Sofie Royer, "one of Europe’s most intriguing underrated pop stars, with a captivating voice and an offbeat aristocratic glamour" (The Guardian), is back with a new album.

Having released three acclaimed LPs, the Viennese musician’s songwriting and production have become more complex and polished, her lyrics sharper and funnier. 'Before/After' is her most incisive record to date, confronting the gripes of being an artist and weaving self-excavation with cultural commentary. Sofie may have gone from lo-fi producer to a bona fide pop musician who’s opened for Lana Del Rey, Air and LCD Soundsystem, but she still doesn't know where she fits in. She pulls no punches when critiquing the music industry – “I’m too pop for the art world, too indie darling for the mainstream” – but saves her biggest swings for herself.

Over 12 catchy pop songs, Royer wonders if conflicts between past and future aren’t just battles with our own selves. “We are constantly in a battle with the ‘pre’ and ‘post’ states of time,” she explains. “There is a preoccupation with these two tenses; yet by remaining entangled in these states, we are often our own greatest obstacle to overcome. Really, in the state of 'Before/After', it’s always you vs you.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Leave On The Light
2. Cowboy Mouth
3. Sesquicentennial
4. Cavalier
5. Actress
6. AUTO
7. C’est La D
8. Sold Out The Jazz Club
9. Opium
10. Nights In White Jackets
11. Best In Show
12. Keep On Keeping On

'Piano Works 2016-2026' collects fourteen impromptu pieces by composer and producer John Carroll Kirby, written whenever he had the opportunity to sit at a piano while on the road.

These mostly solo works for piano were recorded in Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo, Wollongong (Australia), rural New Zealand and London.

'Piano Works 2016-2026' marks a departure from the full-band sound of recent albums Blowout and Septet, which Kirby has spent the past years performing live around the world. The album is a study in piano repertoire: Baroque, Romantic, Impressionist, jazz, minimalist, atonal, and more. Most of the pieces have an impromptu feel – improvised, or meant to sound improvised, or at least written in one sitting.

The collected pieces on 'Piano Works 2016-2026' are a document of Kirby’s life as a piano player and touring musician, and “serve as the melodic / harmonic lexicon for what would inform all my other compositions of the past ten years.”

TRACK LISTING

1. MS4
2. First Position 1
3. First Position 2
4. Bendable Pine
5. Melody
6. Cecilia 14
7. Piano #4
8. Little Mouse
9. Impromptu
10. Empty Room
11. Suntory
12. Valentino
13. Rain Walking

Josh da Costa makes his solo debut with 'New Wave Graveyard', an album which pays tribute to a spectrum of underground music and carves out a new niche.

'New Wave Graveyard' might draw on the ‘70s and ‘80s genre that gives the album its name, but new wave is one of many of Josh da Costa’s musical inspirations – the album is a beautiful soup of styles and ideas, from glam to shoegaze, all informed by Josh’s eclectic taste. With witty lyrics and an abundance of catchy songs, 'New Wave Graveyard' is a thrilling statement from an exciting new artist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: As a regular listener of Josh's NTS show 'Confusing Mix' (on which he has previously aired some of his own music) I was delighted to hear that he is finally putting out a record. Very excited about this one!

TRACK LISTING

1. Skygirl
2. Proving Me Right
3. Cordelia
4. Shireen
5. Tissues
6. Hospital Clown
7. After Your Heart
8. Slip By
9. Sleepy Babe
10. 96 Year Old Girl
11. Beach In The Rain

BLARF is comedian and actor Eric André’s musical project. Most people know Eric as an actor (Bad Trip, Happy Gilmore 2, and The Righteous Gemstones), and for his surreal, boundary-pushing comedy career, with an eponymous Emmy Award-winning show on Adult Swim and standup shows toured around the world. But few know Eric André as a bona fide musician who attended the prestigious Berklee School of Music, where he specialized in standing bass.

BLARF brings his disruptive energy to a new body of work that is both an extended comedic bit and entirely, unironically serious: 'Film Scores For Films That Don’t Exist'. Inspired by composers like Ennio Morricone and Vangelis, whose signature sound is as iconic as the films they soundtracked, Eric enlisted a full orchestra to bring his compositions to life, recording in Los Angeles and Budapest.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Final Shootout
2. What’s For Dinner
3. Stars Without Light
4. Piano Concerto No. 0
5. Mercury Dripping Down My Spine
6. Run For Your Death
7. Dead Ballerina
8. 1869 Overture

'Early Days (2016-2019)' is a new collection of previously unreleased songs from Mauri Tapia a.k.a Los Retros. From a young age, Tapia has been a prolific songwriter, spending his teenage years writing and recording song after song. Influenced by soft rock and left-field South American pop, 'Early Days (2016-2019)' captures the sound of this formative era.

TRACK LISTING

1. Deep Sleep
2. Room Gloom
3. Someone To Spend Time With
4. Without You
5. Old Times
6. To My Friends
7. Wave The Blue
8. Roundabout
9. American Spirits
10. Diabla
11. To A Lover
12. Within This Love

'Odisea' is the highly anticipated debut album from Los Retros. Los Retros has always drawn from the music he grew up listening to – namely, American and Latin American leftfield pop and soft rock groups from the 1970s and 80s. On 'Odisea', he also looks to Japanese City Pop and jazz fusion for inspiration.

Los Retros first captured hearts with the lo-fi magic of 'Someone To Spend Time With', recorded at the age of 17 using little more than a four-track in his parents’ living room.

Now 25, the Oxnard, California native has stepped into an entirely new season of life. Through it all, he’s kept the same DIY spirit, still writing and recording every note himself.

TRACK LISTING

1. Odisea
2. The World
3. Shape Of Things To Come
4. Cielos
5. Doves (ft. Hikari)
6. Sobre Las Ruinas
7. Outskirts
8. Just Us
9. Joven Pobre Y Sabio
10. Monte Calvario
11. Secret Admirer
12. 爆ぜるもの (feat. HITOMITOI)

Reissue of late-’90s hip-hop classic. Beats and rhymes from Madlib with Wildchild and DJ Romes.

'Soundpieces: Da Antidote!' was the first album fully produced by Madlib and introduced a stable of MCs including Quasimoto, Oh No, Declaime, and more. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Da Antidote
2. Questions
3. Long Awaited
4. B-Boy Theme
5. Whenimondamic
6. The Anthem
7. Level Zero
8. Crate Diggin'
9. Law Of Physics
10. Frenz Vs. Endz
11. Interview With Kurt
12. Speaker Smashin'
13 New Year's Resolution
14. Answers
15. Likwit Fusion
16. Hityawitdat
17. Verbal Experiments
18. Stylewild
19. Weededed
20. 20 Questions
21. Break Dat Party
22. Wanna Test
23. Episodes
24. Outro

Dutch singer, songwriter, producer, and multi‑instrumentalist Benny Sings releases 'Beat Tape III', his third instalment in the Beat Tape series on Stones Throw Records.

'Beat Tape III' is an assembly of chance sessions and rare collaborations, each track telling a story of its own: a jam with Jacob Jeffries of Vulfpeck in Amsterdam, a demo with Grammy-nominated Leven Kali, or a cut recorded with Kelsey González of The Free Nationals. More than a collection of outtakes, the project is a portrait of the process, the people, and the moments that shape Benny’s music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Alles
2. Simple Life
3. Ben
4. Ificouldiwould
5. Caviar
6. Audrey Ben
7. Game Over Jazz
8. Song 14
9. Chance Ben
10. Quack
11. Close Enough To Love
12. Beebieslowdown
13. Red Car
14. Steward
15. Homebound
16. I’ll Say
17. Payphone
18. Real And Innocent
19. Downtown Philadelphia
20. New Town 2
21. If You Miss Me
22. Goodbye

Lathered in funk; rinsed in soul. The first repress of Mndsgn’s beloved second album for Stones Throw, 'Body Wash', since its original release in 2016.

After the beat-led excursions of his debut album 'Yawn Zen', Mndsgn put together a set of fully realised songs influenced by the likes of early SOLAR records material, Leon Sylvers III, Kashif, and Dave Grusin – artists that Mndsgn says “really embodied that potent feeling in the early 80s boogie/funk/soul/jazz/fusion wave.” At the time of its release, Mndsgn described 'Body Wash' as “a soul record that plays with nostalgic elements in a very dynamic & positive way. Think about it as a box of crayons for you to draw emotions with.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Overture
2. Cosmic Perspective
3. Tha Origin (Interlude)
4. Alluptoyou
5. Ya Own Way
6. Use Ya Mnd (Twentyfourseven)
7. Enter Her Abode (Interlude)
8. Vague//Recalibrate
9. Transmissionnn
10. Prelude 2 Purification
11. Lather
12. Where Ever U R
13. Searchin I (4 That Familiar Feelin)
14. Searchin II (4 Sumthn New)
15. Searchin III (4 Nothin Else)
16. Guess It’s All Over

'Sofie’s SOS Tape' is a compilation of 26 hip-hop, soul, electronic and alternative tracks curated by Sofie Royer – who has since gone on to release 3 solo albums on Stones Throw, the most recent of which is 'Young-Girl Forever'.

Sofie was a founding member of Boiler Room and an NTS DJ for many years. 'Sofie’s SOS Tape', originally released in 2016, highlighted underground artists she was digging at the time, including Charlotte Dos Santos, DJ Harrison, Ahwlee, Mndsgn, Stimulator Jones, Braxton Cook, SiR, Jonwayne & many more.

'Sofie’s SOS Tape' is now reissued for the first time for a special limited run on clear vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

1. Illingsworth – Animal Style
2. DJ Harrison – R2
3. Stimulator Jones – Soon Never Comes
4. Ahwlee – Joel
5. Cavalier – Your Brain On Droogs
6. Mndsgn & Sofie – Abeja
7. Zeroh – Po’ Looters Ft. Mndsgn
8. Gifted And Blessed – 12AM
9. Kutmah – Sativa
10. Charlotte Dos Santos – Watching You
11. DarkTwaine – Tension
12. Oliver The 2nd – L7 (Inspiredorbiting)
13. Pyramid Vritra – Eatndoggyfood Ft. Swarvy
14. TUAMIE – Prettybrowneyes
15. Poptartpete – RedBeanBun (One4Sofie)
16. Ohbliv – Deal With The Real
17. III Camille – Almost There Ft. SiR
18. Jonwayne – J10
19. ISSUE – Ferrari
20. Mndsgn & Sofie – PointPressingStick
21. Clark & The Community – Dahmers Boy
22. Braxton Cook – Ooooo
23. Subito! – River
24. Sofie – Last Cut 

Houston based R&B artist Peyton is back with a new album. 'Au' is a record rooted in honesty and emotional self-preservation.

On 'Au', Peyton navigates betrayal, confusion, and disappointment, but she never loses sight of joy. 'Au' (the chemical symbol for gold) is a pledge to stay golden in a world that often tries to dull your shine. It’s about taking the high road, even when it would feel easier not to.

'Au' was shaped in tight collaboration with visionary producer Shafiq Husayn (Bilal, Free Nationals, Robert Glasper, Erykah Badu). The album features guests including Brian Alexander Morgan, Didda Joe, Sunni Colon, and co-production and instrumentation from Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean, John Legend, Jay-Z).

TRACK LISTING

1. Eye Love (feat. Brian Alexander Morgan)
2. Answers
3. Genesis
4. Red Flags
5. I Can’t Stay Away (feat. Didda Joe)
6. New Leaves
7. Hard To Say
8. Love Your Signs
9. Fly High
10. Not Your Girl
11. Get Out Of Your Hair (feat. Sunni Colon)

Fresh off the worldwide success of 'Natural Brown Prom Queen', Sudan Archives levelled up, evolving from a hands-on DIY artist to executive producer of her third album – her most ambitious record to date.

Recorded in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit, 'THE BPM' is this innovative artist’s most club-forward music yet, with Sudan Archives taking a dancefloor-ready approach to her unique brand of violin-infused music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Sudan Archives' unique brand of rhythmic, violin-led staccatoed soul hits the dancefloor for a souped-up electronic reimagination of her core sound. Bracing and rhythm-led but with breaks of rhythm and modern production tricks abound.

TRACK LISTING

1. DEAD
2. COME AND FIND YOU
3. YEA YEA YEA
4. TOUCH ME
5. A BUG'S LIFE
6. THE NATURE OF POWER
7. MY TYPE
8. SHE'S GOT PAIN
9. DAVID & GOLIATH
10. A COMPUTER LOVE
11. THE BPM
12. MS. PAC MAN
13. LOS CINCI
14. NOIRE
15. HEAVEN KNOWS

John Carroll Kirby is a GRAMMY Award-nominated producer, composer and keyboardist from Los Angeles. New album Blowout was inspired by the local people, music and nature of Costa Rica. In addition to his acclaimed solo albums, Kirby has collaborated with Solange, Harry Styles, Yves Tumor, Eddie Chacon, and more.

Blowout contains all the hallmarks of the signature sound John Carroll Kirby has finessed over six solo albums and dozens of collaborations – playfulness, humour, and lushness.

TRACK LISTING

1) Oropendola
2) Mates
3) The Takedown
4) Hotel Jonny Chingas
5) Vertigo
6) So So So
7) Sun Go Down
8) Gecko Sun
9) Flying Cat
10) Mates (Dub)
11) So So So (Dub)
12) Hotel Jonny Chingas (Dub)

Mild High Club makes a long-awaited comeback with Going Going Gone, the band’s first solo album since 2016’s cult favourite Skiptracing.

An album that speaks directly to the times we live in, Going Going Gone sees Mild High Club blending the psychedelic pop of earlier albums Skiptracing and Timeline with influences from around the world, especially Brazilian avant-garde music from the ‘70s and ‘80s.

Songs from Skiptracing and Timeline have hundreds of millions of streams. Mild High Club recently had viral success with single ‘Homage’ on TikTok, with over 50k videos posted and millions of likes. An active Reddit community dedicated to the band boasts thousands of members.

The band has played at such iconic festivals and venues as Coachella, Le Bataclan in Paris, and Brixton Academy in London. In 2017, they released an album with King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Sketches from Brunswick East. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Mild High Club return for their newest outing, mixing the hazy indie guitars and swooning progressions of yesteryear but with a more crystalline, loungy production aesthetic. As wonderfully evocative as their previous outings, but even more beautifully varied.

TRACK LISTING

Side A

1. Kluges I
2. Dionysian State
3. Trash Heap
4. Taste Tomorrow
5. A New High (feat. Winter)
6. It's Over Again

Side B

1. Kluges II
2. I Don't Mind The Wait
3. Dawn Patrol
4. Waving
5. Me Myself And Dollar Hell
6. Holding On To Me