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English Teacher

Live From BBC Maida Vale Studios

    Off the back of winning the 2024 Mercury Award for their debut album ‘This Could Be Texas’;

    Leeds’ finest band English Teacher release an exclusive limited edition 140g, 10” Crystal Clear vinyl of their Live from Maida Vale EP.

    The EP includes 2 stunning covers of “Birds Of A Feather” by Billie Eilish and LCD Soundsystem’s “New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down”.

    TRACK LISTING

    BIRDS OF A FEATHER – Live From BBC Maida Vale
    This Could Be Texas – Live From BBC Maida Vale
    You Blister My Paint – Live From BBC Maida Vale
    The World’s Biggest Paving Slab – Live From BBC Maida Vale
    New York, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down – Live From BBC Maida Vale

    The Last Dinner Party

    Prelude To Ecstasy: Acousitics And Covers

      This edition features the critically acclaimed studio album plus curated acoustic versions and covers.

      TRACK LISTING

      SIDE A
      1. Prelude To Ecstasy
      2. Burn Alive
      3. Caesar On A TV Screen
      4. The Feminine Urge
      5. On Your Side
      6. Beautiful Boy
      7. Gjuha

      SIDE B
      8. Sinner
      9. My Lady Of Mercy
      10. Portrait Of A Dead Girl
      11. Nothing Matters
      12. Mirror

      SIDE C
      13. Ceaser On A TV Screen – Acoustic
      14. Sinner – Acoustic
      15. My Lady Of Mercy – Acoustic
      16. Nothing Matters – Live From Studio Brussel
      17. Mirror – Acoustic From The Brudenell Social Club (Leeds)

      SIDE D
      18. This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us
      19. Up North – Live From Hebden Trades Club
      20. Wicked Game – Live From Showbox Sodo (Seattle)
      21. Army Dreamers – Live From Studio Brussel

      Post Malone

      F-1 Trillion

        It's official! Post Malone is finally releasing his long-awaited country album. This marks his concrete foray into country music. He ensures us this isn't just a few fleeting off-hand singles. Rather, he's doubling down on his excursion into Nashville. Includes the single ft. Morgan Wallen “I Had Some Help”.

        A 9x diamond-certified GRAMMY® Award-nominated phenomenon, Dallas, TX artist Post Malone regularly rewrites history, blurs boundaries, and incites internet-breaking conversation with every move. 

        TRACK LISTING

        Wrong Ones (Feat. Tim McGraw)
        Finer Things (Feat. Hank Williams, Jr.)
        I Had Some Help (Feat. Morgan Wallen)
        Pour Me A Drink (Feat. Blake Shelton)
        Have The Heart (Feat. Dolly Parton)
        What Don't Belong To Me
        Goes Without Saying (Feat. Brad Paisley)
        Guy For That (Feat. Luke Combs)
        Nosedive (Feat. Lainey Wilson)
        Losers (Feat. Jelly Roll)
        Devil I've Been (Feat. ERNEST)
        Never Love You Again (Feat. Sierra Ferrell)
        Missin’ You Like This (Feat. Luke Combs)
        California Sober (Feat. Chris Stapleton)
        Hide My Gun (Feat. HARDY)
        Right About You
        M-E-X-I-C-O (Feat. Billy Strings)
        Yours

        Noah Kahan

        Cape Elizabeth

          Noah Kahan on Cape Elizabeth –
          “And that EP in particular is such a special story, because it was right at the beginning of the pandemic, and I just made it with my neighbour, a friend of mine, who’s an amazing producer.

          We worked on it for a week, and we didn’t really promote it too much — and it kind of became “Stick Season” before “Stick Season” in a lot of ways.

          It was a study on a place and a relationship in a place, and it was the first time I’d experimented with telling a story that felt like it had an overarching narrative.

          And it was also the first time that I let myself just not care about how it sounded at the end. Whatever the process was, I just wanted it to make me happy. And to see it connect with people really inspired me to write “Stick Season.”

          It kind of gave me the confidence to be like, “All right, this niche-specific storytelling stuff can actually connect with people in a more universal way.” I really owe it all to that EP, and it’s still probably my favorite piece of work I’ve made. I just love it.”

          Within six days and “without overthinking anything,” Noah Kahan completed the five-track Cape Elizabeth EP which has amassed 200M streams. See the newly repackaged Cape Elizabeth Aqua vinyl as Noah’s “thank you to the fans who stuck around, came to shows, watched my livestreams, and listened.” The vinyl features fan favorite songs “A Troubled Mind”, “Glue Myself Shut” and “Maine”.

          TRACK LISTING

          1. A Troubled Mind
          2. Close Behind
          3. Glue Myself Shut
          4. Anyway
          5. Maine

          English Teacher

          Live At The Brudenell Social Club (RSD24 EDITION)

            THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

            IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.


            Vinyl of live audio taken form the band's homecoming headline show (in Leeds 2023)Side A 1. Intro (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 2. The Worldís Biggest Paving Slab (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 3. Albatross (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 4. A55 (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 5. Mastermind Specialism (Live BrudenellSocial Club)6. You Blister My Paint (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 7. Broken Biscuits (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 8. Nearly Daffodils (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 9. R&B (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 10. Albert Road (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 11. This Could Be Texas (Live at Brudenell Social Club) 12. Good Grief (Live at Brudenell Social Club)

            U2

            Atomic City - Live From Sphere (RSD24 EDITION)

              THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 20TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

              IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 22ND.


              A 2-track, Record Store Day exclusive commemorating U2ís globally-acclaimed 40-date run of their pioneering show 'U2:UV Achtung Baby Live At Sphereí in Las Vegas. Featuring a brand new live performance recording of ëAtomic Cityí captured at the worldís most cutting-edge venue, alongside a remix by Mike WiLL Made-It, available for the first time physically. Pressed on transparent limited edition red vinyl and includes a poster. Side A ñ ëAtomic Cityí Live -Side B ñ ëAtomic Cityí - Mike WiLL Made-It Remix

              Nia Archives

              Silence Is Loud

                Nia Archives is not interested in being one fixed thing. Since emerging in 2020, the 24-year-old producer, DJ, singer and songwriter has been at the forefront of the latest era of jungle. The Bradford-born, Leeds-raised artist has garnered accolades including placing third in the prestigious BBC Sound Poll for 2023, alongside a nomination for the Brit Awards’ Rising Star prize, plus wins at the DJ Mag, NME, the MOBOs and Artist and Manager Awards. She has also toured the world – be it North America, Europe or Asia – and even opened a show in London as part of a little something called Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour. She’s renowned as a party-starter in her own right, too, with takeovers at Glastonbury, Warehouse Project and her own Bad Gyalz day event. She’s done official remixes for the likes of Jorja Smith, had a huge summer hit with her Yeah Yeah Yeahs rework ‘Off Wiv Ya Headz’, and worked with brands like Corteiz, Nike, Flannels, Burberry, FIFA and Apple. In just three years, it’s fair to say that Nia Archives has become a need-to-know name in dance music.

                On Silence Is Loud, her much-anticipated debut album, Nia Archives sounds thrillingly free as she looks to make music for beyond the rave. Working with Ethan P. Flynn (known for his work with FKA twigs and David Byrne) Nia is intent that Silence Is Loud is taken in as a full body of work of something “more song-focussed, putting interesting sounds on jungle.” It means that this is a record which finds gloomy Britpop, warm Motown, soaring indie, a love for Kings of Leon’s Aha Shake Heartbreak, skittering IDM, Madchester, classic rock, old skool hardcore and more, woven and fused into her ragga and junglist tapestry, all layered with feeling, imbued with her songwriterly lyricism about loneliness, relationships, family, navigating her 20s, and the intense potential power of silence.

                Sitting in the push and pull between melancholy and euphoria, Nia’s work is always a snapshot of where she’s at when she’s making it. This might not be the debut album you were expecting, but that’s what makes Silence Is Loud so special. Nia Archives has learned the rules of her sound, and is unafraid to break them, pushing jungle and herself into new, unchartered territories that, in turn, go some way to map the history of the greats of British dance music. More than that, it plants her firmly in that lineage.


                STAFF COMMENTS

                Barry says: 'Silence Is Loud' sees the brilliant Nia Archives flawlessly pulling together soul, jungle and synth-pop influences into a distinctly after-party flavoured groove thats both hugely enjoyable and undeniably skilled. A ground-breaking and hugely enjoyable debut from one of the biggest upcoming names in UK dance music.

                TRACK LISTING

                Silence Is Loud
                Cards On The Table
                Unfinished Business
                Crowded Roomz
                Forbidden Feelingz
                Blind Devotion
                Tell Me What It’s Like?
                Nightmares
                F.A.M.I.L.Y
                Out Of Options
                Silence Is Loud (Reprise)
                Killjoy !
                So Tell Me…

                English Teacher

                This Could Be Texas

                  Leeds indie frontrunners English Teacher announce debut LP ‘This Could Be Texas’. Preceded by initial LP reveals ‘The World’s Biggest Paving Slab’, ‘Nearly Daffodils’ and ‘Mastermind Specialism’, which were all A-listed on the BBC 6 Music playlist, English Teacher’s remarkable ascent continues to reach new levels, having completed sold-out debut UK and US headline runs last autumn, following their thrilling debut appearance on Later With...Jools Holland. Announced as Independent Venue Week Artist Ambassador for 2024. Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths." In several songs, Fontaine reflects on growing up as a mixed-race individual in a place, she says, “where many didn’t have any tolerance towards people who are different” in a post-Brexit landscape.

                  The debut album by Leeds frontrunners ‘This Could Be Texas’ will be released on 12th April 2023.

                  Lead singer Lily Fontaine explains, “I want this album to feel like you’ve gone to space, and it turns out its almost identical to Doncaster. It’s about in-betweens, it’s about home, and it’s about Desire Paths."

                  STAFF COMMENTS

                  Barry says: There's some brilliant music coming out of the London art/noise/garage rock scene at the moment and while i'm a big fan of pretty much all of it, there's nothing there that hits my feels quite as much as Leeds' English Teacher. Jagged, energetic instrumentation and moments of placid, drifting ambience abound, this is a startlingly cohesive and wonderfully deep debut.

                  Catfish And The Bottlemen

                  Showtime

                    The new single from Catfish And The Bottlemen, 'Showtime', pressed on limited edition white vinyl and produced by Grammy award winner, Dave Sardy (The Ride).



                    Yard Act

                    Where's My Utopia? CD Fanzine Edition

                      Where’s My Utopia CD Fanzine edition. The second editions of the Yard Act Fanzine, designed by us for you for no other reason than to tear down more trees.

                      Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. The new album is a co-production between Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr. The brand new album out 1st March 2024 features lead single ‘Dream Job’, which is out now.

                      The zine if printed on 140gsm uncoated paper and house in a beautiful 350gm uncoated cover. Includes the CD album.

                      TRACK LISTING

                      1. An Illusion
                      2. We Make Hits
                      3. Down By The Stream
                      4. The Undertow
                      5. Dream Job
                      6. Fizzy Fish
                      7. Petroleum
                      8. When The Laughter Stops
                      9. Grifter’s Grief
                      10. Blackpool Illuminations
                      11. A Vineyard For The North

                      Yard Act

                      Where's My Utopia?

                        Where’s My Utopia? is the follow up to the Leeds band’s critically-acclaimed debut record The Overload which arrived in January 2022. The Overload was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize after a slew of positive reviews, national radio playlistings and a placing at #2 in the Official Charts. The new album is a co-production between Yard Act and Gorillaz member Remi Kabaka Jr. 

                        Since first steering their golden Rover into swift public acclaim back in 2020, Leeds quartet Yard Act have become one of the great indie success stories of the decade so far. Along the way, they’ve ticked off milestones ranging from a Number Two chart placing and Mercury Prize nomination for debut album The Overload, to a co-sign from Elton John who joined the band to guest on a string-laden reworking of album closer ‘100% Endurance’.

                        Yet, whilst the band’s trajectory continuously shot upwards, vocalist James Smith and his wife had also welcomed in a son. And it’s this duelling sense of responsibility and ambition, guilt, love, drive and everything in between that forms the narrative backbone of brilliantly exploratory second album Where’s My Utopia?

                        Written in snapshots of time between a relentless touring schedule, and produced jointly by the band and Gorillaz’ Remi Kabaka Jr, the quartet’s second act is a giant leap forward into broad and playful new sonic waters. “The main reason that ‘post-punk’ was the vehicle for Album One was because it was really affordable to do, but we always liked so much other music and this time we've had the confidence to embrace it,” James explains. Across the record, influences ranging from Fela Kuti to Ennio Moricone via Spiller’s ‘00s pop smash ‘Groovejet’ make themselves known.

                        It’s a celebratory palette upon which Smith allowed himself to reach lyrically deeper into himself than ever. Gone, largely, are the outward-facing character studies of yore, replaced with a set of songs that stare fully into the headlights of life, wrangling with the frontman’s own fears and foibles to create a sort of Promethean narrative - but with jokes. “You can commit to the idea that we’re just animals who eat and fuck and then we die, and that’s fine,” he suggests. “But for me, creativity always seems to be the best way of articulating the absolute minefield of what human existence is.”


                        STAFF COMMENTS

                        Barry says: I get where the 'Difficult Second Album' idea came from, but on Where's My Utopia, Yard Act fly through the possible creative hurdles with an expansion of their already multi-faceted sound. Pieces like 'Dream Job' absolutely swim with the influence of pop music and bright, synthy disco alongside their more classic post-punk groove and machinated percussion.

                        TRACK LISTING

                        1. An Illusion
                        2. We Make Hits
                        3. Down By The Stream
                        4. The Undertow
                        5. Dream Job
                        6. Fizzy Fish
                        7. Petroleum
                        8. When The Laughter Stops
                        9. Grifter’s Grief
                        10. Blackpool Illuminations
                        11. A Vineyard For The North

                        The Last Dinner Party

                        Nothing Matters - 2024 Repress

                          The Last Dinner Party present a new 7” vinyl to celebrate their debut single release ‘Nothing Matters’. This limited-edition Crystal Clear transparent 7” release features the hauntingly beautiful 'Nothing Matters' on the A-side and a stunning stripped back acoustic version of 'Nothing Matters' on the B-side.

                          The Last Dinner Party

                          Prelude To Ecstasy

                            At the turn of the year, The Last Dinner Party was little more than a new name being shared amongst those that had caught them live. Great songs, strong aesthetic. Having spent much of 2022 writing those songs, road-testing them, and then taking them into the studio, it wasn’t until April when the band released the instantly more-ish, dark guitar-pop of Nothing Matters that seemingly everyone had now formed an opinion on them. It was an introduction that took the online world by storm, and yet behind all the excitement and narrative was a fantastically confident indie-rock song by a band doing it the old-fashioned way, out on the road.

                            Following a heady first-on performance to a packed crowd at the new Woodsies tent at Glastonbury, The Last Dinner Party released Sinner, another gloriously infectious, leftfield pop song that fuelled the fully-formed zeitgeist and set the band up for a Summer that replicated that success of Glastonbury with uncomfortably packed tents ensuing at the likes of Green Man, Reading & Leeds, Latitude and End of the Road (interspersed with support slots to the likes of Florence & The Machine, Lana Del Rey and First Aid Kit). It was a breakthrough Summer for one of the most talked about new British acts in years, delivering on all that early promise emphatically.

                            Concentrating on their own headline shows, the band skipped confidentally from venue to venue, playing to bigger rooms and on wider stages. Shows sold out and shows were upgraded. In London alone, the band have moved from sell-out dates at Moth Club to Camden Assembly, Oslo to two nights at EartH, and now move on to the 3000 capacity Roundhouse on the eve of album release (remaining tickets on sale now). Crucially, it’s not just London where the band finds its early fans, but right across the UK and into America too, with all five debut shows selling out several weeks in advance.

                            The band often set a themed dress code for the shows, with many fans relishing the task of rising to the request and donning their finery for a night with their new heroes.

                            But this is no case of style over substance. With the release of their third single, My Lady Of Mercy, an almost gothic, haunting rock song, and the atmospheric and anthemic ballad, On Your Side, the band’s songwriting is testament to all the buzz and excitement already accumulated. As it should be. Rather than wilt under the spotlight, they’ve arguably become a tighter, stronger unit because of it.

                            Prelude To Ecstasy is both the closing of that introductory chapter and the opening of the next. The Last Dinner Party? Believe the hype. 


                            STAFF COMMENTS

                            Barry says: A thrilling debut from The Last Dinner Party, channelling the spirit of PJ Harvey, the operatic intensity of Nick Cave and the soaring cinematic orchestral arrangements of Hans Zimmer or John Williams. A powerful, bold melting pot of perfectly manicured influences.

                            TRACK LISTING

                            1. Prelude To Ecstasy
                            2. Burn Alive
                            3. Caesar On A TV Screen
                            4. The Feminine Urge
                            5. On Your Side
                            6. Beautiful Boy
                            7. Gjuha
                            8. Sinner
                            9. My Lady Of Mercy
                            10. Portrait Of A Dead Girl
                            11. Nothing Matters
                            12. Mirror 

                            U2

                            Atomic City

                              Atomic City’, the brand new track from U2, is produced by Jacknife Lee and Steve Lillywhite and comes ahead of the band’s upcoming run of dates at Sphere in Las Vegas. This Limited Edition Photoluminescent Transparent 7’’ Vinyl, includes the original song, alongside an etching on the B-Side.

                              TRACK LISTING

                              Side A: Atomic City
                              Side B: Etched

                              English Teacher

                              The World's Biggest Paving Slab

                                The World's Biggest Paving Slab' on limited press 7" vinyl. In words on Lily Fontaine, "“I wrote and recorded the demo in my bedroom in one day, during my final year of university in 2018. Moving to a city for university forced me to reflect on how my experience of growing up in and around Pendle, how witnessing the social, economic and political issues that exist around there in juxtaposition with the beauty of the landscape and the characters that live within in it, has shaped me into the artist and person that I am. These semi-rural stories leak into most of my writing; in particular, this song tackles delusions of grandeur and inferiority from the perspective of a small town’s local celebrities. It’s split into two halves."

                                TRACK LISTING

                                Side A: The World's Biggest Paving Slab
                                Side B: The World's Biggest Paving Slab (Demo)

                                Yard Act

                                The Trenchcoat Museum

                                  The Trench Coat Museum is  on limited edition black vinyl, signed by no one and definitely not numbered, hand printed, stamped, and comes with no bonus prints, stickers or postcard
                                        
                                  All well and good, but, what does it actually sound like!? Basically  this brand new track feels like something of a step up for this superb band. More propulsive and percussive with dare I say a funkier feel, frontman  James Smith spins a typical yarn about, well......find out for yourselves!

                                  The A side is a whopping 8 minuts long but flip it over and there's an Arthur Baker ( yes, THE!) remix which makes the whole 12 a most desirable package,, no hand print, poster, sticker or number notwithstanding !!!

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Andy says: A brilliant step forwards for one of our favourite bands Love it!

                                  TRACK LISTING

                                  A-Side – The Trench Coat Museum
                                  B-Side – The Trench Coat Museum (Arthur Baker Remix) (!)

                                  Ben Howard

                                  Is It?

                                    In March 2022, Ben Howard was sat in his garden when he found himself unable to think clearly, form sentences or speak for almost an hour. A month later, after the same thing happened again, the Ivor Novello Award-winning singer-songwriter learned he’d suffered two TIAs (transient ischemic attacks - known as mini-strokes). “It was out of the blue,” says the 35 year-old. “It was a confusing time.”

                                    That June, after a month of inconclusive hospital tests Howard and his band returned to Le Manoir de Léon recording studio in south-west France, where they’d previously worked on his acclaimed third album ‘Noonday Dream’.

                                    “We went in and put down ten songs in ten days, then spent the rest of the year tinkering with them”. The record was produced by Bullion, known for his work on Westerman’s ‘Your Hero Is Not Dead’ and Orlando Weeks ‘Hop Up’. Howard says, “We worked through the heatwave, the air conditioning broke, after what had happened I was so tired in the afternoons that I slept a lot. We just played solidly and slept, they was no time for retrospection”.

                                    The result is ‘Is It’, a lush, sonically splintered album which captures Howard working through those moments of seismic shift. “I found it impossible not to dwell on the absurdity of it, that with one tiny clot, one can lose all faculties. It really ate into the writing of the record”.

                                    The songs range from the peaceful quotidian Days of Lantana, to cut up samples and driven beats of Walking Backwards, the formers’ pitched and warped Linda Thompson chorus reminiscent of Malcolm Mclaren´s ‘Madame Butterfly’.

                                    Moonraker, a song about climbing in the Guadarrama mountains touches on the meditational, while in the cyclical Richmond Avenue Howard talks of shared childhood moments with his father.

                                    There are colourful, left-field production choices throughout- a staple of Bullion - but with a twist

                                    “We really bonded over records in the studio” he says. “Nathan has an incredible ear and catalogue of sampled beats and rhythms which quickly became the bedrock…There were contributing factors also. Our mainstay drummer Kyle lives in Seattle and as we made the record on the fly we just leaned into drum-machine world, and really left almost all of that side of things up to Nathan.”

                                    “We also did a session at Real World Studios and put most of the record through an echoplex”.

                                    That session featured additional instrumentation from Raven Bush (violin, viola) and Mick Mcgoldrick (flute, Eileen pipes) as well as Howards mainstay band of Mickey Smith (Bass, guitars, percussion) R.D. Thomas (synths, keys, harmonium) and Nat Wason (guitars).

                                    “It’s actually mostly a guitar record, but there are some nice additions. We bought an old harmonium at the beginning of the trip which made its way onto most tracks. I was very much stuck in stuttered delay and synth led guitar patterns. Mick McGoldrick came in to play on Richmond Ave and straight away played Liam O´Flynn lines from the Mark Knopfler record ‘Cal’ which is a long favourite of mine and a big connection to my Dad who had it on tape. That was a beautiful moment, perhaps one of my favourites moments in the studio ever.”
                                    “It was a refreshing way to record, unweighted by the past”

                                    The change is evident on ‘Is It’ - an album which represents a further creative evolution from an artist known for never repeating himself throughout his already-storied career.

                                    ¨I was so aware of the overwhelming information coming from everything, almost like my brain couldn’t filter what was happening and had to start again. So we just pushed forward, lyrically it seems obvious to me in parts, It’s about sitting there wondering what the hell is going on.”

                                    Yet with each listen it feels like more than that. A characteristically onion-layered record which rankles like a series of questions, or a series of vignettes throughout Howard´s life, perhaps best distilled in the whirling chorus on ´Spirit´.

                                    ‘What’s mine anyway?
                                    My feelings seem to be arranged.
                                    What´s mine anyway?
                                    Spirit? Is it?´

                                    ‘Is It’ stands quite starkly on it’s own, buoyed by the circumstances of its creation. “Just to be playing music in the studio felt like a real privilege and a luxury,” says Howard. “It was probably the best studio session we’ve ever had.”

                                    R.J


                                    TRACK LISTING

                                    1. Could Not Make It Up
                                    2. Walking Backwards
                                    3. Days Of Lantana
                                    4. Life In The Time Of Captivity
                                    5. Moonraker
                                    6. Richmond Avenue
                                    7. Interim Of Sense
                                    8. Total Eclipse
                                    9. Spirit
                                    10. Little Plant

                                    Jack Johnson

                                    In Between Dub

                                      In March 2020, Jack reached out to Lee “Scratch" Perry to produce a dub remix album based on Jack’s most loved recordings. On 8/29/21 the project was brought to a halt as Scratch departed this physical world. In ‘22 Jack and Subatomic Sound System, Perry’s band of the last decade, connected directly and discovered they had all the pieces to bring Lee “Scratch” Perry’s 3 creations to completion. The LP also features dubs from Dennis Bovell, Scientist, Mad Professor, Nightmares on Wax & more.

                                      Sparks

                                      The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte

                                        The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte marks Sparks’ first release on the venerable Island Records label in close to five decades, following such classics as 1974’s landmark Kimono My House, highlighted of course by the indelible hit single ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us’. The new album is described by Ron and Russell Mael as a record that is “as bold and uncompromising as anything we did back then or, for that matter, anytime throughout our career.”

                                        The album includes such instantly intriguing new musical vignettes as ‘Mona Lisa’s Packing, Leaving Late Tonight’ and ‘Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is’, songs which once again display Sparks’ seemingly ceaseless ability to craft complete, intricately detailed stories within perfect three-and-a-half minute pop masterpieces. Both characteristically timeless and unequivocally modern, The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte once again affirms that, after more than a half century making such masterpieces, Sparks remain inimitable, ingenious and, as ever, utterly one of a kind. 


                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                        Barry says: The sound of Sparks is uniquely theirs, bold pop chorus' and snappy vocal hooks, blooming from subtle and minimalistic to grand and orchestral without batting an eyelid. The title track is particularly enjoyable, showing both innovative groove and classic, Sparks melodies.

                                        TRACK LISTING

                                        1. The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte
                                        2. Veronica Lake
                                        3. Nothing Is As Good As They Say It Is
                                        4. Escalator
                                        5. The Mona Lisa's Packing, Leaving Late Tonight
                                        6. You Were Meant For Me
                                        7. Not That Well-Defined
                                        8. We Go Dancing
                                        9. When You Leave
                                        10. Take Me For A Ride
                                        11. A Love Story
                                        12. It's Sunny Today
                                        13. It Doesn't Have To Be That Way
                                        14. Gee, That Was Fun

                                        U2

                                        Songs Of Surrender

                                          Including ‘One’, ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’, & ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’. 

                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                          Martin says: I'm famously a massive fan of U2, and this epic collection sees them reworking (upcycling?) tons of their older tracks, but stripped back to a reasonably unadorned core instrumental skeleton. Once again, a clear sign of a band still in control of their craft.

                                          Nia Archives

                                          Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall

                                            Following an unforgettable and era defining “Summer of Jungle” that saw Nia Archives playing all over the world from All Points East to Glastonbury, Los Angeles to New York, Rio De Janeiro to Australia, this rising star continues to command the unwavering attention of the UK scene with her first solo single since the breakout EP Forbidden Feelingz, “Baianá”. Most recently off the back of her record breaking debut Boiler Room, she continues to reframe the jungle narrative on “So Tell Me...”, a warm and utterly timeless jungle roller that speaks volumes on Nia’s incredible talent not only as a producer but as a vocalist and songwriter. Having been given the seal of approval from Rolling Stone, NME, TheFace, Danny Howard (TOTW), Jack Saunders (TOTW), Zane Lowe, Mary Anne Hobbs, Matt Wilkinson and more.

                                            An artist on the rise and poised to soon be one of the world’s most recognisable names, in the last year alone, Nia has won a MOBO award for ‘Best Electronic/Dance Act’, the NME Award for ‘Best Producer’, been hotly tipped by BBC Radio 1 Dance as a ‘Future Star’ and Spotify as their ‘Our Generation’ cover star. With additional accolades such as #3 in the BBC Sound of 2023 Poll and a Brit nomination for the ‘Rising Star award’. Alongside her cover debut on one of the world’s most prestigious dance music publications, Mixmag, Nia Archives has been given the seal of approval from tastemakers across the board from British Vogue, Pitchfork, The Fader, i-D and CRACK.

                                            Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against The Wall is that feeling when you’ve been at a afters and you’re in someone’s kitchen, all these thoughts running through your head, the sun comes up and it’s the most disgusting feeling ever with an element of bliss at the same time, all you wanna do is bang your head against the wall and teleport home.

                                            Across the EP Nia is broadly talking about growing up as a person, reaching new levels of maturity, love and loss, rejection, estrangement, the come up and the come down. Nia says that “It’s the most exciting project I’ve made yet and It’s window into the future and the kind of artist I want to become. It’s six tracks with six different moods soundtracking the recent chapter in my life.”

                                            The Lathums

                                            From Nothing To A Little Bit More

                                              Having lived their rollercoaster ride to the top of the charts and main stages inside just two years, The Lathums state their intentions to supercharge their continued rise with the release of 'Say My Name'.

                                              TRACK LISTING

                                              1. Struggle
                                              2. Say My Name
                                              3. I Know Pt. 1
                                              4. Lucky Bean
                                              5. Facets
                                              6. Rise And Fall
                                              7. Sad Face Baby
                                              8. Turmoil
                                              9. Land And Sky
                                              10. Crying Out
                                              11. Understanding

                                              Yard Act

                                              The Overload - Picture Disc (Black Friday 22 Edition)

                                                THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 25TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

                                                IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8AM ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 26TH).

                                                Limited Edition Picture Disc of #2 Album 'The Overload' never been pressing on a Picture Disc before. 

                                                The Streets

                                                Brexit At Tiffany's

                                                  Limited edition 12", only available for a limited time only. In addition to its title track, ‘Brexit At Tiffany’s’ also features a collaboration with grime artist MC Manga Saint Hilare titled ‘3 Minutes To Midnight’, and is closed out by a song called ‘Test of Time’.

                                                  The new EP marks Skinner’s second release as The Streets this year, after linking up with Master Peace for ‘Wrong Answers Only’ in January. Last year, he celebrated lockdown ending on the ‘Who’s Got the Bag (21st June)’, and remixed Greentea Peng‘s ‘Free My People’.'

                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                  Brexit At Tiffany’s
                                                  3 Minutes To Midnight
                                                  Test Of Time

                                                  Sports Team

                                                  Gulp!

                                                    Second studio album via Island Records.

                                                    Signposting a bold and ambitious new era for the band, Sports Team explain that ‘R Entertainment’ explores “The packaging down of all human experience into entertainment, prompted by the infinite scroll through social feeds and the manic formlessness of the images we are hit with every day. Graphic news interrupted by ads for season 17 of The Bodyguard, news as a rubbernecking, passively waiting for the next drop of horror as we flick through recipes.”

                                                    Sports Team are Alex Rice (lead vocals), Rob Knaggs (rhythm guitar + vocals), Henry Young (lead guitar), Oli Dewdney (bass), Al Greenwood (drums) and Ben Mack (keyboard + percussion). Formed in 2016, the band released two EPs Winter Nets and Keep Walking! before sharing their debut album Deep Down Happy in June 2020 to widespread critical acclaim, praised by The Times for their “indomitable spirit and a refusal to take things too seriously” and The Guardian for their “sharply observational lyrics skewering the mores of suburbia”.


                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                    The Game
                                                    Dig!
                                                    The Drop
                                                    Cool It Kid
                                                    Unstuck
                                                    R Entertainment
                                                    Kool Aid
                                                    Getting Better
                                                    Fingers
                                                    Light Industry

                                                    The Lathums

                                                    How Beautiful Life Can Be

                                                      How Beautiful Life Can Be, recorded at Parr Street Studios, Liverpool. In the company of producers, James Skelly and Chris Taylor, pushes The Lathums’ remarkable story into the next, even more exciting phase. The Great Escape, having been previously self-released by the young band, emerges from the album sessions in sparkling, new form, whilst retaining the melodic stardust that caused the first rumblings of the social-media led stampede to their early gigs.

                                                      Kick-started by growing pains and life’s unlucky twists, fuelled by the simple salvation of six guitar strings and supercharged by the fans that found them slogging their gear into the north of England’s pubs and small venues, The Lathums story may turn out to be the perfect not-all-nice-guys-finish-last tale.

                                                      It was only in the summer 2019 that the band’s fuse was lit by Tim Burgess, who offering them a late slot at Kendal Calling where, inside 24 hours, social media chatter caused their audience to spill into the field beyond their tent. A year later they had achieved their first UK Album Chart Top 20 for vinyl-only EP compilation, The Memories We Make, recorded their debut appearance for Later… With Jools Holland and joined the BBC Sound Poll 2021 list of tipped acts at the end of a year that skidded on the black ice of a global pandemic but, somehow, left the band on their feet.

                                                      For a band whose singing songwriter had never been to a gig before playing his own, yet incomprehensibly carried a trunk load of sensitively-crafted, empathetic, sing-a-long anthems straight into their first rehearsal, The Lathums have flown at nosebleed speed to where they are now.

                                                      Hailing from Wigan on the overlooked fringes of Greater Manchester, The Lathums are Alex Moore, casting a new outline of the modern frontman, singing alongside student of the Marr-esque jangle guitar, Scott Concepcion, rapid-fire, wise-cracking bassist, Jonny Cunliffe (aka: Bass Mon Jon) and the steady, rhythmic, wise head, Ryan Durrans on drums. Pithily described by those closest as ‘like The Inbetweeners in a Shane Meadows film’, they are four bright, wild flowers growing between grey paving stones. 


                                                      STAFF COMMENTS

                                                      Barry says: This new LP is sure to continue the meteoric upwards trajectory of The Lathums, swimming with influences from The Smiths, The Coral and 90's Britpop into a wonderfully upbeat and undeniably melodic full-length. This Wigan quartet are definitely going places.

                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                      1. Circles Of Faith
                                                      2. I’ll Get By
                                                      3. Fight On
                                                      4. How Beautiful Life Can Be
                                                      5. The Great Escape
                                                      6. I Won't Lie Side B
                                                      7. I See Your Ghost
                                                      8. Oh My Love
                                                      9. I’ll Never Forget The Time I Spent With You
                                                      10. I Know That Much
                                                      11. Artificial Screens
                                                      12. The Redemption Of Sonic Beauty

                                                      Easy Life

                                                      Life's A Beach

                                                        easy life have today announced details of their much-anticipated debut album ‘life’s a beach’, which will be released on Island Records on May 28th. The record is introduced by its powerful opening track ‘a message to myself’, and includes standout singles ‘nightmares’, ‘daydreams’, and more future-classics from the Leicester five-piece; who have already charted in the top 10 (on the ‘Junk Food’ mixtape), won ‘Best New British Act’ at the 2020 NME Awards, and amassed a huge live audience around the world with their unique brand of optimism !

                                                        The leaders of the pack" NME
                                                        “Properly original, easy life slide into your consciousness and immediately put down roots” Sunday Times
                                                        “Imagine what would happen if Alex Turner, Kaytranada and Loyle Carner collaborated, and you’ll get something fairly close to easy life’s indefinable sound” GQ
                                                        "Vibey, laidback...comically surreal" Fader
                                                        "One of the most buzzed about bands...undisputed bops" Wonderland. 

                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                        A Message To Myself
                                                        Have A Great Day
                                                        Ocean View
                                                        Skeletons
                                                        Daydreams
                                                        Life’s A Beach (interlude)
                                                        Living Strange
                                                        Compliments
                                                        Lifeboat
                                                        Nightmares
                                                        Homesickness
                                                        Music To Walk Home To

                                                        PJ Harvey

                                                        To Bring You My Love - Remastered Vinyl Edition

                                                          Reissue on vinyl of the third PJ Harvey studio album To Bring You My Love. Produced by PJ Harvey with Flood and John Parish, and originally released in February 1995, To Bring You My Love features the singles ‘Down By The Water’, ‘C’mon Billy’ and ‘Send His Love To Me’. The album – which celebrates its 25th Anniversary this year – received wide critical acclaim on release, with nominations for Grammy Awards and the Mercury Music Prize.

                                                          Reissue is faithful to the original recording and package, cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of longtime PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish.

                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                          Side A
                                                          To Bring You My Love
                                                          Meet Ze Monsta
                                                          Working For The Man
                                                          C’mon Billy
                                                          Teclo

                                                          Side B
                                                          Long Snake Moan
                                                          Down By The Water
                                                          I Think I’m A Mother
                                                          Send His Love To Me
                                                          The Dancer

                                                          PJ Harvey

                                                          To Bring You My Love - Demos

                                                            10 track collection of previously unreleased demos of all songs from the third studio album by PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love – from 1995. Includes demo versions of the singles ‘Down By The Water’, ‘C’mon Billy’ and ‘Send His Love To Me’. Audio has been mastered by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering under the guidance of longtime PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish. Features brand new artwork with previously unseen photos by Maria Mochnacz.

                                                            TRACK LISTING

                                                            Vinyl:
                                                            Side A
                                                            To Bring You My Love - Demo
                                                            Meet Ze Monsta - Demo
                                                            Working For The Man - Demo
                                                            C’mon Billy - Demo
                                                            Teclo - Demo

                                                            Side B
                                                            Long Snake Moan - Demo
                                                            Down By The Water - Demo
                                                            I Think I’m A Mother - Demo
                                                            Send His Love To Me - Demo
                                                            The Dancer - Demo

                                                            CD:
                                                            To Bring You My Love - Demo
                                                            Meet Ze Monsta - Demo
                                                            Working For The Man - Demo
                                                            C’mon Billy - Demo
                                                            Teclo - Demo
                                                            Long Snake Moan - Demo
                                                            Down By The Water - Demo
                                                            I Think I’m A Mother - Demo
                                                            Send His Love To Me - Demo
                                                            The Dancer - Demo

                                                            PJ Harvey

                                                            4-Track Demos - Vinyl Reissue

                                                              Vinyl reissue of 1993 collection of demos written and recorded at Polly Harvey’s home in 1991-1992.

                                                              It includes eight demos of songs from the album, Rid of Me, released earlier in that year along with six demos of additional songs.

                                                              Reissue is faithful to the original package, with vinyl cutting by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering.

                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                              A1 Rid Of Me 3:42
                                                              A2 Legs 3:47
                                                              A3 Reeling 2:59
                                                              A4 Snake 1:56
                                                              A5 Hook 4:31
                                                              A6 50FT Queenie 2:48
                                                              A7 Driving 2:38

                                                              B1 Ecstasy 2:56
                                                              B2 Hardly Wait 2:48
                                                              B3 Rub 'Til It Bleeds 5:10
                                                              B4 Easy 3:16
                                                              B5 M-Bike 2:43
                                                              B6 Yuri-G 3:53
                                                              B7 Goodnight 4:17

                                                              PJ Harvey

                                                              Rid Of Me - Vinyl Reissue

                                                                "Rid Of Me" was PJ Harvey's second album, circa 1993, but her first for Island Records.

                                                                The set features the same line-up as the "Dry" sessions (Polly doing vocals, guitar, violin, cello and organ, Stephen Vaughan on bass and Robert Ellis on drums, vocals and harmonium), but the extra money shows in the much slicker production to the album's predecessor. Recorded by Steve Albini, this forceful sophomore effort veers from hoarsely quiet to ferociously looming in one beat.

                                                                Reissue is faithful to the original recording and package, cutting by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering under the guidance of Steve Albini.

                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                Side A
                                                                Rid Of Me
                                                                Missed
                                                                Legs
                                                                Rub ‘Til It Bleeds
                                                                Hook
                                                                Man-Size Sextet

                                                                Side B
                                                                Highway ’61 Revisited
                                                                50ft Queenie
                                                                Yuri-G
                                                                Man-Size
                                                                Dry
                                                                Me-Jane
                                                                Snake
                                                                Ecstasy

                                                                11 track collection of demos of all songs from the debut studio album Dry by PJ Harvey, available for the first time since 1992, and previously unreleased as a standalone album.

                                                                Features brand new artwork with previously unseen photos by Maria Mochnacz.

                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                LP
                                                                Side A
                                                                Oh My Lover (Demo)
                                                                O Stella (Demo)
                                                                Dress (Demo)
                                                                Victory (Demo)
                                                                Happy And Bleeding (Demo)

                                                                Side B
                                                                Sheela-Na-Gig (Demo)
                                                                Hair (Demo)
                                                                Joe (Demo)
                                                                Plants And Rags (Demo)
                                                                Fountain (Demo)
                                                                Water (Demo)

                                                                The Streets

                                                                None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive

                                                                  TONGA, the balloon filled rap, grime and dubstep party by Mike Skinner and Murkage Dave, had been a series of shoobs to remember. Copenhagen to Manchester to Berlin. Brum to Brixton. Usually arriving with a coterie of legendary UK figureheads and gobby upcomers in tow, like Kano, Giggs, Jammer or Jaykae, the pulsating essence of the nights needed to be immortalised. The original plan had been to release a TONGA album. But as night moved to day, and day moved along to night, it… just didn’t happen. Instead, a new mixtape titled None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive steps up to take its place. Recorded between work on his film and accompanying solo The Streets album, it is the unpredictable sonic continuation of those parties. Taking in UK Funky and twilight zone UK rap, and with guest spots ranging from Grammy nominated psychedelia sovereign Tame Impala to cult south London rapper Jesse James, as well as 2019’s key-fiend-friendly drum’n’bass collab with Chris Lorenzo, None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is the most eclectic and highly collaborative collection of songs from The Streets yet. Or as Mike puts it with characteristic distinction: “it’s really just a rap duets album.”

                                                                  Every track has one if not two guests, who, though underpinned by Mike’s distinctive lyrical flair, usually perform atop a genre or sound not previously explored within the realm of The Streets. “You know that thing where if you wore it the first time round, don’t wear it the second time round? I would never put on Aquascutum at this point in my life. It would be stupid, a pastiche of what I did twenty years ago. For all of us. Whereas now I’m going back and I’m picking things that I didn’t pick before.” The inclusion of, say, Mercury Prize nominated punk group IDLES (who perform what Mike describes as a sea-shanty tinged track inspired by an overnight ferry to Dover) and teenage wünderkind Jimothy Lacoste help ground things firmly in the here and now.

                                                                  But there are familiar faces of the past too. Birmingham legend, Dapz On The Map, pops up on merky rap track “Phone Is Always In My Hand”. While Rob Harvey, previously of The Music and Skinner collaboration The D.O.T, tunes into pensieve penultimate track “Conspiracy Theory Freestyle”. “The guests had to be into me, as much as I was into them,” jokes Mike, of the featured artist selection process. Really, though seemingly disparate on paper, the acts on the record are connected by their singular talent for “talking about normal stuff.” “All the different things I’ve tried to do, they’re who is doing that now.” “But instead of talking about abstract emotions on this record, I’m talking about things and objects and details.” Couched in those UK and Euro wide experiences with TONGA, this results in tales of hardly partying, but partying hard. The path to excess.

                                                                  The morning trying to climb in under the curtains as you’re busy putting the world to rights. Like anything that happens between the nightclub and the bus home, there’s as much connection as disconnection in this world; as many new relationships forged as there are trails left behind from the ghosts of previous companionships past. Communication, or lack thereof, plays a huge part in this present-day experience. “One thing I’ve ended up doing is talking about being on my phone,” says Mike. “It was very easy on my first album to say, well: where am I? I’m in a pub. I’m at home. I’m in a betting shop. I’m getting a kebab. It felt fairly straightforward and no one had really written about it. Whereas when making this record, everything now basically happens on your phone.” These dual themes of nightclub and connection land the record in the simple yet eternally complicated prism of human interaction. “You’re ignoring me but you’re watching my stories”, on “Phone Is Always In My Hand”, is a black comedy mantra of our times. Same goes for “every girl has a dude in her inbox talking to himself” on the Oscar #WorldPeace featuring “The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer”. References abound to missed calls (on opening track “Waiting For It To Stop”, Kevin Parker sings, trance like, about neglecting to call someone back) and “five minute” journeys (the kind where you lie about leaving the house).

                                                                  Despite its humble mixtape beginnings,  None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive is a precise and very human body of work from a modern UK music pioneer. Emotionally poignant, full of one liners, club ready. More than anything, it’s exciting – a call back to those fun and responsibility free evenings at TONGA. Yet “the result is much more than I thought it would be. It’s become a real album,” says Mike. And so, as the new decade begins, so too does a new era for The Streets...

                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                  Barry says: It's been a few years since the last Streets album proper, but even though 'None Of Us...' is technically a 'Mixtape' (I still don't particularly understand that when it's neither mixed, nor on a tape), it has all of the cohesive drive and thematic intensity you'd expect from a fully formed and sequenced LP. Not to mention the host of superb guests sprinkling the credits, or the superb songwriting and groove we've come to expect from Skinner. A triumph.

                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                  1 Call My Phone Thinking I'm Doing Nothing Better With Tame Impala
                                                                  2 None Of Us Are Getting Out Of This Life Alive
                                                                  3 I Wish You Loved Me As Much As You Love Him
                                                                  4 You Can't Afford Me
                                                                  5 I Know Something You Did 
                                                                  6 Eskimo Ice
                                                                  7 Phone Is Always In My Hand
                                                                  8 The Poison I Take Hoping You Will Suffer
                                                                  9 Same Direction
                                                                  10 Falling Down
                                                                  11 Conspiracy Theory Freestyle
                                                                  12 Take Me As I Am

                                                                  Sports Team

                                                                  Deep Down Happy

                                                                    Here’s the thing…Sports Team are a band of six singular characters who have been variously described as one of the most raucous, electrifying and chaotic acts in the UK. Today the band announce their debut album Deep Down Happy. The highly anticipated record, out on 3rd April, follows the acclaimed EPs, Winter Nets and Keep Walking!, and is their first release on the legendary Island Records label.

                                                                    Sports Team came up on the back of word of mouth live hype, drawing round the block queues to chaotic early gigs at The Five Bells and Moth Club before releasing any music. Recording their first EP (Winter Nets) in a converted Timberyard in Hammersmith, the band have consistently set themselves apart from the acts they came up playing with, showing an intoxicating ambition, and their debut album Deep Down Happy, looks set to deliver on all bold claims, and confirm their place at the head of a group of young guitar acts.

                                                                    Talking about the record charismatic frontman Alex Rice says: “I don’t think we were conscious of doing it but the album maps the journey of moving in together in Harlesden, moving back to home towns to sleep on floors for 18 months, then coming back to London, weighing up whether being in a band with your mates, being young in London is still the best thing in the world. I think it probably is.”


                                                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                    Darryl says: Ace raucous indie-pop, London based six-piece Sports Team finally release their debut album after a plethora of singles, and it doesn't disappoint. Spiky indie guitars, furious driving rhythms and off-kilter melodies.

                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                    Lander
                                                                    Here It Comes Again
                                                                    Going Soft
                                                                    Camel Crew
                                                                    Long Hot Summer
                                                                    Feels Like Fun
                                                                    Here’s The Thing
                                                                    The Races
                                                                    Born Sugar
                                                                    Fishing
                                                                    Kutcher
                                                                    Stations Of The Cross

                                                                    Catfish And The Bottlemen

                                                                    The Balance

                                                                      Stealing time out from a promotional photo shoot, Van McCann glances out into an unforgiving English North Sea, battling the coastal breeze to light a cigarette. In a few, short weeks and 10,000 miles from here, the singer and songwriter of Catfish and The Bottlemen will look from the stage and see the mid-summer paradise of Tasmania’s South Pacific coastline, trading isolation and brooding cloud for the thunder of another jet-set, live performance in searing heat. The signs weren’t there for Catfish and The Bottlemen to be a band of extremes, yet they seem to throw that precise silhouette, almost without intention.

                                                                      Tumbling into 2019 by headlining festival stages on the other side of the world, McCann (vocals, guitars), Johnny Bond (guitars), Robert ‘Bob’ Hall (drums) and Benji Blakeway (bass) take a huge gulp of air before their homecoming and the start of another new chapter. Catfish and The Bottlemen’s 2019 new album release follows 2014’s platinum-certified debut, The Balcony and 2016’s gold, number one follow-up, The Ride. Companion to the release of their third album is the anticipation, if not vocal impatience, of their waiting fans and the knowledge within the band that it represents a likely escalation of the successes of the last three years. Three years in which they’ve seen sales of one million albums and, in 2018 alone, nearly a quarter of a million UK fans experiencing them play live.

                                                                      Practically of no fixed abode, the band has toured constantly since their formation, now over a decade ago. Hotel rooms, tour buses, airport lounges and live venues are home, with the band’s roots seemingly indeterminable. McCann is extensively quoted saying that his band’s isolation in the fast lane of emotive, youthful alternative rock is thanks to their conscious plot to ‘think inside the box’. While typical chaos swirls around an in-demand, arena-filling rock band, that uncharacteristically strategic starting point for the journey remains their pivot. When judged fairly from distance, Catfish and The Bottlemen are a natural reaction to an age of perpetual identity-crises, fruitless cravings for elusive individuality and the ‘curation’ of everything from shoes to breakfast cereals. They’ve proved that simplicity isn’t, as it turns out, a sin or the safest route to take.

                                                                      Freed from opinion and expectation, young music fans flock in their tens of thousands to see and hear the band in concert, exercising joyful release, in communion, as the rest of the world appears to fight with itself on the outside. Four years on, a new Catfish and The Bottlemen record could never sound like The Balcony. The band's activities supporting their debut album quickly brought festival main stages and US late night television appearances. The Ride propelled them further into UK sell-outs at Don Valley Stadium, Wembley Arena, Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park and Cardiff Castle. Significantly, it also invited more quality time with global fans on tours to the USA, South America, Australia and Japan. Some of McCann’s youthful restlessness on record, a distinct and endearing awkwardness as he approached relationships with friends and lovers, was destined to evolve with each, giant step.

                                                                      The first snapshot of a new album, ‘Fluctuate’, performed throughout summer 2018, teased out a lean, refreshed version of everything Catfish fans find so easy so to love. McCann performed what sounded like a personal diary entry and he sang it to them, about them, for them and with them. They, typically, soon started to sing every word back. What had changed, subtly, was the cool, open air in which the song was allowed to hang, McCann’s rhythmic delivery in each verse pinned to the bass and drums, saving the collective push for a supercharged chorus. It’s a progression that remains satisfyingly inside the box.

                                                                      Catfish and The Bottlemen went it alone for near to a decade, before their guerrilla tactics (throwing demos on numerous stages and jamming them under car windscreen wipers) and relentless gigging paid off. “We’ve still been unsigned for longer than we’ve been signed,” says McCann, seemingly never allowing himself to forget the self-initiated activity of their formative years, despite living in the new reality of being a platinum-selling, arena-filling young front man. In person, he’s a character of kind humility, contrasting the magnetic image of the hip-swinging, black-clad front man that makes thousands of fans sway effortlessly to his every, energetic move. You get the feeling that he’d do it all again, no matter how long it took, to get Catfish and The Bottlemen to where they are now.

                                                                      There are no red carpets for the band (they tried desperately to delay their arrival at the 2016 Brit Awards to avoid the frenzy), no tabloid-stirring relationships or ostentatious shows of excess. It’s not restraint; it’s the private life of four friends getting on with the jobs their fans have afforded them the privilege to get done. As McCann stares out into the endless sea on a windswept promenade he’s far from the voracious desire of his audience, one which easily finds affinity with him and reaches out for personal connection. Yet the scene is dramatically poised. It’s the very definition of the calm before the storm.


                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                      Longshot
                                                                      Fluctuate
                                                                      2All
                                                                      Conversation
                                                                      Sidetrack
                                                                      Encore
                                                                      Basically
                                                                      Intermission
                                                                      Mission
                                                                      Coincide
                                                                      Overlap

                                                                      The Slits

                                                                      Cut

                                                                        Who'd have thought that the inclusion of drummer Budgie (Palmolive left to join The Raincoats) and production by UK reggae master Dennis Bovell could've transformed The Slits' freeform punk thrash of 1977 / 1978 into the totally awesome dub-punk-funk mash up you hear here by 1979! Mixing unavoidable hooks, minimalist arrangements and exuberant vocals with a rough street smart style, "Cut" remains as fresh and innovative today as it did back then. Includes their classic tracks - "Typical Girls", "Newtown", "Shoplifting", "Love And Romance", "So Tough" etc. Not to be missed!!

                                                                        STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                        Martin says: TThe Slits untamed, naive and totally wonderful thrash of 1977 was unrepentantly unhindered by the ability to play their instruments. Two years later their sound had been transformed by their having some idea of what they were doing, but certainly not enough to spoil things, only to enable them to express themselves as they had always wanted, adding reggae rhythms and vocal styling into the post punk mix. Their joyful insolence was undimmed - "Shoplifting" extolls the virtues of free stuff ("Ten quid for the lot? We pay fuck all!"), "Typical Girls" deals with lazy gender constraints, "Instant Hit" Keith Levene's drug use, "So Tough" Sid Vicious and John Lydon's antics and "F.M." radio news indoctrination - it is only the method of delivery that differs. And what delivery it is! The songs are amazing, with Ari Up's flat wild German delivery completely perfect and completely unforgettable.

                                                                        Drake

                                                                        Scorpion

                                                                          The sprawling 25-track affair features unreleased Michael Jackson vocals on the track "Don't Matter To Me," a song which appears to be built around previously unreleased music: Paul Anka is listed as a co-writer on the track. Scorpion also included appearances from Static Major, TY Dollah $ign and Jay Z. On "That's How You Feel," Drake samples Nicki Minaj's song "Boss Ass Bitch" and Future appears on "Blue Tint." No I.D., DJ Premier, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tay Keith, Boi-1da, and Murda Beatz are among the producers credited on the album.

                                                                          Spring King’s second album. A Better Life is both a stunning evolution from their 2016 debut, Tell Me If You Like To, and a primal, joyous, generational demand for no less than a better world. For the first time in their six-year existence, the Manchester four-piece have fully collaborated, a band no longer looking to the talismanic Tarek Musa (vocals/drums) for the central sound. A thundering procession of party-hard anthems from the newly invigorated, sonic northern powerhouse!

                                                                          STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                          Barry says: It's a pretty good week for the punk revival isn't it? First with Idles' second outing and now this sleek thumper from Macc's own Spring King. Snapping snare drums and roaring overdrive pedals overlaid with two-part harmonies bound to get even the most staunch of heads bobbing. Brimming with attitude and the skills to back it up.

                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                          1. Static - Intro
                                                                          2. Animal
                                                                          3. Ready For War
                                                                          4. Let's Drink
                                                                          5. Paranoid
                                                                          6. The Hum
                                                                          7. Lightning - Interlude
                                                                          8. Us Vs. Them
                                                                          9. Echo Chamber
                                                                          10. No More
                                                                          11. Radioactive!
                                                                          12. Have You Ever Looked Up Into The Sky?
                                                                          13. Thicker Skin
                                                                          14. Thunder

                                                                          Aquilo

                                                                          Silhouettes

                                                                            Enter, Aquilo.

                                                                            The duo Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher share their debut album 'Silhouettes'. From the outset, the title track is a resplendent and delicate balance of bass, strings and angelic sweeps, constructing harmonic monoliths before breaking them down into their constituent parts. It is this sort of constructive insight that changes the tracks from their individually stunning building blocks into a breathing lenticular construction, layered, deep and multi-dimensional. 

                                                                            'Almost Over' begins with a stunning organic synth swell, before being joined by pitch perfect vocals and a softly tickled piano riff, adding weight to the airy and inauspicious beginnings before blooming into a full-force orchestral odyssey. 

                                                                            'Never Seen You Get So Low' beginning with the words 'Slow Down' is perhaps the most apropriate beginning for a piece wholly constructed from 80bpm beats, gloriously emotive Rhodes and two-part harmonies. A graceful and triumphantly constructed slice of hopeful melancholic writing, and following this with the stunning  'Low Light' ; Shining delayed guitars and throbbing bass, topped with heavenly vocal refrains and soaring arepggios. 

                                                                            As the album moves on, it becomes clear that Higham and Fletcher have a delicate and unique sound, mournfully visceral, triumphantly hopeful and resolutely beautiful. 



                                                                            STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                            Barry says: A beautiful collection of delicately balanced instrumentation, mournful but hopeful vocals and heart-wrenching orchestral interludes. A brilliant introduction, and a band to watch out for.

                                                                            Drake

                                                                            Views

                                                                              Life as and RnB revelation, hip hop saviour and meme sensation can get pretty tough, and our man Aubrey isn't afraid to admit that. His fourth album finds him in peerless form, switching effortlessly between the lovelorn balladeer, blinged up hustler and laid back superstar. Laying his smooth, soulful and ever so slightly robotic flow over production from 40, Nineteen85, Maneesh Bidaye, Kanye West and Jordan Ullman, Drake topped the chart for the majority of the year, working his way into everyone's ears with the Timmy Thomas sampling "Hotline Bling". 

                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                              A1. Keep The Family Close
                                                                              A2. 9
                                                                              A3. U With Me?
                                                                              A4. Feel No Ways
                                                                              A5. Hype
                                                                              B1. Weston Road Flows
                                                                              B2. Redemption
                                                                              B3. With You FT. Partynextdoor
                                                                              B4. Faithful Ft. Pimp C & DVSN
                                                                              B5. Still Here
                                                                              C1. Controlla
                                                                              C2. One Dance Ft. Wizkid & Kyla
                                                                              C3. Grammys Ft Future
                                                                              C4. Childs Play
                                                                              C5. Pop Style
                                                                              D1. Too Good Ft. Rihanna
                                                                              D2. Summers Over Interlude
                                                                              D3. Fire & Desire
                                                                              D4. Views
                                                                              D5. Hotline Bling (Bonus)

                                                                              Beach Baby

                                                                              No Mind No Money

                                                                                Beach Baby will release their much-anticipated debut album, 'No Mind No Money', on September 2nd. The band will be supporting Beaty Heart around the US in September, before playing their own series of headline dates across Europe Additional festival slots are still to come at Reading & Leeds and Festival Number 6, with across-the-board support at Radio 1, 6Music, Radio X and Spotify. Captured vividly across ‘No Mind No Money’, London four-piece Beach Baby have built up a tightly-sealed, vaguely surreal world of their own. Beach Baby’s touchstones have now evolved to include seminal acts on both sides of the Atlantic –from Parquet Courts and Mac DeMarco to Ariel Pink and cult lo-fi artist Cleaners From Venus. They each supported themselves throughout this creatively-intense period with make-ends-meet jobs, which included working in burger joints, ‘charity muggers', and - in perhaps the oddest of odd jobs - working as a script reader for production companies like Icon.

                                                                                The aptly-titled ‘No Mind No Money’ touches frequently on those less-glamorous uncertainties of post-campus life: apathy, escapism, and the distance between your own future and the iconic bands or movies you grew up on. “One of the best new bands in Britain” Sunday Times Breaking Act. “Make no mistake, Beach Baby have every means of triumphing in the big leagues” DIY. “Captures the best of several genres – post-punk, baggy, shoe gaze, grunge –without sounding like a mess” Guardian. “That aching, inexplicable magic of college innocence is all here” Stereogum. “You’ll fall for this London foursome” i-D

                                                                                Spring King

                                                                                Tell Me If You Like To

                                                                                ASK IN STORE ABOUT OUR EXCLUSIVE TICKET BUNDLE PREORDER OFFER!!!

                                                                                Whipping up a frenetic, fun-filled brew of surf pop and garage rock, this Manchester quartet have been creating quite a stir with a handful of great 7" singles and high octane live shows over the last few months.

                                                                                "Tell Me If You Like To", is their debut album and it's choc full of garage-punk gems (including their three 7" single tracks) as you'd expect - think The Ramones covering The Beach Boys, OD-ing on Haribo's!
                                                                                "the most promising band of 2016" (NME)

                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                Barry says: Rousing and anthemic rock from the sunny shores of Manchester. Gnarly hooks and 3-part harmonies permeate the churning rhythm section. Pounding, triumphant punk-tinged rock and roll. A superb outing from Spring King, and if only an insight into what's to come, a bright future is ahead. Great stuff.

                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                1. City
                                                                                2. Detroit
                                                                                3. Who Are You?
                                                                                4. It's So Dark
                                                                                5. Take Me Away
                                                                                6. Demons
                                                                                7. Rectifier
                                                                                8. Tell Me If You Like To
                                                                                9. The Summer
                                                                                10. Heaven

                                                                                Bonus Tracks - Deluxe CD Only
                                                                                11. Let's Ride
                                                                                12. Better Man
                                                                                13. Mumma
                                                                                14. They're Coming After You
                                                                                15. Let's Ride - Live At Maida Vale

                                                                                Catfish And The Bottlemen

                                                                                The Ride

                                                                                  Catfish & the Bottlemen’s second album The Ride, mostly produced in LA by Dave Sardy is a collection of bold and riffing pop songs that verge on the anthemic.

                                                                                  “I feel like the last album was the support band, or even the soundcheck and this one’s the headliner,” says charismatic frontman Van McCann.

                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                  Barry says: Glistening pop-rock anthems a plenty on this newest release from Wales' Catfish and The Bottlemen. Driving and heartfelt odes to love and loss underpinned by shimmering production and emotive instrumental performances, impeccable vocal harmonies float atop the main vocal lines before the distortion kicks in, and breaks it all down into pulsing, grooving rock territory. Everything you'd come to expect, and more.

                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                  1 7
                                                                                  2 Twice 
                                                                                  3 Soundcheck
                                                                                  4 Postpone
                                                                                  5 Anything
                                                                                  6 Glasgow
                                                                                  7 Oxygen
                                                                                  8 Emily
                                                                                  9 Red
                                                                                  10 Heathrow
                                                                                  11 Outside

                                                                                  Bob Marley & The Wailers

                                                                                  Exodus

                                                                                    The masterpiece that is Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ was originally released on Friday 3rd June 1977. He recorded the ‘Exodus’ album in exile in the UK, having escaped an assassination attempt in Jamaica.

                                                                                    ‘Exodus’ transformed Marley’s career. A recording of extraordinary creative maturity, the album resonated with audiences around the world. In the UK alone in stayed on the chart for 56 consecutive weeks and included three massive hit singles. Bob Marley was established as the Third World’s first superstar, a legacy that survives thirty years after the album’s release.

                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                    1. Natural Mystic 3:28
                                                                                    2. So Much Things To Say 3:08
                                                                                    3. Guiltiness 3:19
                                                                                    4. The Heathen 2:32
                                                                                    5. Exodus 7:40
                                                                                    6. Jamming 3:31
                                                                                    7. Waiting In Vain 4:16
                                                                                    8. Turn Your Lights Down Low 3:39
                                                                                    9. Three Little Birds 3:00
                                                                                    10. One Love / People Get Ready 2:52

                                                                                    Bob Marley & The Wailers

                                                                                    Catch A Fire

                                                                                      'Catch A Fire' was the major label debut for Bob Marley and the Wailers, and it was an international success upon its release in 1973. Although Bob Marley may have been the main voice, every member of the Wailers made valuable contributions and they were never more united in their vision and sound. All the songs were originals, and the instrumentation was minimalistic in order to bring out the passionate, often politically charged lyrics. Much of the appeal of the album lies in its sincerity and sense of purpose - these are streetwise yet disarmingly idealistic young men who look around themselves and believe they might help change the world through music. Marley sings about the current state of urban poverty ("Concrete Jungle") and connects the present to past injustices ("Slave Driver"), but he is a not a one-trick pony. He is a versatile songwriter who also excels at singing love songs such as his classic "Stir It Up." Peter Tosh sings the lead vocal on two of his own compositions - his powerful presence and immense talent hint that he would eventually leave for his own successful solo career. More than anything else, however, this marks the emergence of Bob Marley and the international debut of reggae music. Marley would continue to achieve great critical and commercial success during the 1970s, but 'Catch a Fire' is one of the finest reggae albums ever. This album is essential for any music collection.

                                                                                      TRACK LISTING

                                                                                      A1 Concrete Jungle 4:12
                                                                                      A2 Slave Driver 2:53
                                                                                      A3 400 Years 2:45
                                                                                      A4 Stop That Train 3:55
                                                                                      A5 Baby We've Got A Date (Rock It Baby) 3:56
                                                                                      B1 Stir It Up 5:32
                                                                                      B2 Kinky Reggae 3:36
                                                                                      B3 No More Trouble 3:51
                                                                                      B4 Midnight Ravers 5:09

                                                                                      Amy Winehouse

                                                                                      Frank - 180g Vinyl Edition

                                                                                        Years before Amy Winehouse garnered international attention with 'Back To Black', the sassy soul singer put herself on the UK music map with her 2003 debut, 'Frank'. Nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, the record glides along on the subtly jazzy production of Salaam Remi, which allows Winehouse's expressive voice, strongly influenced by Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, to shine, particularly on the downbeat 'Stronger Than Me', "Take The Box" (which made it onto Gilles' "Worldwide 2" compilation), the powerful 'You Sent Me Flying', and the sultry 'I Heard Love Is Blind'. It's an impressive debut, fusing soul with jazz, hip hop, reggae and Latin flavas, all topped off with her distinctive soul-jazz vocals. 




                                                                                        TRACK LISTING

                                                                                        A1. Stronger Than Me 3:54
                                                                                        A2.1 You Sent Me Flying 6:50
                                                                                        A2.2. Cherry
                                                                                        A3. Know You Now 3:03
                                                                                        A4. Fuck Me Pumps 3:20
                                                                                        A5. I Heard Love Is Blind 2:10
                                                                                        A6.1 Moody's Mood For Love 3:28
                                                                                        A6..2 Teo Licks
                                                                                        A7. (There Is) No Greater Love 2:08
                                                                                        A8. In My Bed 5:17
                                                                                        B1. Take The Box 3:20
                                                                                        B2. October Song 3:24
                                                                                        B3. What Is It About Men? 3:29
                                                                                        B4. Help Yourself 5:01
                                                                                        B5.1  Amy Amy Amy 13:16
                                                                                        B5.2  Outro
                                                                                        B5.3  Brother
                                                                                        B5.4  Mr Magic (Through The Smoke) 

                                                                                        Florence & The Machine

                                                                                        How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

                                                                                          HOW BIG
                                                                                          For Florence Welch, the success of her first two Florence + the Machine albums Lungs (2009 – Album of the year, Brit Awards 2010) and Ceremonials (2011) meant five years of back-to-back recording, promoting and touring. Lungs ran straight into the making, promoting and touring of the Grammy-nominated Ceremonials, an album written while on the road and recorded straight after coming off tour. The shows were getting bigger, the hair redder, the success wider and wilder.

                                                                                          HOW BLUE
                                                                                          A pop star at 21, with two international hit albums behind her, Florence discovered that in giving seven years to her music, some elements of real life had been left by the wayside. Coming back from tour and moving out of her mother’s Camberwell home, Florence re-engaged with normal life: going out, falling in and out of love, and simply trying to learn how to look after herself outside of the hermetic bubble of life of the road. And so the new Florence, and her songs, started to swim into focus.

                                                                                          HOW BEAUTIFUL
                                                                                          The result is 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful', a collection of songs, written and recorded over the course of 2014. Produced by Markus Dravs (Björk, Arcade Fire, Coldplay) with contributions from Paul Epworth, Kid Harpoon and John Hill, the third album by Florence + The Machine is live-sounding, tune-rich, unhinged in all the right places and powerful in all the best ways. In voice and, ultimately, outlook Florence has never sounded better.

                                                                                          TRACK LISTING

                                                                                          1. Ship To Wreck
                                                                                          2. What Kind Of Man
                                                                                          3. How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
                                                                                          4. Queen Of Peace
                                                                                          5. Various Storms & Saints
                                                                                          6.Delilah
                                                                                          7. Long & Lost
                                                                                          8. Caught
                                                                                          9. Third Eye
                                                                                          10. St Jude
                                                                                          11. Mother

                                                                                          Catfish And The Bottlemen

                                                                                          The Balcony

                                                                                            From Llandudno, North Wales, this four piece is fronted by outspoken and charismatic frontman Van McCann, release their debut ‘The Balcony’ on Island Records / Communion.

                                                                                            Includes the singles ‘Fallout’, ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Cocoon’. Produced by Jim Abbiss, the man behind critically acclaimed releases by Arctic Monkeys, Adele and Kasabian.

                                                                                            Disclosure

                                                                                            Settle

                                                                                              They say you know you're getting old when the policemen look like they've only just left school. The same adage could be said about bass music producers Disclosure, who don't look old enough to be growing the facial hair they've both been displaying in pics recently. However, looks can be deceiving as the brothers Lawrence (Guy and Howard) have been quietly getting on with transforming the state of UK dancefloors and even the pop charts over the past three years with a series of quality originals and remixes. After several years of mid-tempo, click-track driven electronic house music (yawn) holding sway in clubs, Disclosure have finally bring us the light at the end of what seemed like a never-ending tunnel of bland smoooothness. With inspiration taken from 90s UK garage, 2-step and rave, and given a new twist, the pair have brought a bit of life back to the dancefloor - the beats are up a few BPMs, the tracks swing, the guest vocalists (Sam Smith, AlunaGeorge, Eliza Doolittle, Edward Macfarlane, Jamie Woon, Jessie Ware, London Grammar, Sasha Keable) aren't autotuned, all the tracks have proper pop choruses that can sing along to etc. 'Settle' (with its rather unsettling sleeve image) is the perfect combination of tough-enough bass music and pop-garage - the perfect summer album! - PJ


                                                                                              TRACK LISTING

                                                                                              1. Intro
                                                                                              2. When A Fire Starts To Burn
                                                                                              3. Latch Album Version (Feat. Sam Smith)
                                                                                              4. Disclosure F For You
                                                                                              5. White Noise Album Version (Feat. AlunaGeorge)
                                                                                              6. Defeated No More (Feat. Edward Macfarlane)
                                                                                              7. Stimulation
                                                                                              8. Voices (Feat. Sasha Keable)
                                                                                              9. Second Chance
                                                                                              10. Grab Her!
                                                                                              11. You & Me Album Version (Feat. Eliza Doolittle)
                                                                                              12. January (Feat. Jamie Woon)
                                                                                              13. Confess To Me (Feat. Jessie Ware)
                                                                                              14. Help Me Lose My Mind (Feat. London Grammar)

                                                                                              Mumford & Sons

                                                                                              Babel

                                                                                                The waist-coat loving quartet are back with their second studio album.


                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                1. Babel
                                                                                                2. Whispers In The Dark
                                                                                                3. I Will Wait
                                                                                                4. Holland Road
                                                                                                5. Ghosts That We Knew
                                                                                                6. Lover Of The Light
                                                                                                7. Lovers Eyes
                                                                                                8. Reminder
                                                                                                9. Hopeless Wanderer
                                                                                                10. Broken Crown
                                                                                                11. Below My Feet
                                                                                                12. Not With Haste

                                                                                                Of Monsters and Men began as the solo project of Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir however it quickly grew with the additions of friends Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson (co-singer/guitarist), Brynjar Leifsson (guitarist), Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (drummer), Árni Guðjónsson (piano/accordion player) and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson (bassist)

                                                                                                Crafting epic songs inspired by their amazing homeland, fairy tales and personal history, the band went from battle of the bands winners to the breakthrough act at this year’s Iceland Airwaves and SXSW festival. The bands self-released, first single ‘Little Talks’ to date has sold an impressive 400,000 copies and received 3 million views on YouTube.

                                                                                                Of Monsters and Men continue to make waves among fans and tastemakers alike. ‘My Head is an Animal’ has already enjoyed huge success in Iceland and Europe. Mirroring that feat in America ‘My Head is an Animal’ entered the iTunes alternative chart at #1 and album chart at #2 however went on to top the album charts one week later. And in Germany the album debuted at #4 on their official album chart.

                                                                                                Along with a penchant for crafting rising epic pop numbers ‘My Head is an Animal’ has beautifully delicate moments and signal a fully-fledged band destined to win the hearts of musical lovers worldwide.

                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                Ryan says: A stern bit of icelandic pop right here, it's a bit folky but they manage to turn humble folk into a collection of sing-out-loud anthems. It's brilliant!

                                                                                                TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                1. Dirty Paws
                                                                                                2. King And Lionheart
                                                                                                3.Mountain Sound
                                                                                                Slow And Steady
                                                                                                5.From Finner
                                                                                                6. Little Talks
                                                                                                7. Six Weeks
                                                                                                8. Love Love Love
                                                                                                9. Your Bones
                                                                                                10. Sloom
                                                                                                11. Lakehouse
                                                                                                12. Yellow Light

                                                                                                Love her or hate her, you can't deny that La Roux has come up with some super-catchy electro-pop tunes this year. "Quicksand" is another one that's sure to make a run up the charts. With snapping 80s electro-dance beats, a dirty bassline and a big hooky chorus, this has 'hit' written all over it.


                                                                                                The Rumble Strips

                                                                                                Welcome To The Walk Alone

                                                                                                The Tavistock five piece return with their second album, recorded and produced in New York by none other than Mark Ronson. "Welcome To The Walk Alone" shows the Rumble Strips in a much more widescreen light than their previous offering with parping brass toned down and the FILMharmonic orchestra of Prague drafted in by Owen Pallet (The Arcade Fire, Final Fantasy) to fill this album with incredible cineramic textures and epic arrangements.

                                                                                                The Rumble Strips

                                                                                                London

                                                                                                Taken from The Rumble Strips forthcoming album "Welcome To The Walk Alone". This song has been a staple of the band's live sets over the last 12 months. Produced by Mark Ronson and arranged by Owen Pallet.

                                                                                                Portishead

                                                                                                Third

                                                                                                  Hot on the heels of 1997's "Portishead" album, "Third" has a lot to prove in order to reclaim fans of "Dummy" 14 years down the line. The last 10 years seems to have been well spent amassing a whole new trove of influences to draw upon, making sense of their choice of acts at the All Tomorrow's Parties weekend. Boris, Ladytron, Kling Klang and Om have replaced valium-slow Isaac Hayes samples and vinyl scratching as reference points this time around, while primitive synthesizers and Adrian Utleys' take on the US drone rock movement dominate on many tracks. Lead single, "Machine Gun" is something of a curveball, taking no prisoners with its' juddering avant-electro update of "Blue Monday"'s drum pattern before the mood settles with the introduction of chanteuse Beth Gibbons. For those who enjoyed the Beth Gibbons "Out Of Season" album from 2002, there are similar forays into chilly nu-folk. While there's little point in wondering whether this will have the same impact as either of its predecessors, one thing is for certain, they haven't let the grass grow under their feet.

                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                  Silence 5:01
                                                                                                  Hunter 3:59
                                                                                                  Nylon Smile 3:20
                                                                                                  The Rip 4:31
                                                                                                  Plastic 3:31
                                                                                                  We Carry On 6:28
                                                                                                  Deep Water 1:33
                                                                                                  Machine Gun 4:46
                                                                                                  Small 6:47
                                                                                                  Magic Doors 3:32
                                                                                                  Threads 5:48

                                                                                                  Rogue Wave

                                                                                                  Like I Need

                                                                                                    Scooping glorious chunks out of their own 'Bay Area' harmonies with addictively wilful grooves of chiming guitar, bass and drums, Rogue Wave lay down the blueprint for forthcoming album "Asleep At Heaven's Gate", on this 7" single.

                                                                                                    PJ Harvey

                                                                                                    Rid Of Me

                                                                                                      "Rid Of Me" was PJ Harvey's second album, circa 1993, but her first for major label Island. The set features the same line-up as the "Dry" sessions (Polly doing vocals, guitar, violin, cello and organ, Stephen Vaughan on bass and Robert Ellis on drums, vocals and harmonium), but the extra money shows in the much slicker production to the album's predecessor. Recorded by Steve Albini, this forceful sophomore effort veers from hoarsely quiet to ferociously looming in one beat.

                                                                                                      Nine Inch Nails

                                                                                                      Y34RZ3r0r3mix3d

                                                                                                        This is very much a complimentary release to the critically acclaimed "Year Zero" and the latest remix album from Trent Reznor since his last effort, 2000's "Things Fall Apart". This time around Reznor 'reached out to heroes, friends and strangers' whos efforts are compiled on these releases. Remixes are of tracks taken from the "Year Zero" album and featured remixers include Phones (Paul Epworth), Ladytron and Stephen Morris (Joy Division/New Order).

                                                                                                        Nine Black Alps

                                                                                                        Bitter End

                                                                                                          New single from the Manchester based rockers Nine Black Alps. Taken from their forthcoming album "Love Hate"; "Bitter End" is a powerful yet melodic three-minute pop song drawing influences from the likes of The Lemonheads, Nirvana and Blind Melon.

                                                                                                          Tindersticks

                                                                                                          BBC Sessions

                                                                                                            After self-releasing several well-received singles, Tindersticks became darlings of the mainstream British and alternative American press with the 1993 release of their eponymously titled debut album. Moving from classically-tinged ballads, chaotic rockers with plenty of cacophonous dissonance, and simple, yet captivating pop gems, the band proved that an album with twenty songs could maintain a consistent vision without becoming repetitive. Where their contemporaries were often direct and to the point, Tindersticks were obtuse and leisurely, crafting dense, difficult songs layered with literary lyrics, intertwining melodies, mumbling vocals, and gently melancholy orchestrations. Essentially, the group filtered the dark romanticism of Leonard Cohen, Ian Curtis, and Scott Walker as filtered through the bizarre pop songcraft of Lee Hazlewood and the aesthetics of indie rock and with each successive record, the band upped the orchestral ante without compromising melody, subtlety or mood. This double CD contains 25 of their BBC In Session recordings made between 1993-1997, selected by the band. The artwork was designed by Stuart Staples and sleeve notes written by David Boulter.

                                                                                                            Josh Pyke

                                                                                                            Middle Of The Hill

                                                                                                              Debut UK release from Australian singer-songwriter Josh Pyke. "Middle Of The Hill" is a rather lovely rambling pop song, with an endless stream of cute, funny story-telling lyrics about his childhood, that Josh reels of hardly pausing for breath.

                                                                                                              Luke Toms

                                                                                                              Peace By Myself

                                                                                                                Whether or not you believe he was raised by pheasants following his birth in 1904 as his Myspace page purports, a glimpse of the refined, debonair and charismatic Luke Toms leads you to think he may just believe it himself. Equally influenced by Hercule Poirot (moustache, pre war fascination) as Freddy Mercury (moustache, consummate showman) and with a Bowie-esque performance on this hazily rich new single "Peace By Myself", Toms really is quite unlike any other singer songwriter in the UK today.

                                                                                                                Scott Matthews

                                                                                                                Passing Stranger

                                                                                                                  Another stunning single taken from the album of the same name. Delicate guitars and a gorgeous voice that's part Jeff Buckley, part John Martyn and part Elliott Smith.

                                                                                                                  Amy Winehouse

                                                                                                                  Back To Black

                                                                                                                    Three years on from her debut "Frank" and all the acclaim she got back then, 2006 sees Amy Winehouse back at the centre of media attention with its follow up, and especially inspirational new single "Rehab" which kicks things off here too. Bracketed in with the nu-soul singers back then, Amy always had more of a jazz edge to her songs, and especially her voice which sounded like it should be coming from a 50-year-old black American singer, not a skinny white Londoner. With "Back To Black" she takes a trawl through the sound of 60s soul, girl group pop and the kind of laid back torch song crooning favoured by the mafioso of old, all given a totally modern twist by her smart confessional lyrics. This all comes backed by The Dap-Kings and features lush orchestration too, with production by Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi. ESSENTIAL!!!

                                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                    Rehab 3:34
                                                                                                                    You Know I'm No Good 4:17
                                                                                                                    Me And Mr Jones 2:33
                                                                                                                    Just Friends 3:13
                                                                                                                    Back To Black 4:01
                                                                                                                    Love Is A Losing Game 2:35
                                                                                                                    Tears Dry On Their Own 3:06
                                                                                                                    Wake Up Alone 3:42
                                                                                                                    Some Unholy War 2:22
                                                                                                                    He Can Only Hold Her 2:46
                                                                                                                    Addicted 2:45

                                                                                                                    DJ Shadow

                                                                                                                    The Outsider

                                                                                                                      Called "The Outsider" beccause he has never fitted into any particular clique, DJ Shadow's new album is eclectic as ever. There's songs with samples and songs with no samples. There's very dark stuff and very light stuff. Fast and slow. Simple and complicated. Vocal and instrumental. Hip hop, blues, crunk, soul, hardcore punk, psyche, breaks - it's all here, making for another satisfying stew of sounds. Guest vocalists include Kasabian's Sergio Pizzorno & Christopher Karloff, Q-Tip & Lateef The Truth Speaker, The Heliocentrics (Malcolm Catto and pals), Chris James (Stateless), David Banner, Christina Carter (Charalambides), Phonte Coleman (Little Brother) and many more.

                                                                                                                      Keane

                                                                                                                      Is It Any Wonder

                                                                                                                        The first single to be taken from their "Under The Iron Sea" LP.

                                                                                                                        John Martyn

                                                                                                                        London Conversation - Remastered

                                                                                                                          John's debut solo album from 1967 has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and now comes complete with the previously unreleased bonus track "She Moved Through The Fair". The enhanced booklet also contains sleevenotes by John Hillarby.

                                                                                                                          Nine Black Alps

                                                                                                                          Everything Is

                                                                                                                            Nine Black Alps release at last their hugely anticipated debut album. The product of their LA recording sessions with Beck and Elliot Smith producer Rob Schnapf, "Everything Is" includes their long deleted debut single "Cosmopolitan" along with recent singles "Shot Down" and "Not Everyone".

                                                                                                                            Fairport Convention

                                                                                                                            "Babbacombe" Lee

                                                                                                                              Digitally remastered with bonus tracks, "Farewell To A Poor Man's Son" and "Breakfast In Mayfair", enhanced packaging and extra sleeve notes.

                                                                                                                              The Eighties Matchbox B-line Disaster

                                                                                                                              I Could Be An Angle

                                                                                                                                The second single to be taken from the eagerly anticipated second album by Brighton's finest.

                                                                                                                                Nick Drake

                                                                                                                                Pink Moon

                                                                                                                                  His third and final studio album is a fittingly stark and sombre collection of songs, featuring just guitar and voice (bar a piano on one track). Shorn of the usual lavish arrangements, the songs lose none of their lustre, instead the songs themselves are pushed to the fore. A magnificent swansong.

                                                                                                                                  TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                  Pink Moon
                                                                                                                                  Place To Be
                                                                                                                                  Road
                                                                                                                                  Which Will
                                                                                                                                  Horn
                                                                                                                                  Things Behind The Sun
                                                                                                                                  Know
                                                                                                                                  Parasite
                                                                                                                                  Free Ride
                                                                                                                                  Harvest Breed
                                                                                                                                  From The Morning

                                                                                                                                  Nick Drake

                                                                                                                                  Five Leaves Left

                                                                                                                                    This 1970 debut is surely one of the most accomplished in pop history, marking the young singer songwriter out as more than another folkie. Jazzy instrumentation and sweeping string arrangements give the record a sumptuous feel that is undermined by the brooding melancholy of "Fruit Tree", "Way To Blue" and the haunting, magisterial "River Man". A classic that has reached such disparate souls as Elliott Smith, Paul Weller, Terry Callier and Gilles Peterson.

                                                                                                                                    TRACK LISTING

                                                                                                                                    Time Has Told Me 3:56
                                                                                                                                    River Man 4:28
                                                                                                                                    Three Hours 6:01
                                                                                                                                    Day Is Done 2:22
                                                                                                                                    Way To Blue 3:05
                                                                                                                                    'Cello Song 3:58
                                                                                                                                    The Thoughts Of Mary Jane 3:12
                                                                                                                                    Man In A Shed 3:49
                                                                                                                                    Fruit Tree 4:42
                                                                                                                                    Saturday Sun 4:00

                                                                                                                                    Nirvana

                                                                                                                                    The Story Of Simon Simopath

                                                                                                                                      The classic 60s group Nirvana get the remastered treatment with bonus material and enhanced packaging.

                                                                                                                                      Nirvana

                                                                                                                                      To Markos III

                                                                                                                                        First time on CD, this classic 60s group's rare third album is remastered with enhanced packaging.

                                                                                                                                        Fairport Convention

                                                                                                                                        What We Did On Our Holidays

                                                                                                                                          Fairport Convention are rightly regarded as the greatest band to originate from the British folk rock scene of the 60s. Over the course of their first three albums they shaped a new, unique style by drawing on traditional folk tunes and contemporary American songs as well as the songwriting talents of Richard Thompson, Ashley Hutchings, Simon Nicol and Ian Matthews. A crucial change had taken place since the release of their debut album when Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (known as Sandy) joined the band. Sandy Denny was the greatest female folk singer of her generation and "What We Did On Our Holidays" opening song "Fotheringay" is a Denny classic - her achingly beautiful and penetrating vocal adding an extra dimension to a band already overflowing with talent. 1969's "What We Did on Our Holidays" is one of their finest albums with its mix of traditional folk songs, their best self-penned songs to date and wonderful cover versions of Dylan and Joni Mitchell tracks.

                                                                                                                                          Frou Frou

                                                                                                                                          Details

                                                                                                                                            Debut album from the hotly-tipped duo of Imogen Heap and Guy Sigsworth, AKA Frou Frou. Sigsworth has produced and made music with loads of people, including Bjork, Madonna, Bomb The Bass and Talvin Singh amongst others. He provides a 2002 mix up of musical styles (electronica, downbeat, breaks drum 'n' bass etc) for Imogen Heap's folk-soul vocal to weave in and out of. This CD is the Moby "Play" or Goldfrapp "Felt Mountain" for 2002 - perfect sofa music! Lastly, sorry there's no MP3 clip to listen to - the CD has an enhanced section of visual content, which means none of our PC recording systems work when you put the CD in! Doh!

                                                                                                                                            Ocean Colour Scene

                                                                                                                                            Songs For The Front Row - The Best Of...

                                                                                                                                              Free

                                                                                                                                              Tons Of Sobs

                                                                                                                                                One of the greatest rock bands of all time with their classic debut. Now remastered with eight rare bonus tracks, full of youthful vitality and a sense of invulnerability, listen to Kossof on "Goin' Down Slow" to get a real idea of what blues-rock guitar is all about.

                                                                                                                                                Nine Inch Nails

                                                                                                                                                Things Falling Apart

                                                                                                                                                  New album from Trent Reznor. Includes an Adrian Sherwood / Mark Stewart produced track, and a cover of "Metal" by Gary Numan.

                                                                                                                                                  U2

                                                                                                                                                  All That You Can't Leave Behind

                                                                                                                                                    Brand new album from Bono and the boys, back to playing straight forward rock songs.


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