Vegyn releases his emotionally rich sophomore album, The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions. Sublimely crafted songs, each allowing for a dose of human imperfection, wobbling on a tightrope between elation and an eerie melancholia. The record includes guest features from John Glacier, Léa Sen, Matt Maltese, Lauren Auder and Ethan P. Flynn, and is released through his own imprint, PLZ Make It Ruins.

The producer's shape-shifting musical output has so far tended towards excess, whether working with some of the world’s biggest rap and R&B artists (Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, Kali Uchis), or unleashing 70 track mixtapes, letting light into his creative process by sharing scraps from the cutting room floor. By contrast, this new album emerged from a space of free-flowing experimentation, with a lighter touch to the productions. His trademark flourishes and BPM changes take a backseat to melody and clear structure. As Vegyn himself puts it: “I’m just trying to make interesting songs – feeling was the focus.”

TRACK LISTING

1. A Dream Goes On Forever (feat. John Glacier)
2. Another 9 Days (feat. Ethan P. Flynn)
3. Turn Me Inside (feat. Léa Sen)
4. Halo Flip (feat. Lauren Auder)
5. Everything Is The Same
6. The Path Less Travelled
7. Makeshift Tourniquet
8. Time Well Spent
9. In The Front (feat. John Glacier)
10. Trust (feat. Matt Maltese)
11. Stress Test
12. Last Night I Dreamt I Was Alone
13. Unlucky For Some…

A rare blend of eloquent lyrical craft and explorative musicianship, the songs of Tiny Ruins are etched into the memories of crowds and critics worldwide.

Traversing influences that cross genre and era, the artistry of Hollie Fullbrook and her band spans delicate folk, lustrous dream pop and ebullient psychedelia. Building on the sparse arrangements and a novelist's eye for detailcultivated over the past several years, the group's greatly anticipated fourth album is out on Marathon Artists and Courtney Barnett's label Milk! Records.

Where the third album Olympic Girls was suffused with loss and existential emptiness, with fourth album Ceremony, Hollie Fullbrook's evolution as Tiny Ruins has reached an apex of power, as she's become a deft bandleader of incredible musicians. Ceremony has many moods, ranging from intense minimalist 'Diving & Soaring' that evokes a classic folk vibe through to the heavier Neil-Young & Crazy Horse inspired 'Dorothy Bay', boppy danceable 'In Light of Everything', and the hooky, uplifting 'Dogs Dreaming'. Noodly 70s electric guitars, eclectic percussion and prominent bass make it their most listenable and accessible album to date. The songs are all of a theme - exploring the coastal shores of the Manukau Harbour and working through a psychological 'shellscape', while tending toward a joyful / hopeful take on the passing of time.

Ceremony is Hollie's highest achievement, an album about confronting confusion, loss, dislocation and ultimately, realising the beauty of life's unpredictable paths.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dogs Dreaming
2. Daylight Savings
3. Diving & Soaring
4. In Light Of Everything
5. Out Of Phase
6. Dorothy Bay
7. Seafoam Green
8. Earthly Things
9. Dear Annie
10. Sounds Like
11. The Crab
12. Waterbaby

The second installment of gems and nuggets straight from the infamous jukebox at Malcolm and Vivienne's King's Road SEX boutique.

Compiled again by Marco Pirroni (Adam and The Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees) another collection of carefully curated tracks that were played on rotation at 430 kings road Chelsea, throughout 1974-1976.

Years in the making, this follow up to Marco’s 2004 “SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die” continues to complete the jukebox playlist with tracks contributed from those friends who frequented the shop - Jordan Mooney (RIP), Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Sam Bully amongst others – remembering those all-important songs that soundtracked the shop and left lasting impressions on them over 47 years ago.

Another wild ride and a kaleidoscope of jukebox bangers from The Animals to Max Byraves, Nico to Burundi Black, these tracks undoubtedly played a heavy influence on SEX’s customer’s young ears many who would go on and change the musical world forever - Sex Pistols, The Clash, Chrissie Hynde, Siouxsie Sioux to name just a few.

Artwork supplied by Personality Crisis with unpublished photographs from Jane England, a student at the time but already understood the cultural significance and beauty of both the shop and Jordan Mooney who the compilation is dedicated to.

Quotes:

“This is the second album of music from the jukebox at 430 Kings road Chelsea, this place was the center of my world from 1973 to early 1977 when I had to grow-up and move on. The tracks have nothing much to do with each other but in my mind, they all go together: Winifred Atwill and the Animals, Mott the Hoople and Max Bygraves have for the last 40 years become forever interlinked. Malcolm, Vivienne, Jordan, Steve Jones and Paul Cook (who would both put their favourite songs on the jukebox) all have a hand in it. In the internet age I still know almost nothing about these artists and I’ve never bothered to look them up. Sex: Vol 1 and 2 are to be played in the old-fashioned way. That is, you put them and listen all the way through (jukeboxes don’t have remotes). Hopefully, it will give a flavour of the time, when none of us who hung around in The scene later to be known as punk had the slightest clue what we were doing or why we we’re doing it. I could probably hazard a guess but it really doesn’t matter. Its nostalgia for a bygone age with a soundtrack from an even more bygone age. But I loved it all then and I love it now.

Marco Pirroni, 2022

“Just imagine being in this mystical clothes shop at any time during 1974-1976 and being part of what I saw as a place of creative ideas, like the cafés you’d have found in Russia or Prague where great philosophers used to churn over ideas and punch holes in the norm. Dark luxurious rubber clad walls with slogans that may be old but were still pertinent to US. At the end of this tunnel of decadence and the risqué was that jukebox. Filled with music to inspire and encourage you to dig deeper.”

Jordan Mooney

“Memories of a jukebox. The first thing we did when going into the shop was head to the jukebox and fire up some music. It was great listening to all those 50’s/60’s tracks and it was a bit of an education music wise. Blasting out great Rock’n’Roll, Garage / Rebel Rock, it had to be the coolest jukebox in London at the time and we’d spend hours hanging around, digging the scene and looking cool. As time went by we’d add our own 45’s into the mix but the jukebox choice had Malcolm's stamp all over it with a selection of outsider, freaky misfits.”

Paul Cook

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting
SIDE A
1. The Animals - We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place
2. Chris Farlowe - Out Of Time
3. Dave Berry - Don't Gimme No Lip Child
4. Peanuts Wilson - Cast Iron Arm
5. The Cougars - Saturday Nite At The Duck-Pond
SIDE B
6. Dave & Ansell Collins - Double Barrel
7. Burundi Steïphenson Black - Burundi Black
8. John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me
9. The Dakotas - Cruel Sea
10. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy- Paralyzed
11. Fats Domino - Sick & Tired
SIDE C
12. Winifred Atwell - Hawaiian Cha Cha
13. Max Bygraves - You Need Hands
14. Lloyd Price - Where Were You On Our Wedding Day
15. The Ethiopians - Train To Skaville
16. Dave & Ansell Collins - Monkey Spanner
SIDE D
17. Billy Fury - Wonderous Place
18. Nico - I'm Not Sayin'
19. The Leaves - Funny Little World
20. The Animals - I Can’t Believe It
21. Ron Moody - You Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two
22. Dave Berry - The Crying Game
23. Mott The Hoople - The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll

CD
1. The Animals - We've Gotta Get Out Of This Place
2. Chris Farlowe – Out Of Time
3. Dave Berry - Don't Gimme No Lip Child
4. Peanuts Wilson - Cast Iron Arm
5. The Cougars - Saturday Nite At The Duck-Pond
6. Dave & Ansel Collin – Double Barrel
7. Burundi Steïphenson Black - Burundi Black
8. John Leyton - Johnny Remember Me
9. The Dakotas - The Cruel Sea
10. The Legendary Stardust Cowboy - Paralyzed
11. Fats Domino - Sick & Tired
12. Winifred Atwell - Hawaiian Cha Cha
13. Max Bygraves - You Need Hands
14. Lloyd Price - Where Were You On Our Wedding Day
15. The Ethiopians - Train To Skaville
16. Dave & Ansel Collins - Monkey Spanner
17. Billy Fury - Wonderous Place
18. Nico – I'm Not Sayin'
19. The Leaves - Funny Little World
20. The Animals - I Can't Believe It
21. Ron Moody - You Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two
22. Dave Berry - The Crying Game
23. Mott The Hoople - The Golden Age Of Rock 'n' Roll

George Riley is London music's most uncategorizable new star. With a smoky, jazz-inflected voice, she weaves her way through productions that borrow from jungle, R&B and ambient soundscapes. On “Running in Waves”, a new eight-song collaboration with producer Vegyn, she's defiantly herself, writing with searing emotional honesty about everything from relationship anxiety to fear of failure to her love for Camper shoes. Whilst paying tribute to the faithful singer-songwriter genre, Riley’s grasp of harmony, modern inflections and dynamics; combined with Vegyn’s meticulous grasp of futuristic rhythms and a glistening, sparkly production aesthetic make this very much a pop record for the right now. Equal parts anthemic, introspective and danceable – it’s a personal and intermate record that you’re likely to revisit time and time again. It seems equally suited to both solo listening and singing along with your best girl mates on the bus, at the shopping center, or excitedly getting ready for the weekend.

George has previously collaborated with ANZ, Joe Armon-Jones, Lex Amor & Olver Palfreyman.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Sacrifice
A2 Time
A3 Jealousy
A4 Running In Waves

Side B
B1 Delusion
B2 Honesty
B3 Acceptance
B4 Desire

Listening to the dissonant, hallucinogenic world of pigbaby feels like sinking deeper into the artist’s subconscious. His introspective bedroom folk draws together the most surreal of reference points - from Sinead O’Connor playing the Virgin Mary in Irish film ‘The Butcher Boy’, to the online reality game ‘Second Life’, to random YouTube videos of people fighting - to imply a doomscrolling, daydreaming mind.

Pieced together on a small keyboard during a period of intense isolation, pigbaby has formed a picture of digital chaos, longing, and loneliness on his debut EP, ‘Palindromes’.

The artist behind pigbaby grew up in Ireland, where he spent a lot of time in a record shop in Dublin. His earliest musical education came from listening to his grandad playing the mandolin as he sat on his knee, or his mum blasting Thin Lizzy. The musical loves that can most clearly be heard in his own songs are Daniel Johnston and Jim O’Rourke - experimental, ambient singer-songwriters who deal in rough-edged truthtelling.

In crafting these off-kilter musical collages, pigbaby called in friends and asked them to add saxophone, piano, some Irish folk-indebted violin, and a Swarsangam, layering these diverse sounds with scraps of internet ephemera and his own field recordings. The finished EP caught the attention of Joe Thornalley, aka Vegyn, who leapt to release them on PLZ Make It Ruins.

TRACK LISTING

In The Movies
It’s A Long Way Down From Here
Palindromes
Tá Mé Ar Muin Na Muice
I Don't Believe In Jesus But Three Grams Of These Mushrooms Is Making Me Feel Some Kinda Way
Why Don't You Stay, For A Moment

Stroom's valentine special for 2019 sees the label excavate some lovely wave from Venice, Italy (1981-1984). Though the city may be best known for gondolas, the biennale and romantic getaways, it seems those canals spawned some vital contributions to Italy's vibrant underground pop scene in the 80s, not least the DIY sounds of Ruins. The collaborative project of Alessandro Pizzin and Piergiuseppe Ciranna, Ruins took inspiration from British post punk, US electro, the robots from Düsseldorf and the sleek new wave topping the international charts at the time. Opener "Elegant Shout" fuses crunchy electronics and grooving bass and guitar to create a bedroom pop beauty which could easily have made it onto MFM's "Uneven Paths" comp. "Alone" is a punchier affair, more obviously directed at the leftfield dancefloors with insistent synths and the kind of garbled chorus you get from no-wave. Cut a rug in your baggiest trousers with the early-Spandeau stylings of "You're Like A Cigarette", then go wild with the drunk in the jazz club weirdo post-punk of "Skeleton In Love". The flipside keeps the hits coming, be it the slow and sleazy "Fit Of Nerves", tropical pop bangers "Boys & Girls" and "Everybody Knows Me" or the whacked out white funk of "It's Not Too Grand". Long live Stroom and their endless knowledge of alternative wave greats.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Skinny ties, skew-wiff sounds and the weirdest, white funk around - sounds good to me. Sitting at the groovier end of the post punk/synth pop spectrum, "Occasional Visits" is a wavey masterpiece from Italy's 80s underground. Time to dance differently...

TRACK LISTING

A1. Elegant Shout
A2. Alone
A3. You're Like A Cigarette
A4. Skeleton In Love
B1. Fit Of Nerves
B2. Boys & Girls
B3. Everybody Knows Me
B4. It's Not Too Grand

Traversing influences that cross genre and era, the artistry of Hollie Fullbrook and her band spans delicate folk, lustrous dream pop. Production by David Lynch, Olympic Girls bring ebullient psychedelia to the album.

Building on the sparse minimalism and mesmerising songwriting of earlier releases, Olympic Girls comprises a taut and agile quiver of songs, dancing with explorative instrumentation and a pop sensibility that springs with life.

“How much would you be willing to give?” Fullbrook asks point-blank in first single ‘How Much’, ahead of woozily discordant strings and a stomping neopsychedelic rhythm. The lyric brims with imagery of supermarket breakdowns, lilos, snarks and silos while an anthemic guitar hook soars throughout. Not content to leave the song at a stable conclusion, a thumping ‘I am the Walrus’- esque bass outro propels the track boomerang-style back to a space of adroit experimentation.

“I’ve heard Olympic Girls, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor”, wrote Grant Smithies. “Clustered around more introspective passages typical of confessional singer-songwriters are gnarlier phrases that give her work its buzzy voltage: arresting visual images, weird associations, daisy-chains of telling detail.”

“…an album confident in its vulnerability and luxuriating in a bigger sound.” - LOUD & QUIET (8/10).

“It’s a song that certainly leaves a mark, and suggests that seeing Tiny Ruins in their upcoming tour will be an undoubtedly memorable experience.” - THE 405. 

“a twilight piece of pared down indie pop” - CLASH.

TRACK LISTING

Olympic Girls
School Of Design
How Much
Sparklers
Holograms
Kore Waits In The Underworld
Bounty
One Million Flowers
My Love
Leda
Star, False, Fading
Cold Enough To Climb

'Future Ruins' presents a band moving with real time and real life vitality, showcasing new tricks alongside classic hallmarks. It exhibits Swervedriver’s fabled widescreen escapism, but with a tension that echoes the sleeve image of Coney Island in skeletal monochrome, like a post mortem photograph of a failed utopia. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Swervedriver do it once again, their shimmering dytopian drone meeting headfirst with beautiful shoegaze aesthetics and hefty songwriting prowess to craft an absorbing and enthralling listen.

TRACK LISTING

1 Mary Winter
2 The Lonely Crowd Fades In The Air
3 Future Ruins
4 Theeascending
5 Drone Lover
6 Spiked Flower
7 Everybody’s Going Somewhere And No-One’s Going Anywhere
8 Golden Remedy
9 Good Times
10 Radio-Silent

Ruins is Wolf People’s new album, and its over-riding theme is that of nature reclaiming the land. The transcendence of life over politics, plants over people. It asks: where are we going and what comes next? If culture is history’s narration, then Wolf People are custodians and conduits; electrified sages, if you will. Through them runs a time-line of a nation rising from bloody glory to existentialist confusion.

Yet within Ruins, their album proper, lies a spirit of hope too, it is a reminder that society is no match for the mighty power of music and nature working in perfect symbiosis. Wolf People are time travellers, their tools mythology, history, hauntology, big riffs, bigger beats, electricity. Recorded in Devon, Isle Of Wight and London, Ruins is their most direct and instinctive work yet, simultaneously reaching back into a fecund past to tell us who we are today, while harnessing the power of modern technology and ideas to ponder unknown futures. Lyrically Ruins imagines how the planet might appear when society has finally fallen to dust and ash, and the creeping vines and nettles have reclaimed the land. It is the product of letting go of conceit, contrivance and, indeed, a career plan.

Influences upon Ruins come in all shapes, size, contours and hues: the discovery of proto Sabbath/Zeppelin Scottish band Iron Claw, the lesser known landscapes of rural Bedfordshire, backstage Taekwondo stretches, Scandinavian psychedelia, fleeting rural epiphanies, Dungen, Trees, Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, a group holiday on a remote Finnish island, and Jagjaguwar flipping out after seeing them play in Bloomington, Indiana and insisting it was time they made their Back In Black...

TRACK LISTING

1 Ninth Night
2 Rhine Sagas
3 Night Witch
4 Kingfisher
5 Thistles
6 Crumbling Dais
7 Kingfisher Reprise
8 Not Me Sir
9 Belong
10 Salts Mill
11 Kingfisher Reprise II
12 Glass

Eagerly anticipated new album from Liz Harris AKA Grouper.

IN HER OWN WORDS...

Ruins was made in Aljezur, Portugal in 2011 on a residency set up by Galeria Zé dos Bois. I recorded everything there except the last song, which I did at mother's house in 2004. Iʼm still surprised by what I wound up with. It was the first time Iʼd sat still for a few years; processed a lot of political anger and emotional garbage. Recorded pretty simply, with a portable 4-track, Sony stereo mic and an upright piano. When I wasnʼt recording songs I was hiking several miles to the beach. The path wound through the ruins of several old estates and a small village.

The album is a document. A nod to that daily walk. Failed structures. Living in the remains of love. I left the songs the way they came (microwave beep from when power went out after a storm); I hope that the album bears some resemblance to the place that I was in.

TRACK LISTING

1. Made Of Metal
2. Clearing
3. Call Across Rooms
4. Labyrinth
5. Lighthouse
6. Holofernes
7. Holding
8. Made Of Air

An excellent collection of intense, dynamic songs, recorded over a long weekend in Chicago, with the help of Steve Albini.