info: Deluxe 2xLP Black vinyl in Silver foiled Gatefold sleeve.

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                                                                          Cover of Take It Easy by Lemonheads.

                                                                          Lemonheads

                                                                          Take It Easy

                                                                          Fire Records

                                                                            The Lemonheads bring together two unique takes on The Eagles’ ode to romance and the road, ‘Take It Easy’. From their ‘Varshons II’ album that brought together intriguing takes on everyone from Nick Cave and The Bevis Frond through to John Prine, Yo La Tengo, Lucinda Williams and Paul Westerberg. Version One is a piece of itchy white line fever, switching gears as the eight-track spirals on, a singalong variation with a right arm tan – all alt-country and joyous, with an undertone of pain and remorse. Evan: “‘Take It Easy’ is kinda rough. It was my girlfriend's idea, but it was my idea to make it sound anaemic and bloodless... enjoy!” Version two is a Matthew Cullen production – a suicide mix, with Schneider and Hutter sharing the wheel, as the road map heads right into the soundtrack of Tron – that’s Satnavs for you… 

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                                                                            Cover of The Age Of Immunology by Vanishing Twin.

                                                                            Vanishing Twin

                                                                            The Age Of Immunology

                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                            'Vanishing Twin is songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cathy Lucas, drummer Valentina Magaletti, bassist Susumu Mukai, synth/guitar player Phil MFU and visual artist/film maker Elliott Arndt on flute and percussion; and on this album they have made their first artistic statement for the ages. Some of its great power comes from liberation. The album was produced by Lucas in a number of non-standard, non-studio settings. ‘KRK (At Home In Strange Places)’ summons up the spirit of Sun Ra’s Lanquidity and Broadcast And The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio was simply recorded on an iPhone during a live set which crackled with psychic connectivity on the Croatian island of Krk. The magical Morricone-esque lounge of ‘You Are Not an Island’, the blissed-out Jean-Claude Vannier style arrangement of ‘Invisible World’ and burbling sci fi funk ode to a 1972 cult French animation, ‘Planète Sauvage’, were all recorded in nighttime sessions in an abandoned mill in Sudbury.

                                                                            The only two outsiders to work on the recording were ‘6th member’ and engineer Syd Kemp and trusted friend Malcolm Catto, band leader of the spiritual jazz/future funk outfit The Heliocentrics, who mixed seven of the tracks (with Lucas taking care of the other three). Vanishing Twin formed in 2015 - their first LP, Choose Your Own Adventure, which came out on Soundway in 2016; followed by the darker, more abstract, mostly instrumental Dream By Numbers EP in 2017. The band explored their more experimental tendencies on the Magic And Machines tape released by Blank Editions in 2018, an improvised session recorded in the dead of night, offering a glimpse into their practice of deep listening, near band telepathy, and ritually improvised sound making. These sessions formed the basis of The Age Of Immunology.

                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                            says: Vanishing Twin have returned this year with a second album of transcendent psychedelic pop. Drawing on far reaching influences in a similar manner to Stereolab, they incorporate elements of krautrock, tropicália and lounge into their expansive soundworld. The comparisons which can be drawn between the two bands are abundant - you can even hear echoes of Lætitia Sadier in Cathy Lucas’ pure, unaffected lead vocals. But the output of Vanishing Twin is not simply derivative. Its members are unique artists in their own right, and their collective sound already bears its own significance.
                                                                            Listening to ‘The Age Of Immunology’ feels like drifting off to a strange, mythological world somewhere in the unknown depths of space. Each track glides effortlessly into the next and is steeped in dreamlike imagery. In “KRK (At Home In Strange Places)” Lucas’ vocals weave around a loose, polyrhythmic groove and soaring string arrangements. The acoustic guitar steadily sets the pulse in “You Are Not An Island”, suspended above gently glowing electronics and hints of Reichian minimalism. And “Planète Sauvage” is an ode to the cult animated sci-fi film of the same name, featuring a french spoken word monologue which gives way to cinematic strings and a curious synth-organ solo.
                                                                            It seems Vanishing Twin are a group intent on creating music that defies borders and dissolves genre into genre. Perhaps they fit into an alternative definition of “World Music”, with their influences which reach as far around the globe as their combined nationalities - Belgian, Japanese, Italian, French and American. Who knows where their psychedelic voyage will take them next? For now, let’s delight in their twinkling, cosmic splendour.

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                                                                            Cover of Act Surprised by Sebadoh.

                                                                            Sebadoh

                                                                            Act Surprised

                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                            The inventors of lo-fi indie rock return with a 15-track blast of melodic melancholy, all delivered by the smudged middle finger of Dinosaur Jr original Lou Barlow - 'The auteur of the subterranean lovesick blues.' (Houston Press).

                                                                            Their first studio album since 2013’s "Defend Yourself" and their first release with Fire Records, Lou Barlow and team return with a smorgasbord of beautifully dysfunctional tunes harking back to their finest college rock anthems.

                                                                            It’s Barlow at his introverted songwriting best; matter-of-factly delivering a stream of self-questioning stories, punctuated by detuned guitars, spine-tingling time changes and throwaway one liners. A grainy post grunge postcard wrapped in bittersweet melodies with an aftertaste that’s pure heartbreak.

                                                                            More songs about growing up wrong for those who continue to act surprised at life itself - all illegibly handwritten and lovingly submitted to vinyl.


                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                            Dinked Edition LP Info: Pressed on special dinked edition tricolour vinyl.
                                                                            Limited to just 500 copies.
                                                                            Hand numbered.
                                                                            Includes lyric insert and postcard.
                                                                            Includes custom sticker sheet.

                                                                            Dinked Edition LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                            Cover of Dreaded Brown Recluse by Howe Gelb.

                                                                            Howe Gelb

                                                                            Dreaded Brown Recluse

                                                                            Fire Records

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

                                                                              1000 only. “A wandering troubadour in search of treasured happenstance, Howe Gelb is an enigma.” The Quietus // Long out of print, Howe Gelb’s debut solo album ‘Dreaded Brown Recluse’ is re-imagined on for Record Store Day on brown vinyl. Back then, circa 1991 Howe’s main squeeze Giant Sand were nothing short of prolific, songs were oozing from every pore, their creative id was effervescing, overflowing. With Giant Sand’s colossal new album of ’91 ‘Ramp’ imminent what to do with those further outpourings? An idea: Disguise the band as Howe Gelb solo and produce a song cycle that, on repeat, melds into an eclectic stew that’s easy to dip in and out of but still remains potent several hours in the oven. It’s music as soundtrack to your day, a playful, anarchic piece of situationism that unfolds like all the best dramatic prose. ‘Dreaded Brown Recluse’ includes a rethunk ‘Warm Storm’ with strings (it also appeared on ‘Ramp’). It also features songs about faxing (how quaint), blankets and the insect world, as it straddles territory lost somewhere between psychotic ramshackle punk and slimmed down acoustic reverie. Track List A1 Spirit Lie A2 Picture Shows A3 Loretta and the Insect World A4 Actually Faxing Sophia A5 Cello of the City A6 Still too Far B1 Warm Stone B2 Always Horses Coming B3 Vigdis B4 Vienna Two-Step Throw Away B5 Bible Black Book II B6 Brown Recluse B7 Blanket for Tina

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                                                                              Cover of Charmed Life by Half Japanese.

                                                                              Half Japanese

                                                                              Charmed Life

                                                                              Fire Records

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

                                                                                1000 only. Special art edition with extra LP of unheard material on Blue Vinyl. 30 years on Half Japanese’s ‘Charmed Life’ is reissued for Record Store Day. Less love and more monster, Half Japanese sound more realised and fully formed on their sixth studio album. Jad Fair had “become increasingly adept at funnelling his obsessions into songs charming, frank, comical and weird.” Marc Masters, Pitchfork. “As accessible as Half Japanese get” The Quietus // Track List 1 Said And Done 2 Penny In The Fountain 3 Evidence 4 Vietnam 5 Roman Candles 6 Love At First Sight 7 Snake Line 8 Bright Lights, Big City 9 Face Rake 10 Later In A Magazine 11 Red Dress 12 Trouble In The Water 13 Charmed Life 14 Day And Night 15 One Million Kisses 16 Miracles Happen Every Day 17 Terminator 18 I'll Change My Style 19 Fortunate 20 Real Cool Time 21 Poetic License

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                                                                                Cover of Black Mirror: USS Callister - OST by Daniel Pemberton.

                                                                                Daniel Pemberton

                                                                                Black Mirror: USS Callister - OST

                                                                                Fire Records

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

                                                                                  1000 only - soundtrack from much loved cult episode of ‘black mirror’.

                                                                                  first time on vinyl, bespoke artwork from butcher billy, includes ltd edition poster art print. 2lp red vinyl. “a brilliant take on star trek homages, gaming and toxic geekery” the guardian // the emmy nominated soundtrack from the much-loved emmy winning episode of black mirror. daniel pemberton’s score for black mirror’s ‘uss callister’ is available for the first time on vinyl with bespoke artwork from butcher billy and limited-edition poster art print. taken from the first show of the show’s fourth season, it’s the ‘star trek’ episode when a gifted programmer becomes frustrated with his job and creates digital clones of his co-workers for his own dark adventures in space. the ivor novello award winning, golden globe award and multi bafta nominated and acclaimed composer shifts effortlessly between symphonic and electronic instrumentation. “a brutal star trek scenario that’s half comedy, half indictment of silicon valley leadership” the verge // “one of hollywood’s most sought-after composers” screen daily.

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                                                                                  Cover of Varshons 2 by The Lemonheads.

                                                                                  The Lemonheads

                                                                                  Varshons 2

                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                  The Lemonheads follow up the critically acclaimed ‘Varshons’ from nearly ten years ago with another eclectic collection of covers.

                                                                                  Produced by director Matthew Cullen and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Beastie Boys, Nirvana, The Ramones), their tenth studio album brims with the slowly-matured vocal of Evan Dando as he lures a host of personal faves to his melodic lair. He really has become one of the great expressive singers of our time.

                                                                                  ‘Varshons 2’ is a hokey jukebox filled with unique versions of Yo La Tengo, Nick Cave, The Bevis Frond, NRBQ, The Eagles, Paul Westerberg, The Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams and John Prine.

                                                                                  Like Hank Williams slumped in his car between gigs, strumming and hollering, reasoning and weeping, humming it on over, Evan and his Lemonheads make every tune their own.

                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                  says: Though it's been ten years in the making, the second iteration of their 'Varshons' series sees The Lemonheads covering a host of excellent originals with style and grace. Where else could you get a masterful combo of John Prine and Nick cave on the same LP? Not many places i'd wager. A superb second outing, and yet more proof of the Lemonheads' continuing relevance.

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                                                                                  Cover of The Perfect Prescription by Spacemen 3.

                                                                                  Spacemen 3

                                                                                  The Perfect Prescription

                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                    New version with updated packaging / digipack format. Spacemen 3's second album is a remarkable departure from the band's 1986 debut, "Sound Of Confusion". Reduced to a trio (guitarists / keyboardists Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember, Jason "Spaceman" Pierce, and bassist Pete Bassman) following the departure of the first album's drummer, Spacemen 3 makes an asset out of the newfound lack of percussion, giving "The Perfect Prescription" a considerably less rock-oriented sound with much more open space in its varied, subtle arrangements. 

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                                                                                    Cover of Possible Dust Clouds by Kristin Hersh.

                                                                                    Kristin Hersh

                                                                                    Possible Dust Clouds

                                                                                    Fire Records

                                                                                    A highly personalised sociopathic gem delivered as a futuristic rewriting of how music works, a melodious breeze with a tail wind of venomous din. A ten-track album, her tenth studio set.

                                                                                    Enveloping the juxtaposition of the concept of ‘dark sunshine’, a brooding solo record creating with friends to expand her off-kilter sonic vision; a squally, squeaky mix of discordant beauty.

                                                                                    Feedback and phasing gyrate from simply strummed normality, imagine Dinosaur Jr and My Bloody Valentine cranking up a Dylan couplet. Messing with both extremes of the sonic spectrum: atonal and arrhythmic, a unique sound and a glorious return to form for one of alternative rock’s true innovators.

                                                                                    “Sometimes the most subversive thing I can do musically is adhere to standard song structure, sometimes the creepiest chords are the ones we’ve heard before, twisted into different shapes, and sometimes a story is lived a thousand times before we can ride it like a roller coaster. Nothing wholly unfamiliar is gonna make you look twice. When you can describe a record as being “deceptively” anything, you’re hinting at the sociopathic nature of music. Something I love. Imagine truly buying your own sunshine and charm, but also your darkness and violence; the two sides of your psychology showing each other off in relief. Songs can do that...we can’t, really. Darkness we’ve seen.” Kristin Hersh, July 2018.

                                                                                    “She's still as powerful a presence as she ever was.” Pitchfork

                                                                                    “The prodigious output and commitment to quality is pretty staggering, but then Kristin Hersh is a very, very special musician.” The Quietus.

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                                                                                    Cover of Siesta by Hater.

                                                                                    Hater

                                                                                    Siesta

                                                                                    Fire Records

                                                                                      Hater’s powerful vulnerability and charm has seen them rise quickly through the ranks earning kudos from NPR (Austin 100), Stereogum (Best New Bands Of 2017), The Fader, BBC6 Music, BBC Radio 1 and more. Effortless and assured, the Scandi quartet drift eloquently into well-structured and stunning melodies. Resolute in their sound, ‘Siesta’ is the perfect soundtrack for that summer romance and the inevitable break up. Heartbreak has never sounded so sweet!.

                                                                                      Produced by Joakim Lindberg (Yast and Hey Elbow) at Studio Sickan within old railway sheds outside of Malmö Sweden. Hater tackle their personal experiences of life, love and relationships yet through their shared songwriting there's a togetherness. Synth pop earworm ‘It’s So Easy’ contrasts the slower paced 'I Wish I Gave You More Time Because I Love You' that blends beautiful sweeping sax from Inge Petersson Lindbäck. Hater “boast Marr-esque guitars and vocals reminiscent of fellow Swedes and The Concretes” (Norman Records) whilst having the pop sensibilities of The Chills, Alvvays, Snail Mail and Makthaverskan.

                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                      2xColoured LP Info: Indies only Opaque yellow vinyl.

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                                                                                      Cover of Snow Bound by The Chills.

                                                                                      The Chills

                                                                                      Snow Bound

                                                                                      Fire Records

                                                                                      The latest postcard from The Chills’ epic journey is an album about “consolidation, re-grouping, acceptance and mortality,” claims the chief Chill. “Hopefully a kind of Carole King ‘Tapestry’ for ageing punks.”

                                                                                      Wow! Are rock bands allowed to grow old gracefully and assess the world’s and their shortcomings in the process? Is it possible to swerve the obvious and make something that’s bittersweet in tone but harmonious on the ear? Of course it is.

                                                                                      On ‘Snow Bound’ lost heroes are lamented, relationships are re-evaluated, atonement is sought, mortality is mulled over and fake news is undercut. It’s serious stuff, the thoughts of a dysfunctional 50-something wrestling with maturity and discovering that their post-punk DIY beliefs still have a real voice that resonates between the fans of their early years and which can now pass down to the next generation.

                                                                                      Casting our minds back, we can recall that The Guardian mused, “They sound almost like the musical embodiment of autumn,” when confronted with ‘Silver Bullets’. Three years on, ‘Snow Bound’ nestles heartily in its own winter of discontent. And all this with a humalong melodic verve, Phillipps’ gift for the tempered dalliance of verse and chorus and those gorgeous euphoric organ fills. Let the soul-searching commence…

                                                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                      says: There's a certain sound that comes with a band that have been working together for a long time, and The Chills definitely have it. Not afraid to hark back to the heyday of indie, but with a sophistication that only experience can bring, The Chills have crafted an absorbing and alluring collection of melodic stormers.

                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Clear with white Splatter Vinyl is for Indie stores only.

                                                                                      Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                      Cover of A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing by Josephine Foster.

                                                                                      Josephine Foster

                                                                                      A Wolf In Sheeps Clothing

                                                                                      Fire Records

                                                                                        ‘A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’ (2006) is an unusual album, first because it does things with classical music that aren’t usually done. The songs Josephine Foster sings here are classical pieces, written (the texts are German poems) by some of the greatest German composers of the 19th century, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms, and Hugo Wolf. “Foster has found perhaps the most appropriate vehicle yet for her singular and affecting talents – 19th century German art-songs, wholly reconstructed here via Foster’s skeletal arrangements of voice and guitar” Pitchfork. Remastered and repackaged with new artwork

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                                                                                        Cover of Ecstatic Arrow by Virginia Wing.

                                                                                        Virginia Wing

                                                                                        Ecstatic Arrow

                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                        Their favourite records are the perfect counterbalance of the considered and the superficial. Whether it’s Madonna, Talking Heads or Holger Czukay - we enjoy these artists in the background with friends or profoundly and alone. Virginia Wing both understand and embrace this concept fully as they return with Ecstatic Arrow, an album which finds them in a place of renewed strength, optimism and clarity.

                                                                                        Recorded in Switzerland, in the family home of longtime friend and collaborator Misha Hering within the domesticity and gentle routine of communal life, the album represents a world as predisposed to solemn introspection as it is to blithe conviviality. Ecstatic Arrow borrows from the heterogeneous terrain of The Flying Lizard’s Fourth Wall, the exuberant technology assisted pop of Yellow Magic Orchestra and the playful sophistication of Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s Press Colour, arriving at the evergreen intersection of pop music and conceptual art.

                                                                                        The resolute opener of Be Released and album centre point The Female Genius pair resonant Fourth World instrumentation with sonorous, loping drum patterns. Elsewhere, the sentimental march of single The Second Shift plays out like an after-hours ballad re-imagined by Wally Badarou and For Every Window There’s a Curtain is coloured by the blue-lit haze of an Eventide warped tenor saxophone. Three albums in, the voice of Alice Merida Richards is more compelling and expressive than ever. The glacial deadpan of previous records has given way to a more candid, self-possessed delivery, showing an appreciation for the humour and tragedy innate in the downtown Arcadia of Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley or even Lynn Goldsmith’s Will Powers. It’s with this voice that Richards outlines a simple ideality that fortifies the entirety of Ecstatic Arrow - inequality pervades, destructive behaviours are inherited and each subsequent generation has to reconcile the debts of its precursor - yet a space exists within ourselves and each other that houses a fact we must be reminded of - we have the ability to choose. Even in moments of frustration; the ascerbic eye-roll toward male entitlement, Glorious Idea or the world-weary Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day, there persists a joy for living that refuses to be confined. A depiction of a group finally at ease with itself, Ecstatic Arrow is a tribute to the internal momentum that quietly guides us toward our destination. 

                                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                        says: Dreamy, floating melodies and drums with reverb for days, Virginia wing manage to craft a delicately airy sound without sacrificing any of the inherent melodic content. A cleverly balanced and thoroughly beautiful journey.

                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                        Ltd LP Info: Black vinyl LP, includes A3 poster, zine and DL card.

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                                                                                        Cover of Closer To God by Television Personalities.

                                                                                        Television Personalities

                                                                                        Closer To God

                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                          THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                                                          ‘Closer To God’, as with all TVP albums, is mightily personal. Dan Treacy provides the antidote to the opening of the ill-fated Disneyland Paris and the first McDonald’s in China – it’s a white knuckle ride through his innermost hopes and fears with off stage giggling, half heard dialogue and feedback that sounds like an opera is expiring in an adjoining L-shaped room. ‘Closer To God’ is a spiritual rollercoaster that sounds as poignant and pressing as ever. Remastered double LP on limited edition on marbled black and white vinyl. 1500 copies.

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                                                                                          Cover of Bath Of Bacon by Jazz Butcher.

                                                                                          Jazz Butcher

                                                                                          Bath Of Bacon

                                                                                          Fire Records

                                                                                            ‘Bath Of Bacon’ was an experiment in sound, conjoining that Ronco platter to Todd Rundgren, a guitar from Wes Montgomery’s cupboard and mentions of imaginary monsters set to some funky chops. “The sound of a few mates failing to take note that they’ve an LP to make!” claims the JB site. It’s pop meets bluesy scat with plenty of deadpan irony – a theme that will recur.

                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                            LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                            Cover of Why Not? by Half Japanese.

                                                                                            Half Japanese

                                                                                            Why Not?

                                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                                              Half Japanese have returned to peel further layers from their onion. They have a new album that's a square further on in their unpredictable musical snakes and ladders board. ‘Why Not?’ is a magical thing – it’s Springsteen’s ‘Born To Run’ recorded in a cupboard, it’s an ode to love, it’s a Wire song with two duelling guitarists being Zappa on helium, it’s Parquet Courts in a tantrum, it’s The Crickets contorted into? and The Mysterians, it’s everywhere and nowhere, baby, it’s where it’s at. On ‘Why Not?’ nuances are mused, situations explained, questions asked.

                                                                                              Outside, zombies and demons roam and everyday aliens emerge from spaceships: it’s a technicolor film transcribed by Jad Fair and friends John Sluggett, Gilles-Vincent Rieder, Mick Hobbs and Jason Willett, their faces at the cracked window of their subterranean habitat looking out at the real world. They’re on a high from their last release: “After all these years, his wiry voice still hits every song with a shock that’s equal parts joy buzzer and defibrillator, each barely in-key bleat alternating between laughable and life-affirming,” said Pitchfork of their last opus ‘Hear The Lion Roar’.

                                                                                              To which All Music added that “after nearly 40 years of music-making, they're still creating some of the most engaging recordings of their lives, and that's truly something to believe in.” ‘Why Not?’ goes further. It’s an even more intense concoction, it’s further out there. It contains pieces of fluffy thought-provoking music, a bag of sentiments delivered with a real sense of wonderment at how the normal world revolves; all powered with heart and soul, some crunchy guitars, a cello and reverb set-to-kill infiltrating their storytelling. ‘Why’d They Do It?’ quizzes track 11. Because they can. 

                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                              says: Why not indeed?

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                                                                                              Cover of Beautiful Despair by Television Personalities.

                                                                                              Television Personalities

                                                                                              Beautiful Despair

                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                Television Personalities unreleased album. Recorded in 1990 by Jowe at his flat in Glading Terrace, Stoke Newington (shortly before it was demolished), over a number sessions on a portable 4-track cassette-tape machine. “Over the course of a few weeks, we had amassed fifteen tracks, some of which ended up being re-recorded with very different arrangements on ‘Closer to God’. The intention was to finish and release these tracks at some point, and that time has finally arrived” - Jowe Head… Of the previously unheard songs, “I Like That in a Girl” was based on a conversation Daniel Treacy had with Lawrence of the Birmingham band Felt, hence the peculiar accent that Dan uses towards the end!

                                                                                                “Love is a Four-Letter Word” was a song the band would play regularly live; it eventually evolved into “Love is Better Than War”. I Suppose You Think It’s Funny” displays Jowe and Daniels double-falsetto skills. “If You Fly Too High” was based on an encounter with Evan Dando of The Lemonheads in Berlin during a memorable gig with them at the Ecstasy Madhouse in December 1989, when the Berlin Wall was being torn down. The band jammed with Evan on stage that night, playing some tunes by Jonathan Richman and Johnny Thunders. The song also mentions Alan McGee, who was a great fan of the TVPS. Alan openly admits that he emulated Dan’s style of music, and influenced his decision to run a mod-psychedelic club, The Living Room, and to start his label, Creation. 

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                                                                                                Cover of Son Of Walter by Bevis Frond.

                                                                                                Bevis Frond

                                                                                                Son Of Walter

                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                  When the sleeve of The Bevis Frond’s ‘Son Of Walter’ arrived circa 1996 it was a mystery. The title is scratched on a window overlooking an Islington block of flats, the sunset is distorted. Today it would be the view from a banging grime pirate radio station. Back then, it was one man locked in his bedroom with too many ideas and too many instruments (and a Portastudio). It’s the Frond’s 15th studio album. “The release of this work signals a resurgent appreciation for the noodly psychedelia of which this Brit is the master,” claimed the beautifully named Jennie Ruggles in Addicted To Noise. “Guitar fans will eat this album up,” Calendar, a magazine in the US argued and Pulse! Magazine reckoned: “’Son Of Walter’ offers new recruits a generous and reasonably representative introduction both to Saloman’s deeply ingrained mastery of ‘60s-vintage idioms and to the humanity and tunefulness that sets him apart from less imaginative retro-formalists.” Ah, retro formalists, we love them.

                                                                                                  "Don't ask why, but for this album I decided to make the long-awaited(?) return to the style of the first few BF records. So it's back to the home recording facilities, and back to being the only person involved. So it's definitely worse than the recent stuff. (Feel free to disagree)," Frond mainman and, indeed the only Frond left standing on this opus, reasoned on the sleevenotes when it first sneaked out on the super cool Flydaddy label in the US. So, what is it all about? The trademark folk strum with multi-harmonies is there. There’s a slight nod to a country-ish CSN&Y thing, but that’s only for four bars. Who remembers that when there is the colossal ‘Garden Aeroplane Trap’, a proper wig out at 12 minutes 20. Elsewhere we have the kind of timeless psyche pop that people with ears really love, two songs that namecheck Elvis and a song about a dead man on a train. That was London in the late ‘90s. Hey, rock ‘n’ roll. 

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                                                                                                  Cover of The Wasted Years by The Jazz Butcher.

                                                                                                  The Jazz Butcher

                                                                                                  The Wasted Years

                                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                                    Featuring ‘Bath Of Bacon’, ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’, ‘Sex And Travel’ and ‘Distressed Gentlefolk’. Remastered by Brian Pyle. "The Jazz Butcher was always something of a unique vehicle, a sort of musical dune buggy - it interweaves the influence of The Velvet Underground and Syd Barrett with the new wave energies of the day and leaves us all richer for looking in" Pete Kember - Spacemen 3…. The ‘Butcher’ delivered a gaggle of albums and many 45s for Glass from 1983 to 1986, the jacket notes on the dusty tome that recalls this period mentions Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased), Thatcher, DIY post-punk, LSD, surrealist cabaret, The Velvet Underground, a bottle of Cointreau or two, the Amstrad 7090 and Ronco’s ‘Black Magic’ compilation. All that led to the ‘The Wasted Years’:

                                                                                                    Four albums, many visions… ‘Bath Of Bacon’ was an experiment in sound, conjoining that Ronco platter to Todd Rundgren, a guitar from Wes Montgomery’s cupboard and mentions of imaginary monsters set to some funky chops. “The sound of a few mates failing to take note that they’ve an LP to make!” claims the JB site. It’s pop meets bluesy scat with plenty of deadpan irony – a theme that will recur. ‘A Scandal In Bohemia’ took a “competent little rock band” with a bassist who’d served time in Bauhaus into a world chorused by multi-track vocals and bathroom ambience. “A top-shelf diamond of a record that is filled with excellent, memorable songs.” (All Music). ‘Sex And Travel’ offered a broadening perspective. Competence and European travel beget a narrative akin to an impressionistic cold war spy movie, a “mess of styles” that became coherent. “A great album,” muses All Music before comparing JB mainman Pat Fish to Ray Davies circa 1969. 

                                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                    4xCD Info: 4 x CD with 20 page, hard back book.

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                                                                                                    Cover of Mummy You're Not Watching Me by Television Personalities.

                                                                                                    Television Personalities

                                                                                                    Mummy You're Not Watching Me

                                                                                                    Fire Records

                                                                                                      Returning with psychedelic dark masterpiece, Television Personalities’ transitional second record ‘Mummy Your Not Watching Me’ was originally released in 1982 on Dan Treacy’s ‘Whaam!’ label. The album features ‘If I Could Write Poetry’, ‘Painting By Numbers’ and includes songs reminiscent of their earlier sound that can be heard on 'Magnificent Dreams'. With the formidable Daniel Treacy at its core, Television Personalities remain one of new wave’s longest serving and seminal artists with a career spanning over three decades. The indie pop visionaries influenced many people across the industry including Battles, Black Dice, Crystal Stilts, MGMT and Creation Records’ Alan McGee. ‘Mummy Your Not Watching Me’ is reissued for Record Store Day 2017 it will be available on black and white marbled vinyl alongside ‘The Painted Word’, ‘And Don’t The Kids Just Love It’ and ‘They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles’ / “It's a gawky, charming collection of great little pop tunes, clever bits and embarrassing bits, superb songs” Sounds, 1982.

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                                                                                                      Cover of Vampyr by Death And Vanilla.

                                                                                                      Death And Vanilla

                                                                                                      Vampyr

                                                                                                      Fire Records

                                                                                                        A Standard LP and CD release will follow later. Now re-issued as a double vinyl package, ‘Vampyr’ is full of “eerie haunted ambience” (©The Guardian), an atmospheric and spaced out 78 minutes that galvanizes Moog, glockenspiel, zither and vibraphonette in a beautiful piece of claustrophobia, a timeless slice of suitably scary sound filled with an unnerving sonic vibe that sticks in the psyche. “The retro leaning Scandi duo fire up their Moogs and mellotrons, sonic archaeologists with a hauntological bent.. there is an alluring sexiness to their avant-Kraut Moog-pop excursions.” 

                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: 500 only 2LP, black and white marbled vinyl, printed inners, gatefold sleeve.

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                                                                                                        Cover of Step Off by ESG.

                                                                                                        ESG

                                                                                                        Step Off

                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                        Pumping their way out of the South Bronx of New York in the early 80s, this rhythm and dance-punk outfit made unforgettable funk that was also unusually rooted in post-punk. This powerhouse of raw and cutting edge music ultimately made them ahead of their time. ESG enjoyed success sharing stages with PiL and Gang Of Four and have been heavily sampled by many musicians including TLC, Wu-Tang Clan, Beastie Boys and Liars. This version, a band-approved reissue of "Step Off" is released with artwork from award nominated illustrator Hannah Alice, who recently gained critical praise for her work on the Bert Jansch reissue of "Avocet". One of their most stripped back and intoxicating offerings, it clearly displays the group's love of dub's minimal and sparse arrangements plus the bass-led song style also purveyed by the genre.

                                                                                                        'ESG's fusion of sweet soul and punk attitude with an intuitive understanding of dance music remains.' - The Guardian
                                                                                                        “This is still funk with an alien otherworldliness the likes of which George Clinton never envisioned, stripped to its barest essentials for maximum impact.' - All Music
                                                                                                        'ESG are as cool as ever.' - Fact


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                                                                                                        Reduced Cover of Modern Kosmology by Jane Weaver.

                                                                                                        Jane Weaver

                                                                                                        Modern Kosmology

                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                        Modern Kosmology sees Jane Weaver's melodic-protagonist channeling new depths of creative cosmic energy within. After the huge critical acclaim of 2012's “Fallen By Watchbird”, followed by 2014's exploratory "Silver Globe" LP winning her unanimous "record of the year accolades" and hefty measures of radio play-listing Jane Weaver's conceptual trajectory has sent her neo-kosmische penchants to the point of no-return. Jane Weaver's unwaning yearning for psychoactive pop energy has just reached a new level of magnetism. As snowclones go, Modern Kosmology is the new Silver. Another Spectrum to add to the tension.

                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                        CD Info: Digi-pack sleeve.

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                                                                                                        Cover of Hear The Lions Roar by Half Japanese.

                                                                                                        Half Japanese

                                                                                                        Hear The Lions Roar

                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                        With Jad Fair at the helm for over four decades, the highly revered Half Japanese still remain “the ultimate expression of punk’s dictum that rock should be accessible to anyone who wanted to pick up an instrument and play” (AllMusic). Born out of the Fair brother’s lo-fi bedroom recordings of the mid-70’s, they reinvented rock music with their off-kilter view and popular outsider rock. Leading the lo-fi movement of the early 90s burgeoning indie rock scene, Half Japanese’s lasting influence and prolific output has seen them experiment with alternate tunings, chords and melody and in recent years they’ve produced more cohesive offerings. Wildly eccentric and humorous, the energetic ‘Hear The Lions Roar’ is an art rock record where Jad’s expertly thrown out lyrics remain optimistic and fresh alongside a fierce and compelling rhythm section. Featuring a cohort of past musicians from the 90’s, their dexterous instrumentation brings further depth to Jad’s songs. 

                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                        Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                        Cover of Snake Pit by Harvey Mandel.

                                                                                                        Harvey Mandel

                                                                                                        Snake Pit

                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                        Harvey Mandel is among the most innovative guitarists to emerge from the Chicago blues scene of the late 1960s. His career began at Twist City and other local hotspots, sharing stages with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Guy. He came up in that scene alongside Charlie Musselwhite, Mike Bloomfield, Barry Goldberg and Steve Miller, leading to an invitation from Bill Graham to open for Cream at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in August 1967.

                                                                                                        Mandel was a member of Canned Heat, appearing with them at Woodstock. He played on numerous John Mayall albums, and on the Rolling Stones' 1975 LP Black and Blue ("Hot Stuff", "Memory Motel"), having auditioned for Mick Taylor's job, which ultimately went to Ron Wood. Known for his "tapping" technique and sinewy, sustain-driven phrasing (thus his nickname, "The Snake"), Mandel's solo albums such as Cristo Redentor, Baby Batter and Righteous have been sampled and drooled over by guitar geeks, DJ's, and fans of funky, soulful, otherworldly composition.

                                                                                                        Harvey's fifteenth studio LP and his first widely distributed album in 20 years, Snake Pit was recorded in two days at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, CA. Harvey teamed with fellow Chicago-based musicians Ben Boye (keys), Ryan Jewell (drums), Brian Sulpizio (guitar), and Anton Hatwich (bass), who have all played with singer/songwriter Ryley Walker. Harvey and the band had not met previously, nor had they rehearsed. He played snippets of song ideas for the band on his iPhone, and then they would lay down a track in one or two takes. Hard to believe when you hear the album, but that's exactly how it went down.

                                                                                                        Minimal overdubs with strings and percussion were added, but mostly what you hear is what happened spontaneously in the studio. The album contains six new original compositions by Mandel and two revisited songs : "Baby Batter" from his 1971 Janus LP of the same name, and "Before Six" by Larry Frazier, which appears on his first album,Cristo Redentor. Snake Pit marks a spirited return in a career that now spans six decades -- all the more intense and poignant given Harvey's recent battle with cancer.

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                                                                                                        Cover of The Art Of Walking by Pere Ubu.

                                                                                                        Pere Ubu

                                                                                                        The Art Of Walking

                                                                                                        Fire Records

                                                                                                          Released in 1980, ‘The Art Of Walking’ sees Pere Ubu ‘moving even further from the conventions of rock music - and from their own past - but still moving forward, without a doubt, and losing none of their integrity as a group.’ (Melody Maker, Chris Cutler). The album features in new box set, ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’, released in March. It gathers together ‘New Picnic Time’ with its companion releases, ‘The Art Of Walking’ and ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ plus LP of extras, ‘Architectural Salvage’. Coed Jail! Live dates mark the release of the box with a set list drawn exclusively from the recordings of 1975-1982. Tom Herman, guitarist from 1975 to 1979 and from 1997 to 2002, rejoins the band for the tour. The line-up is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman. Wheeler and Temple have been in Pere Ubu since 1994, Mehlman since 1995. 

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                                                                                                          Cover of Song Of The Bailing Man by Pere Ubu.

                                                                                                          Pere Ubu

                                                                                                          Song Of The Bailing Man

                                                                                                          Fire Records

                                                                                                            Released in 1982, 'Song of the Bailing Man' is an ‘inspired, invigorating, confounding, disturbing... yeah, one hell of a swinging way to go. Still the futility Ubu must have felt making far sighted music in a chronically near-sighted world is pressed hard into these grooves.’ (Melody Maker, David Fricke). The album features in new box set, ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’, released in March. It gathers together ‘New Picnic Time’ with its companion releases, ‘The Art Of Walking’ and ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ plus LP of extras, ‘Architectural Salvage’. Coed Jail! Live dates mark the release of the box with a set list drawn exclusively from the recordings of 1975-1982. Tom Herman, guitarist from 1975 to 1979 and from 1997 to 2002, rejoins the band for the tour. The line-up is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman. Wheeler and Temple have been in Pere Ubu since 1994, Mehlman since 1995.


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                                                                                                            Cover of Rats On Rafts / De Kift by Rats On Rafts / De Kift.

                                                                                                            Rats On Rafts / De Kift

                                                                                                            Rats On Rafts / De Kift

                                                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                                                            The best act I've ever seen at a festival" Paul Thomson, Franz Ferdinand. Rats On Rafts have joined forces with legendary underground Dutch punk band De Kift - Zaandam punk vs Rotterdam punk! A playful revisioning of each other’s music which began at Metropolis Festival in 2013. The record brings together songs from Rats On Rafts critically acclaimed second album ‘Tape Hiss’ and De Kift’s huge catalogue. The two bands locked themselves up for a month to record a completely analogue album. Together they will play this material live on tour. Instantly recognisable as Rats ‘Last Day On De Zon’ is shot through with brass - enter De Kift. Dark, dub infused ‘Meggy’ sees Rats bringing their explosive and unrelenting rolling crescendos. ‘Sleep Little Links 2 3 4’ is uplifting with the addition of brass whilst folk tinged ‘Dit Schip’ sees them bring further depth to the collaboration. Energetic and raw, the spirit of their festival performances prevails throughout. De Kift have released music for three decades with father Heijne only retiring in 2013, brothers Marco & Ferry Heijne and cousin Pim remain alongside co-founder and drummer Wim. The nine piece brass ensemble have released eleven albums, collaborated in theatre, film and various media projects which has seen them win a number of Dutch awards across film and music. Both formats have unique sleeves made from recycled LP/CD sleeves, with the front and back cover printed and stuck on to the recycled sleeve. The band have assembled and fulfilled each one themselves. 

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                                                                                                            Cover of Death And Vanilla Album (Reissue) by Death And Vanilla.

                                                                                                            Death And Vanilla

                                                                                                            Death And Vanilla Album (Reissue)

                                                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                                                            Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson AKA Death and Vanilla released their first full length self-titled eponymous debut LP in 2012. It radiates sophisticated retro-futuristic psych-pop whilst channeling their passion for hauntology, library, krautrock and radiophonic music. Mastered by Linus Sjölund at RED audio it was initially released on French label ‘Hands In The Dark’ which like their EP sold out on pre-order.

                                                                                                            Fire Records now release the album on black/yellow splatter vinyl and CD alongside the ‘From Above’ 7” and their self-titled debut EP. 

                                                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                            says: Krauty, moog, hushed, library baroque pop that breezes along in a sultry fashion.

                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: LP is yellow vinyl.

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                                                                                                            Cover of Rhonda by Virginia Wing.

                                                                                                            Virginia Wing

                                                                                                            Rhonda

                                                                                                            Fire Records

                                                                                                              THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2016 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                                                                              Virginia Wing are not from the sedate school of dream-pop escapism…a hazy subversion of the traditional monochrome evocations of post-punk, a photo negative of an established form.” - The Quietus // “South London three-piece ally buzz and drone with sweetness and light” Guardian – New Band Of The Week // "A piece of noir-pop majesty that consistently pushes its own boundaries and frequently shatters the listeners’ sense of expectation" Loud and Quiet // "They possess a rare ability to dive deep beneath the skin.. a ghostly mix that flirts hard and fast with the avant garde while retaining a sly pop lustre" Mojo 4* // Following the 2015 release of their acclaimed debut album ‘Measures Of Joy’ on Fire Records, Camberwell based outfit Virginia Wing return with a striking new single. ‘Rhonda’, released for Record Store Day on 12” vinyl with a disco cut sleeve featuring artwork from longtime collaborator Florian Brooks. Recorded at Hackney-based Holy Mountain Studios with Misha Hering, ‘Rhonda’ sees the band expand the deep and varied sonic palette displayed on their debut ‘Measures Of Joy’. Featuring guest musician Koichi Yamanoha of Grimm Grimm, the single unfolds slowly as meditative incantations give way to a sprawling piece of experimental pop for the dance floor. The ambitious A-side flirts with disco beats and draws influence from a variety of schools of contemporary dance music whilst still remaining, at heart, a pop song. This is pop music with texture, depth and nuance; a daring and progressive piece. The B-side includes two new tracks: ‘Sisterly Love’ and ‘Daughter Of The Mind’ which further hint at the deviations we can expect on their second LP. Field recordings, ambient mediations and rhythmic experimentation abound; the new material sees Virginia Wing refining and reworking the sound conjured on their debut, a masterful workout and one that provides a thrilling incentive to await LP2 with baited breath. Following a headline European tour and a UK tour with Hookworms last year, Virginia Wing will be releasing their second album in autumn 2016. Forming in 2012, Virginia Wing are Alice Merida Richards, Sam Pillay and Sebastian Truskolaski. 

                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                              Ltd 12" includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Song Of The Bailing Man by Pere Ubu.

                                                                                                              Pere Ubu

                                                                                                              Song Of The Bailing Man

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Released in 1982, 'Song of the Bailing Man' is an ‘inspired, invigorating, confounding, disturbing... yeah, one hell of a swinging way to go. Still the futility Ubu must have felt making far sighted music in a chronically near-sighted world is pressed hard into these grooves.’ (Melody Maker, David Fricke).

                                                                                                              The album features in new LP box set, ‘Architecture Of Language 1979-1982’, released in March. It gathers together ‘New Picnic Time’ with its companion releases, ‘The Art Of Walking’ and ‘Song Of The Bailing Man’ plus LP of extras, ‘Architectural Salvage’. Spring dates mark the release of the box with a set list drawn exclusively from the recordings of 1975-1982. Tom Herman, guitarist from 1975 to 1979 and from 1997 to 2002, rejoins the band for the tour. The line-up is David Thomas, Tom Herman, Robert Wheeler, Michele Temple and Steve Mehlman. Wheeler and Temple have been in Pere Ubu since 1994, Mehlman since 1995. 

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                                                                                                              Cover of No Dreams by Noveller.

                                                                                                              Noveller

                                                                                                              No Dreams

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Building on the breakthrough of her “Glacial Glow” album, and coming off of tours opening for St. Vincent and The Jesus Lizard (something that only makes equal sense for Noveller), guitarist and filmmaker Sarah Lipstate emerged with what AllMusic called “an incredible and complex statement, and one that clearly stands as a challenge to herself and her audience alike.”

                                                                                                              The album. “No Dreams” would continue to elevate her songwriting and soundscaping to new heights, with Pitchfork raving; “Sarah Lipstate creates miniature musical worlds, places that you feel like you’ll never leave as long as the record is playing.” Lipstate, a former member of Parts & Labour and Cold Cave, as well as a collaborator with such luminaries as Lee Renaldo and Jim Thirlwell, along with being a member of both Rhys Chatham’s Guitar Army and Glenn Branca’s 100 Guitar Ensemble, has emerged as one of the most exciting and interesting guitarists of this era. “No Dreams” cements her as a talent on the rise. Originally released as a limited edition on the experimental label Important Records, following the success of her most recent “Fantastic Planet” album, Fire Records is reissuing the album on 180 gram vinyl to a wider audience. 

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                                                                                                              Reduced Cover of Illegals In Heaven by Blank Realm.

                                                                                                              Blank Realm

                                                                                                              Illegals In Heaven

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Blank Realm's transformation across the Australian mystic from sprawling spaced out psychotic punk blues, through the startling maverick pop psychedelia of ‘Go Easy’ to the widely acclaimed ‘Grassed Inn’, continues in its unrelenting quest for that quintessential synergy of chiming pop anthems.

                                                                                                              Hook-laden throughout they unleash their wild yet tender new album ‘Illegals In Heaven’ which offers up freaked out reflections on life, love and circumstance. As knowing as the Chills or the Pretenders, loner ballads are as gnarled and world weary as Dylan in a cacophony as bruised as Royal Trux yet with the playfulness of Half Japanese.

                                                                                                              Recorded and produced with Lawrence English (head of the Room40 label) on a late night at The Plutonium studio in Brisbane, the album sees them on their first foray into a recording studio. While it wasn’t exactly Abbey Road, it truly captures the chaos and majesty of the band’s formidable live shows.
                                                                                                              It would be all too easy to say that ‘Illegals In Heaven’ is their finest work to date, but the simple truth is that Blank Realm have been without peers for a trilogy of albums, so it just might be as Sarah huskily intones, "Gold" too.

                                                                                                              “Blank Realm are still bent on mixing the diamonds with the rough, and on Grassed Inn that particular swirl is at its most intoxicating.” Pitchfork 8/10

                                                                                                              “Balancing the arty with the party to make for a set of danceable, hook-filled songs that bubble and bloom with an almost biological rampancy, shooting out tendrils of strange, snaking melody in every direction like vines enveloping a ruin” Guardian 4*

                                                                                                              “A cracking selection of scuzzy, fuzzy psych-rock songs that recall Royal Truax and Sonic Youth” Uncut 8/10

                                                                                                              “Blank Realm generate scruffy, VU’s-Sister-Ray-loving grooves, coloured up with blooping synths, and yowling, way-off vocals” Mojo 4* 

                                                                                                              STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                              says: Catchy but cool as you like jangle'n'fuzz psych pop/rock from down-under. A big hit on the shop stereo.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Anda Jaleo / Perlas by Josephine Foster And The Victor Herrero Band.

                                                                                                              Josephine Foster And The Victor Herrero Band

                                                                                                              Anda Jaleo / Perlas

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Bringing together both of Josephine Foster and the Victor Herrero Band’s Spanish albums in one place, with a previously unreleased track. Anda Jaleo was originally released in 2010. Federico Garcia Lorca's popular folk song collection "Las Canciones Populares Espanolas" was banned under Franco's dictatorship and today the music survives but marginally within the Spanish sub-conscious.

                                                                                                              Taking their cue from Lorca and La Argentinita's infectious 1931 recording of the songs, Josephine Foster and her partner Spanish musician Victor Herrero arranged the poetically rich collection for their acoustic band, formed while living in the Grenadine Sierra. Anda Jaleo is the band's live recording of "Las Canciones"; a visceral celebration of the persistence of popular anonymous song.

                                                                                                              This new edition includes an additional track not featured on the original release, an interpretation of ‘Sones de Asturias’. La colección de "Canciones Populares Españolas" recopiladas y armonizadas por Federico García Lorca fue censurada en tiempos de Franco, y hoy en día la música sobrevive aunque de una manera vaga en el subconsciente del pueblo español. Inspirados por la contagiosa grabación de las canciones de Lorca y La Argentinita de 1931, Josephine Foster y su compañero el músico español Víctor Herrero han arreglado esta poética y rica colección para su banda acústica , formada mientras vivían en la sierra de Granada. Anda Jaleo es la grabación en directo de su versión de "Las Canciones"; una celebración visceral de la canción popular anónima y su persistencia. Following from Anda Jaleo, Josephine Foster and the Victor Herrero Band created a superb follow-up entitled Perlas (Pearls). It is a jewel of a collection, with songs and poems selected by Josephine herself, gathered from dusty old scores and brought vividly to the present with warm performances full of flesh-and-blood emotion. Made with a variety of stringed instruments and simple percussion, the songs were recorded live in the studio on to analogue tape by Paco Loco in Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. Foster breathes new life into timeless traditional melodies, drawing from the Spanish-folk traditions of Castile, the Basque, Santander and the Costa Brava.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Volume 3 : 1990-1995 by Half Japanese.

                                                                                                              Half Japanese

                                                                                                              Volume 3 : 1990-1995

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Formed in the mid-70s, and setting the standard for post-punk ever since, Jad and David Fair and Half Japanese return with a new volume that finds us twenty years into their story. The 90s would see them under a new spotlight as Kurt Cobain used his celebrity to tell anyone that would listen about their greatness, and had the band tour with Nirvana. They would respond with three of the most wild and varied albums in their career.

                                                                                                              Continuing their Fire deluxe reissues of the entire Half Japanese catalogue, Volume Three: 1990-1995 is the third of four volumes containing three LPs/CDs. This next set of Half Japanese LPs begins with 1990’s explosively, noisy and chaotic (sometimes improvised) ‘We Are They Who Ache With Amorous Love’ featuring their cover of the Them garage rock classic “Gloria” and two tracks “Titanic" and "Hand Without a Body” that were co-written with the like-minded Daniel Johnston. Two years later the notably more delicate and, dare we say, jangly, ‘Fire In The Sky’ (1992) arrived at a pivotal time for the group when they gained notable recognition from the likes of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Teenage Fanclub and Yo La Tengo (whose Ira Kaplan guests on the record).

                                                                                                              This highly anticipated third installation closes the trio with 1995’s ‘Hot’ which became MTVs album of the week on release, with Michael Goldbery writing “Hot, mixes Sonic Youth-style noise, Stooges primitivism and ’60s pop with excellent results. “Lucky Ones” is a simply charming number (“A good thing just got better/ As better as better can be”) reminiscent of Jonathan Richman, while “Drum Straight” is dose of feedback drenched skonk and “Vampire” rocks hard liken the Sonic’s “Bull In The Heather.” Fire’s colossal Half Japanese series began last year with the Record Store Day exclusive of ‘Half Gentleman/Not Beasts’, this set contains the records in their original form with extras that later appeared on CD formats available. It will also include original artwork from Jad Fair and liner notes by Half Japanese hall of famer Mark David Jickling. “Cutting straight to the gut. Jad’s phrasing matches surging sentiments, creating a counterpoint to the spot-on music. When they grind out a groove half-rhythmic/half-blank cadences, the woozy disconnect is oddly compelling” Pitchfork’s Best New Reissue (Volume 2: 1987-1989)

                                                                                                              “An impressive and well-assembled study of one of this band's more interesting periods” - All Music.

                                                                                                              “This should also lay to rest any questions about the importance of Half Japanese. Without them, we wouldn’t have the primitive pop of Beat Happening nor the id-bearing beauty of Daniel Johnston” - Paste Magazine. 

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                                                                                                              Cover of I Sell The Circus by Ricked Wicky.

                                                                                                              Ricked Wicky

                                                                                                              I Sell The Circus

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              The first thing the listener will notice about Ricked Wicky is that it is the most musically adept project Guided By Voices' mage Robert Pollard has undertaken in some time, at least since late period-GBV (Half-Smiles of the Decomposed, for instance), or even Boston Spaceships. "[Ricked Wicky] is a sophisticated arena rock band," says Pollard, and I Sell The Circus offers in evidence a series of ball-peen hammers to the brain-pan ("Piss Face" with its James Gang-era slide guitar and the proto-punk stomp of "Intellectual Types," for example) alongside more delicate, prog-tinged frippery ("Cow-Headed Moon" features "Court of the Crimson King"-esque mellotron, while the acoustic guitar mastery displayed on "Even Today and Tomorrow" recalls the mellow-era ELP of "Lucky Man").

                                                                                                              Credit the players: bolstering the easy mastery of a dizzying array of song writing forms one naturally expects (and receives) from Pollard are the impressive instrumental prowess of fellow Daytonian Nick Mitchell ("no blood relation to Mitch," Pollard stresses), who can otherwise be found in near-weekly performance at Wings, an important Dayton sports bar, multi-instrumentalist and producer Todd Tobias, and "the worldly Kevin March," (Pollard again) who does double duty these days in Guided By Voices. These guys can play, and on I Sell The Circus, they play the fuck out of the songs. "The band named Ricked Wicky is significant in that it is the very first name I created for a non-existent band in my early teens," explains Pollard. Fourteen of its fifteen tracks were recorded at Cyberteknics in Dayton, a studio Pollard has come to use with increasing frequency due to its profusion of vintage analogue gear.

                                                                                                              Used to great effect on ISTC: "Rotten Backboards" is as gorgeous and melancholic a tune as Pollard has ever written, and lyrically sounds a note of wistfulness that long-time fans will not find unfamiliar. "She can run, 'cause that's what I did," sings Pollard over a sublimely-textured background of synth-strings, arpeggiated guitar, piano, and clattery drums, and while it's tempting to read real regret into the content ("rotten backboards" as a metaphor for the debris of the past), it's always dangerous looking for autobiography in Pollard's mostly-fictional constructions. And anyway the misty wistfulness is cleared away immediately by the sharply propulsive prime-Who swagger of the next -- and final -- track "A Real Stab." Which seems to be about needles, or the messengers of Oz, or paper bags. It's one of the best songs on an album of standouts. "Some may wish to refer to us as a 'super group,'" says Pollard, tongue practically poking through his cheek, but as with a lot of the pronouncements made by the oracle of Huffman Prairie, as no one has ever called him or ever will, he's joking, but he's not joking. Ricked Wicky may not be a super group as the term is too-commonly used, but there's no real doubt they're a super group.

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                                                                                                              Cover of The Call Of The Cosmos by Sterling Roswell.

                                                                                                              Sterling Roswell

                                                                                                              The Call Of The Cosmos

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Fire Records are delighted to announce the addition of Sterling Roswell to the fold. The former Spacemen 3 drummer and multi-instrumentalist self-released and sold out of a limited run of 300 copies of the album earlier in the year to great acclaim, including a rave review in Mojo (as well as a pick by Andrew Weatherall in the same magazine) and it was album of the month in Rough Trade Shops who described the album like this: "Lavishing in pop structures but drawing in myriad influences to the wondrous black hole, The Call Of The Cosmos features some shimmering spaciousness but also sleazy exotica-themes, not unlike a Lee Hazelwood production infected with Joe Meek's ghost.

                                                                                                              Roswell's own songwriting and voice recalls a solar-fried Bobby Gillespie, an artist he no doubt originally influenced with the Spacemen 3. Elsewhere, there's truly psychedelic excursions into outsiderdom which come off like The Seeds mutating ever larger into lysergic-dipped monsters." Any attempt to categorize Sterling Roswell, runs the risk of misrepresenting a true radical. Artist, musician, poet and producer, Roswell is all of these and more and over the years he has embraced a myriad of artistic forms to great effect. For the live shows he will be joined by the band The Psychedelic SRB featuring a rotating collective of musicians including the fantastic George Frakes (lead guitar), Syd Kemp (bass) and Tucker Nelson (drums). They not only bring the album The Call Of The Cosmos to the live stage but in the midst have created their own unique space age sound.

                                                                                                              Live appearances, both solo and with The Psychedelic SRB, always hold audiences spellbound and is THE act to see in this new age of psychedelia. The Call of the Cosmos features the singles 'Interplanetary Spaceliner','Give Peace Another Chance' and 'a remix of The Girl From Orbit', cementing the elements which have infused Sterling's work since his days with Spacemen 3, his multi instrumental driving force behind The Darkside and his innovative psychedelic soundscapes as a studio engineer and producer. The album stands testament to a new message for Interplanetary Peace and features a truly fitting tribute to the late, great front man of THE SEED, Sky Sunlight Saxon with a cover of the song 'Tripmaker', which was originally featured in the Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda movie The Trip in 1968. "Baudelaire once wrote, 'music excavates heaven'. Listen to this record and you might just have to agree." Andrew Weatherall / Mojo

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                                                                                                              Cover of More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush by Teenage Guitar.

                                                                                                              Teenage Guitar

                                                                                                              More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Robert Pollard, head lunatic of the Guided By Voices' asylum, has a surfeit of original thoughts. (Most people are lucky to have even one, ever). That this even needs to be expressed is evidence enough for its "truth," as only obvious or obviously untrue things can ever hope to be true. Or to approach the truth. Something Pollard does with uncanny regularity, and which is further on display on every track on the gloriously unkempt, roiling-with-ideas More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush, the second record Pollard has released under the nom-de-rock Teenage Guitar.

                                                                                                              Here's a song title: "Matthew's Ticker and Shaft a. come to breakfast b. the girl's c. division of swans d. when death has a nice ring." It starts with distorted guitar over a primitive snare-and-bass-drum beat (all instruments on all songs played by Pollard), shifts into an out-of-tune piano clumping along a simple seven-chord progression, lurches into a wall of distorted guitar as two tracks of Pollard wail wide-panned in each speaker, before finally resolving in a pretty harpsichord (or some synthesized version thereof) figure inelegantly trips over itself before trailing off into the next track: "The Instant American," which presents a multi-tracked Pollard vocals chanting over a background of what sounds like a bunch of people at a party drinking. These are not the two strangest tracks on the fifteen-song album, which clocks in at just over thirty minutes.

                                                                                                              If there are times when Pollard's musical ambition seems to overwhelm his ability to present his ideas coherently, that's a feature, not a bug. The spazzy machine-generated beat of "A Guaranteed Ratio," the ham-handed church organ of "Good Mary's House," the off-key crooning, the awkwardly plucked possible-banjo on "All You Fought For" the general (but not always) sloppiness, the rumbling toms and slashing power chording of "New Light": it's all of a piece, and that piece adds up to a sense of urgency and what sounds an awful lot like unconstrained joy suffusing every single track on More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush. For those who like their Pollard stately, tuneful, and elegiac – sure, he can do that without effort, but that's not what Teenage Guitar is about. Teenage Guitar is about trying hard without seeming to try hard.

                                                                                                              The result is that rare thing: a completely original album. Which is also a true delight, a sky-blue gem, a timeless and untimely cabinet of wonder. And by some few miles the greatest musical artifact your ears will have the pleasure of encountering this year.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Electric Ocean by Scraps.

                                                                                                              Scraps

                                                                                                              Electric Ocean

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              The music of Scraps is a unique cosmic universe of emotions, thoughts and bedroom sound. Utilising a minimalist set up of drum machine, keyboard and synth mixed with a life time obsession of the electronic pop music of yesteryear allow Laura Hill's ideas to come alive. These are not cute brainless love songs however. Although love is an inspiration in a lot of the songs, the lyrics and themes mostly deal with the darker painful side of that irrational emotion. Depth comes in the way Hill can effortlessly blend the banal drudgery of everyday living with the abstract and surreal. Meditations on the sadness of a fleeting human existence, strange attractions to machines and the technical world, to the ever present escapist allure of outer space and the dream world. All this set to some of the finest and (I dare say) catchy pop music this side of the 21st century.

                                                                                                              Scraps is a distinctly unique artist borne directly out of her environment. Scraps has not gained her small but incredibly loyal and growing cult following through media saturation, blog hype, or a money backed promotional whirlwind. It has been acquired through the independent and uncompromising nature of her spirit, the authentic DIY quality of the music, and her honest approach to songwriting and performing. Strong releases on hometown Brisbane record labels Bedroom Suck and Disembraining Machine have complimented an already dense discography of hand made, self released material. Scraps has performed relentlessly all over Australia and abroad to a wide variety of people alongside an even wider variety of bands and artists. From drunken suburban house parties, inner city generator squat shows, art galleries, cafes and bookstores, museums, drug fuelled nightclubs, rural raves, reputable and disreputable pubs, to some of the biggest venues in town as international support. The fact that Scraps can effortlessly transcend these often starkly contrasting spaces is a testament to the quality of her abilities as a songwriter and performer.

                                                                                                              Electric Oceans is a culmination of years spent lost in the independent music wilderness. Experience has been gained through Hill continuously pushing herself as a musician, artist and human. Scraps is not your typically modern spoilt rich kid flash-in-a-pan solo synth songsmith. Tough battles have been fought and either won or lost, both personally and creatively - the results of which are more than evident on this record.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Trouble by Hospitality.

                                                                                                              Hospitality

                                                                                                              Trouble

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              The first thing you might notice about Hospitality's second album Trouble is what you don't hear. The process of completing Trouble was, for the band, one of learning to accept silence, to let that empty space exist no matter what it might awaken or evoke. You could catch glimpses of these dark and unexplored places in the margins of Hospitality's 2012 self-titled debut, but they are at the very heart of Trouble. If you listen closely, you can hear a band pushing against their own boundaries and limitations until they find the very air around them subtly but perceptibly changed. The trio of Amber Papini (guitar, vocals), Brian Betancourt (bass), and Nathan Michel (drums) approach Trouble with the force and unity of a well-rehearsed touring rock band. They supplement their performances with strategically placed strings, synthesizers, and drum machines. But silence is an inescapable force on Trouble, an invisible fourth player that draws you into the unexplored corners of familiar sounds: the full, ghostly decay of a reverb tail, the round pluck of a bass string, the exact syllables where a doubled vocal line diverges. In its lyrics and its musical construction, Trouble is an album that wonders about the mysteries that lurk just beyond our field of vision. Slyly and sympathetically, Papini ponders a Saturday afternoon fishing trip as a wrenching interplay of life and death, the perfect blue sky at an air show as a setting for a soured romance.

                                                                                                              Papini elaborates: "Most of the songs are about everyday environments that arouse anxiety or unease. The ocean isn't meant for people; we aren't supposed to be there, and some of the animals that live there are much bigger and faster than we are in the water. I think a lot of the songs deal with this 'out of place' kind of theme, feelings of unease and the questions of what is under you or what surrounds you." Trouble creates a space where conflicting sentiments and experiences are given room to coexist, where small and seemingly mundane observations pose big questions that hang in the air, unanswered and unanswerable. With a title referencing the artist's endless struggle in the battle between creativity and outside forces, Trouble also explores the universal themes of loss, love, and loneliness with Papini's trademark wit. Lines like "And if I'm lost and low / And need you / I'll disconnect the line" from "Inauguration" somehow make the ultimate kiss-off seem charming, while nature makes clear the loneliness felt when leaving someone you love behind in these lines from "I Miss Your Bones": "And all the stars will / Twinkle in the midst of a sea / Of black and lonely /An everlasting loss lack abyss." It's fitting that the album was hashed out in band practices that blurred the boundaries between work and leisure, darkness and light, creative collaboration and friendship.

                                                                                                              Foregoing the usual night-time hours kept by musicians, the band chose to work on these songs during daily morning rehearsals that proved in many ways more demanding than characteristically relaxed night-time gatherings. Through these sessions, the band sought to take their music as far as they possibly could as a three-piece, to make sure that every small gesture fell into place and played a vital role in constructing the shape and feel of the songs. The band carried this daylight-infused clearheadedness with them into the studio with chief arranger Nathan Michel and engineer Matt Boynton acting as co-producers. Nathan describes the process: "We really wanted to avoid the ornamental, but I always like to add more sounds. Matt was helpful in keeping the arrangements as simple and direct as possible. We all wanted the record to have a warm and open sound." When put to tape, some of the songs for Trouble worked better than expected as fierce and focused trio performances, while others called for more substantial re-imaginings. "I Miss Your Bones" emerged almost entirely from a live performance, while "Inauguration" found the band ripping apart their live arrangement and reconstructing the song with drum machines and synthesizers. The album unfolds like a walk on the beach or a journey to a place you didn't know you were going. Perhaps a darker sound overall, but Trouble begins with the trademark Hospitality pop then unfurls to reward the listener with the more expansive stripped-down instrumentation of side B. And here, again, is that distinctively present silence, creating a space where an undulating synthesizer feels as alive and mysterious as a single voice in a room.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Sleep Dreamt A Brother by Mathew Sawyer.

                                                                                                              Mathew Sawyer

                                                                                                              Sleep Dreamt A Brother

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Sleep Dreamt a Brother is the new album from musician and artist Mathew Sawyer, due for release on Fire Records in October. Mournful, lush arrangements that sound almost medieval at times with stark strings, classical guitar and piano overlaid by Sawyer's bare, distinctive vocals and creepy foley sound effects. The record is a place. Not the representation of a place, but something inhabitable. With a clearer vision than his other records, the album is very notably about death. Sawyer wrote and recorded the majority of the album following the loss of three friends a few months apart in 2011 and completed it two weeks before his son was born. As Mathew explains: "When I talk about death or loss I want it to be the feeling itself, not just a representation of that feeling."

                                                                                                              Mathew Sawyer is a renowned painter and artist and has a Masters from The Royal College of Art. He has exhibited all over the world (he was The Guardian's artist of the Week and his exhibition at the Rokeby Gallery was previewed in Time Out). He created a painting as cover art for Sleep Dreamt a Brother, which features a man raising his arms with death mirroring this action. They're a reflection of each other. They're brothers. In Greek mythology, Hypnos and Thanatos are brothers. They are Sleep and Death. The title Sleep Dreamt A Brother imagines Sleep dreaming his brother into being. The record views life and death as just a memory or a dream of the other, and tries to reconcile the gap between them. It considers the dream world to be just as valid an experience as the waking world, and that death is like a dream we'll have. Mathew says; "When I die, I'd like to die in the night time as dreaming in sleep is not of this world anyway. Lost in a dream is nothing to be afraid of." The album was recorded and produced by Sawyer at his home. "I like recording to be hand in hand with everyday living. The sound of cars come through the windows, the phone rings, floorboards creak. These sounds all played an important role in making this record. Studios are quiet and lifeless." Although this record is under his own name, previously he has gone by the name of Mathew Sawyer and The Ghosts, and before that just The Ghosts.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Lick (Deluxe) by The Lemonheads.

                                                                                                              The Lemonheads

                                                                                                              Lick (Deluxe)

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Fire Records will be reissuing the first 3 albums by the Lemonheads, Hate Your Friends (1987), Creator (1988) and Lick (1989), featuring copious bonus tracks and many never-before released rarities and live recordings. Together, these seminal albums showcase the band's early punk rock roots and trace the Lemonheads’ transformation towards becoming one of the most successful and influential bands in indie rock. Before the 90s. Before the internet. Before Nevermind. Back when something called “independent music” first began reaching a wider audience, through college radio, word-of-mouth, and that small “underground” record store you seem to find in every town…there was a band from Boston called Lemonheads.

                                                                                                              High school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando, Lemonheads’ primary songwriters, co-guitarists and co-vocalists, first recorded together on 4-track cassette in the spring of 1985; by the end of the decade they—together with bass player Jesse Peretz, sometimes-guitarist Corey Brennan, and successive drummers Doug Trachten and John P. Strohm—had created a body of recordings which would see them on MTV’s fledgling “120 Minutes,” beating out the Grateful Dead on college radio charts, and entering the consciousness of a generation of music fans. Cited as influences by artists as varied as Billie Joe Armstrong and Ryan Adams, these fledgling Lemonheads recordings—part rock, part pop, part unique hybrid of the 80s punk styles beloved by the band members—mark the start of the trajectory that would eventually lead to “mainstream” success and stardom for a later version of the band. But they also represent a distinct, never-repeated phase of the band’s history: one that is finally receiving the attention it deserves.

                                                                                                              Lick is the third full-length album by the Lemonheads, and the last to feature founding member Ben Deily. It was the group's last independent label-released album before signing to major label Atlantic. An odd mixture of brand-new, and considerably older, sounds, 1989’s Lick brings together the output of several distinct recording sources: six brand new songs recorded with Minneapolis-based band friend and producer Terry Katzman, and a collection of older, B-side and never-released material originally overseen by producer and engineer Tom Hamilton. The difficulties of writing and creating a new full-length album every year (Hate Your Friends and Creator were released in 1987 and 1988, respectively) are clearly in evidence on Lick. While the newest material (“Mallo Cup,” “A Circle of One,” “7 Powers,” “Anyway”) hints at promising new song writing directions for both Deily and Dando, there’s an almost valedictory sense of the past in the inclusion of versions of “Glad I Don’t Know” and “I Am a Rabbit” (from the band’s first-ever, self-released EP), and the now-classic track “Ever,” a previously-unreleased tune from the original 1986 Hate Your Friends sessions.

                                                                                                              At moments, Lick almost sounds like an elegy for itself—or an elegy for a band that has reached the end of the beginning. Also audible in the heterogeneous songs are the tensions of line-up changes—and inchoate, growing frustrations. After various band break-ups or threatened break ups (such as Dando’s brief departure to play bass for Boston band the Blake Babies), the Lemonheads convened to record new material for Lick now featured Dando on drums, Peretz on bass, Deily on guitar (and “piano,” according to the album credits) along with the addition of long-time band friend—and former member of TAANG! labelmates Bullet LaVolta—Corey Loog Brennan on lead guitar. And yet the frenzied, quasi-ironic hammer-ons of Corey’s axe provide some of Lick’s most entertaining moments—like the unaccountably-translated-into-Italian paen to 70s detective Ironside, “Cazzo Di Ferro.” (The song’s music was originally composed by Brennan for his Italian punk band, Superfetazione.) After the album’s completion, Deily opted out of the subsequent European tour, before leaving the band permanently. Jesse Peretz stayed on to record their Atlantic records debut Lovey, but left after the supporting tour in '91. Since then, Dando has been the Lemonheads' sole permanent member.

                                                                                                              BONUS TRACKS: Features bonus tracks including several never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, live tracks and an interview from the 1989 European tour, and the 4 tracks of the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Creator (Deluxe) by The Lemonheads.

                                                                                                              The Lemonheads

                                                                                                              Creator (Deluxe)

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Creator is the second album by legendary Boston band The Lemonheads. Still featuring the full original line-up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz, the album also includes John P. Strohm (of the Blake Babies, Antenna, and Velo-Deluxe) on drums. From the oddly surreal album cover image (a snapshot of friend and high school classmate Ivan Kreilkamp, originator of the name “Lemonheads,” clutching a box of Cheerios) to the themes of death, dreams, obsession, and mayhem that haunt the material, Creator is weird, ambitious, and markedly moodier than its predecessor—without having lost the band’s irreverent sense of humour. Also evident in this sophomore effort is a newfound attention to idiosyncratic detail—from the precisely timed inter-song pauses and sound clips, to the carefully-crafted song order of the album’s original 13 tracks.

                                                                                                              Creator finds Ben Deily once again slipping in quotations from Emily Dickinson (“Burying Ground”) and references to Matthew Arnold (“Come to the Window”), while Dando breaks new ground in song writing complexity (the rich sonic tapestry of “Out”) as well as arrangement, ushering in the band’s first-ever acoustic recording (his cover of Charles Manson’s “Your Home Is Where You’re Happy”). At the same time, the band still fires off blistering punk rock (“Clang Bang Clang,” “Die Right Now,” “Take Her Down”) and finds time to lovingly trash Kiss’ 1977 classic “Plaster Caster.” Recorded in one coherent series of sessions—unlike its predecessor, Hate Your Friends, and its follow-up Lick—Creator is, for all its musical schizophrenia, arguably the most coherent of the Lemonheads’ TAANG-era recordings.

                                                                                                              BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including never-before-released live tracks from a 1988 radio session (featuring a never-before-heard configuration of the band, including guitarist Ben Deily on bass and vocals); also includes an original song (“Cease to Exist”) never released on any album, and a performance by Juliana Hatfield.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Hate Your Friends (Deluxe) by The Lemonheads.

                                                                                                              The Lemonheads

                                                                                                              Hate Your Friends (Deluxe)

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Hate Your Friends is the 1987 debut album by the Lemonheads, one of only three full-length releases to feature the original band line- up of Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. The album showcases a hardcore-punk-to-pop-rock sound and sensibility as playfully fierce as it is surprising…especially to listeners who know the band only from their better-known major label recordings of the 1990s.

                                                                                                              The roots of Hate Your Friends begin with the genesis of the band itself: when high school friends Ben Deily and Evan Dando—inspired by a shared love of the 70’s absurdist comedy troupe the Firesign Theatre, literature, and punk rock—began playing their own songs together in 1985. Dando and Deily first started out as a two-piece ensemble: swapping back and forth between a shared Guild guitar (and a crappy amp) and vocal mic, and pounding a drum kit “borrowed” from the high school jazz band. With the addition of classmate and friend Jesse Peretz on bass, the two-man outfit quickly became a power trio. With a handful of original songs, a passionate love for their favourite bands—from Husker-Du, the Replacements, Black Flag and the Germs, to the Saints, Wire and ‘77 UK punk—and a tiny recording budget, the Lemonheads set about their first studio session within days of their high school graduation in June of 1986.

                                                                                                              During that summer, a significant amount of what would become the band’s debut album was recorded in Brookline, Massachusetts, with Deily and Dando sharing vocal, guitar and drumming duties. Above and beyond bass, Jesse proved pivotal as the band’s manager, booker and tireless promoter—helping arrange for the Lemonheads self-released debut EP, Laughing all the way to the cleaners, later that summer, and shortly thereafter helping establish the relationship with Curtis Casella of TAANG! records that paved the way to full-length LP Hate Your Friends. Finally, with the addition of full-time (and fairly short-lived) drummer Doug Trachten, the last songs of Hate Your Friends were recorded in the winter of 1986-7.

                                                                                                              BONUS TRACKS: This Fire Records re-issue features bonus tracks including 12 never-before-released live tracks from a 1987 radio session, rare tracks from the early compilation Crawling From Within, and additional tracks not included on the original release of Hate Your Friends (“Buried Alive” and “Gotta Stop”).

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                                                                                                              Cover of Any Port In A Storm by Scott & Charlene's Wedding.

                                                                                                              Scott & Charlene's Wedding

                                                                                                              Any Port In A Storm

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              The impeccably named Scott & Charlene’s Wedding are back with not so much a brand new album, as a generation's glimpse of love, home-sickness, basketball, alienation, rock and roll and all things that matter to an expatriate Aussie stranded in New York. Any Port In A Storm is fated to become your essential backdrop to the summer of 2013.

                                                                                                              The brainchild of the amiable and unashamedly charismatic Craig Dermody, Scott & Charlene’s Wedding offer a sonically charged take on the Lemonheads’ ramshackle melodicism and Pavement’s lo-fi drawl. Following the success of Critical Heights' recent reissues of the band’s debut album Para Vista Social Club and the follow-up EP Two Weeks, the new album sees their first new recordings for over two years capturing Dermody at a pivotal time in his life. He has further developed his gloriously ragged anthems to reach new heights of nonchalant perfection.

                                                                                                              Having uprooted from Melbourne, Australia to New York, New York, the Big Apple has replaced Melbourne as inspiration his latest trials and tribulations. His heart-on-sleeve lyrics reveal tales of everyday Dermody life, somehow more absurdly unhinged, humorous and poignant than the lives of his peers. All coming from a man with a clear mission to update the rock’n’roll template beyond his inspirations and influences as Scott & Charlene's Wedding effortlessly sprawl across the generations, linking the vintage swagger of the Velvets to the off-kilter pop perfection of the Only Ones by way of the Stooges and Television. The eleven electrifying tracks taking us on an intimate journey with Craig Dermody and his daily struggles, like a peak in to his personal diary.

                                                                                                              He documents his move from Melbourne to New York to follow a girl. ‘Fakin NYC’ sees him adjusting to life in a new city, having to find a new job and feeling out of place as a security guard for a trendy bar. ‘Lesbian Wife’ sees him being caught in the middle of the biggest storm ever to have hit NYC and feeling homesick for Australia.

                                                                                                              "... the execution for his frustration is point perfect-- his sleepily conversational vocals fold into his sunny, jangling guitars seamlessly" Pitchfork.

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                                                                                                              Cover of SOS JFK by The Children's Hour.

                                                                                                              The Children's Hour

                                                                                                              SOS JFK

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                              Fire Records will be reissuing SOS JFK , the one and only album from folk two-piece The Children’s Hour, which featured Josephine Foster and Andy Bar. Initially released in 2003, the album introduced audiences to Foster’s enchanting vocals and poetic folk, which would be developed to staggering effect in her later solo recordings, such as the recently released critically acclaimed album Blood Rushing (Fire Records). The Children’s Hour were an acoustic duo comprised of members Andy Bar and Josephine Foster. The two friends first connected in 2000 in a short-lived rock trio called Golden Egg, and then on a lark formed the pop song-writing duo oriented toward more naïve themes. Foster was a recent opera school dropout and the band became a vehicle for her to explore singing in a non-operatic manner into a microphone and learn to play the guitar. Bar was finishing studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and was honing a personal and highly melodic fingerpicking style inspired by bossa nova in particular. They were heard performing in a Chicago dive bar and given a surprise invitation to make a studio recording (SOS JFK), which both found to be an extremely nerve-wrecking learning experience. Meanwhile fans of their music rose up from unexpected corners, even invited by the band Zwan to open all the shows of both bands´ maiden tour. Initially conceived of as a modest front porch collaboration and side project, the band did not withstand all the attention long. Bar and Foster took meandering paths in diverse directions, although the two remain stalwart pals and both continue to dedicate themselves to the muses.

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                                                                                                              Cover of Electric Hawaii - Limited Triple 7" Edition by Opossom.

                                                                                                              Opossom

                                                                                                              Electric Hawaii - Limited Triple 7" Edition

                                                                                                              Fire Records

                                                                                                                Triple deluxe 7” pack on 3 different coloured vinyl.

                                                                                                                After eight years fronting New Zealand's acclaimed "trouble gum art punks" The Mint Chicks, Kody Nielson unveils a new project Opossom with the captivating album Electric Hawaii. Following a June release in Australia and New Zealand on Create/Control, the album will be released in the rest of the world via Fire Records in August.

                                                                                                                The Mint Chicks chapter in Kody's career closed with the band splitting time between their American base in Portland OR and hometown Auckland. Brother Ruban formed a new band, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Kody began producing diverse projects including Bic Runga's recent album and Auckland punk up-and-comers, The DHDFD's.

                                                                                                                Electric Hawaii presented a new challenge, an album written and performed with just a little help from others - Bic Runga lending a vocal while Kody's father Chris Nielson (a regular Mint Chicks collaborator) plays trumpet. The rest comes directly from the brain, hands and heart of Kody. Home-written, recorded and mixed by himself with just the final mastering courtesy of Howie Weinberg, Electric Hawaii is a unique beast - it is not the singer-songwriter solo album of a former punk rock band singer. It's a further exploration of Kody's musical journey into a lively, engaging world of carefully layered sonic layers of light and dark. It's an album about love, DIY, drugs and freedom. And why end up Opossom? The mental escape from daily life during the creation of "Electric Hawaii" produced Kody's nocturnal instinctive animal... feisty, vicious and enigmatically cute.

                                                                                                                The new direction and new sounds incorporate what Kody terms as an overt attempt to add some of his personal Polynesian background to his blend of beatnik psychedelica made from out of context genres, surf rock to the Velvet Underground, modern and ancient electronica and jazz.


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                                                                                                                Cover of 2 by Ned Collette & Wirewalker.

                                                                                                                Ned Collette & Wirewalker

                                                                                                                2

                                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                                Ned Collette moved to Berlin from his native Melbourne two years ago. A well known and respected singer-songwriter in his own country and in underground circles worldwide, he has toured Europe previously with the likes of Joanna Newsom, Akron/Family, Bill Callahan and Nina Nastasia. His early musical output was based mostly in experimental music, before he gravitated towards more traditional song structures.

                                                                                                                His new album "2" (his fourth album but his first outside of Australia) will be released in August. It is a mix of experimental pop songwriting, musique concrete and dark folky soundscapes. His current solo shows are performed with voice, nylon string guitar and samples. While comparisons have been made to everything from Leonard Cohen to Ghostface Killah, Collette remains tricky to define but instantly identifiable.

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                                                                                                                Cover of Central Flow by Variety Lights.

                                                                                                                Variety Lights

                                                                                                                Central Flow

                                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                                More than 18 years since he left the public spotlight, mysterious mad-genius David Baker, legendary frontman of the original incarnation of Mercury Rev, is back with new band Variety Lights. The masterful new album 'Central Flow', due for release in May, is a collaboration between Baker and fellow vintage synth addict Will MacLean and demonstrates that Baker has lost none of his flair for the extraordinary, the experimental and the exceptional. As co-founder and vocalist of Mercury Rev, Baker helped to forge their revolutionary sound with their first two (and most critically acclaimed) albums; 'Yerself Is Steam' (1991) and 'Boces' (1993).

                                                                                                                The band were highly innovative and weren't afraid to experiment but above all they were loud, fun and hugely influential. In the UK, the critics embraced enthusiastically, as Chris Roberts in Melody Maker said (in his review of 'Yerself Is Steam'): "At last, one of those rare records that revolve along once in a blooming moon and have something new to struggle to say... A daring, brazen, and demented juxtaposition of voice and guitars and timpani flings Mercury Rev, lemming like at your more responsive caches of fear."

                                                                                                                Having left the band in 1993, Baker went on to release a solo album 'World' under the moniker Shady, which featured members of the Boo Radleys, Rollerskate Skinny, Swervedriver and Th' Faith Healers. At times soaringly catchy and lightheartedly loony, 'World' is a sonic adventure which Vox described as "... awash with fragments of dense noise, stumbling, narcotic-laced tempos and lyrics from outer space... that mutate into spiky, bittersweet pop." Although there has been much speculation about his life during his time away from the public eye, Baker has continued to make recordings and is an avid music fan, working as a producer for various artists.

                                                                                                                Now he is back, morphed and transmogrified into Variety Lights (a name lifted from Fellini's first film). When he met Will MacLean, Baker found a songwriting partner who shared a passion for analogue synths and electronic psychedelia. Initial experimentation together live to tape – to see how big and crazy just the two of them could sound – started to reveal melodies and Variety Lights was born. Much of Variety Lights’ debut was recorded by Baker at his own Over the Trees studio. The sound was created using a mixture of chained around-the-room 80's era midi expanders as well as the duo's collection of vintage keyboards and combining them with an array of drum machines and effected guitars. In creating 'Central Flow's sound, Baker says that "personal adventure is and always has been the most important thing". Baker and MacLean found themselves using references to colours, pictures and describing film scenes to help them communicate about their music. As in his early work, Baker took a richly layered approach, using multiple vocals in a search to find emotion in noises and sounds.


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                                                                                                                Cover of Macaroni by Bobby Conn.

                                                                                                                Bobby Conn

                                                                                                                Macaroni

                                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                                Musician, misfit, culture warrior and bullshitter: Robert "Bobby" Conn. Recorded with his new band The Burglars, this album is the first since 2007’s King for a Day, and his first new release on Fire Records. Bobby has equally delighted and annoyed hipsters since first appearing on the Chicago music scene in the mid '90s. Blending aggressive showmanship with an omnivorous love of musical genres, from Suicide to Streisand or from The Sweet to Stravinsky, Bobby has often irritated and provoked audiences, but never bored them. Bobby Conn's lyrics document the continuing absurdities of contemporary Western culture, illustrating and celebrating the convenient hypocrisies that allow us to sleep soundly every night.

                                                                                                                He developed "The Continuous Ca$h Flow System" in 1995 as a critic of the magical thinking that Americans employ concerning their debt fuelled lifestyles. 15 years later, Bobby's "Continuous Ca$h Flow" is revealed as the operating principle of the entire financial system. He has accurately described the Armageddon based world view of America's Christian right since 1996, and tracked its evolution from fringe fanaticism to its current place in the heart of America's political mainstream.

                                                                                                                But despite the relevance and prescience of his songwriting, his devotion to total entertainment in glitter and heels has confused as many as he has enlightened. He continues to collaborate with his wife and musical partner, Monica Boubou. Fully his equal as an entertainer herself (and more than his equal in stature), her electrified violin defines the epic melodic reach of their music. In between bouts of touring, Bobby and his band, The Burglars, headed to the studio to create this collection of new tunes, titled "Macaroni". Macaroni is Bobby Conn’s first album in 5 years (and first for Fire Records) will be released on CD/LP in March - followed swiftly by a re-issue of his landmark debut "Bobby Conn".

                                                                                                                Macaroni is a contrast between "this is what you want" (the packaged predictable blandness of a Macaroni dinner) but this what you get (the violent mess of reality). Macaroni will be supported by a 7" Single "More Than You Need" backed with a cover version of the Walker Brothers "Fat Mama Kick.

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                                                                                                                Cover of On Avery Island (2011) by Neutral Milk Hotel.

                                                                                                                Neutral Milk Hotel

                                                                                                                On Avery Island (2011)

                                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                                Re-issue of the explosive 1996 debut by Neutral Milk Hotel. Jeff Magnum's songs are cryptic and crazed, his ideas fast and furious, and together they force the home-recording concept out of the basement and into a brave new world, a fuzzy masterpiece of experimental lo-fi recording. Full of rapid-fire wordplay with true and heartfelt experimentation, both ambitious and eclectic, it's not hard to see why this has been such an influential album. Part of the fabled Elephant 6 collective, Neutral Milk Hotel won over many a music critic with this cult classic.

                                                                                                                The band are recognized as one of the most influential alternative acts to come out of the mid-90s and sowed the seeds for everything from anti-folk to the likes of Arcade Fire, Caribou and even Franz Ferdinand. On its original release, this album ranked #35 in the annual Village Voice Jazz & Pop Critics' Poll. Also, Spin proclaimed this album one of the ten best "you didn't hear" of 1996. 

                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                CD Info: Deluxe repackaging in new mini gatefold sleeve with TWENTY FOUR page poster booklet, this reissue includes the 'Everything Is' single and b-side 'Snow Song Pt.1' from the original 1994 7" release (also re-issued as a limited 500 copies only release).

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                                                                                                                Cover of His Name Itself Is Music by Jad Fair.

                                                                                                                Jad Fair

                                                                                                                His Name Itself Is Music

                                                                                                                Fire Records

                                                                                                                  Jad Fair is by his own admittance a prolific artist, 'It takes a lot of work, and bands spend way more time in the studio than I do. Most of my albums have taken three or four days to record'. It comes as no surprise then that whilst releasing "Beautiful Songs - the Best Of Jad Fair", an album featuring both Jad’s own material and those created with Half Japanese and boasting over 100 tracks, that Jad can offer yet another contribution "His Name Itself Is Music", to what is already a considerable and esteemed bank of work, "His Name Itself Is Music" see’s Jad continue to embrace his emotive and raw approach to music making. An un-tuned guitar, his voice for beats and his expressive singing wavering in and out of pitch as if momentarily plucked from his generous subconscious.

                                                                                                                  'I love him for his boundless enthusiasm and shy genius' says Everett True, '.. maybe it’s wrong to call Jad naïve because he knows what he’s doing, but he has a child-like wonderment that to me is at the core of most great music I can name. The Shaggs, Leadbelly, Jonathan Richman. He makes my feet want to move, and there’s no higher compliment, I’ve seen Jad play concerts with a rolled-up newspaper and upturned wastebasket for rhythm, with just his voice for colour. I’ve also seen Jad play stadiums in precisely the same fashion – with a band behind him, sure, but with the spirit intact – in front of crowds of over 15,000, in support to Nirvana on their final tour'.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Debbs Leggs by Debbie Leggo.

                                                                                                                  Debbie Leggo

                                                                                                                  Debbs Leggs

                                                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                                                  There's a hell of a strange sound emanating from The Fire Studios at the moment. From out of the barred windows comes a low and pulsing throb. From under the doors seeps an echoing piano. Through the vents comes a psychedelic wash of guitars and drones, spilling out into the dark, snaking round trees and disturbing the moths. Haunted melodies echo down the quiet Hackney back roads. And the voice that accompanies this dislocated but beautiful noise is by turns that of a man who has drunk too much and then a man who fears he has not drunk enough. Perhaps he has seen too much or is afraid he has not seen enough and that time is running out. All the band will tell you about Debbie Leggo however, is that she is 'one sexy fucking bitch'. They say she is not a pretentious woman believing in herself and her music beyond all else and neither is she affiliated with the colourful plastic brick making Lego company. Instead, the passion of music past flows in her veins and the fury from music of the quieted present too. They say she stands for the belief in high art over fashion in this lacklustre era. But what can I tell you about Debbie Leggo? Are they sexy fucking bitches? That's not for me to say but their sound is voluptuous, siren-like and steeped in urban exotic. They will get their claws into you. They comprise of Chrystabel Riley (drums), Oliver Martin (guitar) and Sam Mac (Bass); featuring vocals by Scottish street poet Gerry Mitchell. Musically they are fearless intranauts coming on like The Fall, Guru Guru, Arab Strap and Loop. Their space rock, their freak folk, their Krautrock takes a medicated trajectory; a narcotic arc above the streets of North London.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Fever by Dave Cloud & The Gospel Of Power.

                                                                                                                  Dave Cloud & The Gospel Of Power

                                                                                                                  Fever

                                                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                                                  Like some latter-day Captain Beefheart kidnapping his band to force them to knock out "Trout Mask Replica", Cloud dragged the ever-changing Gospel Of Power band, Matt Swanson (also of Lambchop) Ben Martin (Clem Snide) and Matt Back across the Atlantic to record "Fever" at Fire Records' Stoke Newington studio. But where the notorious Captain turned his musicians into fanatical cadavres, the ever amenable Cloud has created another record of fractured garage and garrulous lo-fi, bizarre character studies and paeans to ladies and love. Just as on his Fire Records debut, the compilation "Napoleon Of Temperance" and last album, "Pleasure Before Business", Cloud once again roughs up the Nashville tradition. You're as likely to hear him collaborating with a Norwegian folk group to knock out a dishevelled version of sea shanty "What Should We Do With A Drunken Sailor" as paying reverential homage to the sound of his home city. But that's what this personable old cove is all about: hazy round the edges, always on hand with a sly wink. So the title track takes the melody of the song that Peggy Lee made famous for a late night drink in a seedy bar where it never really wanted to go, while "The Citadel" even out-swaggers'n'sleazes the The Rolling Stones' original. Over the murky atmosphere and hungover Spanish guitar of "Surfer Joe", Cloud ponders the price of lobster, cats and ponies, and pronounces Mexico like a drunken sheep. 'South of the border yeaaaoooww, south of the border yeaaaoow' he growls. "In The Distance" has Cloud in full spoken word flow over echoes of rolling piano, a tale of a man who 'put his battered bugle to his lips... and played the only love song she had ever heard him sing' in honour of a girl with 'magnetic brown eyes... made as a perfect sculpture.' It's a surprising end to Cloud's peculiar journey, but you'd be a fool not to join him on it. 'All Things Weird & Wonderful'.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Favourites by Pumajaw.

                                                                                                                  Pumajaw

                                                                                                                  Favourites

                                                                                                                  Fire Records

                                                                                                                  After the critically acclaimed release of Pumajaw's "Curiosity Box" comes a retrospective of the first four albums by Pinkie Maclure and John Wills (Pumajaw). These 14 gems that make up "Favourites" have been hand-picked by Pumajaw, highlighting their incredibly productive and creative collaboration for the past 10 years, from the self produced albums. "From Memorial Crossing" (2000) was recorded in an abandoned school in Tottenham, London and features versions of songs by Tom Waits, Artie Shaw and David Lynch. "This Day and Age" (2002) uses samples from 1920s cabaret records, field recordings from the Outer Hebrides and John's hypnotic rhythms as a foil for Pinkie's most expressive vocal explorations. "Cat's Cradle" (2004) is a blend of folk melodies and soulful electronica, featuring concertina and psychedelic guitar. "Becoming Pumajaw" (2006) throws some French chanson into the mix (Jacques Brel's La Chanson des Vieux Amants), along with an untraditional versions of traditional folk songs, psychedelic guitar wig-outs, concertina and darkly humorous laments Pumajaw are a duo that weave, multi-octave voice with looped guitar, mandolin, samples, concertina and hypnotic rhythms, they have their own seductive sound that defies categorization and stretches from psychedelic pop through sultry folk songs to eerie, cacophonous, trance-inducing laments.

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