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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Producer and multi-instrumentalist CARRTOONS returns with his new album, Homegrown. Evolving his trademark Modern Motown sound, CARRTOONS continues to expand his already diverse musical repertoire in jazz, soul, hip-hop, and more. 

The youngest son of jazz violinist Richard Carr (Bill Laswell, Bootsy Collins), Ben received his college degree in Jazz Performance, made his debut with Mad Satta, and opened for artists like Thundercat, Nick Hakim, Gabriel Garzon Montano, and Mac Ayres. Over the last few years, he has become one of the most sought-after producers in music through his eye-catching Instagram videos, powerful bass lines, and memorable melodies. His unique fills, phrases, and compositions made him an instant favorite, leading to recent collaborations with Robert Glasper, Alex Isley, Kiefer, and Butcher Brown.

The success of Saturday Morning was the first sign of evolution in CARRTOONS career, with the album surpassing 2 million streams on Spotify in mid-February. The ad placement of his track "Give It Up" with Green Mountain Coffee gave him exposure to a whole new audience, while his guest feature on the Tiny Desk series rearranging the NPR theme songs for their 50th anniversary was also a hit. Starting 2022 off strong, CARRTOONS' recent work with The KOUNT led to the release of their ultra-viral video "On My Way" and the organic growth of over 100,000 followers in 4 weeks on Instagram.

His continued strides in music, along with astonishing growth across several platforms is clear indication of Ben Carr's promise and potential. More than just an album; Homegrown characterizes the hard work, seeds sown, and natural growth of a gifted musician. An artist you will want to watch!

TRACK LISTING

1. Homegrown
2. Toons
3. Groceries (feat Nigel Hall)
4. Be There For You
5. Lighta (feat Rae Khalil)
6. Vamp
7. Read My Lips (feat Floyd Fuji)
8. Cadillac (feat Richard Carr,Pierce Allen)
9. Hollywood
10. Flamingos (feat Tennishu)
11. Young Buck (feat DJ Harrison)
12. Northern Lights (feat Fonville)
13. Pressure Over Pleasure (feat Lo Artiz,Julia Zivic)
14. White Widow

Debut album from Manchester-via-Italy singer, songwriter and guitarist Julia Bardo.

Produced and mixed by Younghusband’s Euan Hinshelwood, the record firmly establishes Bardo’s musical adventurousness and prowess, and marks a cathartic and self-affirming moment for an artist who found her voice by realizing it's been there all along.

The album is best summed up by the woman who wrote it all: “Bauhaus, L’Appartamento is about loneliness, solitude, separation...but also unconditional love,” Bardo reveals of the record’s overarching themes. “Family, emotional dependency, mental health issues, feelings of emptiness and numbness, feelings of not being enough, inability to be in control of my own emotions, self-doubt, self-reflection, past traumas and dealing with them.”

Named after the apartment complex she lived in when demoing the album’s recordings, but with an Italian twist.

Follows the release of two EPs, Phase and The Raw EP, which saw her experiment further with her wistful and mysterious sound to become the alternative pop artist she is today.

Her musical journey began in Brescia in Northern Italy, where she sang and wrote lyrics for a local band between shifts at her father’s bar. A free spirit craving new inspiration, she relocated to Manchester and it was here she developed her striking style as a solo musician before also meeting and joining post-punk band Working Men’s Club. Never losing her strong desire to have full creative control over her music, she returned to become a solo artist again.

STAFF COMMENTS

Emily says: Julia Bardo: Local talent alert!! Gorgeous, off kilter pop songs which have more bite to them than you might expect. Sonorous vocals and deft melodic interplay met with moments of jangling dissonance. FFO Cate Le Bon and Aldous Harding!

Love Record Stores Edition available from 9am on Saturday June 20th.
Limited to one per person.

Sea blue vinyl.

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Debut EP from the Italian-born Manchester based Julia Bardo. ‘Phase’ represents the artist’s quest to make music that is entirely her own. While studying in Manchester, Bardo met members of Working Men’s Club, the chugging post-punk English band she would join. Yet she still itched to have full creative control over her music, which she uses as a means to understand herself better. “For me, music is about healing what is hurt inside of me. I heal by writing and talking about what troubles me. I’ve always been very lonely, and I’ve always been very emotional - these things inform my music quite a bit.”

Bardo’s first-written, debut solo single ‘Desire’ earned attention from The Line of Best Fit and BBC Radio and saw her enchant audiences at UK festivals like Neighbourhood, Liverpool Sound City and The Great Escape. Yet ‘Phase’ marks a defining moment for a forward-facing young artist and comes with a stark warning: don’t get too comfortable. “‘Phase’ is a wave, you know; I get inspired and each time I write, it’s an evolution of what I wrote before.”

Bardo’s music illustrates her constantly changing world through journal-like observations that log each trauma and triumph, influenced by the music she grew up with (Italian musicians from the 60s such as Mina, Lucio Battisti, Patty Pravo and other icons of that era like Nancy Sinatra) as well as her modern day heroines (Cate Le Bon, Angel Olsen, Aldous Harding, Lucy Dacus, Sharon Van Etten, Jessica Pratt and Weyes Blood, to name a few). She co-produced ‘Phase’ alongside The Orielles’ Henry Carlyle Wade at Stockport’s Eve Studios. “It was exciting,” Bardo recalls. “For the first time these songs feel like me.”

TRACK LISTING

Into Your Eyes
Please Don’t Tell Me
Lonely Morning
I Wanna Feel Love

Will Samson still remembers his first - and only - experiments with psilocybin. For some time, following the death of his father in 2012, the British musician had suffered from mild PTSD, unable to process the grief provoked by the sudden nature of his passing. It took him several years, however, before he felt confident enough to explore the possibilities this popular compound was said to offer. Finally, he and his girlfriend retreated to the countryside for a day. Samson’s fifth album, ‘Paralanguage’ - his first for Wichita Recordings - was in many ways inspired by his subsequent experiences and seeks to emulate them too. Indeed, vocals for two tracks, ‘Ochre Alps’ and ‘Flowerbed’, which he’d been struggling to finish for a number of months, were written and recorded over two subsequent afternoons spent micro-dosing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, ‘Paralanguage’ - the title chosen because the album’s central themes address the way “our bodies, not just our minds, hold memories and emotions” - is Samson’s most cohesive album to date. There’s a conspicuously tender thread running through its eight songs, from ‘Calescent’, its eloquently poignant opener, to ‘Lacuna’’s fuzzy nostalgia, from ‘Beyond The Dust’’s sweet serenity to ‘The Smallest Sliver’’s redemptive fragility. Samson’s voice, too, has never sounded more moving, committed or confident, his yearning falsetto as touching as his gentle tenor - comparisons to Sufjan Stevens and Patrick Watson are not inappropriate - while his arrangements are intricate yet never ostentatious, with precisely detailed programming inseparable from the warmth of his analogue instrumentation. “Perhaps,” Samson observes, “it's a reflection of feeling more centred and grounded.”

Recorded largely in his home studio in Brussels - the first time he’s had a space exclusively devoted to his music - ‘Paralanguage’ finds Samson reunited with regular collaborator Beatrijs De Klerck, a violinist who also plays with A Winged Victory For The Sullen and Christina Vantzou. Ben Lester, who’s worked with S. Carey and Sufjan Stevens, added pedal steel to ‘Beyond The Dust’ and Jeremy Boettcher (who also performs with S. Carey) added double bass to ‘The Human Mosaic’, while Canadian songwriter Michael Feuerstack added backing vocals to ‘The Smallest Sliver’.

Otherwise, the album is all Samson’s own work, a testament to his desire to seek peace not just on record but in his life. A tribute to his inquisitive nature, ‘Paralanguage’ is also, ultimately, a memorial to his father, whose life shaped Samson’s own and whose tragic passing has now inadvertently yielded a source of magical consolation for us all. As the 30-year-old sings on ‘The Smallest Sliver’, “Sometimes my love feels too big for my body / So I have to let it go.” In doing so, Will Samson has allowed us all to share it.

TRACK LISTING

Calescent
Beyond The Dust
Flowerbed
Triplet
Lacuna
The Human Mosaic
Ochre Alps
The Smallest Sliver

We dare you not to smile ear-to-ear when listening to Oscar Scheller’s newest single, Interstellar Disco. Despite its cheerful disposition on the surface, the song’s cosmic alignment into existence actually occurred from a darker place. Oscar explains “The day I wrote it was probably one of the hardest days of my life and it means something very special to me. Luckily I was writing with Lucy (PAWWS) who is a musical soulmate and the perfect dance partner. We found a bittersweet escape. It’s there when you need it”.

“It’s a song about a two friends meeting at a fantasy location called the Interstellar Disco. It’s a place you go when the sky feels too low and the universe feels too big and you just wanna forget about everything and dance like Napoleon Dynamite”.

Oscar’s forthcoming HTTP404 project boasts a series of noteworthy collaborations with the likes of Lily Allen, Ashnikko, Havelock, and Kero Kero Bonito’s Sarah Midori Perri. The set of songs focuses on the importance of searching for something that no longer exists, not finding what you’re looking for. It’s philosophical & existential in places, but there’s an underlying message across the board to stop thinking about things so much & just start living!

Speaking about the project Oscar Scheller had to say “I’ve been gone for a minute, trying to find myself, and I think I did. I also found a lot of friends along the way. What you’re looking for may not exist how you think it does. It may not even be what you thought it was either. HTTP404 is where I’ve been. But now I’m back online with good enough WiFi and a heart full of love”.

TRACK LISTING

1 1Up
2 Picture Perfect
3 Interstellar Disco
4 1%
5 Confidence
6 Estate Of Mind
7 Runaway
8 Go
9 Happy Meals
10 Tidal Waves
11 Young

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

After a two-year hiatus, Los Angeles’ noise-rock trio Froth is back with their most fully realized work to date. A band of impeccable musicianship and an elevated sense of humor, the lead single is a twisted love song underlined with blown out guitars. “This song is about a guy who listened to the Yanny/Laurel thing and he can only hear Laurel,” shares the band. “He’s really passionate about Laurel being the correct pronunciation to the point where he will die before admitting otherwise. In the end, he reveals that he loves his girlfriend more than he loves the correct pronunciation of “Laurel/Yanny”.

Froth has never been a band content with the status quo. After three records, scoring the Saint Laurent Men's Fall 2014 line fashion show (with frontman Joo Joo walking in the show), and forays into shoegaze, psychedelia and post-punk, the band of Joo-Joo Ashworth, Jeremy Katz and Cameron Allen have stepped outside the shadow of their influences and into something wholly their own. Co-produced with longtime friend and collaborator Tomas Dolas (Oh Sees/Mr. Elevator), the record is unapologetically experimental yet undeniably accessible. It’s an impressive and self-assured statement from a group only just entering their prime.

With Duress, Froth has finally been able to realize their vision without compromise. Mirroring their open-minded studio approach, Froth’s live show is equally enthralling in its incorporation of analog synthesizers, overdubs and drum machines.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Trading in the sort of head-nodding eyes-closed psychedelic fuzz that King Gizz *could* do if they tried (sorry), Froth are immediately satisfying but brilliantly deep, revealing more charm to their angular and surprising melodic turns the more you listen to them. Brittle in points, but perfectly measured throughout, 'Duress' is an exciting and exhilarating ride.

TRACK LISTING

Laurel
Catalog
Dialogue
A2
Department Head
77
John Peel Slowly
Xvaños
Slow Chamber
Syndrome

Indoor Pets (formerly known as Get Inuit) formed straight after leaving school in Sittingbourne, Kent, it wasn’t long before their effortless songs were attracting attention, with one of them making Record Of The Week on BBC Introducing and within two weeks Huw Stephens had picked up on the track.

For the next few years Indoor Pets wrote and gigged incessantly, building up a batch of killer tunes and a devoted fanbase across the country. They did, and still do, everything themselves. From making the artwork to organising their own tours on the road, producing music, building their own stage monitoring system and even running their own finances (Simpson: “if anyone wants to spend any money they have to ask me,”). It’s a fiercely DIY ethic born less from punk principle as it was from necessity. “It was either do it yourself or don’t have it done,” notes Glass, “and we decided to do it ourselves.”

Signing to Wichita Recordings, the band set about recording their debut album, a record seemingly full of a bottomless pool of great tunes. Familiar feelings of not fitting in or wanting to play the hand life’s dealt you are delivered with self-deprecating wit and Glass’ trademark use of double-bluffing word play. Think Rivers Cuomo and a pre-sandpit Brian Wilson bunking off school to play records and snigger at the cool kids. They’re smart, life-affirming and all contained within a thumping primary-coloured pop wallop.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Brilliantly encompassing the lo-fi aesthetic that's become so popular nowadays, Indoor Pets have a penchant for snappy percussion and mid-heavy fuzzy guitars, all topped with the snarling vocals of Jamie Glass. It's an intoxicating combination, and one sure to have you bobbing your head with the best of 'em. Awesome.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hi
2. Teriyaki
3. Thick
4. Spill (My Guts)
5. Pro Procrastinator
6. Couch
7. Heavy Thoughts
8. The Mapping Of Dandruff
9. Being Strange
10. Mean Heart
11. Good Enough
12. Barbiturates
13. Cutie Pie, I’m Bloated
14. My Amnesiac

Second full-length album from Los Angeles’ melodic noise punk quartet Feels

The follow up to their Ty Segal-produced debut for Castle Face debut – which earned the band press attention from outlets including The Fader, Spin and The Los Angeles Times - sees them capture their incendiary live show on record. This time they teamed up with legendary producer Tim Green (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney) to record at Louder Studios.

The album features a range of sounds, from driving basslines reminiscent of the Breeders on tracks like "Find A Way", to swirling vocal harmonies on "Awful Need" subtly nodding to Warpaint, and the crushing title track "Post Earth“, an accumulation of grunge rawness and towering Queens of the Stone Age riffs

TRACK LISTING

1. Car
2. Awful Need
3. Deconstructed
4. Find A Way
5. W.F.L.
6. Sour
7. Last Chance
8. Post Earth
9. Toll Booth
10. Anyways
11. Flowers

Cleveland, OH’s Cloud Nothings return with their loudest record to date. Undeniably one of the finest and most captivating live acts on the face of the planet, this record goes further towards capturing that power and intensity than any of their previous releases.

The album was produced by legend of heavy music Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Oren Ambarchi, Marissa Nadler, Black Mountain) at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, TX.

Weighing in at just over thirty minutes it’s a singular listen that reflects the band’s live tenacity - one that sees them surge through the tracks at a speed hitherto unseen on previous outings - the perfect antidote to 2017’s ‘Life Without Sound’.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Brilliantly dynamic thrashing punky riffs, angular math-rocky riffing and snarling vox, all brought together into Cloud Nothings' newest outing. Richly melodic but filled with unexpected twists and turns, forging an interesting and rewarding listen. Definitely one for blasting out at the skate park.

TRACK LISTING

On An Edge
Leave Him Now
In Shame
Offer An End
The Echo Of The World
Dissolution
So Right So Clean
Another Way Of Life

Simian Mobile Disco's fifth full length album, "Murmurations", features vocals from celebrated Hackney-based collective The Deep Throat Choir and sees the established dance duo further bolster their already impressive sonic portfolio with another thrilling nine songs done in their inimitable, stadium-pleasing electronic style.

As perfectly pitched for headphones as it is for clubs, and named after giant cloud formations of starlings and themed around the stunning emergent behaviors that appear within them. To mirror these movements in the sonic landscape and visuals of "Murmurations", SMD’s James Ford and Jas Shaw also collaborated with creative directors Kazim Rashid of ENDLESSLOVESHOW (Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawk) and Carri Munden. Together with The Deep Throad Choir, they have created a sprawling, dramatic and expansive piece of work. The delicate and evocative vocal parts ride SMD's textured electronic structures and rhythms in ethereal and enchanted ways, while the long duration of the tracks truly absorbs the listener in their magic. This is some of the strongest work we've seen from the pair and a brilliant introduction to TDTC should they require the exposure. A truly accomplished album which finds Simian Mobile Disco in fine form. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Simian surprise me endlessly by actually making a record I really like! The ethereal mix of haunting choir and SMD's shimmering soundscapes is evocative and cinenmatic indeed. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

1. Boids
2. Caught In A Wave
3. We Go
4. Gliders
5. Hey Sister
6. A Perfect Swarm
7. Defender
8. V Formation
9. Murmuration

Scent are...

Three mammals in a basement lounge taking turns to look hungrily at white-socked feet through a lopsided crack in the ceiling.

A neutral/nocturnal pop group happiest when fed and cleaned by forces from above, half-lit by the sounds of a vacuum choir in the ether.

Hot, sick and fragile, they do what they can with their nubile instruments, though sometimes it doesn’t produce the results they want.

The latest signing to Wichita Recordings, and one of only two acts ever signed to the label as the result of an unsolicited demo email (theirs is available for viewing upon request).

The band said the following:

"He hung skinny in the basement for a week or two. Didn’t go outside. Blindsided by vacuous jump cuts, i guess. I dunno, i didn’t ask him. He had a nice face and slow hair. You know, the kind that gradually primps itself upon exiting the folds of a dirty pillow. Great body too. Huh. Played guitar a bit, probably better at bass. Not a bad drummer. Wore old t shirts and a selection of European tracksuit bottoms. Yeah, yeah. Don’t shoot. There were two other kids too, I mean, they could have been older. Some chick, no, uh, guy. Sung a lot. Probably sung more than spoke. Recorded thousands of hours of this stuff in a loft. Something about “the great leveller”. Pretty spurious. That other guy, though? Nice and tan. Power in his wrists. Good record collection, if that matters. Sugar-moulded face before he hit the showers with the rest of them."

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Gorgeous ethereal pop. I love this.

Cloud Nothings are back with ‘Life Without Sound’, the follow up to 2014’s ‘Here And Nowhere Else’, on Wichita Recordings.

Lead singer and guitarist Dylan Baldi maintains simple, admirable standards in quality. “A thing I like to do with all of my records is drive around with them,” the 25-year-old Cloud Nothings frontman says. “In high school, I would listen to music for hours like that: just driving through the suburbs of Cleveland. And if it sounds good to me in that context and I can think of high school me listening to it and saying, ‘That’s okay,’ I feel good about the record. This is the one that’s felt best.”

‘Life Without Sound’ is the radiant fourth full length Cloud Nothings have recorded since Baldi began writing and releasing songs on his own under the Cloud Nothings alias in 2008. While its highly acclaimed predecessor, 2014’s ‘Here And Nowhere Else’, came together spontaneously in the little time that touring allowed, ‘Life Without Sound’ took shape under far less frenetic circumstances.

For more than a year, Baldi was able to write these songs and flesh out them out with his bandmates - drummer Jayson Gerycz and bassist TJ Duke - before they finally joined producer John Goodmanson (Sleater Kinney, Death Cab For Cutie) at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, Texas for three weeks in March of 2016. The result is Baldi’s most polished and considered work to date, an album that speaks to his evolving gift with melody while also betraying the sort of perspective that time provides.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I used to listen to quite a lot of skate-punk and hardcore in my youth, whilst this is definitely not that, it has a similar sort of Loud-less loud-loud vibe going on. 'Modern Act' is a perfectly balanced slice of anthemic punky rock, inc. semi-snarled vocals and youthful exhuberance, punctuated with almost clean-cut interludes before breaking forth into another bombastic energetic exaltation. Peppered with moments of pure energetic brilliance, and bulked out with even more moments of bracing and dynamic expertise.

Not long after Polyvinyl Records released American Football’s self-titled debut album in 1999, the band called it quits, having only played a smattering of Champaign-Urbana college house parties and sets at small clubs like Chicago’s legendary Fireside Bowl before taking their own divergent post-undergrad paths. Such an inauspicious turn of events made what followed all the more incredible. Over time, the record went on to become one of Polyvinyl’s best selling releases to date, and ended up serving as “one of the single most influential rock records of its time” according to Noisey and many others. “No other flash-in-the-pan band seems to have connected so strongly and with as many people as American Football did,” wrote Stereogum. To most everyone that found them after the fact, the band was no more than an apparition. The record the only artefact left behind as a timeless snapshot of a group of individuals in transition, newly discovered each year by a fresh crop of music fans reaching a similar inflection point in their own lives.

When American Football announced in 2014 that they would play live for the first time in 15 years, the built up appreciation for that eponymous LP physically manifested itself as they sold out 3 nights at Webster Hall in New York City in a matter of hours, and then went on to do the same at venues around the world. A quarter of a lifetime removed, and at times thousands of miles away from the house on the sleepy street in the middle of Illinois depicted on their debut album’s iconic cover, they found themselves playing to sold out crowds that numbered in the thousands in London, Tokyo, Barcelona and beyond.

The forthcoming album American Football finds the band with new material that takes them on a serendipitous detour down a familiar road. It is replete with the swelling emotions that might be spurred on by locked away memories unearthed by a familiar scent or crack in the concrete, or the rush of warm apprehension when coming face to face with a lover left before the fire was close to going out. “The past still present tense”sings Mike Kinsella on 'Home Is Where The Haunt Is', but while the house on the cover and the title of the album are the same, they are made strange by time and new found perspective. “We’ve been here before,” he declares on album opener 'Where Are We Now?', “but I don’t remember a lock on the door.”

At a time when reunions have become rote, American Football is decidedly an anomaly. There is no past glory to relive or reignite, nor the burden to branch out and break from a well worn formula. Seventeen years later everything still feels brand new, because for them it is. They are a band that for one reason or another closed the lid on their creative output just as they were beginning an unforeseeable upswing, and are just now after a stasis returning to uncork it with the benefit of greater maturity and better musicianship. The sound is even more expansive, the lyrics less naive and more world weary, the songs with greater depths to explore and layers to peel back throughout. “You can’t just forget all the other lives you’ve lived,” Kinsella sings, and every single one of the nearly two decades worth of experiences since they last put pen to paper as American Football seem to bleed through on this record.

TRACK LISTING

Where Are We Now?
My Instincts Are The Enemy
Home Is Where The Haunt It
Born To Lose
I’ve Been So Lost For So Long
Give Me The Gun
I Need A Drink (or Two Or Three)
Desire Get’s In The Way
Everyone Is Dressed Up

Owen, the acclaimed solo musical guise of singer / songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Mike Kinsella, has made an astonishing leap forward with ‘The King Of Whys’, the first work in his two decade-plus career to be made entirely outside of the greater Chicagoland area.

Produced by S. Carey over 18 days last winter at April Base Studios in Eau Claire, WI, the album is Owen’s most inspired and evocative thus far, interpolating a group dynamic into what has long been an intensely intimate sound.

Songs like ‘The Desperate Act’ and ‘Sleep Is A Myth’ remain spare but with a distinctly outward shift in scope, their open-armed sonic range a perfect foil to Kinsella’s evocative explorations of marriage, melancholia and modern middle age.

Fraught with hurt and wry humour, ‘The King Of Whys’ is a portrait of a restless artist grappling with doubt and ghosts of the past but searching for meaning through candour, creativity and an ardent need for emotional release.

TRACK LISTING

Empty Bottle
The Desperate Act
Settled Down
Lovers Come And Go
Tourniquet
A Burning Soul
Saltwater
An Island
Sleep Is A Myth
Lost

The band continue to ignore the lure of lucre and bright lights and remain steadfastly in Sunderland, opening their own record store in the city’s redundant Tourist Office bringing much heralded impetus to the creative heart of Sunderland and it’s many like-minded souls. Amongst the artist who have supported their venture and played recently are The Vaccines, Franz Ferdinand and James Bay.

‘Decency’ follows 2013’s ‘The Days Run Away’ and sees the band continue their uncanny knack for conjuring up moments of introspective beauty whilst encapsulating the band’s ideals, both socially and politically. The pop suss that flowed through previous releases still reigns but ‘Decency’ embellishes those hooks and melodies creating some of the band’s best work to date.

Recorded at the tail end of last summer at Leeds’ Suburban Homes studio with MJ (Hookworms) at the controls, ‘Decency ‘ also sees Futurehead Ross Millard on extra-curricular duty with guitar and vocal artistry making his recording debut as a fully-fledged Heartstring.

TRACK LISTING

Peterborough Dogs
Decency
Think Yourself Lucky
Save It For Tonight
Money
Hate Me Like You Used To
Berlin Calls
Balconette
Someday Anna
Just Not In Love
Not For Pleasure
Knife In My Back

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Girlpool are a Philadelphia based two piece made up of Cleo Tucker (guitar) and Harmony Tividad (bass). The two met at Los Angeles DIY venue The Smell and quickly grew very close.

Their sound is raw, comprised only of a guitar, bass and vocal harmonies. Cleo and Harmony use this stripped-down instrumentation to accentuate their vulnerable and powerful lyrics.

For fans of Waxahatchee, First Aid Kit, Breeders, Pixies, Sleater Kinney.

“If rebellion had a sound, I imagine it would end up sounding a lot like Girlpool... It’s punk in the best sense of the word: fresh, raw, and uncompromising.” - Stereogum

“It’s brilliant.” - The Line Of Best Fit · “Fever-pitch vocals, lo-fidelity guitar, and endless cool” - Pitchfork

“A minimalist approach to writing urgent, non-conformist and catchy tunes” - The Independent

“An arresting combination” - The Guardian

“Armed with just two guitars, the duo reel you in with seriously catchy hooks and achieve more depth with these songs than any drum kit ever could.” - NME

TRACK LISTING

Ideal World
Dear Nora
Before The World Was Big
Chinatown
Cherry Picking
Magnifying Glass
Crowded Stranger
Pretty
Emily
I Like That You Can See It

The bouncy, surf-esque qualities pitch Total Babes a million miles from their Cloud Nothings connections (the bands share the octopus-onamphetamine drumming of Jayson Gerycz), with ‘Heydays’ instantly presenting itself as a beachcombing ode to sweaty summers.

Lead by the undulating basslines of Nathan Ward (Smooth Brain / Cruelster) and fleshed out by warped synth work John Elliot (Emeralds / Outer Space), the choruses are a masterclass in indie rock’s ability to shift perceptions - “I only want to be beautiful,” frontman Christopher Brown cries but it’s in their rough edges that Total Babes really shine.

For fans of Cloud Nothings, FIDLAR, Wavves and Eagulls.

TRACK LISTING

Blurred Time
Heydays
Bone Dry Eyes
Circling
We’ll Come Around
Sunny Side
Repeat Gold
Can I Turn You On

Produced by John Congleton (Baroness, St Vincent, Anna Calvi), ‘Here And Nowhere Else’ sees Cloud Nothings retain the power and intensity of their highly acclaimed previous album, ‘Attack On Memory’, whilst also bringing back more of the tunefulness familiar from their earlier work.

As mainman Dylan Baldi says himself, “It’s more subtle. It’s not just an in-your-face rock record. There’s more going on. You can listen to a song 20 times and still hear different little things in there that you didn’t notice before. Every time I listen I notice something that I didn’t even realise we did.”

This album is Cloud Nothings refined: impossibly melodic, white knuckle noise rock that shimmers with sumptuous detail, from Baldi’s lone, corkscrewing guitar to his dramatically improved singing to bassist TJ Duke’s piledriving basslines and drummer Jayson Gerycz’s volcanic fills.

Following two acclaimed EPs - ‘Coared’ and ‘SANS’ - as well as a double A-sided single, Wichita are very excited to present the highly anticipated self-titled debut album from Cheatahs.

An exploration of the possibilities of modern guitar music. A blend of ecstatic noise, ambient drone and visceral, earsplitting alt rock. Lyrics that touch on the complexities of relationships, nature, the city, memory, dislocation and self-identity. Altogether, their self-titled record displays a giant creative leap from the lo fi fuzz of their first two EPs.

Call it shoegaze, call it grunge, call it indie rock, but know that Cheatahs stand head and shoulders above all the other pretenders in terms of both tunes and intensity.

The band have been on the road with their friends Metz and more dates will be announced soon. They have previously played with Dinosaur Jr, Fidlar, Wavves, Best Coast, The Cribs, King Tuff and Cloud Nothings, amongst others.

For fans of Deerhunter, Swervedriver, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr, Teenage Fanclub, Sugar, The Boo Radleys.

TRACK LISTING

I
Geographic
Northern Exposure
Mission Creep
Get Tight
The Swan
IV
Leave To Remain
Kenworth
Fall
Cut The Grass
Loon Calls

Peggy Sue are far from your average post-folk band; they carefully craft together beautiful harmonies that glide over a sea of delicate guitars and piercing drums to create a coming together of sounds whose power is unlike any other. The songs possess an immense intricacy in their layers and details ensuring the listeners respond to their cinematic quality.

In their own words, “‘Choir Of Echoes’ is an album about singing. About losing your voice and finding it again. Voices keeping each other company and voices competing for space. The call and response of the kindest and the cruelest words. Choruses. Duets. Whispers and shouts.”

This, the band’s third album for Wichita Recordings, was recorded by Jimmy Robertson (the man who made the ‘Peggy Sue Play The Songs Of Scorpio Rising’ collection), and mixed by John Askew (who also worked with the band on their debut full length, ‘Fossils And Other Phantoms’).

TRACK LISTING

(Come Back Around)
Esme
Substitute
Figure Of Eight
Always Going
Just The Night
How Heavy The Quiet That Grew Between Your Mouth And Mine
Electric Light
Longest Day Of The Year Blues
Idle
And Always Is
Two Shots
The Errors Of Your Ways

‘Motto’ is the third album by Leeds trio Sky Larkin on Wichita Recordings.

Recorded with long-term collaborator, producer John Goodmanson (Girls, Sleater Kinney, Los Campesinos!) in Seattle, ‘Motto’ showcases Sky Larkin’s unshakable ability to conjure immediately satisfying, vibrant indie rock.

The album was written for the most part whilst Sky Larkin singer and guitarist Katie Harkin was on the road as a touring member of Wild Beasts, and it captures a typically varied set of themes as its inspiration.

TRACK LISTING

Motto
Newsworthy
The Loyal Beat
Treasury
Loom
Carve It Out
Tarn
Frozen Summer
Bravo Dodo
Overgrown
Italics
Que Linda (Wake To Applause)

‘Sob Story’ is the second album from Heckmondwike, Yorkshire residing brothers Louis and Will Jones aka Spectrals. The record finds the band back with more confidence than ever.

The album was produced at Decibelle in San Francisco by JR White, producer and bassplayer of the band Girls. JR had this to say of the recording sessions and resulting record: “With ‘Sob Story’ Spectrals have come of age. Our sessions found Louis and his writing at its most honest and direct. Our mantra while recording was always ‘make it exciting and cut the fat’. ‘Sob Story’ is the outcome of that and personally I could not be happier with the results.”

The album’s songs draw on influences from Louis’ favourite musicians such as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and Dave Edmunds, as well as Galaxie 500, Big Star and Slade.

Since the release of their debut album, ‘Bad Penny’, Spectrals have toured Europe with Best Coast, Girls, The Cribs, and Real Estate, amongst others.

TRACK LISTING

Let Me Cave In
A Heartbeat Behind
Karaoke
Sob Story
Milky Way
Friend Zone
Limousine
Something To Cry About
Blue Whatever
Keep Your Magic Out Of My House
Gentle
In A Bad Way

"Payola" collects together 22 tracks spanning The Cribs career - including unreleased track "Leather Jacket Love Song", the final song the band recorded with Johnny Marr.

Swedish sisters First Aid Kit have gone from faraway teenage fans covering Fleet Foxes for fun to recording a blue series 7” of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s ‘Universal Soldier’ with Jack White in his Nashville, TN Third Man studios.

This, their second album, was recorded in Spring 2011 in Omaha, Nebraska by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Jenny Lewis, Monsters Of Folk). From the dynamic title track onwards, the sophomore album is a rich and stirring affair that expands upon the keen and sophisticated country tinged pop of their critically acclaimed debut.

‘The Lion’s Roar’ is a full band record, the Girls’ Father Benkt takes the bass, Mattias Bergqvist drums, while Mogis and Nate Walcott of Bright Eyes, and a cast of Omaha-based musicians round out the sound.

Album closer ‘King Of The World’ features the Felice Brothers, just passing through town during the session, and local hero Conor Oberst, who sings the last verse.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Lion’s Roar
2. Emmylou
3. In The Hearts Of Men
4. Blue
5. This Old Routine
6. To A Poet
7. I Found A Way
8. Dance To Another Tune
9. New Year’s Eve
10. King Of The World

CD Bonus Track:
11. Wolf

‘Bad Penny’ is the debut album from Spectrals aka 21 year old Louis Jones. Mixing ingredients of pop, soul, doo wop, and a garage rock ballad, it sounds vintage but current, while the Yorkshire lilt in his voice (a result of his hometown, Heckmondwike) places him firmly in the UK, rather than Detroit.

Inspired by the music he grew up listening to as a child, from the Rolling Stones (the only CD’s his mum ever has in her car) to The Style Council, Elvis Costello and The Ronettes, it’s all “just about love really”.

In eleven original songs, not heard on any of Spectrals previous tapes, 7″s or E.P’s, he documents his relationship with his girlfriend, who he has known since school, from the great to the not-so-good. “Love songs are the kind of songs I like” says the guy who once turned Beyonce’s Single Ladies upside down (‘Peppermint’) “‘not all of them are nice, but they’re all feelings I’ve had”. As if he wasn’t attached to these songs enough, Louis recorded nearly all of the instruments on Bad Penny, with his brother, Will Jones, the only other musician on the album, on drums.

Recorded with Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Hood, Telescopes, Spectrum) in early 2011, on Bad Penny, Spectrals’ knack for writing a great tune is more obvious than ever. “I just love these songs” he says “all I’d hope is for people to come away saying, ‘they were 11 ace songs’ or if there’s a a guy or girl getting messed about, that it makes sense to them. I’m not wanting to make out I’m a genius, I hate it when groups do that. People don’t like being talked down to, y’know? This is just songs”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Get A Grip
2. Lockjaw
3. You Don't Have To Tell Me
4. Big Baby
5. Many Happy Returns
6. You Can't Live On Love Alone
7. Doing Time
8. Confetti
9. Luck Is There To Be Pushed
10. Brain Freeze
11. If I Think About The Magic Will It Go Away?

Prodigious Swedish teenagers Klara (16) and Johanna Söderberg (19), AKA First Aid Kit, have been gathering fans apace throughout 2009 since the release of their “Drunken Trees” EP in February.
Spending their formative years drinking from the fountain of American classics – everything from Buffy Sainte-Marie, to the likes of Conor Oberst – it shaped their way with song writing, arrangements and even the use of a second language. Audiences have been falling at their feet, enraptured by their pure, shimmering voices in harmony. Until now they have been rightfully praised for their astonishing cover versions, such as their infamous YouTube phenomenon of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”, but First Aid Kit are now unveiling some remarkable songs of their own. The first flourishes can be heard on this masterly debut album, built around the sweeping majesty and almost telekinetic, intricate weaving of their voices. Sounding like the dreamy and spectral nieces of the Indigo Girls or Michelle Shocked coming in from the campfire to settle at the Stockholm kitchen table, the Söderberg’s distil all of their collective influences and make them their own.

TRACK LISTING

01. In The Morning
02. Hard Believer
03. Sailor Song
04. Waltz For Richard
05. Heavy Storm
06. Ghost Town
07. Josefin
08. A Window Opens
09. Winter Is All Over You
10. I Met Up With The King
11. Wills Of The River

A native of Washington, DC and now calling New York City home Lissy Trullie is both the name of the front woman and the band she sings in. In a year being characterised by female fronted electro-pop (with more than a passing eye on the 1980s), Lissy stands out from the crowd with timeless, fuzzy guitar pop that evokes the sound of new-wave, New York in the late 70s and early 80s and has seen her compared to such artists as Chrissie Hynde, Blondie and Television. What also makes Lissy stand out is her unique voice: a rich tenor with a distinct drawl, Lissy's voice is a remarkably arresting instrument and her vocal styling add another dimension to the songs. The band is knitted together by the water tight rhythm section of Josh Elrod's drumming, Ian Fenger's melodic bass lines and Lissy's stabs of rhythm guitar, with lead guitarist Eben D'Amico providing the flourishes. Tracks like "Boy Boy", "She Said" and "Money" are all nuggets of spiky, new wave brilliance, but it's the EP's title track that really marks Lissy out as a song writer par excellence. At the two minute mark "Self-Taught Learner" makes a quite extraordinary turn, breaking into a rousing two minute crescendo of piano and Motown bass with Lissy repeating the lyric 'Oh, I want to die with you'. When the band play the song live, it's a real raised hairs on the back of your neck moment. The EP closes with the band's much revered cover of Hot Chip's "Ready For The Floor", with Lissy's voice sounding at its most beautiful and adding new layers of warmth to the track.

As you've probably guessed from the title, this is the second release in the excellent Shred Yr Face singles series, released to coincide with the tour of the same name. This time around, The Bronx give you their take on a classic by another hard-living LA-based group, The Gun Club. Anyone that has heard The Bronx's versions of Neil Young's "Needle And The Damage Done" or Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" knows that a cover from these dudes is always a hot prospect, and they do not disappoint with "She's Like Heroin To Me". Fucked Up present a raw blast through a little known US punk-rock classic from 1977, "Son Of Sam" by Chain Gang. And Rolo Tomassi deliver a typically intense blast or Melt Banana-esque noise in the form "Apocalypso '09".

Greg's words on the album: 'Frustrated with new methods and mindset in recording technology I threw up my hands and built my own analog recording studio. My last album, Blood Is Trouble (as well as the first Espers record) was recorded on a 1⁄2" 8 track machine. Eventually I was able to upgrade to an MCI 2" machine and professional recording console which have allowed for better sound quality and greater experimentation. Having a home studio has allowed me to record and produce albums at a comfortable pace consistent with my own levels of inspiration. Key to the album's sound was the acquisition of a vintage Mellotron keyboard. The Mellotron is doubtless my spirit animal in instrument form and is certainly one of the main inspirations behind "The Hive". No other instrument conveys the characteristics of hive insects as well as this legendarily warbley tape based sampler. "The Hive" is primarily a response to the atmosphere of apocalypse that permeates the lives of those who are open and receptive to their environment (not to mention the general global condition). That's not to say the album's entirely about misery and despair. Quite the contrary; I have a good amount of fun trolling through the backwaters of my own dank grey matter (often darkly comical), and each of these songs have multiple meanings, so glean from them what you will. It also contains a cover of Madonna's "Borderline", my first recorded cover since tackling Cat Power's "King Rides By" on "Fire In The Arms Of The Sun". This was meant to be a future Espers release but I got antsy waiting for the next covers record to come about so here it is (after three years of simmering on my mental back burner).'

After they released the brilliant debut album "Attack Decay Sustain Release" to rave reviews in 2007 we've been eagerly waiting for new nuggets of golden goodness from SMD. Now they're back with "Sample and Hold", the remix album of the debut long player, guaranteed to make sure our summer selection includes at least one SMD track – in either original or remix form! Hand picked by Jas and James, the remixes on the album come courtesy of some of the finest DJs and producers that SMD have encountered on their worldwide travels. Long time avid music followers, the boys saw the opportunity to make contact with some of the people they'd been fans of for a while, like DFA's Shit Robot and Simon Baker - who's version of Sleep Deprivation is now a regular feature in SMD's DJ set. Featuring friends Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve (Erol Alkan and Richard Norris) and French producer Joakim the boys got to finally hook up with mates they had long admired. Other remixers includes Cosmo Vitelli, Invisible Conga People (from Italians Do It Better) and DC Recordings' psyche-master Oscillation. The set brings together tracks that chop up minimalist techno, decadent disco, dark dubstep and wonky electronic beats - the album is bound to start any party and end it with an almighty bang.

Everyone's current favourite Swedes, Peter, Bjorn & John, issue this album in the UK for the very first time, complete with sleeve notes written by the band and five bonus tracks.