Mid-2010s pop classic, Sky Ferreira's 'Night Time, My Time' is finally back in press! Featuring singles 'Boys', 'You're Not The One and 'I Blame Myself', the original pressings of this go for silly money on Discogs - so don't miss out!!!

TRACK LISTING

1. Boys
2. Ain't Your Right
3. 24 Hours
4. Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)
5. I Blame Myself
6. Omanko
7. You're Not The One
8. Heavy Metal Heart
9. Kristine
10. I Will
11. Love In Stereo
12. Night Time, My Time

Shed Seven's third album, Let It Ride, gets a 180g vinyl re-issue, the first time the album has been made available on LP since its initial release, replicating the original 1998 Polydor pressing.

TRACK LISTING

1. Return
2. Let It Ride
3. The Heroes
4. Half Way Home
5. Devil In Your Shoes
6. She Left Me On Friday
7. A Hole
8. Drink Your Love
9. Stand Up And Be Counted
10. Chasing Rainbows
11. Goodbye
2LP Bonus Tracks:
12. In Command
13. The Skin I'm In
14. Bottom Upwards
15. Melpomene
16. My Misspent Youth
17. You
18. Slinky Love Theme
19. Forever (Isn't Such A Long Time)
20. Happy Now
21. This Is A New Day
22. Dumb Scene
23. Better Late Than Never

'Running with Scissors' is a cathartic heart ache and, ultimately, a therapeutic exploration of what it means to be alive—to love, to grieve, to regret, and to grow. It pulses with rawness and authenticity, sincerity and honesty, offering both solace and strength to anyone navigating their own emotional journey.

'Running with Scissors' is the third full-length album from Canadian trio Afternoon Bike Ride. Residing in Montreal, the group is made up of Lia (vocals, guitar, programming), David (vocals, guitar, drums, programming), and Éloi (vocals, keys, drums, programming). Since their formation in 2019, the band has released numerous projects where indie rock blends with acoustic pop, ambient field recordings, and lofi folk.

With each track on the new album, the three artists explore the rollercoaster ride of life’s most profound lessons—falling in and out of love, embracing grief, and navigating the complex spectrum of human emotion. The album feels like a series of journal entries, capturing moments of vulnerability, self-discovery, and personal growth. A lot has changed since their formation in 2019 but their hearts are still in the right place. Lead singer and songwriter Lia reflects on the bittersweet realization that life is an ongoing journey and we’ll never have all the answers, but we can still find meaning through love, meaningful connection, and the lessons that shape us. If life is one big lesson, then according to Lia, "I guess these songs are some classes I've taken."

The twelve song soundscape blends raw, emotional acoustic elements with subtle electronic layers and indie rock grunge, creating a textured blend that feels as vast and intimate as the album’s themes. It’s an immersive record that shifts perspectives, from the micro to the macro, zooming out to explore the universe and zooming in on the personal experiences that define our lives. Throughout the album, ABR explores the beauty of feeling deeply while embracing both the intensity of emotion and the struggles of finding purpose. "I'm finding my way through this world now," says Lia, "with the comfort of knowing I'll never know it all.”

TRACK LISTING

1. 20 Seasons
2. Otherworld
3. See Me Old
4. Beautiful & Treacherous
5. Reincarnated
6. Abigail
7. Couch Interlude (vinyl Only Track)
8. Oh No!
9. New Bliss
10. Feel Through
11. Miss Universe
12. Aurora
13. Running With Scissors

Finally back in print on vinyl and CD after having been unavailable for several years! First released in 2013, Euporie Tide has become the quintessential Causa Sui record over the years. For many fans this 2LP has served as the perfect entry point to the band's multi-faceted oeuvre. And with good reason – from the first notes of ”Homage” to the peaceful closer ”Eternal Flow” the listener is taken on a beatific ride. The band manages to condense an impressive range of influences into these ten tracks. Previous albums were largely centered around lengthy freeform jamming, but on Euporie Tide, this side of the band is carefully dosed to balance concise, almost proggy song structures. Everything fans of the band cherish so much is here in abundance: the fuzzy downtuned desert-rock riffs, the blissed-out, motoric krautrock, the dynamic builds, and the fragments of electric jazz and kosmische that are woven into the compositions.

Euporie Tide was created following collaborative albums with members of Sunburned Hand of the Man (Pewt'r Sessions) and Tortoise (released as Chicago Odense Ensemble), which certainly had a cross-pollinating effect on this set. Rarely does a band from the European stoner rock scene embrace such a wide range of stylistic influences, and twelve years after the album's initial release, Euporie Tide deservedly stands as Causa Sui's crowning achievement.

TRACK LISTING

1 Homage 10:08
2 The Juice 6:06
3 Echo Springs 5:06
4 Boozehound 5:20
5 Mireille 7:13
6 Fichelscher Sun 2:15
7 Ju-Ju Blues 6:35
8 Sota El Cel 1:40
9 Euporie 10:54
10 Eternal Flow 9:26

Nonesuch Records releases pianist and composer Brad Mehldau’s 'Ride into the Sun', a songbook record of music by the late singer, songwriter, and guitarist Elliott Smith. Featured musicians include singer/guitarist Daniel Rossen (Grizzly Bear); singer/mandolinist Chris Thile (Punch Brothers, Nickel Creek); bassists Felix Moseholm (Brad Mehldau Trio, Samara Joy) and John Davis (who also engineered and mixed the album); drummer Matt Chamberlain (Fiona Apple, Tori Amos, Randy Newman); and a chamber orchestra led by Dan Coleman, who also conducted on Mehldau’s 2010 album 'Highway Rider'.

'Ride into the Sun’s 10 Elliott Smith songs are complemented by four Mehldau compositions that he says are “inspired by, and reflect, Smith’s oeuvre.” Also included are interpretations of Big Star’s ‘Thirteen’, which Smith also covered, and ‘Sunday’ by Nick Drake, who Mehldau says, “I look at in some ways as sort of Smith’s visionary godfather.”

Recalling how he first got to know Smith and his music, which has been a regular part of his repertoire for years, Mehldau said that after years living in New York, he moved to Los Angeles “and there was this wonderful scene of singer-songwriters that was congregating at a club called Largo. That included Elliott but it also included artists like Rufus Wainwright, Fiona Apple. And then other musicians who had been around for a while would come down every Friday night to sit in on a gig that was led by Jon Brion. I played behind Elliott on his own tunes with Jon. It felt to me like a kind of renaissance in songwriting that flourished for a number of years.”

“Elliott Smith masterfully rendered the dark/light admix not in the least through his distinct harmony,” Mehldau continues. “Specifically, he had a way of combining major and minor modes that was all his own. You hear that on the unique, captivating chord progression that he introduced on ‘Tomorrow Tomorrow’ for just a moment before the last verse of the song. I use it, extending it for my piano solo here. This kind of minor-major gambit has a long pedigree, and my own associations as a listener include the music of Schubert and Brahms, among others.

“One of Brahms’ biographers described the feeling of one of his pieces as ‘smiling through tears’, and it would be a good description for the opening tune of Elliott’s on this set, ‘Better Be Quiet Now.’ Here is a break-up song as tender as it is rueful; the protagonist is smiling sadly as he says goodbye.”

“‘Ride into the sun’ is a beautiful point in the lyric of one of the songs that we play, ‘Colorbars’,” Mehldau says. “Elliott Smith says in the original song, ‘Everyone wants me to ride into the sun’. When I listen to music, I have a feeling that I can be in communion with somebody who is no longer in this earthly realm, like he is here. And as far as ‘riding into the sun’, it’s maybe more of a perpetual riding into the sun with him. I don’t know… There’s something mystical there.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Better Be Quiet Now
2. Everything Means Nothing To Me
3. Tomorrow Tomorrow (feat. Daniel Rossen)
4. Sweet Adeline
5. Sweet Adeline Fantasy
6. Between The Bars
7. The White Lady Loves You More
8. Ride Into The Sun: Part I
9. Thirteen
10. Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands
11. Somebody Cares, Somebody Understands
12. Southern Belle (feat. Daniel Rossen)
13. Satellite
14. Colorbars (feat. Chris Thile)
15. Sunday
16. Ride Into The Sun: Conclusion

The debut solo album from Ride bassist Steve Queralt is a beautifully brooding collection that combines the darkly textured soundscapes of early M83 or Sigur Rós with the post-punk of Joy Division and New Order, all with an electronic sheen reminiscent of Mark Pritchard or Boards Of Canada. It features guest vocals on several tracks from Sonic Cathedral labelmate Emma Anderson (formerly of Lush and Sing-Sing) and Verity Susman (Electrelane, MEMORIALS).

Swallow has been slowly but surely pieced together between Ride albums and tours over the past eight years and, perhaps as a result, has a slightly dystopian, almost Blade Runner feel that reflects the liminal spaces in which it was created.

There’s also an underlying anger and political slant. Despite the fact that the majority of the album is wordless, there is plenty of power and emotion, summed up by the few lines from Julie Sheldon’s poem ‘The Same Boat’ that appear on the closing track ‘Motor Boats’ (“We’re all in the same boat they say, but I would disagree”). According to Steve, they “capture the reality of our times perfectly”.

There are also other words on the album courtesy of the two guest vocalists. “There have been some amazing instrumental albums made over the last few years, especially in the nu-classical and post-rock worlds,” says Steve, who points out the influence of Mogwai, and even titled one of the album tracks ‘I Don’t Know How To Sing’, “but some of the tracks sounded like songs to me, just without any words.”

This led to the collaborations that, ultimately, tied the whole thing together and paved the way to the finished album. “One of the demos reminded me of Lush, who Ride had toured with in the ’90s, so I contacted Emma thinking her voice would be perfect. But she was confused and said she’d never sung lead vocals.”

“At the time I hadn’t even decided I was going to sing on my own records, so I told Steve I couldn’t do it,” explains Emma. “Then, a couple of years later, when I was singing on my own records and my debut album Pearlies was about to come out, I enquired about it, thinking he must have found someone else, but luckily he hadn’t.”

“After a few false starts, I started to doubt the project altogether. It was going nowhere,” says Steve. “Then, out of the darkness, Emma got back in touch to tell me that she’d found her voice and could I send her some tracks. A few files back and forth and an afternoon in the studio later and we had ‘Lonely Town’ and ‘Swiss Air’.”

In the meantime, Verity from Electrelane had added vocals to the song ‘Messengers’ and transformed the track. Matthew Simms, her then future bandmate in MEMORIALS, would go on to mix the finished album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've been a fan of Queralt's music for some time now, with his lovely album with Michael Smith getting a good amount of attention since I got it a few years ago. As brilliant as that was, this is a notable step up in cinematic intensity and songwriting skill. A profoundly superb debut album.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Mission Creep
Lonely Town Feat. Emma Anderson
High Teens
A Porsche Shaped Hole

Side B
Swiss Air Feat. Emma Anderson
I Don’t Know How To Sing
Messengers Feat. Verity Susman
1988
Motor Boats

Michael Grigoni and Pan•American present their first collaboration. The album’s title, New World, Lonely Ride, gestures toward its meditative orientation. The duo offers a series of reflections on the zeitgeist of our present moment, the spirit of our age: the isolation and loneliness that continues to echo in the wake of the pandemic; the fractures that mar our political discourse; the uncertainty that has stamped itself on the future of democracy. The vast geography of America and the absence of a common ground, a shared political vision, have contributed to the affective landscape of contemporary American life—of what it feels like to live in the United States today.

Using instrumental voices and textures drawn from the traditional American forms of folk, country, bluegrass and blues, and informed with a modern sense of ambience and space, the sound is both contemporary and deeply rooted. With New World, Lonely Ride, Grigoni and Pan American join countless American artists who have drawn upon this landscape—physical and affective—giving it a voice and shape, listening to its character. And in starting there, with listening, offer a response for the future.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm BANG into this sort of rippling, ambienty American guitar music at the moment, and New World, Lonely Ride is possibly the most perfect example of this I could imagine. Of COURSE it's Kranky, and of course it's majestic.

The General Store recorded four songs in 1967 of which two of them remained unreleased. More than 55 years later they see the light of the day for the very first time. Tower of Power meets Funkadelic. Limited to 300 copies and released with the blessing of the band. Can you ask for more?

TRACK LISTING

1. No Time To Ride
2. Karate

Everything feels like it has been leading to 'Interplay', Ride's seventh album, the third since their 2015 reunion. It’s the sound of the group connecting all the dots, taking the frenzied guitar attacks, hypnotic grooves and dreamy melodic hooks of their early work and setting it to a more expansive sonic template, one that takes in synth flourishes, psychedelic folk, electronic beats and noir-pop soundscapes.

It has been a period of adversity in the world of Ride. Much of that was down to writing and recording during a pandemic – a period of adversity shared by everyone, everywhere – but there was also break-ups and a messy legal battle with an ex-manager that, singer and guitarist Mark Gardener states, “threatened our very existence.” It has instilled in the record a feeling of defiance, an album that pairs classic Ride lyrical hallmarks such as escapism, dreams, the dissatisfaction of modern life, yearning and freedom with a sense of resilience.

Songs began springing up in a variety of ways. Initially working at Gardener’s own OX4 studio, there were extended jams from which pieces of music would be honed upon and reworked into something more concise whilst each band member also brought in their own home-recorded demos to work from too. That everything was filtered through what happens when the four-piece play in a room together is alluded to the record’s title.

After a year or so of sporadic sessions at OX4, the record started to take a more defined shape when, at producer Richie Kennedy’s suggestion, they decamped to Vada Studios in the Midlands. Kennedy, who was part of Erol Alkan’s team on Ride’s previous two records, had entered the sessions as a spare pair of hands but his role grew organically into producer. He became a crucial part of Interplay’s creation – the band credit him as a galvanising force when they were running out of steam.

'Interplay' is a rich listen that flows from start to finish, at times urgent and formidable, at others wistful and melancholic. It's the sound of a great British band hitting a second peak. It’s a record about perseverance, about sticking together, about finding a way forward. Nine years after coming back together, Ride keep rewriting their story.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Shoegaze legends Ride return with 'Interplay' and it once again shows that this reunion was worth waiting for! Whist Ride still have their roots planted within the shoegaze pantheon, 'Interplay's sonic palette sees the band at their most synth heavy and electronic to date. It's a welcome excursion and Ride's signature hooks and DNA remain intact!

TRACK LISTING

1. Peace Sign
2. Last Frontier
3. Light In A Quiet Room
4. Monaco
5. I Came To See The Wreck
6. Stay Free
7. Last Night I Went Somewhere To Dream
8. Sunrise Chaser
9. Midnight Rider
10. Portland Rocks
11. Essaouira
12. Yesterday Is Just A Song

Presenting a collection of deep spatial gems mined from the ever impressive TK Disco vaults for your playback listening pleasure!

The TK Disco music empire has blessed our ears and minds with an endless stream of music since it's late 1960's inception. Countless soul and funk sides were produced, cut and released by label founder Henry Stone and his associates, in turn changing the face of contemporary black music in the USA and across the world forever. It is true that the TK story originated on America's 'Space Coast', the modern frontier of lunar exploration and galactic travel, the home of NASA and countless missions beyond the stars nestled on the East Coast of the United States.

'Moon Ride' - The compilation you hold in your hands, is merely one strand of the incredible music that was beamed out of Hialeah, FL over the decades. The focus on this collection is the idea of the 'cosmic' from the Disco era. These are records that emit a spacey vibe, either from their lyrical content or equally from their sonic qualities, imbibing synths and electronics to create otherworldly grooves. These records were big hits on underground music scenes such as Daniele Baldelli's cosmic movement in the 70's and 80's in Lake Garda, they were vehicles of escapism and hedonism on the discerning dancefloors of NYC in the hands of progressive DJs like David Mancuso and Nicky Siano and they were also essential building blocks in the creation of House and Techno music in the Midwestern cities of Chicago and Detroit, inspiring legendary artists such as Mr Fingers and Jeff Mills and countless others. An essential collection of music for listening, dancing, loving and travelling!

TRACK LISTING

A1. John Tropea - Livin' In The Jungle
A2. Universal Love - Moon Ride
B1. Stevo - Pay The Price
B2. Ish - Don't Stop
C1. Wanda Star Williams - Mr UFO
C2. King Sporty & The Root Rockers - Get On Down
D1. Mad Dog Fire Department - Cosmic Funk
D2. Fern Kinney - Groove Me

Ride announce details of the reissues of their third and fourth albums
Following their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour last year, shoegaze legends Ride release two more titles of their early classic albums ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Carnival of Light’ via Wichita Recordings. These follow last year’s reissues of ‘Nowhere’, ‘4EPs’, and ‘Going Blank Again’ from their days on Creation Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Black Nite Crash
2. Sunshine / Nowhere To Run
3. Dead Man
4. Walk On Water
5. Deep Inside My Pocket
6. Mary Anne
7. Castle On The Hill
8. Gonna Be Alright
9. The Dawn Patrol
10. Ride The Wind
11. Burnin'
12. Starlight Motel
13. Nothing Lasts Forever (bonus Track)
14. Slave (bonus Track)
15. A Trip Down Ronnie Lane (bonus Track)

Ride announce details of the reissues of their third and fourth albums
Following their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour last year, shoegaze legends Ride release two more titles of their early classic albums ‘Tarantula’ and ‘Carnival of Light’ via Wichita Recordings. These follow last year’s reissues of ‘Nowhere’, ‘4EPs’, and ‘Going Blank Again’ from their days on Creation Records.

TRACK LISTING

1. Moonlight Medicine
2. 1000 Miles
3. From Time To Time
4. Natural Grace
5. Only Now
6. Birdman
7. Crown Of Creation
8. How Does It Feel To Feel?
9. Endless Road
10. Magical Spring
11. Rolling Thunder
12. I Don't Know Where It Comes From

A down-and-dirty chronicle of the birth and evolution of the Seattle grunge scene-from amateur skate parks and underground hardcore clubs to worldwide phenomenon-as told by one of its founding fathers and lead guitarist of legendary alternative rock band, Mudhoney. In the late 80s and early 90s, Steve Turner and his friends-Seattle skate punks, hardcore kids, and assorted misfits-started forming bands in each other's basements and accidentally created a unique sound that spread far beyond their once-sleepy city. Mud Ride offers an inside look at the tight-knit grunge scene, the musical influences and experiments that shaped the grunge sound, and the story of Turner's bands, Green River and Mudhoney, which went from underground flophouse shows to selling out stadiums with Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Including stories about the key moments, musicians, and albums from grunge's beginnings to its come-down from the highs of global success and stardom, this is the first account of the musical phenomenon that took over the world from someone who was there for it all. Written by Steve Turner, lead guitarist of Mudhoney, a foundational grunge band that inspired musical icons from Kurt Cobain to Sonic Youth, Mud Ride features a foreword by Pearl Jam's Stone Gossard and never-before-seen photographs and grunge memorabilia throughout. Take a seat and ride through the messy and muddy grunge scene that grew from the basements of the Northwest and went on to circle the globe.

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, is back with a special Christmas delivery from label regular Mato, using again from his special skills as a tailor of reggae and dub music.

Not much to say as the tracklist speaks for itself… Just the perfect gift to add some jerk sauce in your Christmas’ hood !!

If they can have the world cup in winter, then we can have dub at Christmas! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Yea so this arrived about four days before Christmas not giving us much lead time to ram it down your throats. Be more Pasta Paul and get it bagged ready for next year's festivities - as I can't guarantee we'll still have copies left by then. You'll thank me. Also perfect for our Australian bredrin who like to BBQ on the beach at Christmas.

TRACK LISTING

Jingle Bells Dub
Sleigh Ride Dub

Ahead of their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour starting 20th April, shoegaze legends Ride have announced the details of the reissues of their early classic albums via Wichita Recordings.

Back in the early 90s, before indie bands made the tabloids, Ride were one of our great white hopes. Fusing the sonic headrush of My Bloody Valentine with the Byrds' jingle-jangle immediacy, they seemed destined to shine. Debut album "Nowhere" captured them at their adolescent peak and "Vapour Trail" is effectively their signature tune; FX pedal-enhanced guitar assaults and nascent teenage vocals tempered by a love of all things pop.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Alongside 'Souvlaki' and 'Loveless', 'Nowhere' is one of the holy trinity albums of shoegaze and it's about time we have this absolute classic available again! From the blistering opener of 'Seagull', to the shimmering and spell-bounding closer of 'Vapour Trail', albums don't get much better than 'Nowhere'. Plus, thank goodness nobody needs to pay a million pounds for a copy off of Discogs anymore!

TRACK LISTING

Seagull
Kaleidoscope
In A Different Place
Polar Bear
Dreams Burn Down
Decay
Paralysed
Vapour Trail

Ahead of their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour starting 20th April, shoegaze legends Ride have announced the details of the reissues of their early classic albums via Wichita Recordings.

The follow-up to "Nowhere", "Going Blank Again" saw the Oxford quartet embrace their prog side. Lead single "Leave Them All Behind" was an eight minute FX-pedal onslaught that somehow managed to crack the top twenty and get them on TOTP. On the other hand, "Twisterella" and "Mouse Trap" proved they could strip away the noise in favour of concise three minute pop melodies. A career best.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Releasing only a year and a half after 'Nowhere', 'Going Blank Again' was more exemplary shoegaze from Ride and really showed that they were a band at the height of their powers. Again, much like the other two reissues, this release is essential if you've not already got a copy. Also, best album opener of all time? You'll be hard pressed to beat the 8 minute goliath of 'Leave Them All Behind'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leave Them All Behind
2. Twisterella
3. Not Fazed
4. Chrome Waves
5. Mouse Trap
6. Time Of Her Time
7. Cool Your Boots
8. Making Judy Smile
9. Time Machine
10. OX4
11. Going Blank Again
12. Howard Hughes
13. Stampede
14. Grasshopper

Ahead of their ‘Nowhere’ 30th anniversary UK tour starting 20th April, shoegaze legends Ride have announced the details of the reissues of their early classic albums via Wichita Recordings.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: A collection of Ride's first EPs 'Ride', 'Play', 'Fall' and 'Today Forever', '4 EPs' is a slice of essential music history and a must for any shoegaze fan! To be honest, it's worth it alone just for 'Drive Blind'.

TRACK LISTING

Chelsea Girl
Drive Blind
All I Can See
Close My Eyes
Like A Daydream
Silver
Furthest Sense
Perfect Time
Dreams Burn Down
Taste
Here And Now
Nowhere
Unfamiliar
Sennen
Beneath
Today

Jason McNiff returns with a new album Tonight We Ride, a collection of songs from the songwriters that inspired Jason’s writing ang playing.

As Jason explains:
'When the pandemic first broke and I took my weekly 'Sundowner' gig online, I found to my surprise a wonderful community of music fans who were ready to support me each week with donations and encouraging messages. I loved playing for people in this new format - who could've guessed it would feel so live and intimate! I sometimes played for 2 hours, all the covers I could think of, and learned many new songs to keep the shows fresh and different. This covers record really grew out of these gigs, and it's been a real privilege to immerse myself in the work of heroes such as Townes Van Zandt and Mark Knopfler. I approached the recording as if they'd been my own songs and went to the same studio and producer (Roger Askew) where I made my most recent record, Dust Of Yesterday. Of course, there are 2 Dylan tracks and 2 by one of my fave guitar players, Bert Jansch. I also got the chance to record material by lesser known, but just as brilliant, artists like Tom Russell and Stephen Foster.' 

TRACK LISTING

1. Running From Home - Bert Jansch
2. My Proud Mountains - Townes Van Zandt
3. Tonight We Ride - Tom Russell
4. Tomorrow Never Knows - The Beatles
5. One Too Many Mornings - Bob Dylan
6. I Remember You - Jason McNiff
7. Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys
8. The Open Road - Bert Jansch
9. Tunnel Of Love - Dire Straits
10. Shadow Ships Of Deptford -Jason McNiff
11. Hard Times - Stephen Foster
12. Precious Angel - Bob Dylan
13. Moving On - Leonard Cohen

Planet Mu welcomes back owner Mike Paradinas (a.k.a. µ-Ziq) for ‘Magic Pony Ride’, an album of joyful, melodic, jungle-inspired music, and his first LP of new material on the label since 2013. The title reflects the childlike wonder of the album, happy melodies are foregrounded, wordless vocals bounce and echo while sounds bubble and sparkle. Paradinas had been releasing archival albums but got a taste for making new music after a trip to Wales (inspiring ‘Scurlage’, his 2021 album on Analogical Force). This influence of using trips away as a muse is carried on in ’Magic Pony Ride’ after a weekend getaway to found Paradinas riding Icelandic horses across a snowy landscape at dawn. You can almost feel the relaxed wide open spaces in the lush synth chords of the title track and ‘Uncle Daddy’.

The album also reflects on family with features from his daughter Elka on ‘Picksing’ and ‘Elka’s Song’ and ‘Galope’ in memory of his father who passed away a few years ago. The theme of family is also found in the meditative ‘Shulem’s Theme’, a title inspired by the Netflix series Shtisel. These reflective themes tie in with this year’s 25th anniversary reissue of µ-Ziq’s 1997 breakthrough album ‘Lunatic Harness’. In Mike’s own words “Magic Pony Ride was written as a kind of follow up to ‘Lunatic Harness’, at least in terms of genre and style. After mastering Lunatic for its reissue I went back to using breaks again on some newer tracks and this is the result!”

TRACK LISTING

2LP
A:
1. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.1)
2. Goodbye
3. Picksing
B:
1. Unless
2. Turquoise Hyperfizz
3. Galope
C:
1. Uncle Daddy
2. Brown Chaos
3. Shulem's Theme
D:
1. Elka's Song
2. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.2)
3. Don't Tell Me (It's Ending)

CD
1. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.1)
2. Goodbye
3. Picksing
4. Unless
5. Turquoise Hyperfizz
6. Galope
7. Uncle Daddy
8. Brown Chaos
9. Shulem's Theme
10. Elka's Song
11. Magic Pony Ride (Pt.2)
12. Don't Tell Me (It's Ending)

Invada Records release Warren Ellis’ score to ‘This Train I Ride’.

The Australian musician (Dirty Three, Bad Seeds, Grinderman) has scored a number of high-profile films (‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’, ‘Hell or High Water’, ‘The Road’) and his latest score is for ‘This Train I Ride’, a documentary film directed by Arno Bitschy.

The score is pressed on black vinyl and comes in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with the record itself housed in a double sided printed inner sleeve featuring liner notes by Warren Ellis and Brian Eno. Digital download card included.

“My idea was to record, collate and produce the music on trains, in the spirit of the women in this documentary. Brian was so encouraging with this approach and told me about a train journey he had taken in the 80’s with no fixed destination. Over the next month I sat with my computer, loops, iPhone, Reface DX synthesiser and forgotten ideas and composed the music on the Metro and Eurostar and in various hotels while working on Ghosteen. I would send the pieces to Arno from the train, or wherever I was located, and he edited them into the film.” - Warren Ellis

The film tells the story of women hopping freight trains around America. The film follows the life-journeys of these women living on the fringe in a rapidly changing country, in their quest for identity, freedom and finding their place in the world.

TRACK LISTING

This Train I Ride
Because I Was A Girl
Westbound
The Rules Concerning Men
Airport Train
I'll Hop Trains The Rest Of My Life
Freight Train
Mystery Train

Ride handed the entirety of their highly acclaimed 6th studio album, ‘This Is Not A Safe Place’, to mysterious London act Pêtr Aleksänder, who stripped the songs back to just the vocals and added their customarily beautiful string arrangements, keys and synth textures beneath them.

The results take Ride deep into the neo-classical / ambient territory that a couple of the remixes of their previous album hinted at.

TRACK LISTING

R.I.D.E.
Future Love
Repetition
Kill Switch
Clouds Of Saint Marie
Eternal Recurrence
Fifteen Minutes
Jump Jet
Dial Up
End Game
Shadows Behind The Sun
In This Room

Ride are back with their second album since reforming — it’s titled This is Not a Safe Place and is out via Wichita. They once again teamed with producer Erol Alkan and mixer Alan Moulder, both of whom worked on 2017’s Weather Diaries, which came together quickly at the end of 2018. The first single is the sparkling “Future Love” which feature Ride’s lush, signature harmonies. They’ve always had a Byrds side to them and that plays out nicely here in a “Twisterella” kind of way. “Future Love is a song about the beginning of a relationship, when everything feels possible,” says the band’s Andy Bell. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ride were obviously one of the most influential bands in the shoegaze scene in the early 90's but since their reformation for 2017's ' Weather Diaries' have veered a little more towards the more stargazing end of the indie spectrum. Big rock choruses and catchy riffs work their way beautifully beneath the ever-hypnotic vocals of Gardner & Bell. A huge leap from their already brilliant 2017 offering, and another sign of Ride's essential place in our musical landscape.

TRACK LISTING

R.I.D.E.
Future Love
Repetition
Kill Switch
Clouds Of Saint Marie
Eternal Recurrence
15 Minutes
Jump Jet
Dial Up
End Game
Shadows Behind The Sun
In This Room

Detroit High Energy Rock in its purest essence!!!! Niagara (DESTROY ALL MONSTERS) & Ron Asheton (THE STOOGES) among other great Detroit musicians recorded this killer album back in 1996.

Now it is finally reissued on vinyl with two added tracks to the original vinyl release, remastered in order to get its purest sound, and new artwork courtesy of Mrs. Niagara Detroit and Mr. Colonel Galaxy. And guess what?

This is an extension of Destroy All Monsters with absolutely killer guitars in line with The Stooges "Funhouse" with the unique stamp and signature of Mr. Ron Asheton.

10 classic shots which need to be in your record collection right by The Stooges, Destroy All Monsters, MC5, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, Radio Birdman, The New Christs, Bored!, etc. 

Ride release their first album in over twenty years, ‘Weather Diaries’ on June 16th via Wichita Recordings.

Produced by legendary DJ, producer and remixer Erol Alkan, ‘Weather Diaries’ is packed with all the classic elements that made Ride one of the defining bands of the early ‘90s. Trembling distortion, beautiful harmonies, pounding rhythms, shimmering soundscapes and great songwriting all combine to make an album that’s ambitious in scope, timeless and thoroughly addictive. The album will be released through Wichita Recordings and sees the band reunited with label co-founders Mark Bowen and Dick Green, who worked with Ride during the band’s early years on Creation Records. It also brings the band back together with mixer Alan Moulder (Arctic Monkeys, Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers) who mixed their seminal 1990 album ‘Nowhere’ and produced it’s follow up ‘Going Blank Again’.

The revitalised four piece - comprising of Andy Bell, Mark Gardener, Laurence Colbert, and Steve Queralt - reformed and returned to the live scene in 2014, selling out headline tours around the world to a plethora of critical acclaim, as well as show stopping turns at festivals including Coachella, Primavera and Field Day. More than that though, the British music sphere especially has been littered with bands heavily indebted to Ride and their peers. The likes of The Horrors, School Of Seven Bells and labels such as Sonic Cathedral have ensured that shoegaze is a sound that's eternally relevant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lannoy Point
2. Charm Assault
3. All I Want
4. Home Is A Feeling
5. Weather Diaries
6. Rocket Silver Symphony
7. Lateral Alice
8. Cali
9. Integration Tape
10. Impermanence
11. White Sands

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

The album captures Andy and Richard at what they do best – improvising live in the studio with no script and no plan.

It is presented as four distinct periods of time of about 20 minutes in length – which are called Continuums. A journey through constantly evolving textures and instant song creation.

The trumpet creates live loops that capture breathy noises, snatches of melody and warped riffs through harmonisers and effects.

The Drums explore rhythms and textures, responding to, and driving the loops forward as they are filtered and mutated. Experience a unique ongoing musical conversation – A short ride on the arrow of time.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

This is the first taste of DJ Harvey's Wildest Dreams.

TRACK LISTING

A: Last Ride
AA: Call To Prayer

On the heels of three well-received singles comes ‘Ride Your Heart’, the bombastic debut album by LA band Bleached.

Sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin match their ability to blend a mix of freewheeling 1977 punk with vintage sunny Southern California melodic rock and roll, creating blindingly bright hooks and dark heartfelt lyrics about love, loss, and the crazy fun moments in between. That’s the goal - the sugary and sour, repurposed by two aggressively harmonic musicians and songwriters.

The band’s first single, ‘Next Stop’, epitomizes this movement - fun, raw, adventurous and free. Tossing you out onto the dancefloor, hair mussed from make-outs, cigarette still dangling from your fingertips.

Raised deep in the San Fernando Valley, their suburban isolation nurtured the girls’ creativity, as they started making their own music at a young age. Sneaking into punk shows over the hill in Hollywood, they grew up to become teenage underground staples at all-ages downtown DIY venue The Smell. “Me and Jen were punk kids who weren’t taught how to play instruments,” says Jessie. “We taught ourselves how to play, out in the garage.”

Eventually signing to Kill Rock Stars and Post Present Medium, their all girl punk band Mika Miko drew international acclaim, landing slots on tours with No Age, Black Lips, and The Gossip.

Bleached originally formed when the Clavin sisters resolved to continue working with each other after the break up of Mika Miko. Plans were postponed when the sisters joined other bands. Jennifer relocated to New York and toured extensively. With Jennifer away, Jessie began to play with various bands in LA. But in the fleeting moments they found together back home, the songs that became Bleached’s early 7” singles came together.

Since Jennifer moved back to her hometown, Bleached now serves as both girls’ chief creative outlet. “I was going crazy being in someone else’s band,” remarked Jennifer. “Me and Jessie are so proud and happy to be able to focus on our own music, together.”

As a whole, the twelve tracks on ‘Ride Your Heart’ reveal the many facets of Bleached’s music in a delicious vortex of playful harmonies, tangled guitars, and golden noise. Each song brings a new element, while also imbibing the classic moods of bands as varied and iconic in nature as The Ramones and The Cars, to The Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac.

From the syncopated backbeat and two-part chorus of ‘Dead In Your Head’, the rolling riffs and sparkling melodies of ‘Searching Through The Past’ and the pulsating energy and urgency of ‘Dreaming Without You’ and ‘Outta My Mind’, Bleached take you on a sweeping emotional roller coaster that churns and burns. ‘Ride Your Heart’ is a thrilling, beating, glorious wall of sound strong enough to withstand its own impact.

With a passing listen, this album sounds like sweet innocent orchestrated pop, but a closer inspection reveals much more. Songwriter Andy Gonzales takes his cue from sophisticated composers spanning several genres - Eric Satie, Thelonious Monk, Burt Bacharach and Os Mutantes to name but a few. The resulting songs are far more complex than your average indie-pop anthems.

This is, quite simply, one of Mayall's best albums ever. He uses some of the best guitarists in the business: Billy Gibbons, Peter Green, Johnny Lang, Jeff Healy, Steve Miller and Mick Taylor and some of the best Blues rhythm men around, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie amongst them, to produce a sparkling set of good rockin' blues tracks second to none.