Teen Suicide’s seventh LP marks the band’s first full-length release in three years, following 'Honeybee Table At The Butterfly Feast', which found renewed attention through tracks like 'You Were My Star', a breakout success on TikTok. Originally formed in 2010 as a side project of Sam Ray, Teen Suicide gradually evolved while remaining a passion-driven endeavor. Since 2017, the lineup has included Kitty Ray, and in 2022 the band officially became a full-time project with the addition of drummer Niko Wood. Together, the trio began writing and recording their LP, 'Nude Descending Staircase Headless'.

The album represents a series of firsts for the band: their first record recorded in a professional studio, their first release written and recorded as a full-time band, and their first since 2012 to feature a dedicated drummer throughout. It also marks the beginning of a fully shared writing process between Sam and Kitty Ray, who married in 2016 and collaborated from the ground up on the entire record, splitting both songwriting and vocal duties.

Described by Sam Ray as the band’s “career highlight so far,” 'Nude Descending Staircase Headless' explores the endless pursuit of fulfillment through creation, threading motifs of death and rebirth with themes of embracing joy in the wake of immense loss. The record reframes the self not as an isolated object, but as a single strand within a larger, interconnected web. Standout tracks include 'Idiot', which leans into direct, literal storytelling, and 'Spiders', featuring Kitty Ray on lead vocals and introducing a darkly feminist undercur- rent to the album’s broader narrative.

Musically, the band draws inspiration from artists such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Shellac, and Helmet, channeling the intensity and experimentation of late-’80s and ’90s heavy rock. Their recent tours with DELTA SLEEP further highlight Teen Suicide’s growing incorporation of math rock and metal influences into their evolving sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anhedonia
2. Idiot
3. Suffering (Mike’s Way)
4. Spiders
5. The Knives
6. Everything In My Life Is Perfect
7. Candy / Squeeze
8. Living Death
9. Keeping Her Keys
10. Hypnotic Poison
11. Kindnesses
12. Not Born To Run
13. Come And See The Clown

Considered by many the template for 1990s indie rock. Versus’ first full-length album became an instant cult classic. Recorded by Adam Lasus (Yo La Tengo, Helium, Lilys) at his Studio Red in March of 1994 and released just six weeks later in early May of that same year on the Teenbeat label. Finally back on vinyl LP with all new art on the outside (designed by Unrest’s Mark Robinson) and the original art on a full-color innersleeve, plus an OBI strip holding the package together. While the first pressing didn’t include the track 'Fallow', this edition has all 12 songs from the CD. Each of them remastered by Scott Anthony.

Formed in New York City in 1990 by guitarist Richard Baluyut and bassist Fontaine Toups, Versus became one of the most important, influential and underrated bands in the then budding indie-rock genre.

TRACK LISTING

1. Thera
2. Circle
3. Fallow
4. River
5. Mirror Mirror
6. Be-9
7. Deseret
8. Blade Of Grass
9. Janet
10. Solar Democrat
11. Wind Me Up
12. I'll Be You

The second album from the New Orleans country-punk-garage duo. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Is It Real?
2. Wild Connection
3. I Operate
4. Little Seed
5. 100 Bill Is Gone!
6. Peekaboo Hand
7. Not Real
8. Who Could It Be
9. Circus Clown
10. Hurricane
11. White Hot Coal
12. Corpse Pose

'GLORY' follows a hot streak for Teen Jesus and The Jean Teasers. Since the release of their 2023 AIR Award-winning debut album, 'I Love You', the band have toured with Pearl Jam, sold out rooms around the country, won their first ARIA Award and earned multiple shortlist nods from APRA for their songwriting.

TRACK LISTING

1. WATCHING ME LEAVE
2. BALCONY
3. TURN AROUND
4. TALKING
5. DAYLIGHT
6. MINE
7. MOTHER
8. BAIT
9. UNSCARRED
10. WONDERFUL

Grand Prix is in many ways the defining Teenage Fanclub album, regularly featuring in Greatest Albums lists. As it turns 30, having been released in 1995, the timeless tracks from this trio of songwriters includes classics Sparky’s Dream, Mellow Doubt, Neil Jung and Don’t Look Back.

An evocative coming of age story from one of the UK’s first ever female post-punk musicians. Debsey Wykes was the bass playing singer in the first all girl punk group Dolly Mixture. Thrown into the musky, misogynistic, male dominated world of the UK music industry in the late 1970s, they enjoyed unlikely #1 success alongside Captain Sensible of The Damned on1982’s even unlikelier cover version of ‘Happy Talk’, whilst fame and success on their own individual terms alluded them.

Debsey went onto greater prominence with Saint Etienne with who she has performed since 1992, whilst in 2025, desirable Dolly Mixture reissues sell out around the world as quickly as they are printed. Featuring a cast of contemporary post-punk heroes – rom Paul Weller and the Jam (their first record label boss) to Madness and the Pogues – Teenage Daydream is a unique coming of age story of youthful ambition, enterprising DIY musical ethics and how an unlikely bunch of school-girl friends ended up on Top of the Pops in home made hula skirts.

The debut album by Twisted Teens from New Orleans, first ever UK pressing.

TRACK LISTING

1. Twisted Teen
2. Marionette
3. Something’ I Haven’t Told Ya
4. When The Wire Get Cut
5. Tic Tac Toe
6. The Valley Spirit Never Dies
7. Sister Heat
8. Rando
9. Sea Of Love
10. Waiting For The Whip
11. Cool Former Friend

Mark Robinson and Trevor Kampmann are Uncomfortable Police. They have been collaborating for years. First as Fang Wizard (2011) and then Party Milk in 2023. While those LPs are primarily instrumental, this new 15-song 'Michelin Star Hardcore' album sees them both getting in front of the microphone as lead and background singers. Mark started and starred in the bands Unrest (who just released the 30th Anniversary edition of their 'Perfect Teeth' album with 4AD), Air Miami, Flin Flon, Grenadine and more. Trevor’s records his solo material until the moniker hollAnd for years and has produced and mastered albums by the likes of Cat Power and Explosions In The Sky. On Mark’s seminal Teenbeat label that he formed at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, just outside DC. This physical phonograph record contains one extra song that will not be available digitally.

TRACK LISTING

1. Exile On Wall Street
2. Exclusive Single
3. Pentagram Lamb
4. Cocaine Chow Mein
5. Power Corruption And Levis
6. JFA Per Se
7. Banana Cheer
8. Bullet Fever
9. Minor Threat, Burgers & Fries
10. Monochrome Hookup
11. Typeface Arms Race
12. Ra Ra Ya Ya
13. Bubblegum Guillotine
14. Emotion Explosion

Hologram Teen is the solo project (and anagram) of former Stereolab keyboardist Morgane Lhote. Her colourful playful songs are heavily influenced by disco and 80s French pop.

Initially from Paris, Morgane relocated to Los Angeles where she concentrated on her solo material. 'Captain Fluo' is a disco-fuelled love letter to 1980s Paris and its underground nightlife, record store discoveries and the exhilaration of growing up as a gay teenager in a world of self-discovery.

Produced and mixed by Andrew Claristidge (Acid Washed) at Duca Sonora Studios in Brittany Captain Fluo is a vibrant fusion of propulsive beats, bouncy synths and funky basslines. Morgane’s signature keyboards weave through a constellation of guest vocalists including Sandra Zettpunkt, Maxwell Farrington, Eric D Clark and Alex Aikiu. From the euphoric pulse of ‘Lust Pill’ to the radio crooner nostalgia of ‘Fréquence Gaie’ each track is a portal to the dance floors and late-night airwaves of a bygone era.

Drawing inspiration from French pop icons like France Gall, Michel Berger and Louis Chedid alongside the sleek productions of Italo disco pioneers Kasso and the genre-defining touch of David Bowie, Nile Rogers, Quincy Jones and Depeche Mode, Captain Fluo is a heartfelt ride through an era when music was liberation. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Actarus
2. Connection Transpacifique (feat. Sandra Zettpunkt)
3. Wolkman
4. Donovan Magic Orchestra
5. Macadam Bubblegum
6. Pack Ur Patience (feat Sandra Zettpunkt)
7. Fréquence Gaie (feat. Maxwell Farrington)
8. Lust Pill!
9. Memphis Sounds
10. Why Ya Wanna Wait (feat Eric D. Clark)
11. Danceteria (feat. Alex Alkiu)

To celebrate Frank Black’s landmark solo album, Teenager Of The Year, turning 30 comes a special vinyl pressing to accompany a tour of North America plus Paris and London where Frank and original band will be performing the album in its entirety.

Recorded amid a rich songwriting vein, just as the Pixies had been placed on hold, Frank Black’s ambitious 22-track album Teenager Of The Year came out in May 1994, just one year after his fantastic self-titled solo debut. Recorded with scene legend Eric Drew Feldman (Captain Beefheart’s Magic Band, Pere Ubu, The Residents) and featuring the single ‘Headache’, Teenager Of The Year is seen by many as his greatest solo work, subsequently appearing in both Pitchfork’s Top 100 Albums of the 1990s poll and the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die book.

For its 30th anniversary, Frank Black and original band are heading out in January 2025 on a 14-date tour of North America, Paris and London where they’ll be performing Teenager Of The Year from start to finish each night. To complement, 4AD are releasing a special vinyl tour edition of the album, with Kevin Vanbergen having expertly remastered the album from its original analogue studio tapes. Sounding as essential as ever, the limited 30th Anniversary Tour Edition has been cut at 45 rpm for optimum playback and is being pressed on double gold vinyl. It also comes in a gatefold sleeve that includes liner notes by both Frank Black and producer Eric Drew Feldman.

TRACK LISTING

Side One
A1 | Whatever Happened To Pong?
A2 | Thalassocracy
A3 | (I Want To Live On An) Abstract Plain
A4 | Calistan
A5 | The Vanishing Spies
A6 | Speedy Marie

Side Two
B1 | Headache
B2 | Sir Rockaby
B3 | Freedom Rock
B4 | Two Reelers
B5 | Fiddle Riddle

Side Three
C1 | Olé Mulholland
C2 | Fazer Eyes
C3 | I Could Stay Here Forever
C4 | The Hostess With The Mostest
C5 | Superabound

Side Four
D1 | Big Red
D2 | Space Is Gonna Do Me Good
D3 | White Noise Maker
D4 | Pure Denizen Of The Citizens Band
D5 | Bad, Wicked World
D6 | Pie In The Sky

The Hebrew surf-grunger returns! 'The End of Teenage' captures Charlie
Megira’s Berlin years with the Bet She’an Valley Hillbillies, shortly before his death. A time-traveling, five-song murder mystery guitar album that owes as much to Dick Dale as it does David Lynch. This expanded 10 year anniversary edition also includes the 11-song demo, where Megira’s familiar themes of drive-inn melancholia, beach blanket bongos, and desert drifting are explored in the privacy of his bedroom. Let him whisper in your ear.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jack The Ripper
2. Lord I Ain’t Gonna Bump With No Big Fat Woman No More
3. Rock Around The Block
4. Wall Of Death
5. Turn Around
6. Hava Nargila
7. A Whole Lot Of Nothing But The Blues
8. Banana
9. Little Skinhead Girl
10. Rasco
11. The Death Dance
12. Jack The Ripper
13. Heart And Soul
14. Alligator Man
15. Banana
16. The Death Dance III

“I am OBSESSED with the 80s. I love the loud neon colours and fashion and the kinetic energy of the music. It’s uplifting and bittersweet with a ton of keyboards, what’s not to like?” reasons Morgane when asked what it is she likes about the decade. This exuberance is brightly reflected in the mirror ball synthpop of her third album released at the end of September. It is her second long player to appear on vinyl after the release of Between The Funk And The Fear debut on the Polytechnic Youth label.

Morgane was the keyboard player in Stereolab between 1995 and 2001 during which time they released Emperor Tomato Ketchup (her favourite) and Dots And Loops. As a teenager though she first played the drums, then guitar and bass. She only learnt the keyboards one month before joining the group. “They gave me 40 songs to learn, it was a baptism of fire”.

After leaving Stereolab, Morgane first moved to New York for nine years; she’d always planned to move to America having spent a lot of time there with her parents and of course those space-pop pioneers. The warmer weather of LA enticed her though and you can hear its pulse in Day-Glo Chaos. The album’s thumping heart is pumped by the city’s night sky and when asked she cites three particular albums as her favourites: the oddball analogue electro of Jacno’s 1979 debut; John Carpenter’s ‘Escape From New York’ and The B-52’s ‘Cosmic Thing’. There’s also a strong nod to the playful computerised harmonies of Yellow Magic Orchestra whilst she’s somewhat partial to the synth prog of Yes and Soft Machine. “I actually created a synth on Ableton Live named after Rick Wakeman’. I should create one after Mike Ratledge next!”

Throughout her work (but especially on this record) you can hear the influence of computer games. “I’m an avid gamer and have been one since I was a teenager and fell in love with my Commodore 64”. Though not a fan of Hotline Miami or the GTA series (“too violent”) she liked Hang On and loved Outrun which she used to play a lot on her Sega Master System. “I just got the soundtrack reissue from Data Disc and it is beautiful” she enthuses.

You’ll see and hear such influences on the lead single from the album ‘Midnite Rogue’ the video to which pays (im)perfect juddering homage to such arcade culture. Car tyres glued to sticky tarmac, French pop music lost in the air. The title was inspired by a Fighting Fantasy book which she adored as a kid. “I love the idea of this entity causing mischief during night time”, she beams. It’s not hard to see why. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Teen Beats Highway
2. Theme From Don Henley
3. Yum Yum Yellow
4. Valley Nights (Burnin’)
5. Mid-Temp Neophyte
6. Radio Staccato
7. Diamond Boombox
8. Abstract Daddy Vol 1
9. Allison In Neon
10. Midnite Rogue
11. VHS Nemesis
12. Magic Ears
13. Floppy Disk Symphony

80s alt country punk outfit, Lone Justice, with Maria McKee, Ryan Hedgecock, Marvin Etzioni and Don Heffington are in full flight with the release of a brand new 7”.

Taken from their forthcoming album, Viva Lone Justice, ‘Teenage Kicks’ is a rambunctious slice of punk angst that sounds like it was recorded in one take. It’s a timeless anthem with a joyous riff that explodes into a hail of feedback. A favour returned as Maria McKee, the songwriter of Feargal Sharkey’s only solo hit ‘A Good Heart’, Lone Justice cover The Undertones’ Peel-approved favourite with the artwork of the single being a nod to the original. “As much as we loved Merle Haggard, George Jones, and many other authentic hard core Country artists, we were also deeply impacted by Punk; from the Velvet Underground (we were playing "Sweet Jane" live as early as 1983) to the MC5 ("Sister Ann" is on the album "Viva Lone Justice").”

Backed with ‘Nothing Can Stop My Loving You’ that’s cut with a wild, squeezebox-powered interpretation of the George Jones and Roger Miller country stomp. “Speaking of George Jones, here's one written by George Jones and Roger Miller. Two of our favorites! We played this song at nearly every show starting in 1983. This ragged and right live recording captures the fire from a sold out show at The Palace in Los Angeles and features Jo-El Sonnier on lead accordion documenting the only time Sonnier played with LJ. "Nothing Can Stop My Loving You" is the only live track on Viva Lone Justice." 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Teenage Kicks
B1 Nothin' Can Stop My Lovin' You 

Bandwagonesque is the third album by Scottish alternative rock band Teenage Fanclub, originally released in November 1991 on Creation Records. The album gave the band substantial US success when the single "Star Sign" reached number four on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, becoming their biggest hit in that country, with "What You Do to Me" and "The Concept" also becoming top 20 hits. Bandwagonesque was voted 'album of the year' for 1991 by American music magazine Spin, famously beating Nirvana's landmark album Nevermind.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. The Concept
2. Satan
3. December
4. What You Do To Me
5. I Don't Know
6. Star Sign
Side B
1. Metal Baby
8. Pet Rock
9. Sidewinder
10. Alcoholiday
11. Guiding Star
12. Is This Music?

Teenage Fanclub's new album, Nothing Lasts Forever, is a beautifully rich and melodic album, the sound of a season’s end, of the last warm days of the year while nights begin to draw in and thoughts become reflective and more than a little melancholy.

That reflection is everywhere on the record, whether on the autumnal folk rock of Tired Of Being Alone that repositions Laurel Canyon to somewhere deep in the heart of the Wye Valley, the William Blake quoting Self-Sedation or on the song that preceded Nothing Lasts Forever’s completion, last year’s I Left A Light On, where a spark of hope is kept alight at the end of a relationship.

One of the recurring themes on Nothing Lasts Forever is light, as a both a metaphor for hope and as an ultimate destination further down the road. Although the band’s songwriters Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley found themselves touching on similar themes, it was pure coincidence.

Raymond: “We never talk about what we’re going to do before we start making a record. We don’t plan much other than the nuts and bolts of where we’re going to record and when. That thing about light was completely accidental; we didn’t realise that until we’d finished half the songs. The record feels reflective, and I think the more we do this thing, the more we become comfortable with going to that place of melancholy, feeling and expressing those feelings.

Norman: “These songs are definitely personal. You’re getting older, you’re going into the cupboard getting the black suit out more often. Thoughts of mortality and the idea of the light must have been playing on our minds a lot. The songs on the last record were influenced by the breakup of my marriage. It was cathartic to write those songs. These new songs are reflective of how I’m feeling now, coming out of that period. They’re fairly optimistic, there’s an acceptance of a situation and all of the experience that comes with that acceptance. When we write, it’s a reflection of our lives, which are pretty ordinary. We’re not extraordinary people, and normal people get older. There’s a lot to write about in the mundane. I love reading Raymond Carver. Very often there’s not a lot that happens in those stories, but they speak to lived experience.”

The band recorded Nothing Lasts Forever - Blake, McGinley along with Francis Macdonald on drums, Dave McGowan on bass and Euros Childs on keyboards during an intense ten-day period in the bucolic Welsh countryside at Rockfield Studios, near Monmouth in late August. You can hear the effect of that environment on the record - it’s full of soft breeze, wide skies, beauty and space.

One of the most striking lyrics on the record is on the closing track I Will Love You. A gorgeous seven minute almost Kosmiche acoustic daydream drone, it looks to a point beyond the fury and polarisation of our modern discourse, to a time when “the bigots are gone/after they apologise/for all the harm that they’ve done”. Looking for positives while faced with the grim realities of the 21st century feels very Teenage Fanclub - a band who’ve been a force for good for over three decades and who can effortlessly turn melancholy into glorious, chiming harmony.

Teenage Fanclub have announced an extensive touring schedule with a handful of dates in the Summer followed by a full UK & European tour in October and November. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Hazy folky slide guitar and Euros Child's silky keys, classic Teenage Fanclub melodies and swooning vocals make for one of the most immersive TF albums in years. A beautifully rendered, optimistic vision from Blake & co, and one that is a familiar as it is inventive.

TRACK LISTING

1. Foreign Land
2. Tired Of Being Alone
3. I Left A Light On
4. See The Light
5. It’s Alright
6. Falling Into The Sun
7. Self-Sedation
8. Middle Of My Mind
9. Back To The Light
10. I Will Love You

Imperial f.f.r.r. was Unrest’s breakthrough album in 1992. It has withstood the test of time and is now considered an indie-rock classic and one of the best albums of the 1990s. Formed in 1984, at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, the band started releasing homemade cassettes on their own Teenbeat label. Imperial f.f.r.r. is their sixth album and marked the arrival of original Velocity Girl vocalist Bridget Cross joining drummer Phil Krauth and singer/guitarist Mark Robinson. It was recorded by Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth) at his home studio in Manhattan. After the release of Imperial f.f.r.r., the band released singles on Sub Pop and K and soon thereafter signed to legendary U.K. indie 4AD, releasing their final studio album Perfect Teeth in 1993.

This limited edition features the original design and layout of the very first pressing from 1992. All the details have been recreated including the lyric sheet, the blue box around the amplifier on the front, the label art, and even the Ajax and No.6 Records logos. The original didn't have a barcode, so we've created a spiffy new removeable OBI card for that featuring a photograph by Mike Galinsky (The Decline of Mall Civilization) of the band playing at New York's Spiral club in 1991.

TRACK LISTING

Volume Reference Tone
Suki
Imperial
I Do Believe You Are Blushing
Champion Nines
Sugarshack
Isabel
Cherry Cream On
June
Loyola

Teenage Waitress returns with the new album 'Your Cuckoo'. This album is the follow up to the critically acclaimed debut Love & Chemicals. “Melodies and storytelling. . basically" is how Daniel J. Ash of Southampton’s Teenage Waitress describes his eagerly anticipated second album Your Cuckoo. “It’s a bunch of characters singing songs about love, youth, drugs, boredom and of course, dancing”. ‘Your Cuckoo’ is a leap forward in every way for Teenage Waitress. Ash’s trademark ‘story songs’ are set to a backdrop of irresistible melodies, colourful arrangements and impeccable production. While noticeably a more focused effort than Ash’s previous effort Love & Chemicals, this album still offers a little something for everyone. For the recording of ‘Your Cuckoo’ Ash recruited some of his musical friends to join him in the studio, adding a rich new layer of musicianship to his latest songs. “We basically wanted to go a step ahead from where we got to last time. . and I think we’ve done that” smiles Ash “I’ve been a perfectionist in every sense and annoyed a lot of people to get to this point. I hope it was worth it!” 

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby Blue
2. Maggie
3. Grey Sky
4. Girl, I Want You To Kill Me
5. Bedroom Waltz
6. I Like The Way You Fall In Love
7. Big Smoke
8. Back Seat
9. Too Much Of A Good Thing
10. Hold Me In The Afternoon
11. Salutations

Love And Rockets is the seminal, groundbreaking trio of Daniel Ash (vocals and guitar), David J (vocals and bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums). They formed in 1985 after the first split of their band Bauhaus. Love and Rockets provided a clean slate and an opportunity to plumb the depths of imagination and influences.

The band’s 1985 debut album Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven was an unashamedly psychedelic adventure, far removed from the dark, angular soundscapes of Bauhaus. Yet they had to fight hard to avoid being branded ‘goth’, citing Syd Barrett, Marc Bolan and the later period Beatles as primary influences. This is a single black LP with a gatefold sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. If There's A Heaven Above
2. A Private Future
3. The Dog-end Of A Day Gone By
4. The Game
5. Seventh Dream Of Teenage Heaven
6. Haunted When The Minutes Drag
7. Saudade

Originally released on Creation Records, this long out of print classic has been re-mastered for the first time from the original tapes at Abbey Road Studios, London under the guidance of the band, Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley. Packaged in a faithful re-production of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl.

This is one of a series of five releases, and for each the band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: The Fannies' masterpiece (actually their second album, proper) exploded onto the scene in 1991, blowing away the cobwebs of bogus Baggy and insipid Shoegaze with a devil-may-care attitude and a hearty lifting of classic 70's rock riffing and tuneage. It's still amazing, and timeless today!

TRACK LISTING

1. The Concept
2. Satan
3. December
4. What You Do To Me
5. I Don’t Know
6. Star Sign
7. Metal Baby
8. Pet Rock
9. Sidewinder
10. Alcoholiday
11. Guiding Star
12. Is This Music?

Bonus 7”
1. Heavy Metal 6 –taken From ‘The King’
2. Long Hair –b-sidefrom ‘The Concept’

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Limited transparent blue vinyl 7” single for RSD, 500 copies only. Rsd 22 Brings You A Ltd 7” Pressing Of Single ‘You Ain’t Got It Bad’ By Teenage Waitress. An Electronic, Melancholy Hum Along Number. You Ain’t Got It Bad ‘ is a danceable, upbeat track with trippy psych production and a strong positive message. It features. both a vocal cameo from Blue Canary’s Harry Burgees and as close to a happy ending as you’ll probably get from Daniel.

The Record is backed with an exciting Pale Sabres (of Colorama Records) remix of ‘I’m Leaving Berlin’ also from the Love & Chemicals album. Teenage Waitress is the solo project from Daniel Ash. The debut album, ‘Love & Chemicals’ is a fresh hybrid of infectious 60’s inspired pop melodies, blippy synths and fuzzy guitars all set to short lyrical vignettes. Some are funny, some are mysterious but all have a story to tell.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A: You Ain't Got It Bad - 4:02
SIDE B: I'm Leaving Berlin (Pale Sabres Remix) - 4.25

Tracks 1-8 recorded some time in 2010 in Angelsea, Victoria, Australia
Tracks 9+10 recorded some time in 2011 in Carlton, Victoria, Australia

Mixed by Stu Mackenzie
Cover Design by Ahmad Oka

TRACK LISTING

1. Hey There
2. Ants And Bats
3. Sleep
4. Summer
5. Eddie Cousin
6. Fried
7. Good To Me
8. Tomb/Beach
9. Trench Foot
10. Life Is Cool

It wasn't long before Awesome Tapes would snaffle up some more hot amapiano sounds. the genre seems to have well and truly exploded from its native South Africa and has hit a massive point of global adoration. I'm sure other cities and urban areas must be replicating what's happening here in Manchester too - with the sound a constant up-and-coming soundtrack with the youth, trend setters and club goers alike - keen for new sounds with authentic heritage; and like its predecessors kwaito and gqom it comes with style in abundance.

Hitting a cool 110BPM territory, gliding in on Reese basslines and punctuated with 808 subs; tense strings and dark synthlines make up this midtempo, late night dance music which glows with dipped neons and oozes electronic soul.

19 and 18 respectively, Kgothatso Tshabalala & Zakhele Mhlanga (DJ Zakes) are born after the onset of democracy ('ma2000') and ride a wave of youthful excitement and creativity around the Gauteng province of SA where many believe amapiano was first birthed.

"Teenage Dreams" is twelve tracks which capture both the sound of amapiano, the energy of late teenage South Africa and the excitement of merging modern production technology with fierce creative spirit. It's no wonder everyone from your mate down Moss Side, to the hippest DJs on NTS are championing this sound right now. It's fully genuine, a little bit gangsta, and is aimed squarely at the hips - a pocket rocket of fresh fire for the clubs, jeeps and yards. Check! 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Beginning (7:44)
2. Way To Cairo (6:12)
3. The Journey (7:51)
4. Teenage Dreams (7:12)
5. Rejoice Feat. TapSoul (6:51)
6. Ambassador Feat. Ubuntu Bros. (6:05)
7. Long Lasting (8:20)
8. Dead Sangoma (6:57)
9. Burning Desire Feat. Blaq K (6:22)
10. United As One (7:25)
11. Letter To Kabza De Small (5:36)
12. End Of Time (5:57)

Within Melbourne's burgeoning cinematic-soul scene, which includes breakout acts Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo, mysteriously sit The Pro-Teens.

Helmed by prolific drummer and percussionist Hudson Whitlock, who also plays in both aforementioned bands, this breakaway studio project involves an interchangeable collective of incognito, Melbourne-based, esteemed instrumentalists playing under outlandish pseudonyms such as "'Dead Honest' Dean Amazing" and "Libby Clique-Baite". Symbolically led by keyboardist "Snooch Dodd", new album 'I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly' is the latest musical concoction from Whitlock's eccentric brain, marrying the soul/funk roots of sample culture with the principles of boom-bap hip hop.

Incorporating the colourful comic book stylings of MF DOOM and Kool Keith, or the dark and exotic flavours of Gravediggaz and The Wu-Tang Clan, The Pro-Teens also take cues from their composing heroes Galt MacDermot, Richard Evans and Marc Moulin. The Pro-Teens bop, zip, whip and fling on this phantasmagorical journey - an unorthodox patchwork of cinematic soul, hip hop-guided funk breaks, vivid instrumental textures and film score-esque moods.

The Pro-Teens work on the same analogue recording model adopted by the tight-knit College Of Knowledge label, self-recorded and produced with the rag-tag crew of musicians putting tracks down live to tape in crammed attic studios and sharehouse recording spaces.

The first limited pressing of 'I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly' was released on the 'College Of Knowledge' imprint in late 2020. It was one of the highlights of the year at Mr Bongo HQ who loved the concept and felt this tripped out masterpiece from Melbourne needed to be heard well beyond those lucky enough to have bagged those limited first copies.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Flip My Life Every Time I Fly
2. No One Understands Me (I'm Og)
3. Spray It, Don't Say It
4. Convo
5. Peppery Weapons
6. Snooch Is Too Busy For This Shit
7. The Pro-Teens Ruined My Life
8. Ya Gotta Love This City
9. I Hate Turbulence
10. Greta Thunburg
11. Elephant On The Wall
12. Slow Fast

The second of January’s brace of new Polytechnic Youth releases sees the return to the label for Morgane Lhote, with her post Stereolab project HOLOGRAM TEEN. A fabulous new 4 trk 7” EP entitled “Géométries insensibles” and released on pink wax in ace new Nick Taylor artwork.

Morgane herself says of the project “the EP is the soundtrack to an imaginary 1980s dystopian sci-fi French movie in the vein of "Le Prix du Danger”, "Les Maîtres du Temps" and "Le Dernier Combat". The tracks follow the linear film narrative (at least my version of it!) of set up/conflict, "the chase scene", hope, and finding love. I kept the instrumentation simple and the songs short, with a handful of tracks and synths settings across the tunes, to keep a cohesive sound and narrative. it was really freeing to go for the "less is more" approach for once. That is until the last track which goes a bit "Xanadu" on you, but trust me, that's a good thing!"

The EP, to these ears, recalls a passing nod to those early to mid ‘70s French cosmo-disco LPs, which at one point you’d struggle to give away, yet now fetch £50+ at Utrecht fairs- once thought as cheesy now highly sought after and in their own way, quite pioneering and often in whacked out, cosmic sleeve art. Regular PY (amongst others) art genius Nick Taylor reproduces this look perfectly for it’s sleeve, cemented further with the pink vinyl pressing…

Rowland S. Howard's importance to the world's musical landscape and Mute's history can not be understated. Rowland joined The Boys Next Door in 1978, a band formed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and is often sited as the catalyst that turned that band's sound into the force of nature that would become their new band The Birthday Party. After The Birthday Party split up in 1983, Nick Cave formed the Bad Seeds with Mick Harvey and Rowland formed the magnificent These Immortal Souls whilst also collaborating with Simon Bonney's Crime & The City Solution, Lydia Lunch, Nikki Sudden, Fad Gadget, Foetus, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Epic Soundtracks and Mick Harvey. Rowland sadly passed away in 2009 after recording his final solo album Pop Crimes, both this and Teenage Snuff Film have been unavailable physically outside of Australia for many years and both fetch high prices on Discogs and Ebay.

TRACK LISTING

1 Dead Radio
2 Breakdown (And Then…)
3 She Cried
4 I Burnt Your Clothes
5 Exit Everything
6 Silver Chain
7 White Wedding
8 Undone
9 Autoluminescent
10 Sleep Alone

Having successfully outlasted their self-described ‘guaranteed real teenagers’ tagline when they first burst into earshot in 1994, ASH announce the release of Teenage Wildlife: 25 Years Of Ash.

- Career Spanning Best Of
- Includes brand new track Darkest Hour Of The Night
- Includes hits Girl From Mars, Shining Light and Burn Baby Burn

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Sometimes it's just the first chord of a tune you need to hear to have all the endorphins come flooding back and for me, Ash's 'Girl On Mars' is about as close as you can get to a time capsule. Add that to 'Oh Yeah' and 'Goldfinger', and you have an absolutely essential collection for fans and a great best of for those uninitiated.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. A Life Less Ordinary (#10 UK Charts)
2. Arcadia
3. Darkest Hour Of The Night
4. Kung Fu
5. Cocoon
6. You Can't Have It All

Side B
1. Girl From Mars (#11 UK Charts)
2. Wildsurf
3. Shining Light (#8 UK Charts)
4. Starcrossed
5. Goldfinger (#5 UK Charts)

Side C
1. Burn Baby Burn
2. Dare To Dream
3. Annabel
4. Machinery
5. Sometimes

Side D
1. Oh Yeah (#6 UK Charts)
2. Angel Interceptor
3. Jesus Says
4. Orpheus
5. Jack Names The Planets

The album features the cover songs (by artists such as Tegan and Sara, Robyn, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding, Annie Lennox and more) featured in the film performed by lead actress Elle Fanning. It also features the new song 'Wildflower' written by Carly Rae Jepsen & Jack Antonoff. Also included are tracks by No Doubt, Grimes and Major Lazer feat. MØ & DJ Snake.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Genesis Performed By Grimes
2. I Was A Fool Performed By Elle Fanning
3. E.T. Performed By Marius De Vries & Eldad Guerta (Feat. Ell Fanning)
4. Just A Girl Performed By No Doubt
5. Lights Performed By Elle Fanning
6. Little Bird Performed By Elle Fanning

Side B
1. Lean On Performed By Major Lazer (Fear. DJ Snake & Mø)
2. Good Time Performed By Elle Fanning And Teen Spirit Finalists
3. Teenage Kicks Performed By The Shades
4. Tattooed Heart Performed By Clara Rugaard
5. Don't Kill My Vibe Performed By Elle Fanning
6. Halcyon Teen Spirit Performed By Orbital (Feat. Elle Fanning)

Imperial Teen includes members of Faith No More (Roddy Bottum), The Dicks (Lynn Perko Truell), Hey Willpower (Will Schwartz) & The Wrecks (Jone Stebbins). Imperial Teen’s releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. Roddy Bottum, Will Schwartz, Jone Stebbins, and Lynn Perko Truell—who they’ve become, how they are dealing, and what their lives are in 2019—all of this is on Imperial Teen’s forthcoming release Now We Are Timeless. The band wrote and recorded the new album in the cities the individual members have geographically gravitated to: New York City, the Bay Area, Denver, and Los Angeles.

Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band’s spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together. The juxtaposition of the title and the imagery of the cover of Now We Are Timeless takes us immediately to the heart of what Imperial Teen does best. By focusing on an element in the collective here and now—an iceberg in the midst of ecological crisis, clearly sinking, melting, disappearing, the absolute antithesis of timelessness—they pose the question of hope and beauty in the wake of age, a fading icon shining brightest in the final phase of its demise, exuding light and glory as the world falls apart.

Now We Are Timeless indeed. In strict keeping with the band’s roots of creating seemingly clean, pop presentations as a springboard for dramatic themes of loneliness, triumph, suicide, success, and failure, Now We Are Timeless moves us into a realm of inevitability for the band. While Seasick, the band’s first release, thematically touched on the queasiness of pop and beach and sun and glare and the optimism that lies beneath, the new release serves as a bookend of sorts in its portrayal of a world in crisis, a frostbitten but melting iceberg, monolithic and stationary yet impermanent and resonant. What has remained constant over the years is Imperial Teen’s indisputable knack for writing profound hooks as a framework for their musical memories. Their songs exhibit the realness, joy, and energy that only good friends can conjure. 

TRACK LISTING

1. I Think That’s Everything
2. We Do What We Do Best
3. Don’t Wanna Let You Go
4. Walkaway
5. How We Say Goodbye
6. Parade
7. Somebody Like Me
8. Ha
9. The Girl 
10. Timeless 

Pakistani-American composer Qasim Naqvi will release his debut album for Erased Tapes on May 3rd. 'Teenages’ captures the sound of electronics living, breathing and mutating of their own accord – almost autonomously – with only subtle, sparing but perfectly-judged and masterful guidance.

This album is one singular synergy between Qasim and his machine within a broader milieu of sound, also explored by contemporaries Sarah Davachi, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri and also the forefather, Morton Subotnick. At points tonal, textural and rhythmic, over six evolving and growing audio organisms, the album flourishes upwards in stages, from initial micro-sonics to something bigger, brighter and anthemic.

This is Naqvi’s first non-soundtrack release, having previously established himself as a renowned composer for dance, theatre, film and installation-based art, not to mention his role as drummer in lauded trio Dawn of Midi. According to Naqvi, “my past releases like ‘Chronology’, ‘Preamble’, ‘Fjoloy’ and ‘Film’ were made to accompany visual mediums. The music was always written to enhance another form. ‘Teenages’ is the first album with its own motivating force. It’s a live multi movement work that I recorded for myself.”

With ‘Teenages’, Naqvi summoned all the material on an analog modular synthesizer – a voltage-controlled sound generating system comprised of multiple modules. Naqvi built this synth over the course of two years and amassed a collection of works for this album.

“I’ve always been drawn to the power of un-amplified acoustic music. And for me modular synthesizers are a natural progression forward from the acoustic realm into the electric. It feels like an orchestra comprised of very unusual instruments, and their orchestration and vibrational properties lie in the patching and flow of voltages through a system.

They’re also unstable and they rarely play the same thing twice in any exact way. It’s almost organic and human. It was really important for this album to capture that kind of uninterrupted behavior.”

Capturing a live feeling without the aid of heavy studio production was an important component to this release: “Even though this is ‘electronic music,’ I didn’t want to rely heavily on a computer with an array of plugins, loops and samples, or exhaustive editing as part of the writing process. I wanted to treat this work like a live piece of music and have the natural behavior of the machine shine through and sound huge, like an orchestra of electrical signals.”

Gently stuttering like a time lapse-video of a seed sprouting up from the earth, ‘Intermission’ sets the scene, before musical motifs begin to emerge on the dancing, bubbling bassline of ‘Mrs 2E’, which possesses a playful, infantile quality, like a newborn animal learning to walk after birth.

More bouncy, skewed bottom-line squelch appears on the jittery, buzzing ‘Palace Workers’, which seems to evoke life in the form of amplified insect or bat noises, with a melody that eventually unfolds into something akin to a fractal rendition of ‘Oxygene’. By ‘No Tongue’ more traditionally identifiable musical signifiers begin to emerge, with a bright and melodic synth line evoking the new blooms of spring, whereas ‘Artilect’ takes a more ominous drone tone, insinuating the dark, potential threat of artificially augmented biological intelligence.

Like a coming-of-age, the album culminates on title track ‘Teenages’ – a dynamic, technicolour symphony that was recorded in one take, with no overdubs or edits. In the year leading up to ‘Teenages’, Naqvi created a series of shorter works. These stepping-stones eventually became the first 5 tracks of the album and were part of a larger process, leading to the realization of the title track. “I wanted to show the stages of development that lead to the main act. All of these tracks share the same D.N.A., even though they seem distantly related.” Explains Naqvi.

The pieces heard prior to ‘Teenages’ chronicle both Naqvi’s understanding of writing for this type of instrument and the growth of the instrument itself: “I started with just a few modules. And naturally things had to be layered and pieced together but as the synthesizer and its components grew over time, I was able to create broader and more complex strokes in the moment. And by the time I got to ‘Teenages’, it was possible to create a robust, large-scale piece spontaneously. This is very much an experiential album for me because it was borne out of my direct experience of learning the instrument. And as the synthesizer grew over time with more components, it matured. At times I felt like it was even rebelling against my instructions or surprising me with what felt like its own choices.

When everything was finished and I was thinking about track titles, this idea of artificial intelligence came into my head; a machine that reacts to your impulses and is capable of giving you something different from what you ask, and even defying you. It felt like different stages of growth and adolescence, and that lead to the album title, ‘Teenages’.”

Deeply rewarding on close listening, Naqvi has created an inspiring and synapsestimulating new masterwork, within the analogue/modular cannon.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intermission
2. Mrs 2E
3. Palace Workers
4. No Tongue
5. Artilect
6. Teenages

If TEEN’s 2016 album Love Yes was a bursting, harmony-infused synthpop thesis on embracing love, then its follow-up, the even more joyous and melodic Good Fruit, is its opposite, a look at what happens after love fades. The Lieberson sisters—Teeny, Lizzie, and Katherine—have, with their fourth album, crafted a dynamic, hook-stuffed take on the oft-trodden breakup album; as on prior releases, there are frequent meditations on death, capitalism, and womanhood.

The sisters—and Boshra AlSaadi, a longtime TEEN member who left a year into songwriting to focus on her own music—spun together Good Fruit in a few places, over roughly a year, as they aimed to break free of the notorious write-record-tour cycle. At a week-long session in Montreal in February 2017, they began working on “Radar,” a Lizzie-penned ballad that explores a previously unmentioned formative trauma. Another Montreal week in April 2017 birthed a large chunk of Good Fruit, and a five-day expedition in upstate New York led to “Putney,” a slinky, bassy bop that deals with how projected ideals and personal fantasy play into sex and misogyny.

“Runner” came last, arising from an environment where the sisters surely feel the most comfortable: New York, the city where they’ve lived for over a decade. Perhaps the album’s most bursting, beatific, synth-driven track, “Runner,” which reflects on fleeing a relationship as a partner wants to become closer, jelled just before the album was completed, in an NYC home studio belonging to TEEN collaborator Miles Francis.

While recording Good Fruit, the sisters employed a self-described “reductive approach,” strove to create space within their songs, and, for their first time, self-produced the album (save a few co-productions from Francis, who also played on some songs). These techniques explode the glistening, sprinting glamour of “Only Water,” a deceptively upbeat number about death and the loss of a loved one. They inform Good Fruit’s handful of ballads too, including “Pretend,” which rings with a vast, unsettling static fuzz even as Lizzie beautifully recounts the disappointment of realizing a partner wasn’t all she’d built them up to be.

When love fades, TEEN soars. “A lot of what ties Good Fruit in...is forging new paths for ourselves and letting go of old ways of doing things,” Teeny says. The band’s intentional amendments to its longtime formula have resulted in its most mature, nuanced, and exhilarating statement yet.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The synth gods have been good to us this week not only delivering the psychedelic sounds of Pond, but gracing us with the off-kilter funk and shimmering synthetic soul of 'Good Fruit' from the ever-superb 'Teen', comprising of Lieberson sisters Kristina, Katherine and Lizzy. Shining sidechained synths, driving percussion and swooping melodies all topped with beautifully harmonised athletic vocal lines.

TRACK LISTING

1. Popular Taste
2. Ripe
3. Only Water
4. Radar
5. Connection
6. Luv 2 Luv
7. Shadow
8. Runner
9. Putney
10. Pretend

Teenage Fanclub reissue two more of their classic albums on vinyl – Man-Made and Shadows. Both packaged in faithful re-productions of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl. 

The band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album. 

TRACK LISTING

LP
1. Sometimes I Don’t Need To Believe In Anything
2. Baby Lee
3. The Fall
4. Into The City
5. Dark Clouds
6. The Past
7. Shock And Awe
8. When I Still Have Thee
9. Live With The Seasons
10. Sweet Days Waiting
11. The Back Of My Mind
12. Today Never Ends

Bonus 7”
1. Dark And Lonely
2. Secret Heart

Teenage Fanclub reissue two more of their classic albums on vinyl – Man-Made and Shadows. Both packaged in faithful re-productions of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl.

The band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album. 

TRACK LISTING

LP
1. It’s All In My Head
2. Time Stops
3. Nowhere
4. Save
5. Slow Fade
6. Only With You
7. Cells
8. Feel
9. Fallen Leaves
10. Flowing
11. Born Under A Good Sign
12. Don’t Hide

Bonus 7”
1. Falling Leaf
2. Please Stay

Silicon Teens ‘Music For Parties’: The world’s first manufactured electronic pop band. Originally released in September 1980 and called an "undeniably fun record" by AllMusic, ‘Music For Parties’ was the second ever album to be released on Mute.

TRACK LISTING

Memphis, Tennesee
Yesterday Man
Doo-Wah-Diddy-Diddy
T.V. Playtime
You Really Got Me
Chip 'N Roll
Do You Love Me?
Let's Dance
Oh Boy
Sweet Little Sixteen
State Of Shock (Pt.2)
Just Like Eddie
Red River Rock
Judy In Disguise
Let's Dance
Sun Flight

Originally released on Creation Records, this long out of print classic has been re-mastered for the first time from the original tapes at Abbey Road Studios, London under the guidance of the band, Norman Blake, Gerard Love, and Raymond McGinley. Packaged in a faithful re-production of the original vinyl artwork and available on heavyweight 180g single vinyl. 

This is one of a series of five releases, and for each the band have also selected rarities, favourites and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl to include on a 7” with each album. These 7” singles each feature two tracks and are only available with the initial pressing of each album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Teenage Fanclub finally slow up with this year 2,000 record. It's still sweet, supremely well crafted, and in Raymond's "My Uptight Life" in particular, extraordinary, but it was no surprise that this release closed a particular chapter for this much-loved band.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Need Direction
2. I Can’t Find My Way Home
3. Accidental Life
4. Near You
5. Happiness
6. Dumb DumbDumb
7. The Town And The City
8. The Sun Shines From You
9. Straight And Narrow
10. CulDe Sac
11. My Uptight Life
12. If I Never See You Again

Bonus 7”
1. Thaw Me –‘Dumb DumbDumb’ B-side, First Time On Vinyl
2. One Thousand Lights –‘Dumb DumbDumb’ B-side, First Time On Vinyl

Born in Cabbagetown, Georgia, the Rock*A*Teens carved their signature echo-wrapped, wounded-heart music on the edges of the Atlanta music scene more than 20 years ago. Led by songwriter and lead singer/guitarist Christopher Lopez, the band released a handful of reverb-drenched singles and full-lengths on the independent Daemon and Merge labels in the late '90s and early 2000s. Following their reunion at the Merge 25 festival and the reissue of their last LP Sweet Bird of Youth (Merge, 2000), the group returned to touring and playing live. Restless with the need to move forward, the band began writing and recording new music. Guided by a batch of home recordings and demos, Lopez, guitarist Justin Hughes, bassist William R. Joiner, and drummer Ballard Lesemann convened with Tim Delaney at Electron Gardens Studio and Rafael Pereira at Tribo Studios to shape their ideas into the glorious, bombastic new album Sixth House.

These days, Lopez and the R*A*Ts are turning towa rds a more refined approach to recording and performance while preserving their distinctly unvarnished lyrical and musical perspective. "In the past we hid behind walls of reverb, noise, production tricks," Lopez says. "We wanted these particular songs to stand in the light." On Sixth House, the gauze is removed—the anthems are illuminated, the ballads are clear-eyed, and the stories are in sharp focus. Mixed by Pereira and engineer Spencer Willis and mastered by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service, the album features artwork by NYC photographer Chris Verene. Sixth House stands out as the band’s most musically distinct, vibrant, and soulfully rendered album of its career. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Billy Really 
2. Lady Macbeth
3. Turn And Smile
4. Go Tell Everybody
5. Baby’s On To Me
6. Closest To Heaven 
7. Count In Odd Numbers
8. Lost In Sound, Listen
9. Sonny Boy
10. Crystal Skies.

GRAMMY® Award-nominated multiplatinum artist, fashion disruptor, “King of Teens” Teenage Emotions merges Lil Yachty’s signature gleeful sing-rap and auto-tuned transmissions with hip hop bombast, pop and eighties cultural touchstones. The 19-year-old Atlanta native is proudly genre-defying, mining hip-hop, alternative, indie sounds as well as his hometown Atlanta trap DNA to solidify his mosaic approach. The 21-track album includes features from Migos, Diplo, YG and UK rapper Stefflon Don. As the title indicates, the set is a reflection of young lives right now, from happiness to social media-saturated heartbreak to the dancefloor, caught in a sound that effortlessly, constantly bounces from rap to pop to something entirely its own. Personally the nineteen-year-old strives to promote positivity and good vibes. “It caters to a teenager’s everyday lifestyle-heartbreak, happiness, that vibe when you waking up in the morning getting dressed and you just wanna dance,” says Lil Yachty.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: It makes me feel like i'm 19 man, you know, like Instagram and Snapchat and all that, when I was a lad you used payphones [cue talk about using payphones between staff].

TRACK LISTING

1 Like A Star [Explicit]
2 DN Freestyle [Explicit]
3 Peek A Boo [feat. Migos] [Explicit]
4 Dirty Mouth [Explicit]
5 Harley [Explicit]
6 All Around Me [feat. YG & Kamaiyah] [Explicit]
7 Say My Name [Explicit]
8 All You Had To Say [Explicit]
9 Better [feat. Stefflon Don]
10 Forever Young [feat. Diplo] [Explicit]
11 Lady In Yellow [Explicit]
12 Moments In Time [Explicit]
13 Otha Shit [Explicit]
14 X Men [feat. Evander Griiim] [Explicit]
15 Bring It Back [Explicit]
16 Running With A Ghost [feat. Grace] [Explicit]
17 FYI (Know Now) [Explicit]
18 Priorities [Explicit]
19 No More [Explicit]
20 Made Of Glass
21 Momma [feat. Sonyae Elise] [Explicit]

Beach Slang's second full-length is a crash-and-thunder collection of songs about what it takes to keep yourself going, to make it through the rest of the night—hell, through the rest of your youth—and beyond. Frontman James Alex wrote much of A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings on their first album’s support tour, during which he spent a lot of time with the kids who’d picked up the record.

“A lot of the songs [on Loud Bash] are the stories of the kids who got turned on to Beach Slang by the first album,” says Alex. “They’re autobiographical, too, but kind of at a remove—I’m not that young kid anymore, but I used to be. You know how it is; rock and roll is a new crop of 15-year-olds picking up guitars every year and having at it. There was something really cool about documenting someone elses life, but seeing myself in it. I suppose that’s why we connect. We’re all kind of one big gang.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Future Mixtape For The Art Kids
2. Atom Bomb
3. Spin The Dial
4. Art Damage
5. Hot Tramps
6. Punks In A Disco Bar
7. Wasted Daze Of Youth
8. Young Hearts
9. The Perfect High
10. Warpaint

Teens of Denial is the thirteenth album in Car Seat Headrest’s (aka 23-year-old Will Toledo) oeuvre, second on Matador, and first to be recorded in a proper studio with a full band and producer (Steve Fisk).

On Denial, Toledo moves from bedroom pop to something approaching classic-rock grandeur and huge (if detailed and personal) narrative ambitions, with nods to the Cars, Pavement, Jonathan Richman, Wire, and William Onyeabor. By turns tender and caustic, empathetic and solipsistic, literary and vernacular, profound and profane, self-loathing and self-aggrandizing, he conjures a specifically 21st century mindset, a product of information overload, the loneliness it can foster, and the escape music can provide.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Boisterous and catchy college-rock anthems with a nod to melancholic folk, skate-punk and everything in between. Teens of Denial is a further expansion of singer-songwriter Will Toledo's already extensive back catalogue. Exciting and heartfelt, and another fantastic outing for Car Seat Headrest.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fill In The Blank
2. Vincent
3. Destroyed By Hippie Powers
4. (Joe Gets Kicked Out Of School For Using) Drugs With Friends (But Says This Isn't A Problem)
5. Just What I Needed/Not Just What I Needed
6. Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales
7. 1937 State Park
8. Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)
9. Cosmic Hero
10. The Ballad Of The Costa Concordia
11. Connect The Dots (The Saga Of Frank Sinatra)
12. Joe Goes To School 

Hologram Teen is releasing a 2-track single on 7" vinyl via London's Happy Robots Records. This is the solo electronic motorik disco project of Morgane Lhote, former long-term keyboard player of Stereolab. Originally from Paris, Morgane moved to London when she was 20 and spent 12 years there. Then she moved to NYC and, nine years later, moved to Los Angeles. Her name is known to many for her work as keyboard player in the seminal indie kosmische act Stereolab, having recorded and performed with the band during their imperial phase between 1995 and 2001, when they released a series of career defining albums including ‘Emperor Tomato Ketchup’ and ‘Dots and Loops’. Fans of Common will also be able to find Morgane on the Sgt Pepper inspired sleeve for his Electric Circus album. She followed her time in Stereolab with a stint in The Projects and, from 2005, played in Garden with members of Simian Mobile Disco before starting the Hologram Teen project.

FOR LOVERS OF: French house, Etienne de Crecy, Deadmaus5, ESG, Umberto, Yello, Add N to X, Death in Vegas, Stereolab, Ghostbox Records, Goblin and Italian Zombie Horror Soundtracks.

Matador Records are thrilled to announce the signing of Car Seat Headrest and the release of ‘Teens Of Style’, with ‘Teens Of Denial’ to follow soon after in 2016.

This prolific artist (also known as Will Toledo) comes to Matador having already crafted an 11-album catalogue of staggering depth, all self-released digitally, gaining him an obsessive following and over 25,000 downloads - all without the muscle of a manager, label, agent, or publicist - until now.

Car Seat Headrest began in 2010 in Will Toledo’s hometown of Leesburg, Virginia. Needing a place of solitude (and soundproofing) where he could record vocals undisturbed, a 17-year-old Toledo set up shop in the family car. Toledo’s catalogue is sharp, literary and culturally omnivorous as it touches upon youth and death, love and depression, drunken parties and 2nd Century theologian. Ever surprising, his lyrical imagery ranges from playful to sexually frank to sorrowful, often within the same song.

After relocating to the Seattle suburbs in 2014, Toledo assembled a line up with bassist Ethan Ives and drummer Andrew Katz. ‘Teens Of Style’ is the first Car Seat Headrest album recorded with a full band and the sound is vibrant and powerful with a wide stylistic range.

On ‘Teens Of Style’ Toledo has taken material from the first three years of the band’s existence and reworked it to generate some of the most realized arrangements to date. Drawing material from ‘3’ (2010), ‘My Back Is Killing Me Baby’ (2011) and ‘Monomania’ (2012), ‘Teens Of Style’ provides a concise overview of the band’s many sonic and emotional facets, with the songs ranging from electronic psychedelia to punky anthems to melancholic acoustic numbers.

The longest track on ‘Teens Of Style’, ‘Times To Die’ is just under seven minutes, applying breakbeat cut-ups and ‘Low Rider’ horns to a groove-driven neo-psych jam with lyrics about Judaism, Hinduism and the record business. Similarly, ‘Maud Gone’ is a wistful 60s-inspired pop number paying homage to Yeats’ unrequited love, while the intricate party track ‘Los Borrachos’ borrows its title from the Diego Velasquez painting.

Car Seat Headrest’s conceptual ambition and stunning songwriting has been apparent since its early days of laptop recording, the scale of Toledo’s vision going far beyond the constricting ‘lo-fi’ term. Now on his Matador Records debut we witness Toledo presenting his intricate ideas with more clarity and refinement than ever, delivering an enthralling collection of songs destined for wide acclaim.

“Toledo’s commitment to giving listeners a direct line to his inner monologue is the kind of thing that inspires hardcore fanhood - the ability to get lost in Toledo’s work is the entire point.” - Pitchfork

“Crazy impressive - catchy, thoughtful, and inventive” - Brooklyn Vegan

“A major new talent… his music is beguiling and easy to get lost in” - NME

TRACK LISTING

Sunburned Shirts
The Drum
Something Soon
No Passion
Times To Die
Psst, Teenagers, Take Off your Clo
Strangers
Maud Gone
Los Borrachos (I Don't Have Any Hope Left, But the Weather Is Nice)
Bad Role Models, Old Idols Exhumed (psst, teenagers, Put Your clothes Back O)
Oh! Starving

In 2010, Jamison, the person behind Teen Daze, had no idea what Four More Years would bring. That debut EP, a collection of blissful home recordings, was the work of a carefree 24 year-old. By 2012, things had changed, as they tend to do: relationships dissolved, illness affected his family, windows for outward communication were closing. The gravity of it all made for constant output; he reached for futuristic utopia with All Of Us, Together, found a devotional sanctuary inside The Inner Mansions, and embraced hibernation on Glacier. In hindsight, this was an artist coping through various forms of introverted escapism.

While proud of the material, Jamison sought to break this cycle when approaching the next record. He knew it would take a few leaps of faith, most directly: out of his bedroom… out of his comfort zone. For the first time, he gave up some control, inviting the input of others. Bearing over 30 demos, Jamison joined one of his musical heroes John Vanderslice at Tiny Telephone, his all-analog studio in San Francisco. Beyond the immediate sonic advantages of recording to tape, the sessions with Vanderslice and co-producer Simon Bridgefoot encouraged a new positivity and confidence to his craft.

The result is Morning World, eleven fully built, balanced, and expressed songs, the most vulnerable and honest Teen Daze LP to date. Thematically, Jamison paints a familiar picture: a Garden of Eden, a place of transcendent, painfree beauty, but with one key distinction... it’s not real and time there is finite. With vocals boldly up front—surrounded by strings, piano, guitar, and live percussion—he details a realm that, for the first time, has room for more than one. “Where does life go when it’s done,” he poses in the closing moments of “Post Storm”, before lending an answer that evokes the omnipresent wisdom of All Things Must Pass: “a moon replaces morning sun.

TRACK LISTING

1. Valley Of Gardens
2. Pink
3. Morning World
4. It Starts At The Water
5. Post Storm
6. Life In The Sea
7. You Said
8. Garden Grove
9. Along
10. Infinity
11. Good Night

Press the gas pedal, open the window to let the summer breeze in and turn up the volume on these awesome garage-pop tunes from the UK.

Robert Pollard, head lunatic of the Guided By Voices' asylum, has a surfeit of original thoughts. (Most people are lucky to have even one, ever). That this even needs to be expressed is evidence enough for its "truth," as only obvious or obviously untrue things can ever hope to be true. Or to approach the truth. Something Pollard does with uncanny regularity, and which is further on display on every track on the gloriously unkempt, roiling-with-ideas More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush, the second record Pollard has released under the nom-de-rock Teenage Guitar.

Here's a song title: "Matthew's Ticker and Shaft a. come to breakfast b. the girl's c. division of swans d. when death has a nice ring." It starts with distorted guitar over a primitive snare-and-bass-drum beat (all instruments on all songs played by Pollard), shifts into an out-of-tune piano clumping along a simple seven-chord progression, lurches into a wall of distorted guitar as two tracks of Pollard wail wide-panned in each speaker, before finally resolving in a pretty harpsichord (or some synthesized version thereof) figure inelegantly trips over itself before trailing off into the next track: "The Instant American," which presents a multi-tracked Pollard vocals chanting over a background of what sounds like a bunch of people at a party drinking. These are not the two strangest tracks on the fifteen-song album, which clocks in at just over thirty minutes.

If there are times when Pollard's musical ambition seems to overwhelm his ability to present his ideas coherently, that's a feature, not a bug. The spazzy machine-generated beat of "A Guaranteed Ratio," the ham-handed church organ of "Good Mary's House," the off-key crooning, the awkwardly plucked possible-banjo on "All You Fought For" the general (but not always) sloppiness, the rumbling toms and slashing power chording of "New Light": it's all of a piece, and that piece adds up to a sense of urgency and what sounds an awful lot like unconstrained joy suffusing every single track on More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush. For those who like their Pollard stately, tuneful, and elegiac – sure, he can do that without effort, but that's not what Teenage Guitar is about. Teenage Guitar is about trying hard without seeming to try hard.

The result is that rare thing: a completely original album. Which is also a true delight, a sky-blue gem, a timeless and untimely cabinet of wonder. And by some few miles the greatest musical artifact your ears will have the pleasure of encountering this year.

TRACK LISTING

CD DISC 1 & LP – More Lies From The Gooseberry Bush:

1. Go Around (The Apartment Dwellers)
2. Spliced At Acme Fair
3. A Guaranteed Ratio
4. Good Mary's House
5. Skin Ride
6. Full Glass Gone
7. All You Fought For
8. Gear OP
9. No Escape
10. Matthew's Ticker And Shaft
       A. Come To Breakfast
       B. The Girls Arrive
       C. Division Of Swans
       D. When Death Has A Nice Ring
11. The Instant American
12. Normalized
13. New Light
14. Birthplace Of The Electric Starter
15. A Year That Could Have Been Worse

DISC 2 – Force Fields At Home:
1. Court Of Lions
2. Come See The Super Moon
3. Current Pressings Colors And Styles
4. Still Down Stairs
5. 8 Bars Of Meaningless Mathilda
6. Harvest Whale
7. Strangers For A Better Society
8. It Takes A Great Promise
9. It Doesn't Mean I'm Underground
10. Baby Apple
11. Peter Pan Can
12. Alice And Eddie (Fabulous Child Actors)
13. Alfred Never
14. Gymnasium Politics
15. Atlantic Cod
16. Suburban Cycle Saccharine
17. Postcard To Pinky
18. Let Me

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

RSD 2014 exclusive.

First vinyl reissue of the recordings of Teenage Filmstars, one of the early bands of maverick pop artisan Ed Ball, also a member of 'O' Level, Television Personalities and The Times.

Munster Records presents, in a co-release with Discos Alehop!, the three official singles of the British band Teenage Film Stars reissued on vinyl for the first time: '(There's A) Cloud Over Liverpool' (Clockwork Records), 'The Odd Man Out' (Wessex Records/Blueprint Records) and 'I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape' (Fab Listening Records). After self-releasing two records with his band 'O' Level, in 1979 Ed Ball continued the path of 60s-influenced new wave pop already present in that band's 'The Malcolm EP' (1978), now under the name Teenage Filmstars. In this new adventure he was accompanied by his school friends Dan Treacy and Joe Foster (both members of Television Personalities). With their help Ball released a first single inSeptember 1979 featuring two songs: the A side is taken by '(There's A) Cloud Over Liverpool' (a tremendous chorus-song ) and the B side contained 'Sometimes Good Guys Don't Follow Trends' (a comment on youth culture). The song '(There's A) Cloud Over Liverpool' received support by John Peel and reached certain fame in the UK and the United States, where it was interpreted as an homage to John Lennon.

This compilation also includes two tracks never released on vinyl until now which were recorded in April 1979, in the style of 'O' Level: 'He's A Professional' (antimilitary punk-pop) and the folk-punk anthem 'The John Peel March', dedicated to the legendary BBC radio host and great supporter of new bands. This retrospective is completed with a recording session dated in November 1980 which produced three tracks ('Storybook Beginnings', 'Dressing Up For The Cameras' and 'The Sun Never Sets') which further explore the power pop-mod sound that Ed Ball would develop in his next band The Times.

As one of the rising stars of the East Coast US electronic scene, Luke’s Torn Hawk releases on the cult L.I.E.S records introduced his cut up and glitchy take on R&B and house that have recently edged deeper and darker in to the noise and techno realms associated with the likes of Demdike Stare and Regis.

This has been complimented by two recent DVDs, self-released under his own name. Mixing his day as a professional multi-media artist with his night as an increasingly experimental musician, they have gained considerable acclaim that can’t be pigeon holed as yet another Brooklyn house-head.

However, as his first white label debut EP testified, there is also an ethereal and at times (*cough*) Balearic feel buried deep within this music and it is here, on 'Teen Hawk', this is as evident as his drone-based pieces.

While the looping percussion and rhythms of 'Bertone Stratos' and 'I Recommend Starman' echo the ethereal beauty of Cluster and La Dusseldorf, they are also mixed with the darker ambient and loop-based 'Wrong Crowd' or 'Greystoke One'.

Riding throughout much of this is his beloved looped guitar and eye for a breakbeat. Never more evident that on the album closer, 'Time For Thick'. Here his influences mesh to create a swirling, blissed out, hip-hop meets Aphex MDMA anthem (minus the sexist gangster rap - phew!)

After five years as a band, encompassing five EPs and two albums, Kent-based six-piece Tom Williams & the Boat might appear fully-formed but, with the release of their second album, ‘Teenage Blood’, they’re only just beginning to reveal their true colours.

‘Teenage Blood’ is made up of ten tracks that Tom says reflect a new sense of focus for the band. After becoming obsessed with the idols of pop-rock’s history, such as Tom Petty, Teenage Fanclub, The Band and Loaded-era Velvet Underground, Tom decided to write songs that take the traditional song structures of that genre – repeated choruses, catchy hooks – and fill them with a subversive lyricism, touched upon in the debut release.

The result is a tight, narrative set of tracks that don’t so much form a concept as a series showing the progression of doomed love affairs – moving from youthful naïveté in ‘Too Young’ into ‘There’s A Stranger’s gut-punch realisation of the death of a romance (‘the best song I’ve ever written’, says Tom) and finally the ‘rolling credits’ of ‘Emily’, a depiction of the (re)birth of a new relationship. Teenage Blood’s consistent focus and narrative drive make for a more cohesive album than Too Slow; a mixture of the black and white polarity of their debut that explores new, captivating shades of grey - the spaces in between pop and alternative music, love and hate.

In a short space of time Teenagersintokyo have come from nothing to quickly rising as one the bands to watch in 2010; selling out venues across the UK, bagging support from the likes of Zane Lowe and the NME; and most recently topping the Hype Machine chart with The Horrors remix of ‘Peter Pan’. Following the celebrated release of their self-titled EP in 2009 the band caught everyone’s attention, landing themselves international acclaim, support slots with CSS, The Slits & Gossip, a record deal with Backyard and a move to the other side of the world. This is their debut long player album which was produced by Bat For Lashes producer David Kosten.

New signing to Back Yard, Australian goth poppers Teenagers In Tokyo bring us this new 12". "End It Tonight" comes remixed four times here, with the Mad Decent leading the way with a funky electrohouse refix. Lex outfit Heartbreak come up with a darker, driving 80s inspired electro-pop rework. On side B Tybalt dip another toe in the electrohouse pool, with Sidechains bringing up the rear with a stompy, synthy rave refix.

This is The Dexateens' previously unreleased debut album. Recorded in Spring 2000, in two days flat, it laid down the foundations of what was to come with "The Dexateens" and "Red Dust Rising". This album finds them at their most primal Motorhead meets manic Southern-fried rock. Raw'n'rowdy porch blues at its finest.

Brainchild of guitarist/singer/songwriter Declan Harrington, Shibuya Crossings are originally from Belfast, evolving out of the ashes of the popular Indie Rock outfit Jude. Shibuya Crossings' sound is melodic, driving alternative rock in which tuneful and often spiky guitars weave and spar, vocal harmonies are used in just the right measure and memorable hooks abound. Declan's voice is warm and soulful, tough enough to deliver the punkier anthems, versatile enough to deal with the slower, more pensive moments. They've been compared to the likes of the Beach Boys, Flaming Lips, Nirvana, Evan Dando and Idlewild.

From Vancouver Canada comes the debut full-length from amazing new band, Bossanova. Kurt Dahle from the New Pornographers and Josh Wells from Black Mountain join singer, guitarist, genius Chris Storrow. Echoes of Ian Curtis and New Order, with the psyche-delicism of Velvet Underground or even Donna Summer(!)

"Codex Teenage Premonition" features fifteen exclusive tracks that capture perfectly the raw teenage energy of one the most influential and unique British bands of the last twenty five years. The album features tracks recorded at their very first show at Leith Town Hall in 1980 together with unreleased studio versions of tracks that would later appear on their debut single "Get Up And Use Me" and album "Lubricate Your Living Room". Although very different in style, Fire Engines were still very much part of a thriving Scottish post punk scene that featured Orange Juice, Josef K, Aztec Camera and The Associates.

Third full length from these well known US punkers. They're on tour with Less Than Jake in Europe to support this brand new album. These Southern punk rockers are gonna have the fans of power pop punk begging for more, pogo-ing until they can pogo no more.

When you get a line-up of guitar bands like this at one benefit concert then it is self evident that they would all try to out solo each other. This is a phenomenal 2CD set of Gov't Mule, Cry of Love, Derek Trucks Band and others on top form at the 11th Annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in North Carolina Dec 22, 1999. Allen Woody's last show before he died.

New LP on Canadian label Sonic Unyon. One for fans of Get Up Kids, Promise Ring, Knapsack etc.