Belgium’s sophisticated yet sometimes worldweary indie superstars return with their fifth album and follow up to 2019’s ‘Fever’.

Further pushing on from ‘Fever’’s shift into more soulful waters, ‘Sand’ presents a more cohesive body of work that flirts with a soulful indie vibe and an at times almost slow disco undercurrent, the two singles ‘Losers’ and ‘On A Roll’ perfectly capturing the mood.

Back when you could go to gigs the band were at the point where they were selling out the Scala in London and commanding decent size crowds regionally (especially Brighton, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow).

TRACK LISTING

Moment
Losers
On A Roll
I Want You
You Won’t Come Around
Linger On
Hourglass
Passing Through
Leaving Antwerp
Halfway
Powerless

Burrows (Razorlight, We Are Scientists) says that ‘Company’ marks the first time he’s had to confidence to make a record “exactly how I felt musically and lyrically”. The Mark Ronson co-write ‘Keep On Moving On’ is proof of this.

Whilst the string swells and hazy, percussive march of ‘Company’, the bittersweet Lennon-esque ‘Somebody Calls Your Name’ and the atmospheric dreaminess of ‘Stars’ are delivered with a charming restraint, the incessant pound of ‘Shaking The Colour’ comes across like peak-era Supergrass. All are injected with Burrows’ way with an earworming hook.

TRACK LISTING

Company
Because I Know That I Can
Keep On Moving On
Maybe You
If I Had A Heart
Hometown
Somebody Calls Your Name
Stars
Shaking The Colour
Pet Air

‘Lonesome Dreams’ is the brilliant debut album from rising pop experimentalists Lord Huron, led by Michigan-born songwriting prodigy Ben Schneider.

A joyous collision of Appalachian percussion, rustic guitars and sumptuous harmonies lit up by lens-flare flashes of electronics, it’s a record inspired by the rust coloured canyons and characters of the Wild West, with the emphasis on wild.

Tales of the great American outback have always been an inspiration, according to Schneider. “Sometimes I feel like I’m living in one of those stories,” he confides. “I wanted to look at my life and lives close to me as though they were tales from some frontier novel.”

One thing that can’t be ignored with is the scale of Schneider’s ambition. Not content with writing an album of eclectic beauty, ‘Lonesome Dreams’ also encompasses short films, intriguing artwork and a series of imagined novels by a fictional ageing wordsmith, the mysterious George Ranger Johnson. “I'm interested in creating a world with its own mythology,” says the Michigan native. “I look at different media as ways to enrich the story.”

The result is an album as vast and easy to lose yourself in as a Sergio Leone cinescape. Field recordings loop and cavernous drums echo while Schneider’s layered vocals drift airily across its surface like tumbleweeds across a dusty desert sprawl. From galloping recent single ‘Time To Run’ to the gamelan groove of ‘The Man Who Lives Forever’, its charms are impossible to deny.

Lord Huron began as a solo endeavour in 2010 but Schneider has since enlisted some of his “best amigos” to turn his songs into a powerful live experience: Mark Barry (percussion, vocals), Miguel Briseno (bass, percussion), Brett Farkas (guitar, vocals) and Tom Renaud (guitar, vocals). “We’ve got a pretty good working relationship,” he says. “A good wrestling match can solve almost anything we disagree about.”

Gathering momentum in the States with a fantastic live performance on ‘Tonight With Jay Leno’, hoards of praise from the likes of Filter, Fader, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and USA Today, and a recent tour across the US with sold out shows in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Boston, LA and NYC. They will visit Europe for the first time around the release of the album.

“Campfire strumming and robust vocal harmonies ghosted by tuneful howls” - Rolling Stone

“His music sails above those geographic and romantic landscapes as a thoroughly tuneful, reverberant extension of folk-rock” - New York Times

“The last true band you need to hear this year” - Esquire

“These songs are sturdy, and what marks they set for themselves, they hit” - Pitchfork

TRACK LISTING

Ends Of The Earth
Time To Run
Lonesome Dreams
The Ghost On The Shore
She Lit A Fire
I Will Be Back One Day
The Man Who Lives
Forever
Lullaby
Brother
In The Wind
Setting Sun *
Son Of A Gun *
When Will I See You Again *

* = Bonus Tracks Available On CD Only.

Write Your Name In Pink is a groundbreaking record and a masterclass in songwriting and storytelling alike. Quinn writes with the precision of Joni Mitchell or the Mountain Goats, his exacting details giving the songs a depth and believability that’s relatable, though your own circumstances will no doubt be different.

Quinn first emerged in the spotlight in 2019, when he won NPR’s coveted Tiny Desk Contest with “Erase Me,” the glorious culmination of Write Your Name in Pink. It is a song about his transition, sure, but it is also a frank examination of the complications of identities, of the privilege that can simply come through new pronouns. For Quinn, though, they are somewhat arbitrary, anyway; now that he’s seen as “he,” he is more comfortable with his femininity, into the dawning feeling that men can write their names in pink, too. These 11 new songs bear out a deeper premise of “Erase Me”—that is, we’re never done becoming who we are going to be, even when the world wants to reduce us into who it thinks we already are, like a trans Native songwriter from Alaska.

TRACK LISTING

1. Thanks
2. Evelene
3. Bubblegum
4. Kids
5. 2005
6. True Friends
7. Simple
8. Neighborhood
9. Uptown
10. Celine
11. Take Your Time
12. Erase Me

Funny Looking Angels’ is the debut album by Smith & Burrows, reissued on special edition picture disc exclusively for National Album Day 2022.

The band, made up of Tom Smith (Editors) and Andy Burrows (Solo, I Am Arrows, Razorlight, We Are Scientists), released their Smith & Burrows debut in November 2011, a Christmas album combining original recordings and four covers - ‘Only You’ by Yazoo, Black’s ‘Wonderful Life’, ‘Funny Looking Angels’ by Delta and ‘On and On’ by Longpigs.

This double-sided picture disc features the iconic wings of the album cover and the Smith & Burrows logo respectively. A fan favourite and a staple for rotation at Christmas.

TRACK LISTING

In The Bleak Midwinter
When The Thames Froze
As The Snowflakes Fall
Funny Looking Angels
Wonderful Life
Only You
On And On
Rosslyn
This Ain’t New Jersey
The Christmas Song

Editors have never been a band who do what’s expected. When they emerged in the early 2000s, university friends from Birmingham, they were swept into a wave of indie groups with whom they had little in common beyond playing guitars. Then, after their 2005 Mercury Prize-shortlisted debut The Back Room and 2007 #1 follow-up An End Has A Start, they switched up their sound for synths. That was their first act of bravery, says frontman Tom Smith, and they’ve been taking risks ever since. “We’re quite used to that feeling of scaring our audience with new material,” he says with a smile.

“It seems to happen with every album,” agrees guitarist Justin Lockey. “We’ll do something that everyone really likes, and then we’ll go and do something else.”

That ‘something else’ is a breathlessly heavy step up, with their seventh album, EBM. It’s Editors’ most leftfield material yet – a thrilling, unrelenting thrust of full-bodied electro-industrial rock. Another new dawn: Benjamin John Power – aka Blanck Mass – has co-produced the album and come aboard as an official member. To outside ears, it might seem like an unusual pairing: an anthemic rock band who’ve headlined Wembley Arena and an Ivor Novello-winning composer who is best known for his abrasive noise projects. Even Benjamin himself admits it was a “leap of faith”. But Editors’ evolution makes perfect sense. They’ve toured with The Cure, of whom they are all huge fans, and are used to playing European festivals where they’re billed alongside harder acts. In Germany, for example, “we're not seen as some melodic indie band,” says Justin, “we’re seen as super goth.” He adds: “We talked about Rammstein quite a lot when we're making this record.”

Benjamin’s journey to joining Editors was a surprisingly organic one. He had worked on the band’s last album, 2018’s Violence, giving some songs a more brutal, industrial edge, the full realisations of which came out as 2019’s The Blanck Mass Sessions. That same year, Editors were asked to both headline a festival in Belgium and create a bespoke set for later on in the night. They approached Benjamin to see whether he’d be up for helping to retool their songs in a dancier direction. But with the pandemic underway, the festival never happened and Editors were left with a bunch of new ideas during the ensuing lockdowns that were designed for – as Benjamin puts it – a “dirty rave tent”.

They continued swapping ideas anyway, and the band began buzzing about where this music was headed: shadowier, beefier, exploring their shared love of synth-pop, industrial and alt-rock, it started to feel like a new chapter – the band’s third act. For the first time, the song structures weren’t coming from Tom and he says it was a novel but exciting exercise to receive the files and tinker with them, with Justin, Elliott Williams (keyboards/guitars), drummer Ed Lay and bassist Russell Leetch fleshing out their parts in the studio when they eventually regrouped. “Ben has certainly been a shot of adrenaline in our creative process,” says Tom. “The songs are so immediate, and in your face.”

Making EBM was “a lifeline” during the pandemic, says Elliott, “something to totally get lost in.” Indeed, they’ve created a world brimming with drama and intensity, which is exhilarating after the past few years of collective listlessness. “The songs feel like an escape,” nods Tom. The album title is an acronym of Editors and Blanck Mass but also a knowing reference to Electronic Body Music, the potent sound that originated in the 1980s and which has hugely influenced Editors’ new material, where the synths of bands like Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 , DAF and Skinny Puppy hammer darkly. Think smoke machines, strobe lights and the smell of leather. The band has taken those influences in a distinctly Editors direction: see the soaring falsetto of standout ‘Kiss’, their disco-infused “crying on the dancefloor” banger, says Tom, which Benjamin adds “could almost be a Donna Summer song” if it wasn’t so heavy. Or the punchy chorus of ‘Karma Climb’, a stomping single that pairs ghostly atmospherics with stadium-level anthemia. On ‘Vibe’, which is the closest thing to what you could call a ‘feelgood’ Editors track, Tom wanted to put a “summertime sheen” on “a song for disconnected youth”. It’s Editors at their most super goth, sure – but also their most pop.

For Benjamin, it was an opportunity to flex his melodic muscles. In fact, says Tom, it was the avant-garde producer who brought the poppiest ideas to the table. “I was quite blown away by how accessible they were,” he says. “It was like ABBA or something.” Benjamin, a Nine Inch Nails die-hard, has always been struck by the seriousness and sentimentality of Editors’ music and was also keen to heighten the intensity after a bleak few years. “There’s a strong physicality to this record,” he says of its muscular soundscapes, which certainly echo, in places, the claustrophobia of The Downward Spiral. “I was looking ahead to a kind of a space where it’s sweaty, and bodies are close together.”

For the most part, EBM revels in maximalism. The battle cry of lead single ‘Heart Attack’ sets out their stall, a twinkling rock ballad with a serrated, noirish undercurrent that lets rip into gloriously metallic riffage. From there, it’s a torrid release of beats, blips and broodiness: all killer, no filler; full-on but never overloaded. ‘Educate’ is almost symphonic in scope, as Tom angrily intones about the uncertainty of modern times. ‘Strawberry Lemonade’, meanwhile, is an all-blooping, all-thwacking bodice-ripper, with drums that sound like they might punch out of the speakers. Album closer ‘Strange Intimacy’ is “the most outrageous” of the album, says Tom – “not a particularly happy place to end, as it’s quite a bleak look at a relationship, but the arrangement of it gives it this theatricality.” It’s certainly the most ambitious Editors have ever sounded, where Justin’s “preposterous” guitar riff gives way, he says, to a “mad eight-minute techno odyssey” at the end.

Another about-turn is the jittering crescendo of ‘Silence’ – the album’s post-rock ‘breather’, if you can call it that. Tom’s baritone has never sounded better, recalling a young Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Hurt’. He’s never much been one for direct lyrics. On EBM, there are undeniable references to the pandemic and a divided Britain (“can you feel the broken nation?” he intones on ‘Strawberry Lemonade’) but these are slivers of reality among the abstract, in songs that are largely about losing yourself in the unknown. “I think it’s always better when the listener can draw their own conclusions from what I write,” he says. Justin agrees. “We sit in quite an emotional space, so everyone always wants to know what the words are about, but the music is half the emotion and what sets the mood and the tempo. Sometimes it’s better just to give yourself over to that rather than to try and work out what something means all the time.”

It comes back to this idea of letting the mood take over, of giving in, and getting lost. And it’s going to sound absolutely eviscerating live. It’s a new world, and a new chapter for Editors – as it is for everyone. Time to move your body.

TRACK LISTING

1. Heart Attack
2. Picturesque
3. Karma Climb
4. Kiss
5. Silence
6. Strawberry Lemonade
7. Vibe
8. Educate
9. Strange Intimacy

Horsepower For The Streets is Jonathan Jeremiah’s fifth album, his second for PIAS, a label which feels like a good home for a soulful singer linked to a cadre of artists more readily associated with mainland Europe than his own island. So far at least. Much of the new album was written in Saint-Pierre-De-Côle, the countryside beyond Bordeaux, during breaks in Jeremiah’s first tour of France. Long walks and open log fires. You can take the boy out of Brent … and the continent welcomes him with open arms (see also Tindersticks, Scott Matthew, revered across the Channel, where the artistic tradition is less distracted by Londinium hyperbole). The album was recorded in Bethlehemkerk, a renovated monumental church in Amsterdam Noord, with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, a 20-piece string orchestra. There’s clearly a European influence at work here, a bond which has endured.

Since he appeared on the scene in 2011 with A Solitary Man, Jeremiah has been likened to such iconic performers as Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg, Terry Callier. The clarity of his delivery draws the listener into the landscape he paints in such detail, whilst at the same time leaving much to the imagination.

The opener, “Horsepower For The Streets”, might conjure up images of boy racers, revved up emotions (my guess, when he asks me what I think). In actual fact, it’s a quote from an old acquaintance in Berlin, a rallying cry, a positive vibe. Which arrives just in time after a couple of years which, let’s be honest, have been pretty tough going. This is an album of its time, of hardships endured, rhodium thieves sighted across the road, sirens wailing on their way to the hospital. The second act represents the darker days of the work, bookended by a vibrantly hopeful opening and consolatory resolution.

Jeremiah draws us in, allowing us to see what he sees. On “You Make Me Feel This Way” we look out onto the street with him, there’s a neighbour walking the dog, scenes we recognize and become part of. The view from the window is, by definition, that of an outsider, and yet the act of observation feels empathetic. All human life is here. If he started out as a solitary man all those years ago, he now seems far more grounded, ... even in isolation, he feels connected.

There’s a simple explanation to the solitary man origins in Jeremiah’s case, he was a security guard at Wembley Arena, composing songs in his head on the night watch. His father was an electrician there and sorted him out with the job. Imagine Jonathan, tall as a door, guarding the entrance to the snooker halls. His father, who arrived from India and met his mother, from Ireland, at the Lancaster Hotel where they were working, also influenced Jonathan’s musical development. Not so much the Cat Stevens or Elvis records played in the family home, but more through watching films together, Clint Eastwood, Dirty Harry, The Wild Geese, even Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was the music that stayed with Jonathan, the lush string arrangements of Lalo Schifrin, echoed here by Amsterdam Sinfonietta who elevate the songs of Horsepower For The Streets to a sublime degree.

Jonathan Jeremiah is a solo artist in the truest sense, translating his vision into music, taking care of every last detail (“down to the catering,” he jokes, referencing George Clooney’s take on film production). If it sometimes feels like it’s all too much, he remembers the words of his friend Glenn: “I’ve got the number of a guy who digs ditches”. Flick through his videos and you’ll see him wandering alone (last man standing on the Berlin underground platform, or crossing fields with the Wembley arch in the distance).

TRACK LISTING

1. Horsepower For The Streets
2. You Make Me Feel This Way
3. Cut A Black Diamond
4. Small Mercies
5. The Rope
6. Restless Heart
7. Youngblood
8. Ten-storey Falling
9. Early Warning Sign
10. Lucky
11. Sirens In The Silence

“The record was written from a place of wanting to escape the walls of my own apartment, I wrote it imagining freedom and dancing and people being able to hold each other again. I spent so much time on zoom day and night just writing words and melodies and before I knew it I’d written an albums worth of material. I felt a wild and animalistic feeling of needing and wanting to socialise again come out whilst writing and the feelings just didn’t stop. I felt like being in my apartment and being so isolated made me really dig deep into my mind and my imagination just ran wild. Most of the music is a celebration but some of the music comes from a painful place, of loss and heartbreak. I felt trapped and almost like my insides were dancing but I couldn’t express it, but in writing it allowed me to feel free again. This record feels like a new start and the ability to come back to life after such a strange time of us all being alone.” - Foxes.

TRACK LISTING

Sister Ray
The Kick
Growing On Me
Potential
Dance Magic
Body Suit
Absolute
Two Kinds Of Silence
Forgive Yourself
Gentleman
Sky Love
Too Much Colour

‘This Here Feels Good’ is the sound of an artist using music as their second language. With all music self-produced / written, Kay Young is defining an original generation of Black British Music.

Moving between tightly rapped verses and glorious vocal performances, often within the space of one track as well as across the whole EP.

The release is a stunning collection of songs which expands upon the sonic blueprint Kay has already laid out, that caught the attention of Jay Electronica and Jay-Z, who later signed her to Roc Nation.

She delves deeper into dance and soul while continuing to explore themes of familial legacy and cultural relation, keeping a perfect balance between lyrical vulnerability and musical uplift.

TRACK LISTING

No Regrets
White Teeth
Suddenly
I’ve Got You Ft. JNR WILLIAMS
Wait For Me

Following four studio albums and one live album, HVOB are about to release their sixth album: TOO is an angry, tender, vulnerable, determined account of a generation's search for life. The album explores extremes in concept, content and sound. TOO is dedicated to the state of mind of a generation in search of inner and outer belonging: the album captures a life in the dichotomy of one's own and other people's expectations, in the feeling of not living up to these expectations, in renewed attempts to free oneself from these expectations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bruise
2. Capture Casa
3. 2:16
4. Eyes Alive
5. Kid Anthem
6. The Lack Of You
7. Gluttony
8. A Piece Of Me 

THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY RELEASE AVAILABLE INSTORE OVER THE COUNTER FROM 10AM ON NOVEMBER 26TH.

ANY REMAINING ITEMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 27TH FROM 8AM.

LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Limited edition vinyl re-issue of Ghostpoet’s fourth album – ‘Dark Days + Canapes’.

Out of print for a few years – now re-released on clear vinyl exclusively for Record Store Day Black Friday 2021.

A stunning and stimulating return, Dark Days and Canapes is a record that captures the sense of unease felt by so many in recent times. After receiving recognition for the beat-driven arrangements of his first two albums, third album Shedding Skin initiated a more alt-rock sound that saw Ghostpoet Mercury nominated for a second time. Dark Days and Canapés, produced by Leo Abrahams, best known for his work with Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins, delves even further into a fuller, guitar driven sound.

Limited to 500 copies for the UK and Ireland.

TRACK LISTING

One More Sip
Many Moods At
Midnight
Trouble + Me
(We’re) Dominoes
Freakshow
Dopamine If I Do
Live>Leave
Karoshi
Blind As A Bat…
Immigrant Boogie
Woe Is Meee
End Times

American singer songwriter and LGBT Icon LP, who has more than two billion streams to their name and a devout global fan following, releases their highly anticipated sixth album, ‘Churches’, via [PIAS] Recordings.

A 15-song track listing of lush, captivating creativity, described by LP as such: “This album feels like a friend. A friend who took me through one of the most trying times in human history and a fairly trying time in my own personal history. So many real stories and realizations that I feel like I was able to share here.”

With a run of UK tour dates planned, plus a performance at London’s Hammersmith Apollo on 25th of January 2022, LP is ready to shake up the UK with this new record.

‘Churches’ features the singles ‘Angels’, ‘Goodbye’ and ‘One Last Time’.

‘Churches’ was executive produced by Mike Del Rio (Kylie Minogue, X Ambassadors, Skylar Grey).

TRACK LISTING

When We Touch
Goodbye
Everybody’s Falling In Love
The One That You Love
Rainbow
One Last Time
My Body
Angels
How Low Can You Go
Yes
Conversation
Safe Here
Can’t Let You Leave
Churches
Poem

Blanketman’s restless art-punk and cerebral indiepop have seen their fanbase swell over the last year, culminating in a batch of sold out live dates and festival appearances.

Vocalist Adam Hopper masterminds a trove of indelible melodies, sitting them on top of the band’s boundless, energetic thrust.

‘The Signalman’ is an introspective look into the day to day life of guitarist Daniel Hand, inspired by the 1976 BBC television adaptation of Charles Dickens’ The Signal-Man. It is a merging of stories real and fictional, but both equally frightening.

Double A-side ‘The Signalman’ / ‘Yard Sale” is the first new music from the band since the release of their acclaimed debut EP, ‘National Trust’, back in the Spring of 2021, and is available on white label 7”.

TRACK LISTING

The Signalman
Yard Sale

Recorded over two studio sessions, As I Try Not To Fall Apart is White Lies’ most expansive record to date, taking in explosive rock, electro-pop bangers, prog-inspired invention, funk-tinged grooves and some of their most indelible hooks yet.

Working with Mittendorfer, formative versions of swaggering album opener Am I Really Going To Die and the airy rock of the title track were captured, whilst another round of songwriting at Buller’s house ahead of a second recording session really got them firing. “It got us on the same page,” says McVeigh. Soon a coherent album was emerging out of the mist, a record that streamlined everything great about White Lies from across their career: razor-sharp hooks, dark lyrical wit, defiant singalongs, airy soundscapes and dynamic instrumentation.

Throughout they meld their love of pop and prog - opener Am I Really Going To Die features a ruminative lyric on mortality inspired by the 2000 film Ivans Xtc and is one of the funkiest things they’ve ever done, Chic guitars and a lithe bassline building under McVeigh’s quickfire vocals. “Me and Charles are big prog fans,” says McVeigh. The title track, meanwhile, is a euphoric pop gem. “That’s a really important song for us,” says Lawrence-Brown. “I think it will define what the next chapter is. It’s the poppiest thing we’ve ever done.” The rattling stomp of I Don’t Want To Go To Mars was inspired by Elon Musk and the billionaire space race and Blue Drift combines acid-house grooves with widescreen 80s production. There’s a sonic gear change with The End, which sounds like an atmospheric Cure song being sent into space, and There Is No Cure For It – lyrically, a sequel to the opener – ends the record on a soaring, scintillating high.

It’s well over a decade since the band’s breakthrough single Death introduced a group for whom the fragility of human existence has been a constant touchstone. Now in his 30s, chief lyricist Cave’s outlook on the great unknown has evolved. “I think the side of death or mortality that I always find interesting is the fact we all know it’s going to happen,” he says, “and how different people navigate that.”

“We’ll probably never make an album in the way we made this one again,” says Cave. “I think this could be one of our best” says McVeigh. White Lies tested their resolve to get there, but they didn’t fall apart. They have emerged with their most vital collection of songs in years.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The music here reminds me a little of Com Truise with it's sleek 80's production, but all lightened with McVeigh's euphoric syrup-smooth vocals and full synthy choruses. With nods to classic prog and funk in there too, it's an unabashedly poppy but wholly satisfying listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Am I Really Going To Die
2. As I Try Not To Fall Apart
3. Breathe
4. I Don’t Want To Go To Mars
5. Step Outside
6. Roll December
7. Ragworm
8. Blue Drift
9. The End
10. There Is No Cure For It

Enter Max Colombie’s world, and you’ll discover a uniquely dazzling and shimmering fusion of contemporary R&B and a more European electro-pop sensibility, uniting shivery melody, shifting beats and vocals steeped in drama, sensuality and yearning. Colombie hears, “a twilight zone where it doesn’t sound dark nor happy. It’s like the name Oscar and the Wolf; it’s a balance between light and dark, this perfect combination between the sun and the moon. It’s beautiful and scary at the same time.”

Oscar and the Wolf’s official debut, the 2012 EP Summer Skin, showed his gifts arrived virtually full-formed, but he truly came of age in 2014 with his debut album Entity. Balanced between dancefloor anthems and slow jams, Entity went 4 times platinum in his native Belgium and quickly jettisoned Colombie to superstar status. He sold out arenas in Belgium and the Netherlands, taking the penultimate headlining slot (behind Muse) at 2016's Lowlands festival before headlining Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival sharing the bill with Rihanna and LCD Soundsystem.

Released in 2017, the second Oscar and the Wolf album, Infinity went platinum at home, whilst amassing a huge Middle Eastern fanbase across Turkey (where his 2018 tour sold out inside minutes), Egypt, Israel and Iran. On stage, Colombie cut a commanding and lithe performer, often garbed in shimmering outfits that interacted with the dynamic lighting.

The new Oscar and the Wolf album The Shimmer distils the essence of Colombie’s sound and vision in its title and the image of Colombie on the album cover, bathed in starry light. The album is a benchmark of his transformation on record; whereas Entity was recorded in a barn, “very lo-fi with no access to gear,” he recalls, The Shimmer’s bold, rich and layered dynamics were captured at ICP Studios in Brussels, home to, “one of the best live rooms in Europe, with all this vintage gear.” More intimate moments were added at Colombie’s house outside the city, “those magic takes we made just after we’d written something, which are so hard to capture again.”

By ‘we’, Colombie includes producer Jeroen De Pessemier and multi-instrumentalist Ozan Bozdag, who had both worked on Infinity (and Bozdag on Entity too). “It’s a magical trio,” Colombie says. “Everyone is allowed to be themselves, and to explore themselves. I’m really happy with The Shimmer because I hear a more mature version of myself. I always want things to grow, and I’m proud that I allowed myself to not follow people’s expectations and reproduce what had been successful before. There are no four-to-the-floor clubby pop songs this time.”

Instead, The Shimmer more accurately reflects Colombie’s personality. “My emotions run from super-happy to super-melancholic in a split second,” he says. “To me, The Shimmer feels like the soundtrack to a blockbuster, with many types of tracks and themes. It’s always changing.”

TRACK LISTING

1. James
2. Ghost Of You
3. Crystalline
4. Your Choice
5. Ocean City
6. Transfixions
7. Nostalgic Bitch
8. Livestream
9. Oliver
10. The P.I.C.
11. The Shimmer

Nation of Language hail from Brooklyn, New York.

The band self-released their debut album ‘Introduction, Presence’ in May 2020.

‘A Way Forward’ marks their first album since signing to Play It Again Sam.

Pristine synth-infused pop, with a heavy 80s vibe. Think OMD, A Flock Of Seagulls etc.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: From the shuffled cosmic thump of 'Across That Fine Line' to Kreidler-adjacent instrumental sub-bass rhythms behind chorused guitars and stadium riffage, 'A Way Forward' provides a perfectly measured and impeccably manicured electronic wooze. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

In Manhattan
Across That Fine Line
Wounds Of Love
Miranda
The Grey Commute
This Fractured Mind
Former Self
Whatever You Want
A Word & A Wave
They’re Beckoning

Exactly 30 years ago, The Young Gods’ ‘Play Kurt Weill’ was released, an album of Kurt Weill covers recorded in 1989 at the Artag studios in Zurich and produced by Roli Mosimann.

The band played the album in its entirety during a tribute concert to Kurt Weill commissioned in September 1989 by La Bâtie-Festival in Geneva and by the Fri-Son in Friborg.

This was the group's first album with Alain Monod (aka Al Comet), who replaced Cesare Pizzi on keyboards.

When asked about the most influential groups in the early 1990s, Mike Patton (Faith No More), Devin Townsend, Maynard James Keenan (Tool), Al Jurgensen (Ministry), Trent Treznor (Nine Inch Nails) and The Edge (U2) all quoted The Young Gods. Connoisseurs will tell you that the band have their place in any ultimate discotheque.

TRACK LISTING

Prologue
Salomon Song
Mackie Messer
Speak Low
Alabama Song
Seeräuber Jenny
Ouverture
September Song

Of the album Joan Wasser says :
Damon Albarn introduced me to Afrobeat legend, Tony Allen, at the March 2019 Africa Express event “The Circus” and we hit it off. Tony and I played a version of Nina Simone's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" and decided to record together. I asked my old friend and fierce musician, Dave Okumu, to join from London and that November, in a Parisian studio, we improvised all night. When the world shut down, I used those recordings to write a record entitled “The Solution Is Restless”. This first single, “Take Me To Your Leader”, is the most incendiary on the new record. I wrote it watching Jacinda Ardern, PM of New Zealand, navigate 2020. In my dreamworld, the US asks to meet her in order to learn how to better run the country. “Take me to your leader/ ‘cause I’m ready to play/ can’t hold my breath any longer/ word on the street is she’s a healer/ I’m know I’m down to obey/ and don’t we need a break in the chaos”

Tony Allen was the drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa '70 from 1968 to 1979, and was one of the primary co-founders of the genre of Afrobeat. Fela once stated that, "without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat” and he was described by Brian Eno as "perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived". Besides many other musical milestones and collaborations, in recent years Tony teamed up with Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon and Simon Tong to form The Good, the Bad & the Queen.

Dave Okumu is best known for fronting the Mercury Music Prize band The Invisible and more recently announcing the release of a solo album ‘Knopperz’ due for release in September.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Barbarian
2. Get My Bearings (feat. Damon Albarn)
3. Take Me To Your Leader
4. Masquerader
5. Dinner Date
6. Enter The Dragon
7. Geometry Of You
8. The Love Has Got Me
9. Perfect Shade Of Blue
10. Reaction 

10th anniversary reissue of this wonderful LP from the finest purveyors of lush orchestral epic and widescreen baroque indie rock.

Taking over 14 painstaking months to put together, ‘Tamer Animals’ was inspired by Sigur Ros, Ennio Morricone and Godspeed You Black Emperor, and is sure to appeal to fans of Grizzly Bear, Kurt Vile and Fleet Foxes.

“Tamer Animals’ feels organic and lovingly crafted, a record whose lushness often invites you to simply collapse into it” – Pitchfork.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dark Horse
2. As I Lay My Head Down
3. For 12
4. Tamer Animals
5. Dust Bowl III
6. Weather
7. Old Statues
8. Woodwind
9. Desert
10. Landforms
11. Heading East

Bonus Download Tracks
Glass Leaves
Take Us Alive
Dead In The Water
Great Sky
Living Dead
Song Song
This Is Not
Dust Bowl 1 

With just a handful of singles under their belts, the Manchester band have already found support from the likes of Clash, DIY, Dork, The Forty-Five, The Line of Best Fit, NME and So Young, along with a Next Wave slot from Jack Saunders on BBC Radio 1, New Names feature from Annie Mac, a Ones To Watch pick from Huw Stephens, a track of the week from Shaun Keaveny @ BBC 6 Music whilst further support from Steve Lamacq, Tom Robinson and Marc Riley, plays from Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1, as well as playlist spots at NME Radio and Amazing Radio.

Back in March 2020, the band’s debut single “Taking You With Me” marked the arrival of a band full of ideas, and cut a boundless, energetically pop edge that saw them likened to early Blur. Follow-up “Beach Body” dialed up the urgency and distilled a swift insistence, on top of which vocalist Adam Hopper masterminded a trove of indelible melodies, dedicated to the ailing Brit-abroad. The band wrapped up 2020 with “Harold”, which brought with it a thumping, wonky and rowdy execution and then saw in the new year with "Leave The South". On the back of 12 months that has seen much made about the divide between the north and south of England, "Leave The South" seeks not to pit the regions against one another, and instead offers a far more nuanced look at the way the grass can always appear greener on the other side. It also acts as something of a love-letter of absent friends and an admission that nothing is perfect. National Trust looks at themes of feeling trapped and anxious, but also the hopes held toward eventual liberation from that feeling.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Adam Hopper elaborates:
"The song harks back to five years ago when I was living in Reading while at uni. While not a bad place, I found my final year tough and was becoming disillusioned with what I was doing and where I was. I was in a rut mentally and my friends had stayed up north and I found myself feeling increasingly isolated and skint. I managed to convince myself that moving back up North would solve all my problems like it was some kind of utopia and started blaming where I was for said problems. I laugh at that now and that’s what the song is about. Although the water really does taste better up North..."

Recent years have seen the band spearheading a burgeoning scene in Manchester as they gigged extensively throughout the city, performing their original brand of restless post-punk and cerebral indie-pop – all served with a sharper, more sardonic pop edge than many of their more po-faced peers. So sharp in fact that Steve Hanley, of The Fall and Brix Smith & Extricated, has performed live on stage with them a number of times already.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Is there no end to the wonderfully talented indie bands coming from around our fair shores? 'National Trust' sees Blanketman forging their own path adjacent to well known indie greats, via the jagged hooks and militant percussion of post-punk. It's a more upbeat take on the rigidity of the genre, with bright and airy hooks perfectly tempering the distorted guitars and satisfying droll vox.

TRACK LISTING

Beach Body
Leave The South
Harold
Dogs Die In Hot Cars
Blue Funk
National Trust
The Tie

Over nine years on from the distinctly wintery Funny Looking Angels, old mates Tom Smith and Andy Burrows return with a distinctly un-wintery follow up album ‘Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough’ Recorded in Nashville with Grammy Award winning producer Jacquire King ‘Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough’ is packed with songs for all seasons including the Summer ’20 single ‘All The Best Moves’ and new single ‘Old TV Shows’. As a whole this is uncontrived, timeless, adult pop music that wears it’s heart on it’s sleeve.

The adventure that started nine years ago as two drinking buddies popping into each other’s houses and home studios, putting down an idea here and a melody there, developed into a set of songs with a Christmas theme, then a theoretical album, then, following help from their friends a real album with a raucous tour of Xmas shows in Winter 2012.

The interim has been anything but idle with Smith on duty with Editors, and the band’s star rising to unprecedented heights since their inception at the onset of the noughties. Meanwhile Burrows has released several solo albums, seen collaborations on soundtracks including The Snowman and The Snowdog and last year composing the soundtrack for Ricky Gervais’ critically acclaimed After Life

TRACK LISTING

1 All The Best Moves
2 Buccaneer Rum Jum
3 Spaghetti
4 Old TV Shows
5 Parliament Hill
6 Bottle Tops
7 I Want You Back In My Life
8 Aimee Move On
9 Too Late
10 Straight Up Like A Mohican

As one of the many consequences of this year’s pandemic and ensuing lockdown, J. Willgoose found himself with some time on his hands. With the next Public Service Broadcasting album recording sessions delayed, and all the band’s equipment stuck in a different country, he cobbled together old synths, sequencers and pedals and set about creating something new. Originally intended as an experiment in ambient music, the recordings developed into something more fulsome culminating in an entire new body of work in the shape of a 4 track LP under the Late Night Final pseudonym.

With nods to the likes of Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, KLF’s seminal Chill Out album and contemporary artists such as Amulets and Kelly Lee Owens, Late Night Final retains Public Service Broadcasting’s playful ear for a tune which weaves understatedly through the record’s beautifully immersive cerebral soundscape

TRACK LISTING

1. Thank You
2. A Wonderful Hope
3. The Human Touch (ft. Teddy Hunter)
4. Slow Release

The two-time Mercury Prize nominee Ghostpoet (aka Obaro Ejimiwe) follows up 2017’s acclaimed 'Dark Days + Canapés’ with a record which couldn’t feel more prescient, a dystopian snapshot of the universal unease and anxiety we feel as we enter into this new decade, an uncertain future distilled across these 10 vital tracks.

The bluesy, gritty ‘Concrete Pony’ is the perfect entry point to the record – in Obaro’s own words; “It’s a snapshot of where we’re at as a society I feel, we seem to have everything and nothing at all. Infinite possibilities and choices galore but we seem set in stone, frozen in place, oblivious to the storm clouds in the distance…”

Recorded in London and written, arranged and produced by Ghostpoet, ‘I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep’ incorporates a myriad of sounds and styles but is anchored by the more alt-rock sonics presented across his last two records. It features guest vocals from an eclectic mix of artists; Art School Girlfriend, Skinny Girl Diet’s Delilah Holiday, SaraSara and Katie Dove Dixon. Obaro has always had a keen ear for collaboration, having worked with the likes of Massive Attack, Nadine Shah, Melanie Di Biasio, Maximo Park’s Paul Smith and Damon Albarn’s Africa Express amongst others across his distinguished career.

TRACK LISTING

Breaking Cover
Concrete Pony
Humana Second Hand
Black Dog Got Silver Eyes
Rats In A Sack
This Trainwreck Of A Life
Nowhere To Hide Now
When Mouths Collide
I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep
Social Lacerations

The much loved Portland band Other Lives return after five years away following 2015’s ‘Rituals’.

Recorded at their own Cooper Mountain Sound studios, ‘For Their Love’ is a ten track collection that nods to the past whilst progressing positively towards the future.

The band have a loyal following across the UK, as seen by their social engagement.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Other Lives return with their fourth and greatest record yet. ‘For Their Love’ combines their dark and doomy, widescreen baroque rock with the best set of songs they’ve written so far. Well worth the wait.

TRACK LISTING

Sound Of Violence
Lost Day
Cops
All Eyes - For Their Love
Dead Language
Nites Out
We Wait
Hey Hey I
Who’s Gonna Love Us
Sideways

German cult band Bohren & der Club of Gore release their eighth studio album via [PIAS] Recordings.

The band have built a loyal international fanbase on the back of their trademark ‘Doom Jazz’ sound and count musical icons such as Mike Patton and Stephen O’Malley among their fans.

Strictly instrumental, this band and their sound have the healing power to survive these hectic modern times.

For fans of Melanie de Biasio, Sunn O))) and the soundtracks of David Lynch.

The band played two sold out shows in London’s Round Chapel recently and will tour the UK again in 2020.

TRACK LISTING

Total Falsch
Verwirrung Am Strand
Glaub Mir Kein Wort
Patchouli Blue
Deine Kusine
Vergessen & Vorbei
Sollen Es Doch Alle wissen
Tief Gesunken
Zwei Herzen Aus Gold
Sag Mir, Wie Lang
Meine Welt Ist Schön

A deeply textural, atmospheric and immersive sounding record.

Alice Boman’s fragile yet engulfing ethereal vocals create a vortex that listeners are sucked in by. A world where ambient, dream pop and folk merge into a unique new form.

Produced by Fabian Prynn (EX:RE, Ghostpoet, Dan Croll) and Patrik Berger (Robyn, Charlie XCX, Icona Pop and Santigold).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: While the progressions here may hark back to 60's soul and doo-wop, Boman's vocals are very much down the Hope Sandoval dream-pop line. Slightly melancholic but constantly immersive and warmingly nostalgic throughout.

TRACK LISTING

Wish We Had More Time
Heart On Fire
The More I Cry
Who Knows
Don't Forget About Me
Everybody Hurts
Hold On
It's OK, It's Alright
This Is Where It Ends
Mississippi

“In January 2019 I found myself stuck in a Chicago hotel room during the ‘Polar Vortex’. I was performing there with my duo Radnor & Lee over a few nights when temperatures dropped, leaving me unable to do much outside my hotel room for 4 days. Chicago is a city that holds a special history for me, and I found myself spending a good chunk of time staring out my hotel window, reflecting on my first trip there in 1993 to record my debut solo album ‘Grandpaw Would’ at Idful Studios with Brad Wood. But more than the details of that trip, I was struck by how vividly memories started flooding back to me of being a 15 year old mega fan of music, and in particular, indie rock. I LIVED for the records that I loved and the bands who made them. I’m not sure you are ever a fan of bands the way you can be as a teenager. It’s pretty sacred.

“I started re-listening to some of my favorite songs from that period in that hotel room, by the Beat Happening, Pavement, Fugazi, The Breeders, Guided by Voices. It struck me as crazy that these songs and the feelings that accompanied them were now over 25 years old. It started seeming odd to me that for some reason, indie rock hasn’t been canonized the same way ‘60s and ‘70s rock has. After all, Dinosaur Jr were my Led Zeppelin, Sonic Youth were my Grateful Dead and Built to Spill were my Steve Miller Band. These were my classics!

“I always travel with my portable studio gear, and I immediately sat down and started learning and recording a collection of my favorite songs. I spent my 4 days of the 2019 Polar Vortex creating the blueprint for what would become ‘Quarter Century Classix’. When I got home to LA, I invited my friends Julianna Barwick, William Tyler and Mary Lattimore to my home studio to add their magic to my recordings as I knew they grew up in reverence of the same records I did. These three genius musicians became the ‘band’ who you can hear framing these covers and I am eternally grateful for their talent and generosity. Later, Maria Taylor, Mike Watt, Petra Haden and Joey Waronker all showed up to play too.

“To some people these songs are just footnotes in pop culture history. But to me, they are the essence my own personal history. I wanted to make this record a tribute to these bands, to these songs, and to the irreversible way music can touch and transform the life of young person. I hope you enjoy ‘Quarter Century Classix’.” - Ben Lee

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: This is clearly a labour of love for Lee & co, and the dedication and appreciation for the source material shines through these covers. With his keen ear for melody, and addictive hints of alt-folk and classic indie, 'Quarter Century Classix' is a triumph.

TRACK LISTING

Web In Front (Archers Of Loaf)
Blueprint (Fugazi)
Divine Hammer (The Breeders)
Car (Built To Spill)
Sugar Kane (Sonic Youth)
Get Me (Dinosaur Jr)
In The Mouth A Desert (Pavement)
Goldheart Mountain Top Queen Directory (Guided By Voices)
Speeding Motorcycle (Daniel Johnston)
Brand New Love (Sebadoh)
Ingrown (Smudge)
My Noise (Superchunk)
Godsend (Beat Happening)

'Tommy' is a compilation album by The Wedding Present, originally released in 1988, collecting songs from the band’s first four singles, plus four tracks recorded for BBC Radio sessions. Bringing together material written in the band’s first two years of existence, 'Tommy' proved that The Wedding Present’s essence was in place from the start. These kinetic blasts of homespun high-velocity bedsit drama presaged the more finessed 'George Best', but represented the band’s definitive portrayal.

TRACK LISTING

1 Go Out And Get Em Boy!
2 (The Moment Before) Everything Spoiled Again
3 Once More
4 At The Edge Of The Sea
5 Living And Learning
6 This Boy Can Wait
7 You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends
8 Felicity
9 What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?
10 Never Said
11 Every Mothers Son
12 My Favourite Dress

'George Best' is the debut album by The Wedding Present, originally released in 1987. Hugely anticipated, 'George Best' saw indie heroes The Wedding Present refine the blitzkrieg pop brilliance of the band's early singles into a nuanced styled that was distinctively theirs: heartbreak at the bus stop, set to the soundtrack of a million jangling guitars. 

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting
Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?
Don't Be So Hard
A Million Miles
All This And More
My Favourite Dress
Shatner
Something And Nothing
It's What You Want That Matters
Give My Love To Kevin
Anyone Can Make A Mistake
You Can't Moan Can You?

CD Tracklisting
1 Everyone Thinks He Looks Daft
2 What Did Your Last Servant Die Of?
3 Don't Be So Hard
4 A Million Miles
5 All This And More
6 My Favourite Dress
7 Shatner
8 Something And Nothing
9 It's What You Want That Matters
10 Give My Love To Kevin
11 Anyone Can Make A Mistake
12 You Can't Moan Can You?
13 All About Eve
14 Getting Nowhere Fast
15 Nobody's Twisting Your Arm
16 Nothing Comes Easy
17 Don't Laugh
18 I'm Not Always So Stupid
19 Why Are You Being So Reasonable Now?
20 Not From Where I'm Standing
21 Give My Love To Kevin (Acoustic Version)
22 Getting Better
23 Pourquoi Es Tu Devenue Si Raisonnable?

With 2015’s ‘White Water’ and the following year’s ‘Dream Darling’ The Slow Show established themselves as a band who inhabit their own universe. There are antecedents – the exploratory beauty of Talk Talk, the ability to frame a story like Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, The Blue Nile’s determination not to waste a single note. It all coalesces into something other: unless you’ve heard The Slow Show before, you won’t have heard anything quite like The Slow Show.

As the name implies, songs take their time in The Slow Show, though there’s a fresh sense of immediacy in lead single ‘Hard To Hide’. But this is music built to last. That’s not accidental: singer Rob Goodwin and keyboardist Frederick ’t Kindt spent 18 months honing every note of ‘Lust And Learn’ into shape. Kindt helped establish leading Manchester studio Blueprint and knows the best local strings and brass players, who have helped The Slow Show since the start, while the Halle Youth Choir add the perfect counterpoint to Goodwin’s rich, sonorous voice.

In the three years since ‘Dream Darling’, Goodwin has moved from his native Manchester to Dusseldorf. It was perhaps inevitable that one of The Slow Show should live in Germany, as the band are huge there and in the Low Countries, where they regularly headline festivals and sell out theatres. Changing record labels is part of the band’s determination to make greater inroads back home too, as is their determination to play more shows than ever around ‘Lust And Learn’. “I’ve said before how cathartic our shows are for us,” says Goodwin, a magnetic presence at gigs. “We’re more aware how cathartic they are for the audience too. The things people say to us are so moving. Usually, people don’t ask us about our songs, they tell us how the songs relate to them and their lives.”

Perhaps the best and starkest example of just how The Slow Show move people comes in new song ‘The Fall’. Its evocative sense of peace are the only suitable setting for a song written after a fan emailed the band to say how their song saved her life. She was on a motorway bridge when a Slow Show song came on shuffle. Goodwin recalls: “What she’d been through was terribly sad, but the message she sent ended by saying she was peaceful now, that she was OK. The song is sad and dramatic, but hopefully it will make people feel more peaceful than anxious.”

The stories in Goodwin’s lyrics are stronger and more honest than ever, unflinching in analysing his failings. He admits a debt to author Karl Ove Knausgard, another writer adept at blending fact and fiction. Goodwin explains: “Knausgard’s books blew my mind in so many ways, but from a songwriting point of view it was about how frank he is. He’s brutally, painfully honest. There’s an element of fiction in authors like him, and there’s a balance in our songs as well.”

Throughout ‘Lust And Learn’, Goodwin delivers his stories with care, tenderness, and empathy. On ‘The Fall’, ‘Hard To Hide’ and ‘Exit Wounds’, he is accompanied by Keisha Jones, whose sparse vocals also featured on ‘Dream Darling’. “The lines Keisha sings are really important,” says Goodwin. “She doesn’t sing too much, but when she does she gives a new perspective to the narrative.”

Rarely has a band created such a powerful, fully realised world from what initially appears such a minimal framework. No matter how gentle the beauty of their songs, The Slow Show are a band worth shouting about from the rooftops.

TRACK LISTING

1 Amend
2 Eye To Eye
3 Low
4 Hard To Hide
5 St Louis
6 Loser’s Game
7 Breath:Air
8 The Fall
9 Vagabond
10 Sharp Scratch
11 Exit Wounds
12 Places You Go

‘To Survive’ (2008) is reissued on sun / gold transparent vinyl and features the classic tracks ‘To America’ featuring Rufus Wainwright and ‘Honor Wishes’ featuring David Sylvian.

TRACK LISTING

Honor Wishes
Holiday
To Be Loved
To Be Lonely
Magpies
Start Of My Heart
Hard White Wall
Furious
To Survive
To America

Joan Wasser’s first ever career retrospective, spanning the first fifteen years of her remarkable musical output.

Includes new, rare and unreleased material alongside more than thirty of her most loved songs.

Includes two brand new recordings - ‘What A World’ and ‘Kiss’, a cover of the Prince classic and live favourite.

Features her best-loved songs ‘I Defy’ (featuring Antony), ‘To America’ (featuring Rufus Wainwright) and ‘Honor Wishes’ (featuring David Sylvian).

Released as a great value deluxe triple CD set including ‘Live At The BBC’. 

‘Live At The BBC’ presents a collection of songs recorded in session for BBC 6 Music.

TRACK LISTING

CD1
My Gurl
The Ride
Real Life
Eternal Flame
I Defy (ft Antony)
We Don’t Own It
Christobel
Honor Wishes (ft David
Sylvian)
Hard White Wall
Start Of My Heart
To America (ft Rufus
Wainwright)
To Be Lonely
The Magic
Human Condition
Run For Love
Forever And A Year

CD2
What A World
Flash
Whatever You Like
Holy City
Get Direct
Good Together
Your Song
Myrrhman (TALK TALK)
Broke Me In Two
Valid Jagger
Steed
Tell Me
Silly Me
Warning Bell
Kiss

CD3
‘Live At The BBC’
To Be Loved
Start Of My Heart
Human Condition
She Watch Channel Zero
Sacred Trickster
Holy City
The Classic
Magic Lamp
Let It Be You
The Silence
Damned Devotion
Steed

Live At The BBC’ presents a collection of songs recorded in session for BBC 6 Music.

TRACK LISTING

To Be Loved
Start Of My Heart
Human Condition
She Watch Channel Zero
Sacred Trickster
Holy City
The Classic
Magic Lamp
Let It Be You
The Silence
Damned Devotion
Steed

An electronica-infused alternative version of Editors’ acclaimed Top 10 album ‘Violence’, ‘The Blank Mass Sessions’ casts the songs in a bold new light, offering a fascinating insight into the album’s creative process.

The eight track album, made up of producer Blanck Mass’ original productions of ‘Violence’, also includes the brand new single ‘Barricades’.

For ‘Barricades’, Smith’s hopeful lyrics combine with yearning synths over robotic drum machines and sweeping basslines, while ‘Cold’ is given a frostier edge through Blanck Mass’ harsh percussion and robotic directness.

‘Violence’’s stripped back beat builds and erupts into a synth-fuelled chorus brim-full of busy drum patterns and ‘Magazine’s jaunty, sweeping synths and rolling snares lend it even more electronic swagger than the original.

‘Hallelujah (So Low)’ gifts the greatest insight into the triangular relationship ‘Violence’ was born from. The warmth of the album version’s acoustic guitar and industrial fuelled chorus are replaced with sparse, ethereal synths, giving the track and ‘The Blanck Mass Sessions’ in general, a mechanical, other-worldly edge.

TRACK LISTING

Barricades - The Blanck Mass Recording
Cold - The Blanck Mass recording
Hallelujah (So Low) - The Blanck Mass Recording
Violence - The Blanck Mass Recording
Darkness At The Door - the Blanck Mass recording
Nothingness - The Blanck Mass Recording
Magazine - The Blanck Mass Recording
Counting Spooks - The Blanck Mass Recording

New album from the West-London trio, which sees them scaling new creative heights with re-energised confidence.

The writing and recording process took in both sides of the Atlantic, including a creative sojourn to Los Angeles where they worked on new material with old acquaintance Ed Buller - producer of two previous White Lies albums including the band’s chart-topping debut To Lose My Life.

Enlisting engineer James Brown (Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters), renowned producer Flood who can also be heard contributing synths and keys on a couple of tracks. Whilst eminent Grammy Award recipient Alan Moulder (Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers) having worked on the band’s first two albums returns to mix the album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Alan Moulder's production couldn't have been a more perfect fit for white Lies' mildly gothic Interpol-esque swagger and heavy synthy undercurrent. Distorted guitars are offset with tender breakdowns and perfectly measured instrumental passages.

TRACK LISTING

1. Time To Give
2. Never Alone
3. Finish Line
4. Kick Me
5. Tokyo
6. Jo?
7. Denial
8. Believe It
9. Fire And Wings

After their initial eight-minute sonic rollercoaster ILL on Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground imprint and their subsequent debut album Means, Fews return with a brand new ten-track studio album, Into Red.

Following extensive touring throughout 2016-17, including two tour runs as special guests of Pixies, the Anglo-American-Swedish quartet retired to Malmö with the Swedish city’s underbelly providing the perfect environment for unfettered artistic endeavours and the subsequent album recording.

Co-produced by Joakim Lindberg (Hater) and mixed by James Dring ‘Into Red’ sees Fews extricating their influences to reveal a band assuredly moving on from the template of their debut album Means with a confident post-punk swagger and no little addition of muscular heft on the song-writing front.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Throbbing distorted basses and screeching, echoing reverbs work their way below the vocals, at times delivered monotonally a-la post-punk gloom, and in other moments with the acrobatic intensity shadowed by the beautiful soaring instrumentals and richly constructed backline. It's safe to say, Fews are here to stay.

TRACK LISTING

1. Quiet
2. Paradiso
3. More Than Ever
4. Suppose
5. Limits
6. Business Man
7. 97
8. Anything Else
9. Over
10. Fiction

Mushonga doesn’t follow a linear path. The artist’s music - a blend of Afropop, indie and electro flourishes - is informed by her own zigzagging life journey: Mushonga emigrated from Zimbabwe to the Netherlands, then to the diverse South London suburb of Peckham, where she now lives and works. Having read ‘Metamorphoses’ for the first time, Mushonga’s self-confessed ‘year of transformation’ ensued, drawing upon myriad ideas and personal experiences.

Full of reflections on the cosmos and our place within it, ‘In A Galaxy’ is the musical embodiment of these musings, whilst Mushonga also admits there’s more than a passing nod to the opening text on ‘Star Wars’ but on the whole refers to how relative space and time are in how we interact. Four years in the making, ‘In A Galaxy’ was recorded in Mushonga’s adopted home in Peckham with producer Brett Shaw, whilst having laid much of the foundations of the tracks together with musical bestie and synth whisperer Frans Verburg in his Rotterdam basement studio. The resultant cornucopia of intelligent, diverse pop - that Mushonga herself describes as sounding like “Paul Simon in a sweaty, African dancehall club” - is a welcome introduction to 2019.

TRACK LISTING

Pipe Dreamz
Good Vacation
For A Fool
In A Galaxy
Narcisc0
Tropix
Glory_
4qrtrs
AtalantA
Hey Coach
I Miss U So Much
Jungles

Fourth album from the acclaimed Belgian quintet.

‘Fever’ follows the band’s self-imposed hiatus, a break that saw frontmen and writing partners Jinte Deprez and Maarten Devoldere pursuing different individual interests from both a personal and creative perspective that has ultimately led the band to fashion their most cohesive album to date.

On reconvening the band had no plans, just a simple desire to better their previous works and to further the band’s story. Both primary songwriters agreed on a less serious vision leaning towards a looser, refreshed sound - less melancholic but retaining their unerring ability to create a hookladen armoury.

TRACK LISTING

Fever
Changes
Wrong Faces
Whatchu Doin’
Phone Number
Entertainment
I’m Never Gonna Let You
Down Again
Grapefruit
Wrong Vibration
Roller Coaster
You’re So Real

Third album from Soap&Skin, the working moniker for the Austrian musician and producer Anja Plaschg. Her first record in six years.

The album belatedly follows the release of ‘Lovetune For Vacuum’ in 2009 and 2012’s ‘Narrow’ (an Austrian No 1) but in that time in between the artist has been busy, not least with the birth of her daughter and subsequent motherhood but as well with many other creative works such as composing for theatre and film productions, as well as film acting.

Encompassing a range of musical allegiances, the album is infused with tranquil electronica, militaristic percussion, whilst coupled with choral ambience and earthy ethereal grandeur. This is an expansive, stunning, wide-reaching piece of dynamic beauty.

Recorded mainly at her home in a quiet leafy corner of Vienna, the album is not only self-produced but selfplayed.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Encompassing the beautiful, softly spoken vocals of Rozi Plain or Icelandic electronic genius' Múm, Soap & Skin tread a fine line between choral ambience and soaring modern-classical, often within the space of a minute or two. A bogglingly competant, and ridiculously diverse smörgåsbord of sound.

TRACK LISTING

This Day
Athom
Italy
(This Is) Water
Surrounded
Creep
Heal
Foot Chamber
Safe With Me
Falling
Palindrome
What A Wonderful World

INITIAL COPIES COME WITH A FREE SIGNED ART PRINT.

Album VI from the British indie-rock 5-piece.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cold
2. Hallelujah (So Low)
3. Violence
4. Darkness At The Door
5. Nothingness
6. Magazine
7. No Sound But The Wind
8. Counting Spooks
9. Belong

The long forgotten yet seminal work of Basement 5 on CD for the first time in years. The CD includes both ‘1965 - 1980’ and ‘In Dub’, with rare and unseen images and quotes. The albums were produced by sonic alchemist Martin Hannett. ‘In Dub’ is the companion piece to the classic ‘1965 - 1980’.

Partly formed out of the Art Department of London's Island Records HQ in 1978, Basement 5 were an innovative and highly original black post punk group who created a kind of politically charged, futurist dub. Their lyrics were an attempt to reflect the situation of young people in Britain in the era of Thatcherism, high unemployment, strikes, racism and working class poverty. The seething resentment, dub noise and sheet metal riffage was welded into a mighty sound by Hannett that stands the test of time.

In an unparalleled age of crate digging and reissue programs, Basement 5 is one of the few remaining great untold stories of its time. CD out of print for 20 years.

“You have to play it very loud to enjoy it fully. It was the most difficult production, I must say, the heaviest. It was eighteen degrees in the shade, the end of August. As I recall it has been the most physical album that I’ve ever done. Made me feel like I’d been carrying bricks around. Heavy work. Putting the bass lines in the right place. But it was good.” - Martin Hannett, 1981

CD also includes 12 page booklet featuring rare and unseen images.

Partly formed out of the Art Department of London's Island Records HQ in 1978, Basement 5 were an innovative and highly original black post punk group who created a kind of politically charged, futurist dub. Their lyrics were an attempt to reflect the situation of young people in Britain in the era of Thatcherism, high unemployment, strikes, racism and working class poverty. The seething resentment, dub noise and sheet metal riffage was welded into a mighty sound by Hannett that stands the test of time.

In an unparalleled age of crate digging and reissue programs, Basement 5 is one of the few remaining great untold stories of its time. Vinyl has been out of print for over 30 years. 

“You have to play it very loud to enjoy it fully. It was the most difficult production, I must say, the heaviest. It was eighteen degrees in the shade, the end of August. As I recall it has been the most physical album that I’ve ever done. Made me feel like I’d been carrying bricks around. Heavy work. Putting the bass lines in the right place. But it was good.” - Martin Hannett, 1981

Témé Tan, the musical alias of multi-instrumentalist and producer Tanguy Haesevoets. Travelling is in his blood - born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, his family were constantly back and forth between Belgium and Kinshasa - something which is effortlessly reflected and at the heart of his debut long-player which is both ultra modern, reflecting the life of a man who can feel at home on four continents, and shot through with a deep respect for older traditions and identities. He grew up surrounded by the zouk and rumba music of his Congolese relatives, but it was in Brussels, while at school, that he started to make music and where it became clear he was possessed of some serious determination, and an unquenchable thirst to learn. Though he'd never played any instruments before his first band, he taught himself guitar because he'd fallen in love with Brazilian bossanova and tropicalia – unique and complex sounds both - and started learning to tap out rhythms on an MPC sampler because he wasn't hearing the beats that he wanted anywhere else. During this period of experimentation, people would call his tracks 'world music', which he felt very strange about. He was always happy to consider himself African ('that's where half of my origins are') yet in Congo he was perceived as white and European, so there was no easy identity for him. But as he travelled the globe during his studies - Latin America including Brazil, Japan, where he got deeply into sophisticated Japanese electronic pop by artists like Cornelius and Tujiko Noriko - he would discover a musical identity more complex than even his origins might have suggested. It was the release of a new Konono n°1 on Crammed Discs that eventually tied all the musical threads together. 'It spoke to me so much because of growing up in Congo, I was truly overwhelmed by that 'Congotronic' sound,' he explained. It was at this point that things came full circle, and all the influences from his world travels - whether 1990s rap on the Belgian radio, 1960s Brazilian grooves, 2000s Japanese experimentalism or modern bands like Animal Collective and cLOUDDEAD - connected to his very earliest musical memories, and he began to conceive of a clear voice and identity for himself among all of these sounds and strands. It was here that the name Témé Tan was first coined by his Japanese friends.

Happy now that there is a climate where acts like Jai Paul, Mo Kolours and El Guincho can unselonsciously join cultural dots without being branded 'world music'. He may have found a creative space for himself built on all the phases of his life, and all the nations and cultures he's experienced, but it's clear Témé Tan has only just begun learning and expanding.

Ghostpoet announces his return with the release of his fourth album ‘Dark Days + Canapés’ on Play It Again Sam. ‘Dark Days + Canapés’ is Ghostpoet's most defining album to date. A stunning and stimulating return, ‘Dark Days + Canapés’ is a record that captures the sense of unease felt by so many in recent times. After receiving recognition for the beat-driven arrangements of his first two albums, third album ‘Shedding Skin’ initiated a more alt-rock sound that saw Ghostpoet Mercury nominated for a second time. Produced by Leo Abrahams, best known for his work with Brian Eno and Jon Hopkins, delves even further into a fuller, guitar driven sound.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Grooving instrumental melodies meet with Obaro Ejimiwe's trademark rhythmic drawl, darkened funky jams, slowed down through a haze of reverb while groaning saturated samples morph into hypnotic rock abstractions. Urban improv jams break into hazy psychedelic grooves, which slow into eastern-influenced opium-den throbs and guitar trills. A welcome, and outstanding return for Ghostpoet.

TRACK LISTING

One More Sip
Many Moods At Midnight
Trouble + Me
(We’re) Dominoes
Freakshow
Dopamine If I Do
Live>Leave
Karoshi
Blind As A Bat…
Immigrant Boogie
Woe Is Meee
End Times

Danish art rock outfit Mew release their seventh album ‘Visuals’ through Play It Again Sam.

Unlike previous albums, ‘Visuals’ arrives fairly quickly on the back of 2015’s ‘+-’. Recorded and self-produced in Copenhagen, ‘Visuals’ was completed in under a year and sees Mew at their most concise, each song representing its own little chapter and narrative.

The first taste of the album comes in the shape of the mesmerising intricacies of the album’s finale ‘Carry Me To Safety’ and the first single ‘85 Videos’ - which from the outset exudes a familiar expansive backdrop, lush instrumentation coupled with rousing vocals, euphoric pop brilliance that is part of Mew’s DNA.

Combining influences from bands such as The Cure, Slowdive, Smashing Pumpkins and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Newmoon’s debut ‘Space’ is an album driven by melancholic, distorted guitars.

Through all the feedback and noise the band never lose sight of melody and clarity, creating an album that is both heavy and catchy at the same time.

For fans of My Bloody Valentine, Smashing Pumpkins, Nothing, The Cure.

“Ethereal intrigue & deeply delved audio dimensions.” - Impose Magazine

“A powerful aural assault” - The 405

“Lush textures allied to grinding tempos and almost industrial swathes of noise.” - Clash

TRACK LISTING

Helium
Head Of Stone
Life In The Sun
Skin
Coma
Everything Is
Hi
One Thousand
Liberate The World

Highly anticipated stunning third album from Danish born singersongwriter Agnes Obel, the follow up to her UK breakthrough record ‘Aventine’.

Recorded, mixed and produced by Obel in Berlin, where she currently resides, ‘Citizen Of Glass’ is a work of haunting beauty and an expansion of Obel’s mesmerising world.

The title surfaced in Obel’s mind while touring ‘Aventine’ and, inspired by modern composers, the album conceptually and thematically revolves around the leitmotif of transparency.

On this record Obel experiments with her vocals in inventive new ways, in order to manipulate them into alternative versions of her own voice, as can be heard on first single ‘Familiar’.

Obel also incorporates a number of different instruments, such as the Trautonium (an extremely rare instrument that possesses a glistening, glass-like sound), alongside vibraphone, cembalo, cellos and more.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Agnes Obel has a voice so exquisite, pure and crystalline it seems as if it might shatter into a thousand beautiful shards at any moment. Up until this release it has been given plenty of room by a simple, beautiful debussy/jazz inspired piano accompaniment; but while 'Citizen Of Glass' does share the same sparse framework, it is lent added texture and depth by the addition of rare and unusual instruments, again applied with sparing delicacy to frame, rather than intrude on Obel's beautiful intonation.

TRACK LISTING

Stretch Your Eyes
Familiar
Red Virgin Soil
It’s Happening Again
Stone
Trojan Horses
Citizen Of Glass
Golden Green
Grasshopper
Mary

Sophomore ‘post reunion’ album from the alt-rock four piece, their first new music since 2014’s Indie Cindy. 

This 12 track record showcases the band’s unique mixture of surrealism, psychedelia, dissonance + surf rock. 

Produced by Tom Dalgety (Royal Blood, Killing Joke) and recorded at London’s Rak Studios.

Paz Lenchantin, the band’s touring bassist since early 2014 (and previously a member of A Perfect Circle and Zwan amongst others) is now a permanent member of the band and her cool vocals can be heard on the album, most notably on ‘All I Think About Now’ on which she takes the lead. 

All artwork designed by renowned graphic artist Vaughan Oliver at V23

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The Pixies are back! Songs like 'Classic Masher' show a much more melodic leaning, harmonied chorus' and repeated one-note guitar squeals over Black's trademark vocals. 'Talent' is a moody and rocking punk number, driven and aggressive guitars power through their three-chord foundations while 'All I Think About Now' is sung exclusively by Paz Lenchantin (One time Corgan affiliate and one third of A Perfect Circle) and is instantly reminiscent of the early energy and vocal stylings of Surfer Rosa or Doolittle. A brilliant (second) comeback, and a great sign for the future.

TRACK LISTING

1. Head Carrier
2. Classic Masher
3. Baal’s Back
4. Might As Well Be Gone
5. Oona
6. Talent
7. Tenement Song
8. Bel Esprit
9. All I Think About Now
10. Um Chagga Lagga
11. Plaster Of Paris
12. All The Saints

‘Take Her Up To Monto’ is the follow up to Róisín’s critically acclaimed Mercury Prize nominated album ‘Hairless Toys’ and is billed as her most daring and creative yet.

Never an artist to stand still, ‘Monto’ features everything Murphy has always done but seen afresh, boasting disco fancy, dark cabaret, the sonorities of classic house and electronica and the joy and heartbreak of pure pop drama resulting in her most magnificent song structures so far.

The follow on from Roisin’s Mercury Prize nominated ‘Hairless Toys’ album last year, Róisín is at her most creative peak yet.

Released on embossed CD / double LP with digital download.

Swedish / American four-piece FEWS have been making some serious waves ahead of their debut album. Specialising in propulsive, motoric noise-pop, producer Dan Carey (Bat For Lashes, Sexwitch, TOY, Kate Tempest et all) discovered the band via a mysterious Soundcloud link and promptly invited the band to his South London studio where debut single ‘Ill’ quickly followed on Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label.

Having joined the ranks of the Play It Again Sam label their own brand of malevolent post-punk continues to evolve and thrill with follow up singles ‘The Zoo’ and ‘100 Goosebumps’ that has seen the band bear resemblance to DIIV and Faust.

“Sonically charged post-punk that’s equal parts Interpol, DIIV, The Walkmen and A Place To Bury Strangers. Anthems for the disaffected in waiting” - Drowned in Sound

Of Good Grief, vocalist Jess Wolfe says, “When we started writing for this record, we had been away from home for nearly two years. We had just returned from tour, having gone through such varied emotions—loneliness, sadness and exhaustion alongside excitement, fulfilment and some of the most joyful moments in our lives…Whenever one of us had an idea or a feeling, the other was already a witness to it and could help navigate through it—for the two of us, this usually came in song form.” Vocalist Holly Laessig adds, “…When considering titles, we wanted to be sure to acknowledge any serious subject matter, while simultaneously allowing ourselves a comic sigh of relief from any personal turmoil. Ha! The yin and yang of the record naturally unveiled itself and, so, Good Grief.”

Good Grief was produced by Shawn Everett (Weezer and The Alabama Shakes) and Lucius with Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Kiss and Pink Floyd). The album was mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Adele and Beck). The new music follows the band’s critically acclaimed debut album, Wildewoman, The New York Times praised the record for its “luscious, luminous, lilting lullabies,” and the album was incorporated in various 2013 year end lists including, Rolling Stone, NPR and Paste.

The band is lead by its co-founders and vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig accompanied by multi-instrumentalists Andrew Burri, Peter Lalish and Dan Molad. Wolfe and Laessig met in 2005 while attending Berklee College of Music. Since forming, Lucius has toured extensively, playing headline shows worldwide, as well as major festival appearances including Reading and Leeds, Bonnaroo, End Of the Road, Lollapalooza, Pukklepop and Rock En Seine.

TRACK LISTING

1 Madness
2 Something About You
3 What We Have (To Change)
4 My Heart Got Caught On Your Sleeve
5 Almost Makes Me Wish For Rain
6 Gone Insane
7 Truce
8 Almighty Gosh
9 Born Again Teen
10 Better Look Back
11 Dusty Trails

Bonus Tracks Available With LP Download Only.
Strangers
You Were On My Mind
My Heart Got Caught On Your Sleeve (Demo)
Dusty Trails (Demo)
Better Look Back (Demo)
Let’s Dance

Fews mark their return with details of a new track and a new label. The band, last spotted wowing London’s Brixton Windmill as part of the Speedy Wundergound annual Summer shindig are pleased to announce that they have signed to Play It Again Sam. The first fruits of this new partnership arrives in the form of new single ‘The Zoo’.

Summer 2015; the Swedish / American four-piece unleashed their eight minute motorik-induced debut single ‘ILL’ courtesy of Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground, bringing them to the attention of more than a handful of parties, securing numerous Track Of The Week accolades along the way. The band’s DIY stance led them to Carey via an anonymous Soundcloud link which, in turn, had him hailing Fews as one of his favourite artists of the year and will see him overseeing the band’s debut album.

No less ambitious than its predecessor, ‘The Zoo’ rolls in at more conservative three and half minutes, unmasking a postpunk lineage conversing head on with more recent like-minded musical contemporaries.

‘The Zoo’, a fervent salvo of dark, brooding greatness that sees Fews continue their foray forwards heralding the arrival of their debut album in the first half of 2016. Carey assumes the role of the mad professor; subtle bleeps and codes punctuate the production, initiating their call to action.

Concrete Love - Extra Love features the original eleven track LP plus a nine-track bonus disc that features the brand new single alongside three rare EP tracks and previously unreleased acoustic versions of five Concrete Love tracks.

Following the surprise release of their first new music in two years via a secretive placing of ‘No Harm’ on a Play It Again Sam label sampler and a further taster in the form of the seven plus minutes ‘Marching Orders’ which saw 300 test pressings donated to Oxfam for sale in their stores around the globe, Editors release their fifth studio album, ‘In Dream’.

Recorded in Crear in the Western Highlands by the band, and mixed in London by Alan Moulder, ‘In Dream’ is the second album to feature the ‘new’ line-up of the band with Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams firmly in place alongside founding members Tom Smith, Russell Leetch and Ed Lay. After two years of global touring this five piece incarnation used the new album to stretch the Editors sound, swerving away from the rock dynamic of ‘The Weight Of Your Love’ and marking a return to a writing process influenced by electronic music that draws a line from their debut album through to prominence on the band’s third album, the UK Number One ‘In This Light And On This Evening’.

‘In Dream’ is an album created without preconception. The initial visit to Crear, an isolated artist’s retreat 8 miles from the nearest town down dirt track roads was envisaged as a writing and demoing exercise but sessions bloomed within the stunning live room (with floor to ceiling windows framing the Atlantic) and it soon became apparent that the recordings were staking a claim as finished works.

At the centre of ‘In Dream’ is a belief in collaboration. Thus the album was produced by all band members in an open studio environment, nowhere within Crear was cut off from the music being performed and recorded in the creative space. Downtime was soundtracked by a varied playlist that stretched from Todd Terje to 80’s Robert Palmer, John Grant to the Despacio three hour club mix.

‘In Dream’ is the first Editors album to feature duets, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell sharing vocal duties on ‘Ocean Of Night’, ‘The Law’ and ‘At All Cost’ and is an album focused on allowing artistic interpretations outside of the band to flourish; Alan Moulder was left to mix the tracks without any band involvement whilst visual collaborator Rahi Rezvani has been given carte blanche with the photography and videography that will accompany the album and its attendant singles. It is a bold and expansive statement and is driven by, according to Tom Smith, a belief that music can be ‘both pop and experimental’.

Third full length from Oklahoma-turned-Portland trio Other Lives, their most lush, layered and striking musical creation to date.

‘Rituals’ reflects the change in location, the spontaneity of travel and feelings of isolation.

Produced by Jesse Tabish and Jonathon Mooney from the band with Joey Waronker (Eels, Atoms For Peace, Beck).

For fans of The Antlers, The War On Drugs, Interpol, Grizzly Bear.

Danish art rock outfit Mew announce a welcome return with their sixth studio album ‘+-’ (pronounced ‘plus minus’). 

Recorded in Copenhagen alongside producer Michael Beinhorn (Hole, Marilyn Manson), ‘+ -’ is skewed pop sensibility coupled with an ever expansive musical backdrop, denoting the extremities of the band’s creative DNA and showing once more a band treading their own unique path. 

Guest contributors include Bloc Party guitarist Russell Lissack.

For fans of Sigur Ros, Wild Beasts, M83, Radiohead, Arcade Fire.

TRACK LISTING

Satellites
Witness
The Night Believer
Making Friends
Clinging To A Bad Dream
My Complications
Water Slides
Interview The Girls
Rows
Cross The River On Your Own

Bonus CD 
Coffee Break (Live)
Satellites (Live)
She Spider (Live)
Hawaii (Live)
My Complications (Live)
Silas The Magic Car (Live)
Water Slides
Cross The River On Your Own (Live)
Special (Live)
The Zookeeper’s Boy (Live)

Ghostpoet is pleased to announce his forthcoming album ‘Shedding Skin’.

The first fruits of the album, the track ‘Off Peak Dreams’ has already been premiered on Zane Lowe’s Radio One show and sees Ghostpoet, London-based Obaro Ejimiwe moving on from the cathartic musings of 2013’s ‘Some Say I So I Say Light’ album.

‘Shedding Skin’ is the manifestation of a new challenge of fresh thinking and a brave confident stride into previously uncharted waters. Ten songs that embrace, unite and narrate observations that are designed to sit beside each other through bright peaks and dark shallows.

Unlike his previous albums, ‘Shedding Skin’ was recorded with a traditional live set up with what has become his touring band; Joe Newman on guitar, bass player John Calvert and John Blease on drums.

The self-produced album also features guest vocals from Nadine Shah, Etta Bond, Melanie De Biasio, Lucy Rose and Maxïmo Park’s Paul Smith, amounting in a collection that sets a new precedent as his very best work yet.

TRACK LISTING

Off Peak Dreams
X Marks The Spot
Be Right Back, Moving House
Shedding Skin
Yes, I Helped You Pack
That Ring Down The Drain Kind Of Feeling
Sorry My Love, It's You Not Me
Better Not Butter
The Pleasure In Pleather
Nothing In The Way

Melanie De Biasio received the Best Session Award at the 10th Worldwide Awards, which took place recently in London. The award is for De Biasio’s stunning 2014 live session on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6Music show.

A huge fan of the Belgian singer, Peterson has curated a new remix version of her acclaimed album ‘No Deal’. He called upon some of the most exciting names across the jazz, electronic and indie worlds for ‘No Deal Remixed’, including EELS, The Cinematic Orchestra, Hex and Seven Davis Jr.

Says Peterson; “To my mind, of all the new artists around, the most remix friendly has to be Melanie De Biasio. For a person like me with a DJ mind, the minimalism of ‘No Deal’ makes it perfect. I’ve been dropping ‘I Feel You’ on top of beats anyway and even played ‘I’m Gonna Leave You’ in its original form when the moment arose - it’s such a pure track. In fact the first thing I did on meeting Melanie for the first time this year was to ask her who produced the album. It was me she replied... so not just a pretty voice!”

TRACK LISTING

I Feel You (EELS Remix)
The Flow (Hex Remix)
No Deal (Seven Davis Jr Remix)
With Love / Sweet Darling Pain (Gilles Peterson & Sinbad Remix)
Sweet Darling Pain (Chassol Remix)
I’m Gonna Leave You (Clap! Clap! Remix)
With All My Love (Jonwayne Remix)
I’m Gonna Leave You (The Cinematic Orchestra Remix)

Following on from Dury’s acclaimed 2010 album ‘Happy Soup’, ‘It’s A Pleasure’ is a series of conflicted emotions, stark drum beats, comic vignettes and strung out synths coming together to present one man’s wry take on the battle with existence. It’s metaphysics meets morose disco.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pleasure
2. Palm Trees
3. Other Men's Girls
4. Police
5. Lips
6. Whispered
7. Petals
8. White Men
9. Wintery Kisses
10. Babies

'No Deal' is the new album from Melanie de Biasio. Album of the week recently on Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6 Music show, 'No Deal' has already achieved Gold status in her native Belgium, and is approaching Silver in France.

Originally from Charleroi and currently based in Brussels, De Biasio is a classically trained flautist and the possessor of an extraordinary voice - she has been called the Belgian Billie Holiday. The minimalist, semi-improvised 'No Deal' will reward any music-lover willing to take the time to immerse themselves in its subtle splendour. The album should appeal to fans of late-period Talk Talk, who’s Mark Hollis is a huge figure for De Biasio. She also cites Frank Zappa and Pink Floyd as formative influences, plus Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln, two icons of the civic rights fight and spokeswomen of an aggressive jazz stripped of any affectation.

'No Deal' comes in at 33 and a third minutes and contains just seven songs, through which De Biasio’s voice drifts gracefully, at times disappearing altogether. With Pascal Paulus on keyboards, Pascal Mohy on piano, and Dre Pallemaerts on drums, De Biasio has streamlined everything to give more space to her extraordinary vocals. There is a natural flow to the album, from the intimate beginnings of 'I Feel You' to the farewell note of 'With All My Love'. The final song intimates the reconciliatory, redemptive powers of song, the calm after the storm, yet bristling with emotion, a ‘frisson‘, as they say in French. Rarely has a record unfurled as many dark beauties and hidden luminescence, speaking a thousand musical languages while remaining completely accessible.

The follow up to Manchester songbird Liz Green’s rapturously received debut ‘O, Devotion!’ (2011).

Recorded at London’s legendary Toe Rag Studio with producer Liam Watson, Liz’s sophomore album displays a wonderful array of sounds and styles, from the ‘drone-blues’ of ‘Battle’ to the sea shantyinfluenced title track.

In a departure from its predecessor, ‘Haul Away!’ sees Liz bringing the piano to the forefront, influenced by such artists as Thelonius Monk and Nina Simone.

Artwork designed and conceived by Liz herself, including the iconic cover image.

Includes self-styled single and ‘wonky circus tune’ ‘Where The River Don’t Flow’, a jaunty dance of life and death.

TRACK LISTING

Battle
Haul Away!
Rybka
River Runs Deep
Where The River Don’t Flow
Empty Handed Blues
Into My Arms
Island Song
Little I
Penelope
Bikya

Double A-side single pressed on white 7” vinyl and limited to 385 copies for the UK.

First single to be taken from ‘Haul Away!’, the follow up to Liz Green’s rapturously received debut ‘O, Devotion!’ (2011).

Recorded at London’s legendary Toe Rag Studio with producer Liam Watson.

Artwork designed by Liz herself.

‘Rybka’ translates as ‘little fish’ in Polish, and that’s precisely what the song is about, says Liz: “the little fish getting lost in the big pond. A boy who tries to do right but always seems to end up on the wrong side of the glass.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Two wonderful tracks from Liz Green, ahead of her new album. Title track Rybka's swaying, clarinet led rhythm provides the perfect accompaniment to her distinctive, dramatic voice. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Rybka
Where The River Don’t Flow

‘Aventine’ is the second album release from Berlin-based Danish phenomenon Agnes Obel, the follow up to her critically acclaimed debut ‘Philharmonics’ of 2010 which has sold close to 500,000 worldwide since release.

Originally from Copenhagen, Agnes has lived in Berlin since 2006, where ‘Aventine’ was recorded at her Chalk Wood Studios between January and May 2013.

Like ‘Philharmonics’, the new album was written, arranged, and produced by Agnes, who provides piano and vocals. The album features a small ensemble including cellist Anne Müller, who has also played with Nils Frahm, along with Mika Posen of Timber Timbre playing the violin and viola on ‘The Curse’, ‘Pass Them By’ and ‘Fivefold’. Robert Kondorossi of Budzillus plays guitar on ‘Pass Them By’.

Building on the sonic template of her debut, ‘Aventine’ is a deeper and darker (though none the less elegantly sublime) affair, with songs of genuine heart stopping beauty in the likes of first single ‘The Curse’, ‘Dorian’ and ‘Fuel To Fire’.

The second single from Editors fourth album ‘The Weight Of Your Love’ sees the band returning to the familiar terrain the band’s myriad fans know and love with an edgy, anti-love song with a soaring chorus.

Already a live favourite, standing shoulder to shoulder with the band’s bonafide hits like ‘Munich’, ‘Papillon’ and ‘Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors’, ‘Formaldehyde’ has been singled out in album reviews as a stand-out from the album, and an obvious choice for a single to take to radio.

‘The Weight Of Your Love’ entered the UK album charts at No 6 in the UK and, 5 weeks on, still holds a Top 75 position. Having lost founding member Chris Urbanowicz and in the process nearly packing it all in before gaining two new members, the new album is, in some ways, a transitional record, with the band reborn, shackles off, making their most ambitious music to date.

The single is backed with an unreleased acoustic version of the band’s opening single from the album, ‘A Ton Of Love’.

The 7” is limited to just 200 copies in the UK and Eire.

TRACK LISTING

Formaldehyde
A Ton Of Love (Acoustic)

‘The Weight Of Your Love’ is the follow up to Editors’ two consecutive Number One UK albums, 2007’s ‘An End Has A Start’ and 2009’s ‘In This Light And On This Evening’. Their debut album, 2005’s ‘The Back Room’ has sold over half a million copies in the UK.

This is the first album to feature new members Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams, following the departure of founding member Chris Urbanowicz in 2012. It was recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville with producer Jacquire King (Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Of Monsters And Men, Kings Of Leon) and mixed by Craig Silvey (Arctic Monkeys, The Horrors, Arcade Fire, Bon Iver).

Tom Smith has described ‘The Weight Of Your Love’ as “having a foot in that alt rock / Americana world” and of “feeling untouchable at times”. Recorded mostly live, it contains their most direct songs to date and also features extra production from Clint Mansell on ‘Nothing’, rescored from the original to become what Tom and Ed Lay both describe as the ‘centrepiece’ of the album. Lyrically focused on “love songs... that don’t adhere to the traditional love song type”, the album sees Tom Smith sing in falsetto for the first time on ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’.

Dead Can Dance release ‘In Concert’, a document of their tour for the ‘Anastasis’ album, released through [PIAS] Recordings.

Originally released last August, ‘Anastasis’ is Dead Can Dance’s first album since 1996’s ‘Spiritchaser’, and has sold over 150,000 copies worldwide.

“I would say without hesitation that this has been the most rewarding tour that we have ever undertaken,” notes Brendan Perry. “On one level it has been an absolute pleasure to perform in such beautiful locations with such a wonderful band and crew, but also to be able to connect on a personal level with the many devoted admirers of our art both old and new. It would seem in our case absence has certainly made the heart grow fonder and it has been an absolute joy to be given the opportunity to be able to share our music in the ultimate setting of the living work.”

Balthazar are the brainchild of songwriters Maarten Devoldere and Jinte Deprez. Meeting as teenage buskers, the two embarked on a whirlwind writing partnership that led to the quick formation of the band and initial acclaim in mainland Europe. Resisting the temptation to cash in on that wave of interest, Balthazar took the best part of five years to record their debut album, experimenting with different genres and approaches until they were sure that they had the sound they were looking for.

With ‘Rats’, that sound has been honed to a focus on melody and subtlety, avoiding the current fashion for bombast to create songs that burst forth in horns or sweep by on strings, underpinned with delicate rhythms that draw on both the pair’s love of the work of Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen and the hip hop production of the likes of Dangermouse.

TRACK LISTING

Oldest Of Sisters
Sinking Ship
Later
Joker's Son
The Man Who Owns The
Place
Lion’s Mouth (Daniel)
Do Not Claim Them
Anymore
Listen Up
Any Suggestion
Sides

Agnes is a Danish singer, songwriter and musician. She began playing the piano when she was a child and in her late teens she founded the Copenhagen based band, Sohio, together with the Danish musician and producer Elton Theander. The two worked together for several years but nowadays she writes, plays, sings, records and produces her material on her own.

Feeling musically related to Roy Orbison, Agnes currently lives in Berlin and possesses the rare gift of a songbird’s voice, bringing to mind Ane Brun, Joanna Newsom or even Ricki Lee Jones.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Beautiful and delicate piano led folk from this Danish starlet. The arrangements are kept simple and minimal allowing her amazing vox to take centre stage.

TRACK LISTING

1. Falling Catching
2. Riverside
3. Brother Sparrow
4. Just So
5. Beast
6. Louretta
7. Avenue
8. Philharmonics
9. Close Watch
10. Wallflower
11. Over The Hill
12. On Powdered Ground

Tim Robbins, Oscar winning actor, director and writer, releases his debut album.

Produced by the legendary Hal Willner, the album features a host of world class musicians, including Kate St John, Leo Abrahams, Roger Eno and Rory McFarlane, amongst others.

TRACK LISTING

1. Book Of Josie
2. You’re My Dare
3. Dreams
4. Time To Kill
5. Toledo Girl
6. Queen Of Dreams
7. Crush On You
8. Moment In The Sun
9. Lightning Calls

"Paradisiac" is a beast of a record with nods to the hardcore (rock) sounds of Seattle, Texas and NYC but with a heart all its own and an underlying groove that's very Millionaire. Produced by Josh Homme, the record is as you would expect, punchy, very direct and has been compared favourably with QOTSA.

Soulwax are back with their second studio album, following up their phenomenal "2 Many DJs" mash up CD, which went on to sell 148k copies in the UK, by word of mouth alone! "Any Minute Now" is a collision of fierce rock guitar riffing (Kerrang are big fans) and electro rhythms, with tracks swinging between the rock element and the electroclash element. Play loud!

Fourth album from Glasgow cosmic post-rock band, following 2001's "Rock Action". Expanding on that album's more melodicsound rather than the loudness of their "My Father My King" EP, this record is subtler, more expansive and organic than anything they have done. It is modestly described on the band's website as 'forty one minutes fifty seconds of total unadulterated brilliance'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hunted By A Freak 
2. Moses? I Amnt
3. Kids Will Be Skeletons
4. Killing All The Flies
5. Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep 
6. Ratts Of The Capital
7. Golden Porsche 
8. I Know You Are But What Am I?
9. Stop Coming To My House