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

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

"The audio for this release has been taken from The Lathumsí one off livestreamed gig at Blackpool Towerís Circus Room, which amassed 4,000 unique viewers back in October 2020. With the UK lockdown hitting right at the start of the bandís rise last year, for many this exclusive white vinyl RSD release will be the first glimpse of their electric live performance.

Passage from Blackpool Tower PR: The Lathums return to live performance for the first time since their sold-out February tour to play the historic Blackpool Tower, with the show streaming in FREE HD audio and video on Wed 28 October at 8pm. The four-pieceís life-affirming, beg-for-a-ticket pre-Covid live shows recruited a fervent and growing, all-ages, UK-wide fanbase, supporters who helped the band swerve the wreckage of 2020 to stay firmly on the rise. The special, one-off show by the sea goes out as a thank you from The Lathums to those stood by their side. Glancing back over a year that saw the band use time locked out of live venues to lock-in to intense writing and recording sessions, Live From Blackpool Tower, will see the band freed to play longstanding favourites alongside recent releases, including punchy single, I See Your Ghost, and other tracks from the forthcoming Ghosts EP (released Fri 30 October, Island Records). Filmed in the Towerís ornate Circus Room under Covid-Safe conditions prior to Lancashire's Tier 3 status being confirmed, The Lathums took the rare opportunity to let loose and get loud."

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

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

Disclosure returned last February with the brand new ëEcstasyí EP where they rolled out a track a day over five days in the same vein to their last release, the Moonlight EP (2018). Only this time, the Ecstasy EP was in fact, a precursor to their third album ENERGY - released in August on Island Records. ENERGY secured the bands third Top 5 album and third album grammy nomination along with a further nomination for the single 'My High' ft. Amin & slowthai ENERGY pits a raucous rhythm from an album of Brazilian library music against a sample of Eric Thomas, the same hip hop preacher whose words memorably appeared on 2013ís When a Fire Starts to Burn. A global spectrum of talented artists grace the record - and for the first time this includes rappers. Appearances from Mick Jenkins, Channel Tres, AminÈ and slowthai sit comfortably alongside the legend that is Common. Other features include the inimitable Kelis who opens the album and Fatoumata Diawara who the boys have also linked up with previously. Cameroonís Blick Bassy brings his own flow to the table while a powerhouse team of Kehlani & Syd ease the pace with their contribution.

Limited edition 2 x picture discs housed in a transpared 2LP PVC gatefold with SOV card & sticker . 165g.

Sports Team will release a special, limited edition B-sides & Rarities Vinyl, Plant Test, available only at Independent retailers in the UK. Independent retail has been at the heart of Sports Team’s output, having had the biggest vinyl sales for a debut British artist in 2020, and number 1 on official vinyl chart week of release. This release is the first since their debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’ described as “a debut as wry, energetic and charismatic as their inexhaustible live presence has always promised”(L&Q) and “an album soaked in teen spirit, Sports Team are the complete package” (DORK). 

STAFF COMMENTS

says: Sports team caused quite the stir with their debut LP 'Deep Down Happy' last year, and these B-Sides and 'Rarities' are sure to have a similar effect. It's a fascinating insight into the genesis of some of their well loved songs, and full of superb cuts on it's own merits. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Happy [Tracking Demo]  
2. Jane [LP 2, Monkton Combe]         
3. Plastic, Plastic! [Propagations Studios, Devon, March 2020]  
4. Sleeping Every Night [Home Demo, 2019] 
5. The Races [Lamacq Live Recording, 2019]   
6. Give It A Day [Home Demo, 20??]
7. Rome [Home Demo, 2019]

Side B
1. High Brow [Westbourne Recording Phone]
2. Elvis, ‘54 [Going Soft Bedroom Demo]         
3. Beverly Rose [Live At Moth Club] 
4. Back To The Point [Live At Moth Club]           
5. On My Mind [Phone Recording Ft. Dave McCracken]
6. Ski Lifts [Live Phone Demo]             
7. Fishing [Lamacq Live Recording, 2019] 

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

Disclosure are brothers Guy & Howard Lawrence. This year marks 10 years since they released their debut single ‘Offline Dexterity’. In that decade (they are still only 28 and 25 respectively) they have released two number 1 albums (‘Settle’ 2013 & ‘Caracal’ in 2015) and clocked up 4.5 billion streams, 4.5 million album sales, sold 500k tickets to their headline shows and topped festival bills all over the world (including the Other Stage at Glastonbury) – something they do with ease whilst also enjoying playing to packed out sweaty clubs whenever they can. They have been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, BRITs and five Grammy’s.

‘Caracal’ is a muscular and nuanced record, with a depth to it that will pin it to the canon of dance music history. It’s crunchy and gets under your skin. A proper album album, you might say. A number of exciting collaborator names appear on ‘Caracal’ including The Weeknd, Sam Smith, Lorde, Miguel , Gregory Porter , Nao, Lion Babe, Kwabs , Jordan Rakei & Brendan Riley. . These guest features sit perfectly alongside ‘Jaded’, ‘Echoes’ and ‘Molocules’ which are written and performed by Howard Lawrence himself. 

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1 - Side A

Nocturnal (ft. The Weeknd)
Omen (ft. Sam Smith)
Holding On (ft. Gregory Porter)

Disc 1 - Side B

Hourglass (ft. LION BABE)
Willing & Able (ft. Kwabs)
Magnets (ft. Lorde)
Jaded

Disc 2 - Side A

Good Intentions (ft. Miguel)
Superego (ft. Nao)
Echoes
Masterpiece (ft. Jordon Rakei)

Disc 2 - Side B

Molecules
Moving Mountains (ft. Brendan Reilly)
Afterthought

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE OCTOBER 24TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

“Recalling the rambunctious spirit of Blur and Pulp”, Sports Team’s raucous debut, Deep Down Happy, has been making waves in the indie guitar scene since its release this June. The album (featuring singles ‘Here It Comes Again’ and ‘Here’s The Thing’) has already been named one of the Official Top 10 biggest debuts of 2020, and is now available to experience for the first time on picture disc. There are three unique versions of the picture disc to collect, designed exclusively for Record Store Day 2020.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE OCTOBER 24TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

“Recalling the rambunctious spirit of Blur and Pulp”, Sports Team’s raucous debut, Deep Down Happy, has been making waves in the indie guitar scene since its release this June. The album (featuring singles ‘Here It Comes Again’ and ‘Here’s The Thing’) has already been named one of the Official Top 10 biggest debuts of 2020, and is now available to experience for the first time on picture disc. There are three unique versions of the picture disc to collect, designed exclusively for Record Store Day 2020.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE OCTOBER 24TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

“Recalling the rambunctious spirit of Blur and Pulp”, Sports Team’s raucous debut, Deep Down Happy, has been making waves in the indie guitar scene since its release this June. The album (featuring singles ‘Here It Comes Again’ and ‘Here’s The Thing’) has already been named one of the Official Top 10 biggest debuts of 2020, and is now available to experience for the first time on picture disc. There are three unique versions of the picture disc to collect, designed exclusively for Record Store Day 2020.

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

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

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

"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)

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

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

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

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

Sports Team today share their anthemic new single ‘The Races’. Recorded at Livingston Studios in London and produced by longtime collaborator Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever), ‘The Races’ is built on a driving bassline, with their trademark swagger in full focus. Lyrically it continues to play with middle english characters recognisable from the band’s back catalogue, this time delving into dodgy politics and misguided patriotism.

7 track mini album from hotly tipped Leicester 5 piece Easy Life. They take elements of hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz and r&b and shake 'em up into an infectious blend of modern essential pop, spearheaded by their talismanic singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Murray Matravers.

TRACK LISTING

7 Magpies
Nice Guys
Sangria
Ls6
Dead Celebrities
Earth
Spiders

Chaka...Chaka...Chaka...Chaka Khan! That's right folks, the queen of funk returns, only this time it's her who's doing the rocking! Her first solo LP in twelve years, "Hello Happiness" sets Chaka's timeless voice (Still impeccable) to an empowering collection of songs featuring cutting edge production from co-writer Switch (proving there's more to life than fidget!).
The Piccadilly camp flipped its collective lid when the obscenely limited 12" of Fatback-sampling lead single "Like Sugar" landed last summer (Massive props to Jason Boardman for dropping it at the Nado 20th Birthday!), and now a full length LP is here, I'm struggling to contain myself. If the cynical out there wrote "Like Sugar" off as a fluke, they're about to get slapped silly by the finest funk record in years.
Opening salvo "Hello Happiness" and "Like A Lady" (check out those Belle Epoque strings) update Chaka's classic sound with some pristine modern production, while "Don't Cha Know" erupts into some hard rocking, trap rattling, gospel organ mutant made for scaring the neighbours. Skipping to the flip, the rough and tough funk continues via "Too Hot", this time with a NOLA blues flavour which is frankly irresistible. Next up it's "Like Sugar", the Fatback chopping, B-boy big beat hit of the last decade, not just a high point on this LP, but on recent pop music in general. "Isn't That Enough" finds Switch exploring his Black Ark fascination, cooking up a humid dub disco groove for Chaka to turn inside out with her powerhouse vocals. Last but not least, we're in end of night soul territorie via the "Long Train Running", "M.P.B."  vibe of "Ladylike", a sultry, snaking shuffler for dancing upclose. 
Long live the Queen!

STAFF COMMENTS

says: After over a decade out of the limelight, a Chaka Khan comeback seemed unlikely, and the quality of "Like Sugar" took everyone by surprise (best pop single of the teens?). Well, that was no flash in the pan, and this whole LP bangs, covering a variety of styles, showcasing Chaka's sensational voice, and marrying the vintage and cutting edge perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hello Happiness
2. Like A Lady
3. Don't Cha Know
4. Too Hot
5. Like Sugar
6. Isn't That Enough
7. Ladylike

You think you know the Icelandic band Of Monsters and Men, but you have no idea. Within the first minute of their new single 'Alligator' you'll be wondering if this huge anthem is the brainchild of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs fronting Arcade Fire all thumping drums, brimming guitars and a call to arms chorus about taking control!

Of Monsters and Men went from the talk of Iceland to the top of the global conversation on their 2011 debut, My Head Is An Animal. Not only did the record go platinum, but it also produced an international smash in the form of “Little Talks.”

The breakthrough single earned a quintuple-platinum certification from the RIAA, made history as “the first song by an Icelandic band to cross 1 billion streams on Spotify,” and landed the band a performance on Saturday Night Live.

STAFF COMMENTS

says: Say what you will about Of Monsters And Men, but they sure know how to write a tune. Their latest outing eschews their jangling folky undertones for a more modern synthy approach, and it couldn't possibly work any better with their huge stadium rock drive and arm-waving euphoric air. Lovely stuff.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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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

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

Jack Garratt is 24 years old and originally from Little Chalfont, Bucks. He is unlike any other artist of the last decade. Jack defies all categorisation: Songwriter. Producer. Drummer. Guitarist. Pianist. R&B vocalist. Arranger. One man band. Multi-instrumentalist. Neo-soul. Dubstep. 2-Step. Funk. Electronica. Pop. Both from his live performance, delivered all on his own - to the uniquely contemporary and fresh sounding music, he sits all on his own in the current musical landscape.

TRACK LISTING

1. Coalesce (Synesthesia Pt. III)
2. Breathe Life
3. Far Cry
4. Weathered
5. Worry
6. The Love You’re Given
7. I Know All What I Do
8. Surprise Yourself
9. Chemical
10. Fire
11. Synesthesia Pt. III
12. My House Is Your Home

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

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

13th studio album from the Irish stadium rocking 4piece. The latest collection of songs from Bono, Edge, Larry and Adam is 11tracks including brand new single ‘The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) as well as potential future singles ‘Song for Someone’, ‘Every Breaking Wave’ and ‘Trouble’ ft Lykke Li. Recorded over the last 4 years, produced by Danger Mouse, Ryan Fedder and Paul Epworth.

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.

Taking the boom of British bass culture and marrying it to the sweet slickness of classic American R&B, AlunaGeorge - aka Aluna Francis and producer George Reid - drop their eagerly awaited debut album ‘Body Music’.

If you fell in love with the duo after 'You Know You Like It' on underground imprint Tri Angle, then you'll also love 'Body Music'. Citing the Neptunes and Timbaland as influences, AlunaGeorge producer Reid also packs the duo's sound with UKG (fresh from their 'White Noise' Disclosure smash), footwork and electro-pop touches, creating the perfect backing for Francis's sweet and saccharine Aaliyah-meets-Lily Allen style vox.

Like Disclosure's 'Settle', 'Body Music' is packed with catchy choruses and big pop hooks, providing us with an antidote to the X-Factor balladeer blandness and electro-brostep-folk nonsene that's clogging up the charts at the moment. A joy!

TRACK LISTING

1. Outlines
2. You Know You Like It
3. Attracting Flies
4. Your Drums, Your Love
5. Kaleidoscope Love
6. Bad Idea
7. Diver
8. Lost & Found
9. Best Be Believing
10. Superstar
11. Just A Touch
12. Body Music
13. Friends To Lovers
14. This Is How We Do It

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)

The debut album from the eccentric and unique singer, songwriter and producer (he self produced this album), an international star in the making, born in New Zealand, but plied his musical trades in Britain and the States (he released a single on Jack White’s print Third Man Records and supported Jack at his UK shows).

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

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

Let England Shake: 12 Short Fims By Seamus Murphy is the visual accompaniment to 'Let England Shake', featuring all 12 tracks from the album, each with its own short film shot by award winning photographer and film-maker Seamus Murphy. The DVD also features a bonus video, a solo live version of the track "England". Available on a limited edition hardback book DVD format.

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 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.

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.

In the late 90s Neil fronted Slowdive, and after a couple of really good records they split. From there Neil formed his current band Mojave 3, who have released four records to date with a few more to come, we hope. Hard to find two bands with more critical accolades, and at the core of those bands was Neil and his songwriting. "Oh! Mighty Engine" is the name of Neil's newest solo record. It is a record that can handle excessive listens and seems to absorb every mood thrown at it. It is really hard to find a record that can make you happy, sad, and can make you laugh all at once. This record does that.

"Music Weaver - Sandy Denny Remembered" is the first ever definitive cross-label anthology celebrating the work of Sandy Denny and is timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of Sandy's untimely death. As well as containing the cream of Sandy's solo work there are choice cuts from when she fronted Fairport Convention and Fotheringay and her collaborations with Led Zeppelin (on the "Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin "IV"). "Music Weaver" contains 36 songs including rare demos, album tracks and live BBC recordings.

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

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.

"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.

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).

Paul Weller re-established his place at music's top table with this life-affirming, second solo album - he gained the nickname 'Modfather' reflecting his revered status within the UK Britpop movement. There was a feeling of stretching out with more diverse influences – particularly the pastoral British folk/pop of Nick Drake, Traffic, Van Morrison and even Crosby, Stills & Nash. Digitally-remastered from the original master tapes, the album features the classic hit singles "Wild Wood", "Sunflower", "Hung Up" and "The Weaver". Includes no less than 28 bonus tracks, demos, B-sides, mixes, alternative versions, BBC tracks and unreleased songs from the Wild Wood period. Also includes a 28-page booklet with extensive new sleevenotes, brand new interviews with Paul Weller and rare period photos.

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.

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.

Cited as an influence by Aphex Twin and Chemical Brothers, White Noise's "An Electric Storm" was the work of American-born David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire (who had created the electronic version of the Doctor Who theme for the BBC) and Brian Hodgson. 1969 was a year which saw the world of popular music blossom. Musical freedom was the watchword and experimentation was welcomed by an ever increasing underground audience who were eager to feed their heads with ambitious albums by acts who embraced the worlds of rock and the avant garde. It was also a year in which independent record labels began to make their commercial mark in Britain. Of these companies, Island records was undoubtedly the biggest player. Of all the albums released that year by Island, "An Electric Storm", by White Noise was by far the most experimental and ground breaking. The album was equally surprising for the fact that two of the three members of White Noise were not long haired rock musicians, but were respected pioneers of electronic music who worked at the BBC's legendary Radiophonic Workshop. Initial recording work was undertaken by Vorhaus, Derbyshire and Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale during the night after staff had gone home. 'It was all very unofficial and the BBC was unaware of us using the studio and equipment for our own ends' recalls David. 'However, it's common knowledge now that the first couple of tracks recorded by White Noise were actually recorded at the BBC, so I think it's safe to come clean!'

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.

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.

"Year Zero" (also known as "Halo 24") is the title of this brand new studio album comprising of 16 tracks. This is a concept album (part 1 of 2) that is set some 15 years in the future. In short, it is a vision of the future, a cautionary tale of a world we could be living in if current world events stay on the path we are set on. The album was written and performed largely on a laptop during the "With Teeth" 2005/6 tour, produced by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, mixed by Alan Moulder and mastered by Brian 'Big Bass' Gardner.

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.

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

The twelve tracks featured here were chosen by Polly herself, and span her career from early versions of songs from "Dry" to songs from her seventh album "Uh Uh Her" which was released in 2004.

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.

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

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.

John and Beverley Martyn's classic album from 1970 has now been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and has been expanded with four previously unreleased demos: "One Of Those Days", "I Don't Know", "John The Baptist" and "Traffic-Light Lady". This was actually Martyn's third album for Island but since he'd got married in 1969 and Beverley was already established on the London folk scene, a collaboration made good sense. They recorded it with a bunch of groovy dudes in Woodstock ( The Band's drummer, and John Harris on keys) and it just oozes that mellow, warm, laid-back vibe. It's a beaut.

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".

Having already gained an underground following with his US releases on Hollywood Basic, his own Solesides label and via the ultra-hip Mo' Wax imprint, the arrival of the 1995 recorded (hence the tenth anniversary deluxe edition reissue) and 1996 released "Entroducing..." saw DJ Shadow gain plaudits across the globe. With his crate diggers magpie-like sample finding ability, Shadow took hip hop's blueprint of building breaks from old records to another level, creating an often psychedelic, tripped-out, but still funky selection of instrumental tracks that totally reinvigorated the 'trip hop' scene and inspired many artists who followed. Our (and so many others') record of the year for 1996, "Entroducing..." still sounds as fresh as ever in 2005!

More beautiful sadness for you! Sandy's 1973, third solo offering is rich with nostalgia. Not only are two of the songs covers from her father's record collection but Sandy's own tunes are heavy with romance, memory, loss and loneliness. There are five absolute anthems on this album and the singing is beautifully embroidered with subtle inflections and emotional nuances. It wasn't for nothing that Robert Plant named her as his favourite of all the British female singers. And this edition's unaccompanied take of "No End" has to be up there with her greatest ever performances.

After leaving Fairport Convention in '69, Sandy Denny made one record with her new group Fotheringay, and then this, in 1971, her first solo LP proper. The amazing Richard Thompson plays guitar and infact this album shares a similar, dense, drone-based tonality with his own debut solo effort. It's also a little idyosyncratic, truth be told, but there's still moments of unbelievable beauty here. With two alternate takes and two songs begun (but unfinished) during the sessions, now included, this is a must have purchase for all you Nu-Folkies and oldies alike!

Sandy's second solo LP in 1972 was a bit less folky and more singer-songwriterly than her debut. She'd duetted on "Led Zeppelin Four" with Robert Plant and come up with perhaps her stongest set of songs. The arrangements were more expansive and the sound more ambitious, which was just as well since a number of the songs dealt with the healing powers of music. As she said herself: 'I can't write happy songs'... so here's another lush, melancholic, autumnal record for all you dreamers and true believers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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

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