Voyager invite Mike Storm to create his own sonic narrative. "The Pale Blue Dot"  is Mike's aural interpretation of the Voyager spacecraft missions. Each track gives its own take on the journey of spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, with a story board for each track contained inside this limited edition press.

Netherlands native Mike is no stranger to conceptual sci fi music, with numerous releases and albums on Axis Records, plus EP releases on Warm Up Recordings and Modularz to name but a few. The Axis affiliation is tangilbiel, with the whole LP more than tipping its hat to Jeff Mills' "Something In The Sky" series - proper intergalactic space techno with its own red shifted signature.

Mostly all his tracks are written live in one take, with no recall. This makes his music very unique in the digital DAW age. Recommended! 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Prologue - The Call Of Distant Worlds
A2. Pale Blue Dot - Earths Odyssey
A3. Interstellar Sojourn - Voyagers Departure
A4. Celestial Caravan - Across The Outer Reaches
B1. Echos Of Solitude - Voices From The Abyss
B2. Stardust Serenade - Tales Of The Cosmos
B3. Gravitys Embrace - Dancing Among The Planets
B4. Lullaby For Sol - Nostalgia Of Home
B5. Epilogue - Homecoming Of A Voyager 

Twenty-five years after its original release, Belle and Sebastian have produced their most popular album in limited pale blue artwork with matching coloured vinyl. This 25th Anniversary edition also includes an exclusive art print of behind-the-scenes photos from the promotional video for the album, taken by band member Sarah Martin.

This limited pale blue colour artwork is reproduced in the original colour used in 1998 on the album’s promotional poster and T-shirt.

The album was recorded in Glasgow at CaVa Studios during 1998. Videos were made at that time for Is It Wicked Not To Care, which inspired the 25th Anniversary art print, and Dirty Dream #2 (directed by Lance Bangs) which did not feature any band members.

Belle and Sebastian were awarded Best Newcomer at the 1999 Brit Awards following the release of The Boy With The Arab Strap.

Joining Stuart Murdoch on song writing duties on this album for the first time were band members Stevie Jackson, Isobel Campbell and Stuart David.

The eponymous title track has become one of the most popular Belle and Sebastian songs and an iconic symbol of the live shows, when the band are ritually joined by their fans onstage as they dance to ‘The Boy With The Arab Strap’.

TRACK LISTING

A1. It Could Have Been A Brilliant Career
A2. Sleep The Clock Around
A3. Is It Wicked Not To Care?
A4. Ease Your Feet In The Sea
A5. A Summer Wasting
A6. Seymour Stein
B1. A Spaceboy Dream
B2. Dirty Dream Number Two
B3. The Boy With The Arab Strap
B4. Chickfactor
B5. Simple Things
B6. The Rollercoaster Ride

The 1990 debut album from Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness, is an outstanding record that owed as much to post-punk and L.A.’s Paisley Underground scene than it did to shoegaze. The Sunday Times called it “an unintended indie manifesto: music that is at once wayward and concise, dissonant and beautiful.”

Shortly after its release and in need of a second live guitarist, Lush founding member Meriel Barham joined the Leeds trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper, bringing a new dynamic to the band.

Having previously worked well with producer Hugh Jones (Echo & The Bunnyman, Modern English, The Sound), he did a brilliant job recording their second album, In Ribbons (1992), despite some studio tensions. Brooklyn Vegan said in a recent celebration of the album that it was the “push and pull between Masters’ outsider tendencies and (the rest’s) commercial interests that makes In Ribbons so good. If some of the wild, ragged edges of Comforts of Madness have been smoothed off, the album makes up for it with scope and beauty. And there’s still no shortage of weird.”

Missing its original release date last year due to Covid delays and a production plant in meltdown, In Ribbons is finally getting the 30th Anniversary celebration it deserves with a special double LP / CD release – the first disc be- ing the UK version of the album, the second a bonus disc of never before heard demos (including their first attempt at Slapp Happy’s ‘Blue Flower’ and Ian’s 4 track recording of ‘Kinky Love’) and two brass band versions by The Tintwistle Band.

TRACK LISTING

Tracklisting (2LP/2CD)
A1 - Throwing Back The Apple
A2 - Ordeal
A3- Thread Of Light
A4 - Shell
A5 - There Is No Day
A6 - Hunted
B1 - Hair Shoes
B2 - Babymaker
B3 - Liquid
B4 - Neverending Night
B5 - Featherframe
B6 - A Thousand Stars Burst Open
C1 - Babymaker (Demo) *
C2 - Kinky Love (Demo) *
C3 - Hair Shoes (Demo) *
C4 - Shell (Demo) *
C5 - Hunted (Demo) *
C6 - Featherframe (Demo) *
D1 - Blue Flower (Demo) *
D2 - Throwing Back The Apple (Demo) *
D3 - Ordeal (Demo) *
D3 - Untitled Instrumental (Demo) *
D4 - A Thousand Stars Burst Open (Tintwistle Band Version) +
D5 - A Revelation (Tintwistle Band Version) +
* = Previously Unreleased

Tracklisting (LP Black Vinyl)
A1 - Throwing Back The Apple
A2 - Ordeal
A3 - Thread Of Light
A4 - Shell
A5 - There Is No Day
A6 - Hunted
B1 - Hair Shoes
B2 - Babymaker
B3 - Liquid
B4 - Neverending Night
B5 - Featherframe
B6 - A Thousand Stars Burst Open

“When Mum died, five years after Dad, there was this charge hanging in the air, connecting each person in the room,” says Matt. “Time stopped. I felt like I momentarily entered an alternative dimension between life and death. Days and weeks later I’d see my family in every corner of the house – all the reminders, ghosts and memories. Then, gradually, it felt like time for a new start, moving on from the house and my amazing parents.”

While the band’s debut LP Souvenirs captured memories and melancholy from around the death of Matt’s father, This House is its next-door neighbour. The new album was finished in the immediate aftermath of the death of Matt’s mum. As soon as the record was completed, PBE were packing up the contents from their self-built Penquit Mill home studio, financed through endless casual work and a bank loan. The location was a dream – in the middle of nowhere, just south of Dartmoor, midway between Plymouth and Totnes.

The studio was where they spent hours recording and self-producing both records, while supporting Matt’s mum through the decline of a long-term illness. Matt and his bandmate and wife Lucy Board (drums/synth/production) have now returned north, to her native Sheffield, with funk-mad bassist Aubrey Simpson living between Devon and London.

“It’s a more sombre and more ecstatic album, with an urgent desire to remember and enjoy every moment,” says Matt of the record’s life-defining “end of era” moments. “We’ve dealt with loss throughout both albums,” says Matt, “but this time there has been rebuilding – appreciating and relishing the things and people still here.” Pertinently, album tracks ‘Sister’ and ‘More’ celebrate the complexities of relationships between family and friends.

“We wanted to turn a shitty situation into something positive,” says Lucy, “ so we put all our energy into making music that was fun to play live and perhaps open up a way out.” Matt concurs: “The album captures moments of elation and joy alongside the grave mood that eventually engulfed our home. During those tough times we played all over the UK and overseas, buoyed by the thrill of people listening to what we’d been working on… knowing two days later we’d be in a hospice saying our final goodbyes to Mum. The ultimate headfuckery.”

PBE say the new album is a “slightly more worldly-wise sibling” to 2022 debut LP Souvenirs. The latter was roundly acclaimed. “Joyous... propulsive… exhilarating”, said Uncut. Magic of France were impressed: “Ultrapuissante... orgasmique... profondeur infinie.” Line Of Best Fit said, “‘Like all great debuts it’s both a culmination of their beginnings as well as a pointer to the wide open road ahead.”

Mixed and mastered by Moonlandingz’s Dean Honer (Róisín Murphy, The Human League, I Monster), with jam sessions its driving force, This House bounces through analogue tape delays and effects pedals to capture life’s oscillating journey. Celebratory ‘Simmering,’ and ‘Hang Out’ offer peaks, highlighting the importance of pressing the ‘off’ switch. “It’s about enjoying simple moments,” says Matt, “the sun on your face, hanging with friends in the pub, looking at the night sky...”

Any threat of troughs are lifted by motorik rhythms from their Moog Little Phatty and Prophet 12 – thanks to Lucy’s fascination for South Yorkshire synth innovation. The dissertation for her music degree was titled “An Investigation into Sheffield's Alternative Music Scene Between 1973 and 1978, with Particular Reference to Cabaret Voltaire.”

With This House, Lucy’s hometown sounds blend with Aubrey’s evangelical interest in Motown and various funk titans. These diverse touchstones comes through in the PBE album’s blend of pop hooks and psych-rock sophistication. ‘Heating’s On’ is a driving anthem, glistening with ’80s guitar and a trumpet part care of Lucy. ‘Sister’ mixes goth-rock guitar with DIY choral grandeur, a tasty mix of The Cult and Joe Meek. ‘Millions Times Over’ takes feelings of hopelessness and then creates a lovely bittersweet feel via shimmering synths and wistful vocals. The album concludes with the widescreen expanse of ‘Underwater’, a moving, meditative set-piece.

“Mum always said she loved hearing the sounds of the recording process as people would come and go from the studio,” Matt remembers.

Making music as a means to go on, Pale Blue Eyes’ two albums bookend other significant moments, such as soundtracking the Atmos arts-and-housing project in Totnes (featuring a sound-and-light installation by Brian Eno). There was also the time PBE’s beloved old Citroën blew up between gigs, reinforcing a valuable lesson. “You have to embrace the Berlingo!” says Lucy, rolling out the band’s new motto.

“Change is inevitable,” Matt adds. “You have to embrace it all, the good and bad, and the horribly ugly.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: With rich grooving guitars, snappy percussion and Matt Board's gorgeous psychedelic vocal stylings, Pale Blue Eyes' formula might not sound like the most complex, but it results in the huge, warm sound bath we hear on 'This House'. Beautifully written melodies and stuck-in-your-head riffs abound, Pale Blue Eyes have smashed out an incomparable debut.

For Fans Of... Bewilderment - the feeling of being perplexed and confused - is the inspiration Mayer Hawthorne, Bobby Oroza, Burrito Eats, Holy Hive, The Dip. Bewilderment - the feeling of being perplexed and confused - is the inspiration behind Pale Jay's new album.

It's a soulful exploration of a family's gradual disintegration due to years of avoidance and miscommunication. During this difficult time, Pale Jay began to question the stories he had always lived with and re-examined his identity. The resulting work, Bewilderment, is his first full-length album, which strives to find answers to these questions and more. The album is set to release on 8/18/2023 on Karma Chief Records, a subsidiary of Colemine.

Pale Jay is a trained jazz vocalist and pianist, and he wrote, recorded, and produced all songs on the album, except for 'By The Lake', which is a collaboration with labelmates Okonski - Steve Okonski, Aaron Frazer, and Michael Montgomery. Pale Jay's music is influenced by a wide range of songwriters, including Labi Siffre, Carole King, and William Onyeabor.

'Bewilderment' is a seamless blend of Pale Jay's trademark dusty soul, slow disco, and Afrobeat, with string arrangements by Raven Bush adding an extra layer of magic to the beat- heavy productions. Pale Jay's debut LP is a captivating journey of self-discovery. Each song on Bewilderment tells a unique story, but they all share a common theme of personal growth and self-understanding. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A blistering set of dusty neo-soul, airy groove-heavy lounge and jazzy percussion. The real kicker here is Jay's hugely evocative vocals, swimming with feeling and perfectly sitting atop the perfectly manicured instrumental backdrop.

TRACK LISTING

1. Preface
2. In Your Corner
3. Dreaming In Slow Motion
4. By The Lake
5. Bewilderment
6. My Dirty Desire
7. Vladimir
8. Don't Forget That I Love You

Electronic duo Pale Blue returns to Crosstown Rebels with their long-awaited sophomore album ‘Maria’, revealing a spellbinding eight-track trip across electronic spheres.

After forming their critically acclaimed Pale Blue project with their debut album ‘The Past We Leave Behind’ in 2015, Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better) and Elizabeth Wight (Silver Hands) have only furthered intrigue and interest in the years since, uniting for a series of expansive EPs on Simonetti’s own 2MR imprint exploring dancefloor-focused acid through to gripping electronica. Having already offered a first look and preview into their long-awaited album return via three singles on the label, with remixes provided by DJ Tennis, Kölsch, Fort Romeau and Perel, mid-May sees Simonetti, and Wight finally reveal their sophomore album ‘Maria’ on Damian Lazarus’ Crosstown Rebels - offering a uniquely raw yet seamlessly polished trip into their idiosyncratic world.

“‘Maria’ is an album of love songs - the good, the bad, and the ugly… The album is written entirely in Elizabeth’s voice. These are all her words - her thoughts, based on her personal experience. When writing this record I took inspiration from classic rock LP sequencing, and tried to dial in on a coherent concept, a natural flow. Although these are clearly techno tracks, one would argue they have more in common with rock music than dance music. I wanted to try make something a little different, verse/chorus/verse tracks but still heavy enough for the club, full of melody and emotion… poppy but not THAT kind of poppy. Pale Blue has been known to take on political subject matter in the past, but the politics of love is something we can all relate to.” - Mike Simonetti.

Opening with the slow-blooming and beautifully crafted dreamlike melodies of the aptly titled ‘Spells’, the eight-track long-player navigates and traverses the broader realms of electronica through to lighter pop-influenced touches and sonics for an absorbing and compelling dive. ‘Dive’, the first single from the project, provides a hazy but resonant web of polyrhythms and textures guided by Wight’s captivating vocals, while ‘Laura’ reaches for sparkling leads synths amongst sweeping tones and moments of bliss. Offering up change to the aesthetic ‘Ice Is Falling’ is a stripped-back and haunting production as Wight’s vocals carry eerie tones and pockets of space for a hair-raising effort.

The second half of the project welcomes second and third singles ‘No Words’ and ‘Together Alone’, with the playful tones of the former complementing the wistful and floaty soundscapes of the latter for two tracks to keep listeners in a trance. Closing out the package, ‘The New Year’ is a delightfully worked pop-leaning gem built on electronic foundations with a slinking acid-tinged bassline snaking through the mix, before shaping things up with the anthemic and rosy glow of final track ‘The Last Song’.

Further emphasising Simonetti and Wight’s innate connection and bond when creating and crafting music, ‘Maria’ is an exemplary display of the two at their best across a collection of eight productions straddling the electronic-pop border with poise and aplomb.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Spells 
A2. Dive 
B1. Laura 
B2. Ice Is Falling 
C1. No Words 
C2. The New Year
D1. Together Alone 
D2. The Last Song 

The Pale Fountains were formed in Liverpool in 1980 by Mick (as he was then known) Head with Chris McCaffery on bass, Thomas Whelan on drums, trumpeter Andy Diagram and guitarist Ken Moss.

Signing with Virgin in late 1982, this was the first time the music world became aware of the work of singer-songwriter Michael Head.

1985's . . . From Across The Kitchen Table was produced by Ian Broudie, soon to form and redefine sugar-pop with The Lightning Seeds. The album is more unified than its predecessor as it was recorded over a shorter period of time. Lead single Jean's Not Happening is one of the great lost indie gems of the 80s, complete with a powerful string arrangement. The closing song, September Sting, is a joyous slice of scouse-a-billy that points the way clearly to later groups such as The Las.

Near four decades later, Michael Head is adored by his hardcore following and the wider world freshly discovers him as each of his new releases achieves widescale acclaim, whether it be his subsequent band, Shack, or his current outfit, the Red Elastic Band. But The Pale Fountains was where it all began.

This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1985 Virgin Records UK release with printed inner and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Brilliant follow up to Pacific Street, this record had a harder sound than its voluptuous predecessor but in Shelter, These are the Things, It's Only Hard and the title track Mick's songwriting was still right up there. Did I miss one out? Jean's Not Happening: World Number One that never was!!!

TRACK LISTING

Shelter
Stole The Love
Jean's Not Happening
Bicycle Thieves
Limit
27 Ways To Get Back Home
Bruised Arcade
These Are The Things
It's Only Hard
... From Across The Kitchen Table
Hey
September Sting

The Pale Fountains were formed in Liverpool in 1980 by Mick (as he was then known) Head with Chris McCaffery on bass, Thomas Whelan on drums, trumpeter Andy Diagram and guitarist Ken Moss - Signing with Virgin in late 1982, this was the first time the music world became aware of the work of singer-songwriter Michael Head.

At the time of its release in February 1984, Head described Pacific Street as "like a greatest hits LP, except we haven't had any hits!" It not only showcases the ambition of 80s pop in general, but the very specific singularity of the Liverpool scene, that seemed to add love and (Arthur Lee's) Love to everything recorded. It reflects the swing away from the post-punk and funk of the early years of the decade, aiming for a mellower, bossa-nova influenced pop. It is difficult to understand how tracks such as Unless and (Don't Let Your Love) Start A War were not big hits and are not viewed as standards.

Near four decades later, Michael Head is adored by his hardcore following and the wider world freshly discovers him as each of his new releases achieves widescale acclaim, whether it be his subsequent band, Shack, or his current outfit, the Red Elastic Band. But The Pale Fountains was where it all began.

This re-issue faithfully replicates the original 1984 Virgin Records UK release with printed inner and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Just a really beautiful pop record. So youthful ,romantic and impossibly melodic. It felt like Liverpool had produced a new, young genius.

TRACK LISTING

Reach
Something On My Mind
Unless
Southbound Excursion
Natural
Faithful Pillow Part 1
(Don't Let Your Love) Start A War
Beyond Friday's Field
Abergele Next Time
Crazier
Faithful Pillow Part 2

Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. Originally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goes to even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it’s now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones.

For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges’ Raw Power to deliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less “metal”. Traditional black metal song structures still persist in songs like “Night Descends” and “In The Garden”. However, their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in “Amor” and “Intro” and softly played desolate ballads like “Nocturne” and “Lily”.

The crown jewel is the album closer “Swordsman”, a track that displays a superb gothic sensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. “The Christian concept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able to leave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song.” Dmitry explains “However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyrics so that the listener can always give the song their own meaning.”

The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. “I really enjoy it when an album tells a story about some character so I came up with one.” says Dmitry when explaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the striking album cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand – and clearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty that permeates the album’s sound and atmosphere.

Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics, soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yet potent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Thorns
3. Night Descends
4. In The Garden
5. Amor
6. Nocturne
7. Amid The Stars
8. Lily
9. Crystal
10. Swordsman

The PBE album is called Souvenirs because, as Lucy explains, “The songs encapsulate a few years’ worth of memories and experiences – times of change and personal sadness. The songs were an outlet for us and they now serve as souvenirs of all those times”.

As Pale Blue Eyes worked toward the album, Matt’s father died – the album is dedicated to the late Danny Board. Matt has endless fond memories of his father, including “when I’d wake up on a summer’s morning to the sound of dad playing a Cocteau Twins album – really loud with all the windows and doors open”. PBE built their studio adjacent to Matt’s old family home – so they could be there to help Matt’s mum through long-term illness. The album includes reflection on death and despondent times, as on the former single TV Flicker, which, perhaps surprisingly given the subject matter, became a playlisted radio smash. But Pale Blue Eyes accentuate the positive – reacting to difficult times by making an album that pulses with exhilaration, beauty and joy.

The album brims with a kind of elective positivity, as made clear when Matt lists the album’s themes: “Embracing good times, escapism, losing yourself in a moment of bliss when the world around you is going to shit… Processing and understanding loss and grief and using our music as a vehicle to move on… Fighting against the mundane and not giving up on dreams… The pure joy of a good night out or a moment of being moved by a band or a piece of artwork or a great film… Making the most of the time you have…” The tracks Little Gem and Globe, in particular, beam with positivity – alighting on optimism, gardening and hedonistic days in a shared student house.

TRACK LISTING

1. Globe
2. TV Flicker
3. Little Gem
4. Dr Pong
5. Honeybear
6. Star Vehicle
7. Champagne
8. Sing It Like We Used To
9. Under Northern Sky
10. Chelsea

A fiery, confident kick-back against convention, Pale Waves’ third record Unwanted sees the group building on the promise of last year’s UK Top 3 album Who Am I?, and staking their claim as British rock’s most dynamic young group.

“It’s bold and unapologetic, and that’s what the Pale Waves community is about,” says frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie herself. “We don’t need to fit a perfect mould, we don’t need to apologise for being ourselves, and we won’t change for anyone. That acceptance is what connects us.”

Led by riotous lead single “Lies”, Unwanted is a record that reaches out to the passionate community of misfits and LGBTQI+ fans around the band, tapping into darker emotions than ever before while also striking a fresh tone of defiance.

Although not released until 1996, Beyond The Pale was originally recorded in Northampton, back in 1992 at Angus Wallace’s Far Heath Studios. It was the first album from Experimental Audio Research (aka E.A.R) an experimental music collective formed around Sonic Boom (Pete Kember), founding member of Spacemen 3 (along with Jason Pierce), who, on this project works closely with Eddie Prevost (AMM), Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) and Kevin Martin (God). 

Lingering at the remains of a campfire before dawn, with the politics of the personal burnt into ash, running his stick through what’s left, Wand singer/guitarist Cory Hanson is reflecting on a series of moments in which he steps farther into himself, finding the ultimate big sky country on the inside of his skull. It’s a combination of songs and sounds that journey through bleak and broken territory and places of sweet, lush remove and it adds up to the best record he’s been involved in yet: his second solo album, ‘Pale Horse Rider’.

Cory’s first solo, ‘The Unborn Capitalist From Limbo’, was an intense affair, a grand experiment that produced inspiring, unconventional music - but this time around, he wanted to breathe a bit easier, to feel that breath in the music as well. So he and his band drove out to the desert to record in a lowstress environment: Brian Harris’ Cactopia, a house surrounded by 6ft tall sculptural psychotropic cacti. They built a studio inside and then they made music and lived off pots of coffee and chili and cases of Miller High Life as they played guitars, bass, keyboards and drums in what seemed increasingly like a living biomech, their tech made out of fungal networks and cacti needles.

It was loose and flowed onto tape well. Recorded by Robbie Cody and Zac Hernandez (who assisted on Wand’s ‘Laughing Matter’), the sounds were great from the get-go. First takes were mostly best takes. Fuelled with DNA lifted from country-rock cut with native psych and prog strands, Cory guided his craft toward the cosmic side of the highway, a benevolent alien in ambient fields hazy with heat and synths, early morning fog and space echo spreading the harmonies wide.

‘Pale Horse Rider’’s got a lot to get out of its mind, looking around and seeing that, on the surface, things don’t always look like much. A lifelong Californian, Cory’s naturally found himself standing to the left of most of the country. The west may be only what you make it; these days, the roadside view looks exceptionally sunbleached and left behind. ‘Pale Horse Rider’ eyes the city, the country and the fragile environment that holds them both in its hands - a record as much about Los Angeles as it can be with its back to the town and the sun in its eyes; as much about nostalgia as new music can be with the apocalypse over the next rise.

On ‘Pale Horse Rider’, Cory Hanson moves ceaselessly forward. The old myths weave and waft, the shadows of tombstones flickering in the mirages and the light that lies dead ahead.

TRACK LISTING

Paper Fog
Angeles
Pale Horse Rider
Necklace
Bird Of Paradise
Limited Hangout
Vegas Knights
Surface To Air
Another Story From The
Center Of The Earth
Pigs

The Pale White are a three piece indie rock band from Newcastle, UK comprised of brothers Adam (Lead Vocals, Guitar) and Jack Hope (Drums), and long time friend Tom Booth (Bass).

The trio have fast been gaining attention for their signature melodic guitar work, thunderous rhythm section and magnetic live shows.

Across a series of early singles and two EP releases, the band have continued to gain high profile support from the likes of NME, MTV and BBC Introducing, and after securing BBC Introducing's Track Of The Week, the band were invited to play stages at Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds.

With a five star live review from The Independent comparing them to US rock royalty Queens Of The Stone Age, the groups reputation as an unmissable live act has started to spread.

Opening for the likes of The Amazons, Sam Fender, Foals, Twin Atlantic, The Libertines and Band of Skulls, the band are developing a passionate word of mouth following as one of the most exciting new British bands.

TRACK LISTING

1. Infinite Pleasure
2. Glue
3. Take Your Time
4. That Dress
5. Nothing Lasts Forever
6. Medicine
7. Confession Box
8. Anechoic Chamber Blues
9. Sonder
10. ...Still No Taste
11. Frank Sinatra

‘Who Am I?’ is the second album from indie-pop icons Pale Waves, due for release on February 12th 2021. Recorded in L.A. over early 2020 with Rich Costey (Muse, Biffy Clyro, Sigur Ros), and led by the unabashedly huge lead single ‘Change’, it finds the Manchester band stepping up once more, fulfilling the promise of that widely-lauded debut album and striding towards pop megastardom.

TRACK LISTING

1. Change
2. Fall To Pieces
3. She’s My Religion
4. Easy
5. Wish U Were Here
6. Tomorrow
7. You Don’t Own Me
8. I Just Needed You
9. Odd Ones Out
10. Run To
11. Who Am I?

JARV IS… are pleased to announce their debut album “Beyond the Pale”. This is the first original music from Jarvis Cocker since the “Further Complications” album in 2009.

JARV IS… a band featuring Jarvis Cocker (vocals, guitar, percussion), Serafina Steer (harp, keyboards, vocals), Emma Smith (violin, guitar vocals), Andrew McKinney (bass, vocals), Jason Buckle (synthesiser & electronic treatments) & Adam Betts (drums, percussion, vocals).

JARV IS… formed to play a show at the Sigur Ros “Norður og Niður” festival in Iceland at the very end of 2017.

JARV IS… was conceived as a way of writing songs in collaboration with an audience. As the material they were playing was in a state of flux the band decided to record their live shows so that they could monitor how the songs were developing. After an appearance at the Desert Daze festival in California, Geoff Barrow (Portishead, Beak>) suggested that these recordings could be used as the basis for an album. Overdubs & vocals were added at Narcissus Studios in Neasden, London. Post-production work took place at Jason Buckle’s Place du Big Boss studio in Raynes Park, London. The album was mixed by Craig Silvey at Toast Studios in West London.

The first single from the album “Must I Evolve?” was released in May 2019 & appeared in many “Top 10 Tracks of the Year” lists.

JARV IS… an ongoing live experience because life is an ongoing live experience.

Or, to put it another way:

THIS IS NOT A LIVE ALBUM – it’s an ALIVE ALBUM.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Jarv Is the ever-talented ex-pulp frontman with a string of unmissable releases since then, spreading over a wide range of styles. Jarv Is returning with a brand new album and Jarv Is absolutely smashing it. It would maybe be easier to go through the things that Jarv Isn't, and he definitely isn't coming off our stereo anytime soon.

TRACK LISTING

Save The Whale
MUST I EVOLVE?
Am I Missing Something
House Music All Night Long
Sometimes I Am Pharoah
Swanky Modes
Children Of The Echo

On the eve of a post-Thatcherite Britain, the Pale Saints, alongside the likes of Lush, Ride and Slowdive, were ushering in a new wave of British indie. And in 4AD, they found a perfect home for their music - an exciting & undeniable meld of noise and dream-pop.

Their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, didn’t disappoint, now standing as one of the best of its era. Pitchfork placed it in their Best 50 Shoegaze Albums Of All Time saying, “There’s a restless urgency, particularly when the volume swells and the rhythms intensify. That energy not only keeps (it) vital, it emphasizes Pale Saints’ inventiveness, how they channelled softness and rage into something distinctive.”

Nearly 30 years on and The Comforts of Madness is finally getting the reissue treatment. Having been remastered, a faithful LP repress on black vinyl is being released as well as double CD and double clear vinyl editions, both of which come with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demos and the band’s only John Peel Session, recorded in 1989.

STAFF COMMENTS

Javi says: This year, my new year’s resolution was “don’t buy records, save money instead”. Everything was going swimmingly for the first two weeks of January - until one grim Friday when ‘The Comforts of Madness’ received its 30th Anniversary reissue. Like a dry January defeated by an old friend’s 30th birthday bash, I cracked and splurged, and did so with good reason.

Visually, ‘The Comforts of Madness’ is instantly recognisable as a Vaughan Oliver creation. Familiar shapes and textures shimmer under a psychedelic sheen, all petals and whiskers and shadow; the tracklist splattered across the back like a mystic incantation (“way the fell. deep sleep, the sun. time in sight.” Amen.)

Opening track “Way The World Is” crashes in like a horseman of the apocalypse, while the much-anthologised “Sight Of You” still sounds every bit as fresh and swooning as Martin assures me it did 1990. Across the album, crushing shoegaze guitars ebb and flow, bass lines worm and drums fizz, only letting up for tender moments like the balladic “Little Hammer”. It’s a sprawling LP of ambitious indie, pushing both instruments and the mixing desk to extremes, masterfully streamlined into a near-continuous soundscape with each song graciously giving way to the next.

The bonus disc of unreleased live sessions and alternative recordings lifts the magic curtain slightly, revealing the band behind the sonic wizardry and dream-pop production - this version of Pale Saints is more earnest yet every bit as melodic, with shades of The Smiths, early MBV, and even The Beach Boys permeating the lower-fi recordings. They provide a warm and welcome counterpoint to the soaring album proper, and are well worth checking out and marvelling over.

‘The Comforts of Madness’ is from start to end, front to back, 1990 to 2020, a chaotic, ethereal, and epic work - and to these ears, at least, it might just be the 4AD album.

TRACK LISTING

Way The World Is
You Tear The World In Two
Sea Of Sound
True Coming Dream
Little Hammer
Insubstantial
A Deep Sleep For Steven
Language Of Flowers
Fell From The Sun
Sight Of You
Time Thief

2LP & 2CD

Way The World Is
You Tear The World In Two
Sea Of Sound
True Coming Dream
Little Hammer
Insubstantial
A Deep Sleep For Steven
Language Of Flowers
Fell From The Sun
Sight Of You
Time Thief
Sight Of You (Original Woodhouse Studio Version) *
Way The World Is (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Language Of Flowers (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
You Tear The World In Two (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Fell From The Sun (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
A Deep Sleep For Steven (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Time Thief (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Sea Of Sound (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Insubstantial (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
Little Hammer (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
True Coming Dream (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) *
She Rides The Waves (John Peel Show Version) *
You Tear The World In Two (John Peel Show Version) *
Way The World Is (John Peel Show Version) *
Time Thief (John Peel Show Version) *

* = Previously Unreleased

Hannah Peel and Will Burns announce details of a new double-A sided single, ‘Pale Tussock’, released via Rivertones. The 7” single features a pair of new pieces from Hannah Peel and Will Burns, combining the same evocative, powerful sonic palette and plainspoken poetry as their acclaimed album ‘Chalk Hill Blue’.

TRACK LISTING

Moth Book
Wendover, Bucks

Pale Bloom finds Sarah Davachi coming full circle. After abandoning the piano studies of her youth for a series of albums utilizing everything from pipe and reed organs to analog synthesizers, this prolific Los Angeles-based composer returns to her first instrument for a radiant work of quiet minimalism and poetic rumination. Recorded at Berkeley, California’s famed Fantasy Studios, Pale Bloom is comprised of two delicatelyarranged sides. The first—a three-part suite where Davachi’s piano acts as conjurer, beckoning Hammond organ and stirring countertenor into a patiently unfolding congress—recalls Eduard Artemiev’s majestic soundtrack for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris.

“Perfumes I-III” employs the harmonically rich music of Bach as a springboard for abstract, solemn pieces that sound as haunted as they are dreamlike. While the first half of Pale Bloom showcases Davachi’s latent Romanticism, the sidelong “If It Pleased Me To Appear To You Wrapped In This Drapery” reveals the Mills College graduate’s affinity for the work of avantgarde composers La Monte Young and Eliane Radigue. Softly vibrating strings rise and fall like complementary exhalations of breath. As the fluctuating pitches create overtones that pitter and pulse, the piece slowly and subtly evolves—suggesting a well-tempered stillness, yet without stasis.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's properly beautiful stuff this, shining with modern classical delicacy but bolstered by a dark undercurrent of neo-gothic organs and infrequent echoic piano stabs. Tentative and minimalistic, but sonically moving, Davachi makes it clear she is here to stay. Thoroughly gorgeous stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Perfumes I
2. Perfumes II
3. Perfumes III
4. If It Pleased Me To Appear To You Wrapped In This Drapery

Part of The Optic Sevens Reissue Series. 
Limited to 500 copies on splatter vinyl Includes Poster & Postcard.

Originally released on Factory Records in 1987 on a 4 track 12” EP entitled “Something That No One Else Could Bring” These 2 tracks make their first appearance as a 7” single. 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
PALE SPECTRE

Side 2
PLASTIC FLOWERS

Tipped by many to become one of the most exciting and unique British guitar bands of the decade off the back of rapturous critical acclaim, Pale Seas, on the eve of the release of a long-anticipated debut album, simply disappeared. No hiatus announcement, no press release, nothing. For the following three years the band, led by enigmatic frontman Jacob Scott alongside Graham Poole (Lead Guitar), Matthew Bishop (Bass) & Andrew Richardson (Drums), emitted no signal, instead embarking upon a period of prolonged isolation, rejecting the industry and the outside world to hole themselves away inside a medieval abbey in most remote Isle of Wight. To capture their expansive sound and enhance it further the band enlisted the help of producer Chris Potter (The Verve, Urban Hymns) & Paul Butler (Michael Kiwanuka, Devendra Banhart & The Bees), with whom the band had begun their journey 5 years previously. Scott is influenced by Neil Young, Elliott Smith and Half Japanese but it’s not been music that’s shaped who he is as an artist. His mother, a painter, was a much bigger influence. “I learned more from growing up with her than I have from music. She found a way to channel her life experiences into something beautiful and real. To see that, to witness someone so close to you turning their life in to art was, to me, more powerful than hearing any band play.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Into The Night
2. My Own Mind
3. Someday
4. In A Past Life
5. Blood Return
6. Bodies
7. Stargazing For Beginners
8. Animal Tongue
9. Heal Slow
10. Evil Is Always One Step Behind 

After a breakthrough year that saw his exceptional solo debut "Queen Of Denmark" win MOJO’s album of 2010 and countless other accolades John Grant hasn’t rested on his laurels but created a follow-up that underlines his uncanny and charismatic talents. Recorded in Iceland and featuring Sinead O’Connor on guest vocals, the brilliant "Pale Green Ghosts" adds sublime notes of dark, gleaming electronica to the anticipated velveteen ballads, calling on all of Grant’s influences and tastes, presenting an artist at the peak of his powers.

It’s been an extraordinary journey for John Grant, from a point where he thought he would never make music again or escape a life of substance abuse to winning awards and accolades, collaborating with Sinead O’Connor, Rumer and Hercules & Love Affair and having his music featured in the award-winning film Weekend.

It’s a journey that’s taken him from his birthplace in Buchanan, Michigan to be raised in Parker, Colorado, studying languages in Germany and, after his band The Czars split up, basing himself in New York, London, Berlin and, most recently, Iceland, where the bulk of Pale Green Ghosts was recorded. It’s also been a journey from The Czars’ folk/country noir to the lush ‘70s FM alchemy of Queen Of Denmark to the astonishing fusion of sounds that lifts Pale Green Ghosts to even giddier heights.

As if to acknowledge his journey, Grant has named the album after the opening title track, which documents the drives that he’d regularly take through the ‘80s, from Parker to the nearby metropolis of Denver, to the new wave dance clubs that have inspired the electronic elements of Pale Green Ghosts, and later on to visit the boyfriend - the ‘TC’ of Queen Of Denmark’s ‘TC & Honeybear’ - that inspired many of that album’s heartbreaking scenarios.

“I’d take the I-25, between Denver and Boulder, which was lined with all these Russian olive trees, which are the pale green ghosts of the title: they have this tiny leaves with silver on the back, which glow in the moonlight,” Grant explains. “The song is about wanting to get out of a small town, to go out into the world and become someone and made my mark.”

That Grant has made his mark is blatantly clear from how Queen Of Denmark was rapturously received. “Like a couple of similarly intense classics before it – Antony & The Johnsons’ I Am A Bird Now and Bon Iver’s For Emma… Queen Of Denmark sounds like a record its creator has been waiting his whole life to make,” MOJO concluded. Another measure of achievement, and the journey, is that one classic that Grant first heard in those new wave clubs was Sinead O’Connor’s ‘Mandinka’. Two decades later, O’Connor has not only covered the title track of ‘Queen Of Denmark’ on her latest album How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, but supplies goose-bumping backing vocals on Pale Green Ghosts.

Sinead’s presence is a surprise, but not compared to the album’s portion of synthesisers and beats – unless you already know Grant’s enduring love of vintage synth-pop and industrial dance, and more current electronic acts such as Trentemøller and Mock & Toof. “Electronica is a huge part of my personality and my influences, though I don’t think many people see that fitting in to the John Grant image, whatever that is,” he says. There were occasional electronic undertows to Czars songs and two tracks (‘That’s the Good News’ and ‘Supernatural Defibrillator"’) on the deluxe edition of Queen Of Denmark were dance tracks.

One of those prime influences has even produced Pale Green Ghosts with Grant: Birgir Þórarinsson, a.k.a. Biggi Veira, of Iceland’s electronic pioneers Gus Gus. Queen of Denmark had been recorded in Texas with fellow Bella Union mates Midlake as his backing band, and Grant intended to return there to record again with the band’s rhythm section of McKenzie Smith and Paul Alexander. But a trip beforehand to see more of Iceland, after he’d first played the Iceland Airwaves festival in 2011, led to meeting Biggi, who invited Grant to his studio in Reykjavik. The two tracks the pair recorded – ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ and ‘Black Belt’ – convinced Grant he had to make the entire record there.

If Queen Of Denmark is Grant’s ‘70s album, channeling the spirits of Karen Carpenter and Bread, then Pale Green Ghosts is his ’80s album. Of the electronic tracks, the title track is a panoramic, brooding classic, while ‘Sensitive New Age Guy’ and ‘Black Belt’ are the tracks that you might dance to in new wave clubs. ‘You Don’t Have To’ is a classic example of Grant’s influences blending together, in a reworked arrangement of a track unveiled during concert tours in 2011. It also features the distinct spacey Moog sounds that are familiar to lovers of Queen Of Denmark, while McKenzie and Alexander play on ‘Vietnam’ and ‘It Doesn’t Matter To Him’. Grant’s touring partner, keyboardist Chris Pemberton, plays the gorgeous piano coda on the album’s tumultuous finale ‘Glacier’.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pale Green Ghosts
2. Black Belt
3. GMF
4. Vietnam
5. It Doesn’t Matter To Him
6. Why Don’t You Love Me Anymore
7. You Don’t Have To
8. Sensitive New Age Guy
9. Ernest Borgnine
10. I Hate This Town
11. Glacier

The fourth studio album from Sweden’s El Perro Del Mar, released on Memphis Industries.

The chiming cymbals, bewitching vocals and downtempo disco vibe of ‘Walk On By’ promise an album of spellbinding intro- and extrospection. Airy, translucent synths meld with languid, otherworldly sounds, making this album soft and hazy, but never forgettable.

From her early DIY releases on the Gothenburg scene - including collaborations with Jens Lekman - through to 2009’s ‘Love Is Not Pop’ album, and recent work with Lykke Li, Gruff Rhys and Chad Valley, El Perro Del Mar aka Sarah Assbring has woven sophisticated late night tales of love and loss. With Assbring returning to the producer’s chair, ‘Pale Fire’ is her most seductive work yet.

Wymond’s previous EP, Earth Has Doors was about intangible and esoteric concepts; the music drifted beautifully in somewhat of an oceanic, boundless state. For the LP it was very important for him to make the songs be felt somatically. In his own words, “I wanted it to hit the body, I wanted it carnal.” Whereas the EP had been a drawn out labor of love he worked on and then shelved for several years, most songs on Under the Pale Moon developed quickly last winter.

He describes them as being effortless to write, short songs with stripped down arrangements; recorded straight away as soon as they came to him. Feeling very raw and alive, he wrote the basic structure for most of the record within a few weeks. He had the chords and melody for album standout “Singing The Ending” when last year began to take a cathartic turn. In a short span of time his closest friend was killed and he lost some family members. Without much time to deal with grief, he immediately had to tour Europe with the Fresh & Onlys for two months while still basically in shock. He became filled with an ardor for life and seeing the record through. The loss had emerged as a purifying fire and manifested not as a morose lament on tragedy but as a feverish grindstone of passion, dissent, desire, and an apolitical rebellion cry against the bondage of established order.

While never overtly attempting to address his influences, the listener can hear a bit of Go-Betweens, Echo & the Bunnymen, Nick Cave, Nikki Sudden and The Cure present in his work. Miles creates a big romantic pop record reminiscent of Roxy Music at the height of their power. Under the Pale Moon is a gorgeously dramatic and romantic debut; a focused departure from his work in the Fresh & Onlys, he emerges as innovative songwriter with limitless pop potential.

TRACK LISTING

1. Strange Desire
2. Pale Moon
3. Singing The Ending
4. Run Like The Hunted
5. Youth’s Lonely Wilderness
6. The Thirst
7. You And I Are Of The Night
8. Lazarus Rising
9. Badlands
10. Trapdoors And Ladders

Combine Philip Cunningham's Game Boy, NES, SNES, Atari STe, Commodore64 and Atari 7800-fuelled visionary dance-pop with Gordon Turner's beautifully honed vocals, lyrics and guitar, and you have the addictive Firebrand Boy sound. Simultaneously fresh and classic, these Glasgow-based 19-year-olds have been turning heads on the Scottish gig circuit and are now set to take their unique brand of fired-up electronica-with-a-heart across the UK and beyond.

The German quartet Pale, have developed into one of the best emocore acts on the European scene and their fourth album, "How To Survive Chance" is probably their best yet. More diverse, veering between infectious rock and slow and harmonic emo.