It would be easy to pigeonhole Footballhead’s unapologetically-buttrock-inspired record 'Weight of The Truth' as simple nostalgia bait. Why wouldn’t millennials lust for the days of Halo and energy drinks in carpeted basements they’re not convinced they’ll ever be able to afford for themselves? Beyond that, why would the zoomers that now intently follow not try and chase the high of hyperreality in a bygone world that looks, to them, downright utopian when compared to the present? What sets Footballhead’s capital-R Rock sound apart from contemporaries is - in addition to just sounding better - a desire and an ability to thread the needle between paying homage to a quasi-idyllic past and pursuing an earnest future. Footballhead wears their 2000s-era influences on their waffle-knit longsleeves, with power chord drives and pummeling choruses, all sequenced together like the teeth of a skeleton key able to unlock core memories for people who’ve either been there or people who simply wonder what being there was like. Both the anthems and ballads on 'Weight of The Truth' are waxed and polished to perfection like the lip of a favored skatepark ledge. But underlying all that, even more impressively, is a grit and substance derived from years spent in the Chicago DIY scene, exposing themselves to different styles and influences equally out of necessity as out of interest. It bleeds through on every track. You can bullshit your way into a vibe but, as the band shows on any number of recent releases, including singles off their upcoming second LP: you can’t fake heart. With an ear to the past but an eye to the present, Footballhead invites you to remember what it meant to give a shit back when the world felt simpler - and what it might feel like to do so again.

TRACK LISTING

1. Peace of Mind
2. Used To Be
3. Diversion
4. Weight of The Truth
5. Hesitate
6. You're Not Making Sense
7. Fall Away
8. Comforting
9. Death To A Past Life
10. Chosen Brother
11. What You're Whispering
12. Focus

When the idea of recording a 4th album came up (for the second time), American Football knew things were going to get darker. After touring a year’s worth of sold-out 25th anniversary shows around the world and releasing a covers album (featuring Iron & Wine, Ethel Cain, Blondshell & more), the quartet of Mike & Nate Kinsella, Steve Lamos, and Steve Holmes, linked up with producer / engineer Sonny Diperri (My Bloody Valentine, M83, Kurt Vile) to record what would become their most substantial record to date. Blending atmospheric textures with emotive, post-rock style catharsis, 'LP4' is unlike anything American Football have recorded thus far, yet it fits right in with their evolving and beautiful catalog.

Recorded during a 10-day retreat at Panoramic House in Stinson Beach, CA, 'LP4' finds the band intentionally walking into the abyss - themes of divorce, upheaval, and uncertainty are at the forefront, yet the band sounds more engaged and legitimized than ever before. Opening track, 'Man Overboard', showcases each member’s strengths - the un-matched style and jazz swing of Lamos’ drumming, the lyrical vulnerability and multi-instrumental mastery of both Kinsellas, and Holmes’ signature guitar work - all of it swirling together like a shoegaze tornado, the guitars and bass surging into something twisted and warped. Other standouts like 'Blood On My Blood' showcase the band’s unique use of alternating time signatures while 'Bad Moons' (the longest track the band has ever recorded) includes some of Kinsella’s most intense lyrics yet. The album also features additional guest vocals from Turnstile’s Brendan Yates ('No Feeling'), Wisp ('Wake Her Up'), and Rainer Maria’s Caithlin De Marrais('Blood On My Blood').

'LP4' is an ambitious artistic statement from a band who have continued to push the boundaries of genre and culture. It’s a gorgeous and elaborate album, one that takes its time to show you its beauty, while hinting at the darker parts that are trying their best to stay hidden.

TRACK LISTING

1. Man Overboard
2. No Feeling
3. Blood On My Blood
4. Bad Moons
5. The One With The Piano
6. Patron Saint Of Pale
7. Wake Her Up
8. Desdemona
9. Lullabye
10. No Soul To Save

On October 12th & 13th, 2024, American Football performed two sold- out shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles - part of the band’s 25th anniversary tour for their self-titled debut album. Featuring guest appearances from Ethel Cain and M.A.G.S., these special shows were recorded for American Football’s first and only live album, 'American Football (Live in Los Angeles)'. To coincide with the album’s release, the band teamed up with Prophet Media and director Steph Rinzler for the release of a full-length concert film, featuring candid interviews with the band, Ethel Cain, Yvette Young, and M.A.G.S. Both the film and album captures the legacy and unexpected staying power of a group that helped define a genre.

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Five Silent Miles
2. The Summer Ends
3. Honestly?
4. For Sure Feat. Ethel Cain
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7. I’ll See You When We’re Both Not So Emotional Feat. M.A.G.S.
8. Stay Home / The One With The Wurlitzer

Both sides with dub.
Comes in Bond Export company sleeve.

One of the most requested Jah Life releases, finally here. Killer 1983 Barrington Levy single, only ever released once on a UK 12-inch. These tunes also appeared on the "Teach Me Culture" album, sans dubs of course. Perfect new pressing from the original mothers, identical to the original. Play loud.

TRACK LISTING

A1. One Foot Jojo
A2. One Foot Jojo Dub
B1. To Love Someone
B2. To Love Someone Dub

While the global history of the dictatorships, oppression, racism and state violence over the last century is well known - the role that music played in people's lives during these times is less understood. This book is a collection of stories and hidden histories about how music provided light in the darkest of times over the past century. How it steeled souls and inspired resistance to oppression.

Rebel Sounds will explore freedom songs in the Republic of Ireland, the Soviet Union's oppression behind the Berlin Wall, authoritarian dictatorships in Brazil and Nigeria, institutionalised racism and police violence in America and South Africa, street violence in Britain, ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and musical resistance in war-torn Ukraine. This is a social history of the twentieth century but one that takes in the human impulse to create, share and enjoy the one thing that connects cultures and spans generations: music

The quietest voices can be the most durable.

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it.

Like Slint’s 'Spiderland', or Codeine’s 'The White Birch', even Talk Talk’s 'Laughing Stock', American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release.

Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s 'American Football (LP2)'. The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come.

‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’

Enter 'American Football (LP3)'. ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

As a result, LP3 is less obviously tethered to the band’s past than the second album. An immediate contrast between LP3 and its two predecessors is its cover. The two previous albums featured the exterior and interior of a residence in the band’s original hometown of Urbana, Illinois (now attracting fans for pilgrimages and photo opportunities), by the photographer Chris Strong. But American Football knew that LP3 was an outside record. Instead of the familiar house, this time the cover photo (again by Strong) features open, rolling fields on Urbana’s borders. It is a sign of the album’s magnitude in sound, and of the band’s boldness in breaking away from home comforts.

American Football also joked that LP3’s genre was ‘post-house’, because of this very conscious visual break. But, in a strange way, there are links in LP3 with an actual post-house genre: shoegaze. The more exploratory members of the original British shoegaze scene were inspired by the dreamtime and circularity of house music (ambient house in particular), cherishing its sonic possibilities. That spirit drips into LP3, most obviously on ‘I Can’t Feel You’, a collaboration with Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

The album also features Hayley Williams from Paramore on the album’s catchiest moment, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’, and Elizabeth Powell, of the Québécoise act Land Of Talk. Mike wrote lyrics in French especially for her.

LP3 is contemplative, rich, expressive, yet with a queasy undercurrent. It is heavy with expectancy, revealing its ideas slowly, eliciting the hidden stories people carry around with them. ‘I feel like my lyric writing has changed a lot over the years,’ says Mike. ‘The goal is to be conversational, maybe to state something giant and heavy, but in a very plain way. But, definitely in this record, I keep things a little more vague.’ As on the first album, the lyrics on LP3 may seem confessional and concentrated, but the more you scrutinize them, the further their meaning slinks away. Or, as Mike tellingly sings on ‘I Can’t Feel You”: I’m fluent in subtlety.

‘Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band,’ says Steve Holmes. American Football is now a bona fide ongoing focus, and they are making some of the best music of their lives. American Football (LP3) stands with two other rare reunion successes – Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine’s mbv – as a fine example of how a band refinding one another can augment, rather than taint, their legacy.

‘I think that there are those albums, or the music that you heard when you were younger, and they imprint on you,’ says Nate. ‘And no matter where you go, or what you do they’re always there.’ He is talking of Steve Reich – an early and ongoing influence on American Football – but he might as well be reflecting what is said of his own band, and the ardent following they inspire. American Football stands as an enduring symbol of elusive emotional landscapes, where introspection can be as dramatic as confrontation.

TRACK LISTING

1. Silhouettes
2. Every Wave To Ever Rise (feat Elizabeth Powell)
3. Uncomfortably Numb (feat Hayley Williams)
4. Heir Apparent
5. Doom in Full Bloom
6. I Can’t Feel You (feat Rachel Goswell)
7. Mine to Miss
8. Life Support

16-track greatest hits compilation by the legendary rock group. The album features some of the band's most popular songs, including 'Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)', 'Time', 'Money', 'Comfortably Numb', and many more. Features original artwork, art directed by the late Storm Thorgerson.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hey You
2. See Emily Play
3. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives
4. Another Brick In The Wall, Pt. 2
5. Have A Cigar
6. Wish You Were Here
7. Time
8. The Great Gig In The Sky
9. Money
10. Comfortably Numb
11. High Hopes
12. Learning To Fly
13. The Fletcher Memorial Home
14. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. 1-5)
15. Brain Damage
16. Eclipse

Footshooter is the moniker of Barney Whittaker, a south London-based producer and DJ. His production style takes in influences from broken beat, jazz, house and more, working with rappers, poets and vocalists to create a soulful sound referencing the past while being firmly future-facing in its approach. His records as Footshooter and SAUL have earned airplay and support on BBC Radio 1 & 1xtra, BBC 6 Music, NTS Radio, Jazz FM and Rinse FM, from the likes of Gilles Peterson, Bradley Zero, Errol (Touching Bass), Alex Nut (Eglo Records) Shy One, Virgil Abloh, Zakia, Jyoti, Nabihah Iqbal, Bonobo, Jamz Supernova, Maryanne Hobbs, Mr Scruff and more.

His musically diverse live band sets and DJ sets over the past seven years have taken him to Boiler Room London, Tate Modern, Alexandra Palace, The Jazz Cafe and the Barbican Centre, as well as performances at Brainchild, We Out Here and Love Supreme Festivals. A Balamii Radio resident for the past 5 years with his monthly show 'Sonic Fruits', Footshooter's DJ sets are as versatile and wide ranging as his production credits, spanning the finest soulful house, broken beat, UK Rap, soul, jazz and beyond.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cycles (feat. James Mollison)
2. Obelisk (feat. Natty Wylah & Brother Portrait)
3. Reverie
4. Boomerang (feat. Native & Wilf Petherbridge)
5. Surrey Canal Road (feat. James Mollison)
6. Folding (feat. Allysha Joy)
7. Here To Learn (feat. Andre Espeut)
8. Sermon (feat. Sara El Harrak)
9. Parc De Belleville (feat. Wilf Petherbridge)
10. What You Saw (feat. MA.MOYO & Mahon)

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.” To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album’s release, Polyvinyl are releasing a new remastered edition of the album with re-imagined artwork and packaging.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Meant
2. The Summer Ends
3. Honestly
4. For Sure
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8. Stay Home
9. The One With The Wurlitzer

After quietly releasing their self-titled debut album in 1999 while still in college, American Football disbanded after the album’s release to focus on other projects, only to reunite 15 years later to a fanbase that had been consistently growing throughout the underground / emo scene. The album later appeared on Rolling Stone’s “40 Greatest Emo Albums of All Time” list at #6, with Pitchfork giving its deluxe reissue the “Best New Reissue” title, calling it the “most influential album in the genre.”

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the album’s release, Polyvinyl is thrilled to announce American Football (Covers), a genre-spanning covers album that highlights the importance and wide-ranging influence of the band’s debut. The album features covers of each song by critically acclaimed acts such as Iron & Wine, Ethel Cain, Blondshell, Manchester Orchestra, Novo Amor, Lowswimmer, Yvette Young, and others. Each cover wonderfully highlights the beauty and importance of this noteworthy debut while affirming the continued interest in this unexpected groundswell of cultural prominence.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never Meant (Iron & Wine)
2. The Summer Ends (Blondshell)
3. Honestly (Novo Amor & Lowswimmer)
4. For Sure (Ethel Cain)
5. You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon (Yvette Young)
6. But The Regrets Are Killing Me (Girl Ultra)
7. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional (M.A.G.S.)
8. Stay Home (Manchester Orchestra)
9. The One With The Wurlitzer (John McEntire)

'One of the greatest rock 'n' roll stories of the past 50 years recounted with warmth and wisdom' - Hot PressFew musicians have lived a musical life as rich as the songwriter and producer Ian Broudie. From recording the glorious uplifting psychedelic pop of his band The Lightning Seeds to producing bands like Echo & The Bunnymen and The Fall, Ian has journeyed from the energy and potential of the 1970s punk scene to the madness of '90s indie - and out the other side. Throughout nearly fifty years of making music, he has had a front-row seat working with generations of fantastic musicians in the creation of countless groundbreaking records. In Tomorrow's Here Today, he reveals what he has learnt about creativity, how to work with musicians touched by genius and what it is like to stumble through an exploding industry without losing sight of your dreams. Along the way, Ian shares how he wrote the million-selling album Jollification and how - along with the comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner - he wrote and recorded the only single in chart history to reach number one in the UK on four separate occasions. 'Three Lions' has since become the undisputed unofficial anthem of English football, soundtracking heartbreaking defeats as well as the wondrous victories of the Lionesses. Following 2022's long-awaited Lightning Seeds comeback, Ian reflects on a life of cosmic adventures spent in thrall to the power of music.

"Ensoulment" is THE THE's eagerly awaited 8th studio album and their first long-player since "NakedSelf" in 2000. It delivers 12 new tracks that range from sharp social and political insights to intimate personal narratives.

To celebrate the release, this strictly limited 7” Vinyl Single will be made available, featuring a track from the album: "Linoleum Smooth To The Stockinged Foot". This single also includes an exclusive B-side, a previously unreleased track that will only be available in this strictly limited release, a true collector's item.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Linoleum Smooth To The Stockinged Foot

Side B:
Mycelium Muse

'The heartwarming story of the collaboration and friendship between English football's oddest couple, Elton John and Graham Taylor' The Times 'An ever-entertaining telling of a remarkable sporting fairy-tale' Daily Telegraph

An unforgettable British underdog story from one of our greatest narrative nonfiction writers, John Preston, and the international musical icon and bestselling author, Sir Elton John. Britain in the 1970s was beset by unrest and unemployment, as inflation soared, fuel was scarce, and hooliganism was on the rise. And for Watford FC, the outlook was even gloomier.

Rundown and rat-infested, Watford were an ailing side with holes in their kit and barely enough fans to fill a stand. Of the 92 clubs in the Football League, spread across four divisions, Watford were in 92nd place. Meanwhile, Elton John was the most successful rockstar in the world.

With six-inch platforms, spangled jumpsuits, and peroxide hair, he was glamorous, gay, and seemingly a world away from the semi-detached house in Pinner where he had supported Watford FC as a child. Many assumed he would move to America. Instead, he bought the football club.

Watford Forever is the remarkable story of Elton John's ownership of Watford FC and its transformational journey to the top of the First Division under iconic manager Graham Taylor. Perhaps most remarkably, four of the same players who had been written off as has-beens went with them all the way from the bottom to the top. Inspiring and infectiously funny, this is a tribute to football's unlikeliest friendship as Elton John and Taylor, a straight-talking former fullback with a love of Vera Lynn, beat the odds and their personal demons to save a club and a community.

Immersed in the grime and glamour of '70s Britain, Watford Forever is one of sport's great underdog stories and a love letter to the beautiful game.

American Football's first album showcases cleanly picked guitars, intricate drumming, and the vocals of Mike Kinsella (Owen, Cap'n Jazz). The band, made up of Kinsella, Steve Holmes and Steve Lamos rooted itself in Champaign and recorded this album at Private Studios with Brendan Gamble (Braid). Despite little touring and with only an EP behind them, these nine songs highlight the trio's uncanny songwriting abilities.

TRACK LISTING

LP1
1 Never Meant
2 The Summer Ends
3 Honestly?
4 For Sure
5 You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6 But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7 I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8 Stay Home
9 The One With The Wurlitzer

LP2 (Deluxe Edition Only)
1 Never Meant
2 The Summer Ends
3 Honestly?
4 For Sure
5 You Know I Should Be Leaving Soon
6 But The Regrets Are Killing Me
7 I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional
8 Stay Home
9 The One With The Wurlitzer
10. Intro – Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997
11. Five Silent Miles - Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997
12. Untitled #1 – The One With The Trumpet – Boombox Practice Session, 1998
13. Untitled #2 - Boombox Practice Session, 1998
14. Stay Home - Boombox Practice Session, 1998
15. Untitled #3 Boombox Practice Session, 1998
16. Never Meant – 4 – Track Album Prep, 1999
17. But The Regrets Are Killing Me – 4 – Track Album Prep, 1999
18. I'll See You When We're Both Not So Emotional - 4-Track Album Prep, 1999
19. The 7’s - Live At The Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997 

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

1000 pressed. A much sought-after Kristin Hersh side project. Black Vinyl LP. Back on vinyl for this bracing, ever twitching opus made of seven fluid pieces that fold into one continuous mantra. An essential release from the Throwing Musesí offshoot helmed by Kristin Hersh and Bernard Georges, with Chalk Farmís Rob Ahlers on drums.

"Menacing, stalking, spirals of lean, hungry riffs." Drowned In Sound 9/10. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Medicine Rush
2 Honeysuckle
3 Power+Light
4 Skeleton Key
5 Broke
6 Wax, 7 Sun Dog Coma

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

1000 pressed. Rare EP from this much sought-after Kristin Hersh side project. Black Vinyl LP. Back on vinyl for this Kristin Hersh fronted project, a super rare 2016 EP of enchanting and exhilarating sounds that shift from dreamy and emotional melancholy to jagged and almost Neu!-like rhythms that evolve behind her pointed prose and astute one-liners. A rush to the head thatís caustic yet comforting. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Bath White
2 God's Not A Dick
3 Human
4 Ratted Out
5 St.Christopher
6 Sun Salute

‘Black Pearl’ is the brand new album from 50 Foot Wave: Kristin Hersh’s ‘other’ band - active since 2003, with fellow Throwing Muses’ member Bernard Georges on bass and drummer Rob Ahlers. A sonic trip from the heavy, echoey riff of ‘Staring Into The Sun’ with all of its grunge melancholy and dronecore menace to the perfectly baroque ‘Hog Child’ with its spidery guitar that dissolves into motorik bass and drums.

Hailed in various quarters as “an outlet for the material deemed too weird or wild for Throwing Muses”, their “menacing, stalking, spirals of lean, hungry riffs, set alight” as “feedback rips into the fragile melody.”

50 Foot Wave continue to traverse the rigid tension of their own sound. They remain detuned and discordant at will.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's been quite the week for heavy new music, with Kristin Hersch's band putting out this absolutely stunning mix of grooving post-rock and angular hardcore on the ever reliable Fire records. Roaringly heavy but imbued with myriad moments of paddling, Isis-like downtuned post-metal business. Really, very good indeed.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Staring Into The Sun
A2 Hog Child
A3 Fly Down South
A4 Black Pearl
Side B
B1 Broken Sugar
B2 Blush
B3 Double Barrel

Love Record Stores Edition available instore from 10am on Saturday September 4th, any remaining copies will be available on online from 9pm on the same day.
Limited to one per person.

Foot are: Don Fleming, Jim Dunbar and Thurston Moore – vintage analogue synthesizers. This album has been Remodelled by Tim Newman and his associates from the Track ‘Early Foot’, which originally appeared on the God Bless Records CD ‘foot’ in 1998, recorded as part of the Canal Street Series at Jimbo’s Pad, NYC in the early days of Nemocore, winter 1996. Liberated from the traditional constraints of time signature and key signature and fixed changes. Where sound responds to music. 

XL Recordings release Nines’ eagerly awaited debut album ‘One Foot Out’. It follows his ‘One Foot In’ mixtape, titles informed by the desire to move away from street activity and towards the industry recognition he deserves.

For those not familiar with with the most authentic name in London’s exploding underground scene, Nines hails from the Church Road Estate in North West London. Without the approval of the industry, Nines’ previous four music videos have amassed over 31.2 million views on YouTube. He has self-released four mixtapes since 2011 and his debut single ‘Yay’ sold over 30,000 copies - staggering figures that fully justify the hysteria surrounding Nines’ rap pedigree and which reinforce that this is no false dawn but a golden age for UK rap music.

In addition to the mixtapes and singles, Nines is also infamous for his ‘JD Sports Shutdown’ and ‘Turkey Shutdown’ videos (the former featured on Worldstarhiphop.com), which saw the rapper taking kids from his neighbourhood to JD Sports to buy them new trainers, as well as providing Christmas turkeys to those less fortunate to the whole of his Church Road Estate.

With production from the likes of Jevon (New Gen) and Menace (Desiigner’s ‘Panda’) and featuring guest appearances from Taylor Gang’s Berner, previous collaborator Tiggs Da Author, J Hus and Akala, ‘One Foot Out’ sees Nines stepping out of his comfort zone and displaying the depth of UK rap. His charismatic, laid back flow covers braggadocio on ‘High Roller’ (“Came through in the Audi you’re in that Honda Accord / All this gold got me looking like a Oscar Award”), soul searching on ‘I Wonder’ (“Wonder how all these guns get in to my area / wonder why they care about celebs instead of Syria”) and is filled with pop culture references (“acting like he’s shotting all that coke / looking invisible in the club like he’s got on Harry Potter’s cloak”), ‘One Foot Out’ is a statement of intent that should promote Nines into rap’s premiere league.

TRACK LISTING

Intro
Going In
Trapper Of The Year (ft Jay Midge)
Love 2 The Game (ft Hudson East)
Getting Money Now
These Keys (ft Berner)
Stacey Adams
Hoes (ft Tiggs Da Author)
Nervous
High Roller (ft J Hus)
Break Away
I Wonder (ft Akala)
Trap Music
Make It Last
Outro

60ft Dolls are one of the most underrated of the Cool Cymru bands. They spearheaded the Newport scene of the 1990s, were championed by Steve Lamacq and soon signed to Indolent Records following a couple of Rough Trade singles and support slots for Oasis, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr. The Big 3 was released in 1996 to strong reviews and made the Best Of The Year lists in the NME, The Guardian, New York Times and was named in 2003 by Mojo as one of the Top 12 Britpop Albums Of All Time. It features the singles Happy Shopper, White Knuckle Ride, Pig Valentine, Stay and their Top 40 hit Talk To Me.

They spearheaded the Newport scene of the 1990s, were championed by Steve Lamacq and soon signed to Indolent Records following a couple of Rough Trade singles and support slots for Oasis, Elastica and Dinosaur Jr. This 2CD expanded edition includes the original album together with the best of their b-sides as chosen by the band. Also included is their session for John Peel which is listed in the Best Peel Sessions Of All Time.“as close to soar-away rock perfection as it's possible to imagine" NME 1996. “pure, unadulterated, no nonsense, emotional, tuneful, impassioned, purposeful, hedonistic rock 'n' roll" Melody Maker 1996. A blistering kamikaze mission of damaged punk magic.” MOJO (2015)

TRACK LISTING

DISC: 1
1: New Loafers
2: Talk To Me
3: Stay
4: Hair
5: Happy Shopper
6: The One
7: Good Times
8: No. 1 Pure Alcohol
9: Streamlined
10: Loser
11: Pig Valentine
12: Terminal Crash Fear
13: Buzz

DISC: 2
1: Doctor Rat
2: British Racing Green
3: Everybody's Got Something To Hide(Except For Me And My Monkey)
4: Mess
5: Stay (60ft Dolls Vs Pastor Ray Bevan)
6: White Knuckle Ride
7: After Glow
8: Easy
9: The Maindee Run
10: Yellow Candles
11: Rosalyn
12: The New Loafers*
13: Streamlined*
14: Loser*
15: Piss Funk*
16: Stay*

Released on inimitable label Visionquest, Footprintz debut album ‘Escape Yourself’ delivers on a level that many dance LPs aspire to reach but few attain; a ‘proper’ album with each song taking you deeper and deeper into what is an accomplished and well-rounded body of work.

Every journey has its beginning, and as the opening chords of ‘The Things That Last Forever’ give way to a hypnotic bassline, you know you’re on your way. Basslines form a key part of the Footprintz sound, acting as an anchor from which vocal melodies, synth lines and warm chords weave around in an often psychedelic style. Debut single, ‘Utopia’, exemplifies this ethic with its synth flirtations and optimistic vocal musings adding layers upon a solid core.

As Clarian and Addy say, “We wanted to work around a concept of escaping the confused years of growing up. 16-25, those are the years where you’re figuring yourself out, going through the motions of meeting different people and finding new things”. Tracks like ‘Uncertain Change’ and recent single ‘Dangers of The Mouth’ tackle this subject head on, focusing on the insecurities that arise from growing up. ‘Zanzibar’ takes a lighter approach, touching on the innocence of youth that brings with it, its own simple pleasures.

What becomes apparent throughout ‘Escape Yourself’ is a real craftsmanship to Footprintz’s songwriting. Each track reveals a little more on each listen, aided by the slick production work, done predominantly by the guys themselves in their Montreal bunker studio full of analogue equipment, odd instruments and a fridge laden with ‘special brownies’; which goes some way to explain a noirish-haze that permeates through the album.

Having met at an afterparty aged 15, Clarian North & Adam Hunter have experienced most of their adult life together. ‘Escape Yourself’ distills their experiences, wraps them in a warm analogue fuzz and shares them with the listener. You join them on their journey, and deep down they hope it helps you shape your own.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting
1. The Things That Last Forever
2. Heaven Felt Like Night
3. Utopia
4. The Favourite Game
5. Private Enemy
6. The Invisible
7. Uncertain Change
8. Zanzibar
9. Dangers Of The Mouth
10. The Fear Of Numbers
11. The Nightingale
12. Keys To The Sky

LP Tracklisting
A1. The Things That Last Forever
A2. Heaven Felt Like Night
A3. Utopia
B1. The Favourite Game
B2. Private Enemy
B3. The Invisible
C1. Uncertain Change
C2. Zanzibar
C3. Dangers Of The Mouth
D1. The Fear Of Numbers
D2. The Nightingale
D3. Keys To The Sky

In 2010 Planet Mu released "Bangs & Works Vol. 1". The carefully curated compilation showcased Chicago footwork, one of the most forward-looking, innovative new styles of electronic music on the planet. Since its release, interest in the scene has grown with the sound beginning to spread outside of Chicago, influencing productions by not only Planet Mu artists such as Machinedrum and Kuedo, but many others as well. "Bangs & Works Vol. 2" brings the focus back onto Chicago’s own producers, showing where the real innovation still lies.

While its predecessor sticks mainly to the more hallucinatory and left-field elements, this one has a wider remit, ranging from mad techno-style tracks such as DJ Metro’s “Tekno Bangz” or DJ T-Why’s immense “Juice” and ‘Finished” to those that sound like musique concrete gone footwork, like Young Smoke’s “Space Muzik Part 3.” Others like Traxman’s “Funky Block” and DJ Clent’s “DJ Clent #1” display the obvious influence of flipping samples, hip hop style to the rhythms of footwork, while DJ Rashad & Gant-Man’s amazing “Heaven Sent” shows the influence of P-Funk and Detroit’s hi-tech soul. On the whole, footwork’s synapse-snapping intensity is ever present, but this selection shows an even wider diversity to the genre’s independent and unique production focus.

TRACK LISTING

01. RP Boo - Heavy Heat
02. Jlin - Erotic Heat
03. DJ Earl - Hit Da Bootz
04. DJ Rashad & Gant-Man - Heaven Sent
05. DJ Metro - Burn Dat Boi
06. DJ Clent - Ball'Em Up
07. DJ MC - Y Fall
08. DJ Spinn - Crazy 'N' Deranged
09. Traxman - Funky Block
10. DJ Rome - Showtime
11. DJ T-Why - Finished
12. Tha Pope - When You
13. Boylan - Bullet Proof Soul
14. Jlin - Asylum
15. DJ T-Why - Orbits
16. DJ Roc - Get Buck Juice
17. Traxman - Brainwash
18. DJ Clent - DJ Clent #1
19. DJ Metro - Smak My Bitch Up
20. Young Smoke - Space Muzik Pt.3
21. DJ T-Why - Juice
22. DJ Solo - What Have You Done
23. Young Smoke - Psycho War
24. Young Smoke - Wouldn't Get Far
25. DJ Metro - Tekno Bangz
26. RP Boo - Off Da Hook

Some of the finest skate punk on the planet comes from 4Ft Fingers who are without doubt one of the UK's brightest punk hopes. This second album produced by Dave Chang is full of infectious songs enhanced with a super thick production. The band's debut "At Your Convenience" was good but this is better and should see this highly talented and hard working band reach new heights.

The debut CD from this inventive young Skye based band, The Scottish Stepdance Company. The band perform and promote stepdance, traditional gaelic song, piping and fiddle tunes with a brió and vibrancy that is second to none with the 'tap dogs' sound of the stepdance on some tracks this is proof the Western Isles tradition is alive and well.

Not frightened to use six minute songs to get their ides across, with their third record, Half Foot Outside are no longer a "new band" and the maturity of ideas is apparant throughout. Their gigs with such bands as Fugazi has given them an edge and the culmination of all this work is "New Ad Ideas", a wonderful record in all senses: a great sound plus a beautiful design with some talented artwork by singer Carlos Leoz.

1972 debut album by these unusually named Canadian psyche / progsters was originally released on the Daffodil label. Musically confident it veers from progressive, through to melodic pop / rock and winding up in a hard heavy psychedelic mode. Paul Naumann is a very talented guitarist and vocalist Alex Machin is so much better than most.