South London sibling duo PUNCHBAG (Clara and Anders Bach) pair their new EP 'I Am Obsessed' with their debut EP 'I'm Not Your Punchbag' in one combined record, marking their first-ever physical release, arriving as a Dinked Early Doors Edition.

Opening on off-kilter piano stabs, the track sets up a tension that quickly gives way to something far darker beneath their restless left-field pop. Clara’s lyrics frame fixation as bodily and inescapable, from dirt under fingernails to crumbs in bedsheets and thoughts that won’t leave your chest.

"It's about being completely obsessed with something or someone, but not in a cute way, more in a 'your whole body is under attack' kinda way. It's sort of disordered, chaotic, overwhelming," Clara explains.

The new single follows July 2025 release ‘I Love This!’ (also set to feature on the EP) – a wide-eyed surge of feeling that reinforced PUNCHBAG’s instinct for pairing pop immediacy with emotional overload.

Speaking more on their upcoming second EP, the band said:

"If our first EP was a selfie, these new songs are like zooming in and thinking, 'fucking hell my pores look huge'. This EP is turning up the contrast on everyday life, rinsing the disgusting dish towel so far that all the gunk comes out. It’s pushing PUNCHBAG’s sonic world even further, into a grander landscape, and dramatising the everyday more than ever before."

With each release, Clara and Anders continue to push their instincts further, tightening their sound and leaning harder into the extremes that define it - all part of a wider mission to distil the most intense, concentrated version of who they are as artists.

That intensity spills directly into their live shows, where the duo’s sibling chemistry and unfiltered energy have earned a reputation for turning rooms into something closer to group therapy than a gig - a visceral, communal thrill and a celebration of feeling too much, all at once.

Clocking in at just under 15 minutes, PUNCHBAG's debut EP 'I'm Not Your Punchbag' (released May 2025) was a breathless introduction. Veering between chaos and clarity where sweetness clashed with distortion, every track felt like a full-body jolt. The EP saw the band receive early tastemaker press: NME (Radar Interview), Dork (HYPE Cover + ★★★★ review), CLASH (Next Wave), Wonderland (New Noise), DIY (★★★★ review), plus further tips from PAPER Mag, The Line of Best Fit, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Popjustice and many more.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. FUCK IT
2. I’M NOT YOUR PUNCHBAG
3. PRETTY YOUTH
4. YOU USED TO BE SO SEXY

Side B
1. WHAT’S IN MY BAG
2. PILE OF CLOTHES
3. PLAYING GOD
4. I LOVE THIS!
5. I AM OBSESSED

Forked tongue stuffed deep in their cheek and rubber baby masks stretched over their heads, Ty & the Muggers bottle the free spirits of the Emotional Mugger tour, then heave them into the audience on this stomping BBC performance from 2016. Gloriously guttural and blown-out sonics support Ty’s all-to-the-wall vocal performances on every song. "LIVE" "AT" "THE" "BBC" puts the ‘sick’ back into ‘satiric’ and the ‘the fuh!?!” back into ‘FUN!’

TRACK LISTING

1. Squealer
2. Breakfast Eggs
3. Emotional Mugger
4. Candy Sam
5. L.A. Woman

Hailed as a “quiet masterpiece”upon release, Yo La Tengo's And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out proposed a radical new future for rock music. Released at a time when the music industry was changing dramatically thanks to the rise of online file sharing, it suggested that the only way for a band to survive was to listen to themselves.

A delicate and hushed album, its songs explore the quiet battles that take place every day and the beauty that can emerge from the ordinary. In many ways, this is reflective of the story of the band that made it – self-managed for most of their career and having maintained the same line-up since 1992, Yo La Tengo almost resemble a suburbs-based nuclear family.

And Then Nothing… argues that great art does not come from suffering, but instead, steady, unglamorous work. It is an album that helped forge a new mythology for rock and roll: one not built on sex, drugs and debauchery, but instead the quiet lives of people living in peaceful suburban homes. From the nothingness of the everyday, something incredible can emerge.

Table of Contents

Tamati's Notte in Riviera EP on the ever-stronger young label Saint Wax is a perfect bit of Balearic house escapism. The title track, which translates as 'night on the Riviera', is just that - a humid late-night house cut with some erect female vocals. 'Tutto Un Deja Vu' cuts loose with freewheeling melodies and blissed-out pads, and 'Magica' then goes deep. Italian producer Franz Scala blends 80s vibes with modern sensibilities like few others as he shows on his remix of the title cut, then Sparkling Attitude and Gledd add their own fresh versions.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Tamati treats us to an EP full of playful disco and house with catchy female vocals, topped off with 3 remixes catering for all sorts of moods and occasions. I personally really dig Franz Scala's moody italo tinged version of one of the tracks... If you're into Peggy Gou, or you enjoyed Aili & Transistorcake's EP 'Dansu' from a few years back this record is definitely one to check out!

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
Notte In Riviera
Tutto Un Deja Vu
Magica

Side 2
Notte In Riviera (Franz Scala Remix)
Tutto Un Deja Vu (Sparkling Attitude Italo Rave Remix)
Magica (Gledd Remix)

‘You Are Not A Stranger Here,’ the long-awaited new album by Danny & the Champions of the World, is the sound of a band exploring new and surprising musical terrain. Their seventh studio release and first since 2017’s ‘Brilliant Light,’ it’s produced by Champs keyboard player Thomas Collison and features frontman Danny George Wilson’s most compelling songs to date.

TRACK LISTING

1. Talking A Good Game
2. Kicking Tyres
3. Last Exit
4. Every Door You Have Ever Opened
5. I'm In Love
6. Future Past
7. In Search Of Koji
8. The Robot Cries
9. The Poetics Of Space
10. Soon Or Later

'Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not' is the deluxe album of Charli xcx groundbreaking album 'BRAT'. The CD & Vinyl will be out 11th October.

‘BRAT’ is shortlisted for the Mercury Prize 2024 and has already reached Gold certified status in the UK with over 100k sales since June 7th. Charli has just landed her first lead #1 single in the UK with ‘Guess’, which features on the deluxe album.

Avant-pop and electronic superstar Charli xcx has become an iconic figure in the arts, having helped expand the landscape of popular music over the last decade by seamlessly traversing the underground and mainstream with her artistic output. Over the course of a trailblazing career, the multi-hyphenate creative has earned critical acclaim for her innovative style and entrepreneurial spirit and seen her forward-thinking approach reshape pop culture in the process.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the greatest pop albums this year returns for those of you that couldn't get a copy the first time round, and this time it has more tracks! It's all in the name really, and the extras are every bit as good as the rest of the LP. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
1. 360
2. Club Classics
3. Sympathy Is A Knife
4. I Might Say Something Stupid
5. Talk Talk
6. Von Dutch
7. Everything Is Romantic
8. Rewind
9. So I
10. Girl, So Confusing
11. Apple
12. B2b
13. Mean Girls
14. I Think About It All The Time
15. 365
16. Hello Goodbye
17. Guess
18. Spring Breakers

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. 360
2. Club Classics
3. Sympathy Is A Knife
4. I Might Say Something Stupid
5. Talk Talk
Side B:
6. Von Dutch
7. Everything Is Romantic
8. Rewind
9. So I
10. Girl, So Confusing
Side C:
11. Apple
12. B2b
13. Mean Girls
14. I Think About It All The Time
15. 365
Side D:
16. Hello Goodbye
17. Guess
18. Spring Breakers

Twenty years ago, mclusky released their third album, 'The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not on Fire' via Too Pure. In the years since, their legend has only grown, proved by their recent sold-out tour dates and announcement of a new album. Alternative Press described them as “a smash up between the scabrous rock noise of the Jesus Lizard and the jagged rhythms and open spaces of Gang Of Four”. Originally produced by the late, great Steve Albini, this reissue has been mastered by his close friend and Shellac bandmate, Bob Weston.

TRACK LISTING

1. Withoug MSG I Am Nothing
2. That Man Will Not Hang
3. She Will Only Bring You Happiness
4. Kkkitchens, What Were You Thinking?
5. Your Children Are Waiting For You To Die
6. Icarus Smicarus
7. Slay!
8. You Should Be Ashamed, Seamus
9. Lucky Jim
10. Forget About Him, I’m Mint
11. 1956 And All That
12. Falco Vs. The Young Canoeist
13. Support Systems

Now available on vinyl for the first time, Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker’s ‘Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour’ album from 2014.

A year in the making, ‘Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour’ builds on the blend of traditional and contemporary songwriting first explored in 2013’s ‘Fire And Fortune’.

Drawing on sumptuous chamber folk textures and rich instrumentation, this new record has a timeless yet current sound, examining and reflecting upon the theme of time past, present and future.

A short while removed from his acclaimed Brothers Fowl album, released in late 2012, Dam Mantle returns as part of the Free Association collective with a new three-track 12” on NOTOWN Recordings.

A loose collective of musicians from his Glasgow home, this EP showcases, according to Tom Marshallsay AKA Dam Mantle, ‘a small glimpse of what's been getting made in the studio recently. There's quite a few other folks who feature on some of these tracks, so it's a demonstration of the collective attitude behind all this’.

The EP is a glimpse of the moods being explored in his live sets, where his diverse productions converge in a fervent sonic assemblage. The A side gives two heads-down hip shakers which explore a diverse sound palette, while the flip-side adds urgency and steady syncopation with a streak of dark intent and an anticipatory glimmer.

Since the release of his Brothers Fowl album, Dam Mantle has been busy ‘mainly playing records and putting on parties, living life, working’. In addition, he’s spent a bit of time working on collaborative projects, mainly as General Ludd, releasing via the Mister Saturday Night banner, the NYC promoter and label.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Free Association - Heavy Velvet Affair
A2. Dam Mantle Feat. Baker - Simultaneous Fall
B1. Dam Mantle - The Underlying Issue

Micah P. Hinson was born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, into a strict Christian fundamentalist household. He began to experiment with music upon moving to Abilene, Texas in his teens. In the relative isolation of this town, he became immersed in the local music scene. In 2003, he teamed up with the Texas collective the Earlies which provided a lush backdrop for Hinson’s winsome tales of love, loss and regret, before releasing solo albums for Sketchbook, Jade Tee and Full Time Hobby. 'Micah P. Hinson and the Nothing', his first release on Talitres, is a collection of songs Micah wrote before a terrible van accident he had on the Spanish highway in 2011.

Unsure if or when his arms would ever work properly again, Micah began listening to demos he has made before he went on that Spanish trip. The songs took a different light and he began sending them off to people around the world (The Twilight Sad, his Belgium Quartet, his Texan side-kick, T. Nicholas Phelps) and with their help he began to create a record without the use of his arms. Soon after this, Micah was invited to go and record in Santander, Espana, at Moon River Studio. For two weeks and two days, Fernando 'Mac' and Micah realized what was to become "Micah P. Hinson and The Nothing", working with an astounding array of local musicians, sitting behind the trap set, standing beside the upright bass, holding a viola, or tumbling away the tympani.

Dispelling any burden of ‘the difficult second album’, Esben And The Witch have comprehensively transcended any such slump or curse with ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’, a majestic, haunting and triumphant work that is not ‘difficult’ in the slightest.

Their second full-length brings to fruition concepts that glimmered on their first, 2011’s acclaimed ‘Violet Cries’, but there are no laurels being rested upon here. To make their second album, Esben And The Witch questioned, challenged and rewired their past to find the way to their future and have produced their first masterpiece.

To quote Daniel Copeman, “We had a clearer idea of what we wanted to achieve on this album, and how we could achieve it. We’re more focused, more confident.”

Their first album took them on the road, and the road took them all over the globe. It was on these journeys, during van-held conversations, that their second album began to take shape, the band happening upon an ancient Greek palindrome ‘Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin’ which, when translated, gave ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ its title.

They wanted the album to unfurl like a journey, like a day, where opening songs are possessed of a brightness, an optimism that ebbs away over the record’s course. The radiant glide of opener ‘Iceland Spar’, gives way to the bleak lonesomeness of ‘Yellow Wood’, the moment where the sun sets, with closing track ‘Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night’ ending proceedings at a peak of drama and intensity.

Previously, lyrics were written more collaboratively between the trio; this time Rachel assumed the sole responsibility herself, honing her words and stories. The lyrics are inspired by TS Eliot and Sylvia Plath, by the works of Vladimir Nabokov and Philip Pullman, Salvador Dali and the surrealist movement; that, and van conversations questioning what it would be like to meet your doppelganger thousands of miles from home.

The result is an album that finds new shades within the Esben palette, and when placed alongside ‘Violet Cries’, feels like a fuzzy image that’s pulled successfully into focus.

All of this makes you wonder where this road will take them next. More to the point, it makes you want to savour where Esben And The Witch are at now, because ‘Wash The Sins Not Only The Face’ is a sublime experience, an album whose mysteries and riddles will entrance.

TRACK LISTING

Iceland Spar
Slow Wave
When That Head Splits
Shimmering
Deathwaltz
Yellow Wood
Despair
Putting Down The Prey
The Fall Of Glorieta Mountain
Smashed To Pieces In The Still Of The Night

Sissy & The Blisters release their new double Aside single, ‘Killing Time’ on new label Not So Pretty.

“The Vaccines, The Strokes and Interpol are contemporary references, but the roots of Sissy & The Blisters feel a lot deeper - taking in everything from Thee Headcoatees to The Standells. Fans of garage rock take note” - Independent

“The sound of scurrilously reinvented garage pop falling time in a massive egg timer” - Steve Lamacq, 6Music

“A riot of doom-laden garage rock” - Sunday Times Culture

‘I Am Not Afraid Of You And I Will Beat Your Ass’ is the eleventh full-length album by Hobokonbased alternative indie band Yo La Tengo, originally released on September 12, 2006. It is their sixth album released on Matador.

The title of the album is rumoured to be a (paraphrased) quote by NBA player Tim Thomas. Sitting on the bench together during a game, Thomas was caught on tape by the MSG Network in a profane exchange with another player: “Everyone in this organization is afraid of you, but I’m not, and I will beat your ass.”

While their colossal sonic achievements are well-documented, Yo La Tengo's ninth album is more "In A Silent Way" than "Interstellar Space": a quietly intense melange of pulsing beats, acoustic guitar strum, ringing vibraphone and organ washes. Add electric guitar buzzing underneath dreamy, nearly whispered vocals, and "ATNTIIO" is more mood swing than song cycle. Yo La Tengo have stripped away layers of electric guitar chaos from their sound. Is it so we can hear their voices? So they can hear each other? Whatever the reason, Georgia and Ira's most audible and distinctive vocal performances to date are genuinely intimate and affecting. The quieter settings allow other subtle details to emerge: guest Susie Ibarra's percussion on the first single, "Saturday," high close harmonies swelling in from nowhere, Hubley's delicate brushwork, the gorgeous shimmer of vibes and mellotron. Such are the gifts of Yo La Tengo. They are a pop band, but don't just write pop songs; they write what can only be described as Yo La Tengo songs. By not rocking out, Ira, Georgia and James have made a record which shows how tight-knit a musical unit the trio have become. They are like a three-cornered atom harnessing its energy to the point where blinding explosions are no longer necessary to emanate power.

The band came together through a love of abrasive guitars and collapsing drums when pseudo-brothers Jake and Luke found Gypsy and forced him to 'sing whilst playing the guitar'. On record they create their own world of art-disco and discordant chaos inspired by and compared to a spazzed-out danced up Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, Shellac and Elastica. 'Three-pronged indie-pop masterminds. Sounds like Graham Coxon armed with fresh socks and power-tools' - NME.

Having recorded albums for labels such as XL and Planet Mu, Capitol K returns with full length number six, this time on Faith and Industry. The first track unfolds gradually in classic Capitol K style with the beat-poet driven, nostalgic rave of "Diamond Skys", the energy rises with the deconstructed bossa-nova of "Go Go Go", again influenced by the early days of Beat poetry. Things slow down a little for Steve Lamacq ROTW single "Libertania". Next up, "Acid Favela" takes the gigantic baile funk "Rambo" anthem and mixes in some acid lines and shoe-gazing riffage like only Capitol K can. "Freak" is a progressive hyper-funk freak out over a cut up 2-step rhythm. "Impression", is part two of "Freak", reflecting on a love with a sense of stillness and calm, musically revisiting K's penchant for revealing serene melodies from dictaphone tape cut ups.

Once again moving the bar for 'what can be done in just one record', no two songs sound the same. There's everything from epic soundscapes to jaunty popsongs, to gorgeous love songs with a few rock'n'roll numbers thrown in. All delivered with humour, a smattering of falsetto and a huge dose of that unique Yo La Tengo charm.

Sharp angular guitars, quiet / loud dynamics and a typically DC-style hardcore edge. Produced by Ian Mackaye. Excellent.

First release from these emo / art rockers, since their "No Kill No Beep Beep" album in 2000. Two new tracks, produced by Ian Mackaye.