Newly signed to SO Recordings and with a debut album proper in hand, The Joy Hotel have become a word-of-mouth success story in the Scottish DIY scene, and have since taken their live show across the UK and Europe, playing festivals including Hidden Door, Doune the Rabbit Hole, Connect, TRNSMT, Twisterella, Latitude, Sound City and The Great Escape.

The band spent eleven days at Rockfield, the legendary studio in Monmouth, Wales, recording live-to-tape. When they left, they had a sound. It is often contradictory, in that it combines the songwriting sensibilities of pop and country with arrangements reminiscent of the psychedelic scene of the 60s, six-part vocal harmonies with elements of noise rock, beautiful balladry with a sense of humour, and a cinematic quality. The result of those eleven days is debut album 'Ceremony', a record that searches for the profound in the seemingly routine, and reaches out with arms wide open to wring celebration out of each moment.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Decline
2. Forever Tender Blue
3. First Joy
4. Jeremiah
5. Black Balloon
6. Rapid Eye Movement
7. Old Man's Eyes
8. While You're Young
9. No Use
10. Twenty Three (A Comedy) - Part 1
11. Twenty Three (A Comedy) - Part 2
12. Killing Time
13. Small Mercy

The Joy, a five-piece acapella group from South Africa is releasing their self-titled debut album which was recorded and captured on film in one take at Paul Epworth’s Church Studios in late 2023.

In Hammarsdale in South Africa, where the Zulu tradition of a cappella singing is central to the cultural identity of its people, you’ll have to transcend the sum of your constituent parts to truly command attention. But singing together as teenage boys for the first time, Pastor (Ntokozo Bright Magcaba), Duzie (Melokuhle Mkhungo), Guduza (Sphelele Hlophe), Sthombe (Phelelani Sithole) and Marcus (Sanele Ngcobo) have no reason to pause and consider that.

In Hammarsdale, Ladysmith Black Mambazo have been worshipped for decades – their Grammy-winning success an authentication of the fact that the magic of isicathamiya music isn’t restricted to the townships where it flourished. The Joy grew up on Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but their harmonies harks back to another vocal tradition. Mbube means ‘lion’, which gives some indication of the elemental power its practitioners summon when bursting into song. This seems to be the lineage into which lead vocalist Duzie seems to be tapping when he cuts loose from the intonations of his co-travellers, as if compelled to commune with the ancestral spirits whose music he invokes.

In the right hands, these songs can open the gates of heaven, so perhaps it’s not so surprising that, for The Joy, they open up the gates to places they’d never imagined they’d see with their own eyes. First prize in a municipality-wide singing contest earns them something in the region of $1,300, which they divided in five and sent straight to their families, where it’s most needed. Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson pronounce themselves fans, the latter calling them “my favourite group” and inviting them onto her US talk show. Sessions produced by longtime champion Two Inch Punch amass millions of streams either in spite or because of the fact that they correspond to nothing else competing for your attention in the modern musical firmament. And, displaying the brotherhood that they say bonded them together from that very first session, they insist that the music speaks to them all with one voice, telling them what to do before they themselves are even aware of it.

The Joy sing about the big stuff – the power of dreams, religious faith – but actually when they address the harrowing specifics of day to day life, sometimes these are the moments that assume even greater emotional magnitude.

TRACK LISTING

1. Uhlenge
2. Amaqatha Amancane
3. Mama Ka Nomthandazo
4. Bayang'khethela
5. Mama Uleli Kanjani
6. Ngiphuphe Ngilele
7. Mashaya Kancane
8. UBaba Uthwelekanzima
9. You Complete Me
10. Amandla Ka Moya
11. Jesu

The post-garage-punk and psychedelic power pop anomaly Chemtrails return with their upcoming third album - their boldest yet with a more danceable and rhythm-driven style, armed with their trademark fuzzy guitars and playfully sinister melodies.

Working with producer Margo Broom (Fat White Family, Goat Girl) this time around, the group has traded in their DIY approach for a more hi-fi studio sound, remaining just as raw and wild as ever, but with a whole new level of focus and intensity.

TRACK LISTING

Detritus Andronicus
Bang Bang
Business Class War Paint
Sycophant's Paradise
Mushroom Cloud Nine
Join Our Death Cult
Pink Whale
Superhuman Superhighway
Apocalypstick
(Post-Apocalypstick)
Endless Stream Of The Bizarre

Peter Hook & The Light celebrate the work of Joy Division live at Manchester Apollo in an amazing set lasting over 2 and a half hours.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting
Disc 1
Side 1
1. Dead Souls
2. Disorder
3. Day Of The Lords
4. Candidate
5. Insight
Side 2
1. New Dawn Fades
2. She's Lost Control
3. Shadowplay
4. Wilderness
Disc 2
Side 1
1. Interzone
2. I Remember Nothing
3. Atrocity Exhibition
4. Isolation
Side 2
1. Passover
2. Colony
3. A Means To An End
4. Heart & Soul
Disc 3
Side 1
1. Twenty Four Hours
2. The Eternal
3. Decades
Side 2
1. Atmosphere
2. Ceremony
3. Transmission
4. Love Will Tear Us Apart
Disc 4
Side 1
1. Elegia (CD)
2. Cries & Whispers (CD)
3. Regret (CD)
4. What Do You Want From Me? (CD)
5. Vanishing Point (CD)
6. True Faith (CD)
7. The Perfect Kiss (CD)

CD Tracklisting
Disc 1
1. Elegia
2. Cries & Whispers
3. Regret
4. What Do You Want From Me?
5. Vanishing Point
6. True Faith
7. The Perfect Kiss
Disc 2
1. Dead Souls
2. Disorder
3. Day Of The Lords
4. Candidate
5. Insight
6. New Dawn Fades
7. She's Lost Control
8. Shadowplay
9. Wilderness
10. Interzone
11. I Remember Nothing
Disc 3
1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Isolation
3. Passover
4. Colony
5. A Means To An End
6. Heart & Soul
7. Twenty Four Hours
8. The Eternal
9. Decades
10. Atmosphere
11. Ceremony
12. Transmission
13. Love Will Tear Us Apart

Originally released in 2017 on the band’s own label Artificial Plastic and now being reissued by Fuzz Club Records, ‘Damage And Joy’ is the seventh studio album from Scottish alt-rock legends The Jesus and Mary Chain. The long-awaited follow-up to 1998’s ‘Munki’, ‘Damage And Joy’ was the band’s first studio album in nearly two decades and contained brand new material alongside reimagined versions of songs that had been released in various forms by the Reid brothers in between the Mary Chain’s 1999 break-up and 2007 reunion. Coproduced by Youth (Killing Joke) and featuring the lead singles ‘Amputation’ and ‘All Things Pass’, ‘Damage & Joy’ also featured guest appearances from Scottish singer-songwriter Isobel Campbell (‘The Two of Us’, ‘Song For A Secret’) and American alt-pop star Sky Ferreira (‘Black And Blues’).

Included in this reissue and available on vinyl for the very first time is ‘Ono Yoko’ (originally only available on the Japanese CD version of the album), as well as alternative versions of ‘The Two Of Us’ featuring Sky Ferreira and ‘Black And Blues’ featuring Isobel Campbell.

As Pitchfork wrote at the time of the album's release: “It will take more than a nearly twodecade recording hiatus to diminish the band’s intrinsic ultraviolet vibe. ‘Damage And Joy’ carries the reassurance that now, more than ever, The Jesus and Mary Chain are united in holy acrimony.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Amputation
2. The Two Of Us (feat Sky Ferreira)
3. All Things Pass
4. Always Sad
5. Song For A Secret (feat. Isobel Campbell)
6. War On Peace
7. Black And Blues (feat. Isobel Campbell)
8. Los Feliz (Blues And Greens)
9. Mood Rider
10. Presidici (Et Chapaquiditch)
11. Get On Home
12. Facing Up To The Facts
13. Simian Split
14. Black And Blues (feat. Sky Ferreira)
15. Ono Yoko
16. The Two Of Us (feat Isobel Campbell)
17. Can't Stop The Rock

Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club return with their fourth album, The Joy Of The Return. Opening to an energetic blend of driving drums and infectious guitar lines, the opening track builds through evocative verses and anthemic choruses, imbued with their idiosyncratic brand of insightful and confronting lyricism and set against relentlessly danceable and energy-provoking instrumentation. “‘All I Hear’ is about a lack of agency and an inability to affect change. That there’s something happening, and you have no choice but to go along with it,” explains singer Aaron Starkie.

Throughout the album, the band explore a vast swathe of sonic territory, from the passionately delivered ‘All The Idols’, to the poppier tones of ‘Jericho’ that power through with bright indie guitar lines and ethereally melodic choruses.  Recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by long-standing collaborator Phil Bulleyment, The Joy Of The Return marks a significant change in the band’s process, with their extensive touring allowing them time to write and develop tracks and arrangements through soundchecks and back-of-van jams.

“I think it’s definitely our most interesting and accomplished record musically,” says singer Aaron Starkie. “Lyrically the album covers love, alienation, the rise of right wing populism and comments on algorithm driven propaganda. And as always, I try to deliver those lyrics with uplifting melody.”

The dark power-pop that defined their previous releases holds a strong influence, with the brooding ‘No Surprise’ providing a powerful dose of evocative lyricism amid immersive soundscapes, while the unsettling ‘Paris’ is an undulating exploration of observational songwriting and eclectic musicality The swelling, arena-sized ‘Zero Hour’ displays the enormity of The Slow Readers Club sound and sets the precedent for their incredibly exciting future, while ‘The Wait’ closes the album with a beautifully absorptive combination of atmospheric synths flipping the pace of the record on its head to intoxicating effect.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. All I Hear
2. Something Missing
3. Problem Child
4. Jericho
5. No Surprise
6. Paris

Side B
1. Killing Me
2. All The Idols
3. Every Word
4. Zero Hour
5. The Wait

"Juan Pablo: The Philosopher" has been one of our favourite releases here at Piccadilly in recent years, so we were utterly buzzing to hear word of a new LP from the mighty Ezra Collective. Soon enough the London five-piece furnished us with a promo CD, and it's been on the Piccadilly player ever since. Continuing the genre-bending journey they began on "Juan Pablo", "You Can't Steal My Joy" sees the ensemble apply their incredible musicianship to elements of Afrobeat, hip-hop, grime and dub, wrapping their diverse influences into their fearless, fun and contemporary take on jazz. If you needed any further evidence of their top tier credentials, they recently broke off from a sold out, mosh-pit-filled UK tour to play at Quincy Jones' birthday party - nuff respect. This is the jazz sound of 2019 folks - get joyful.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Contemporary Jazz 5-piece Ezra Collective have encapsulated joy in record form, and you can feel the happiness radiating through the tracks here, especially “Chris And Jane” and “Quest For Coin”. My record of the year by far, Afro-beat meets Jazz meets Hip Hop makes for a glorious combination to put you in an upbeat mood.

TRACK LISTING

DISC 1
SIDE A
1. Space Is The Place (Reprise)
2. Why You Mad?
3. Red Whine
4. Quest For Coin

SIDE B
1. Reason In Disguise Feat. Jorja Smith
2. What Am I To Do? Feat. Loyle Carner
3. Chris And Jane

DISC 2
SIDE C
1. People Saved
2. Philosopher II

SIDE D
1. São Paulo
2. King Of The Jungle
3. You Can't Steal My Joy
4. Shakara Feat. KOKOROKO

A collection of 14 tracks highlighting the band's career on disc one, while disc two, "The Peel Sessions" is a collection of the two John Peel sessions recorded by Joy Division in 1979, along with the Something Else versions of "Transmission" and "She's Lost Control" and an interview by Richard Skinner with Ian Curtis and Stephen Morris. Music doesn't get any better than this!!!

"Wake Of The Dying Sun King" is the second full-length of epic meditative drone from this South Western Virginia collective. Like Pelt (with whom it shares several members), Spiral Joy Band uses mostly acoustic instruments to create slow, building pieces rich with human detail. The steady rolling of multiple Tibetan bowls, bowed and struck gongs, hypnotic fiddle, sruti box, and other instruments are recorded live in continuous performances that frequently stretch beyond an hour per piece. The performance aspect is key to Spiral Joy Band's aura - the variations in approach, force, etc. with which each tone is played, and the clear, open recording (mostly in Blacksburg's Glade baptist church) highlight the subtleties of the music.

Put together by a couple of Belgian Joy Division experts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the sadly missed Ian Curtis-and the year that the Ian Curtis Movie is to begin. This album contains extremely rare audio interviews with all members of Joy Division - some of which have never seen the light of day before plus spoken word contribution on one number from Martin Hannett and a rare Martin Hannett interview. The interview sections are interspersed with superb live performances from various venues through the career of the band including rarities from Dutch and Belgian concert performances and a couple of rare alternative studio outtakes. The eight page fold out full colour CD booklet contains lots of Joy Division images and a biographical article on the band by Mick Middles from 1978.

Third full length from Toronto's Deadly Snakes, their second for the garage rock stronghold In The Red records. It's their finest moment to date, this six-piece dig deep into the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison, the Band, electric Bob Dylan, and the entire canon of early soul music, also earning the reputation in the USA as a one of the most soul-shaking live acts!! These guys have the Memphis soul gone punk rock sound nailed!!