Manchester's finest techno veteran returns to the hallowed halls of Tresor after her debut on the label caused a mighty rukus. Perfectly showcasing her gnarly sound of fried circuit boards, overdriven drum machines and raw, primal energy; "Echoes Of The Live Wire" encapsulates her decades-long study of Proper Techno, aided and abetted of course, by her time spent behind the counter at Easter Bloc. 

Alongside releases on her own label, Dark Machine Funk; remixes for labels like Blueprint, and a hectic touring schedule; her two releases for Tresor have, in my opinion been some of her finest work to date. With sound design that sticks two fingers up to the Abelton preset also-rans; aggressive, panel beating drums, and production that oozes that lucidity and FUNK like the Detroit greats - all the while maintaining that up-all-nite, wreckin' ball energy that the Berlin crowd know and love. Honestly one of the best to currently do it. Don't sleep! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Kerrie's iconic Tresor tenure continues with a release that'll stop you dead in your tracks. We might be a tad biased, but I honestly think Kerrie's more than earned her stripes alongside the Real Techno elite. Taming her wild, flailing, serpentine productions takes some deft skills and attention, but the results are nothing short of breath-taking.

TRACK LISTING

1. A1 System Awakens 04:43
2. A2 Live Wire (Zirp Zirp) 05:38
3. B1 Echoes Of 04:48
4. B2 Together In A Rural Place 04:49
5. B3 Moment To Memory 04:44

6. DX1 Recircuit (Digital Bonus) 04:43
7. DX2 Reclaim (Digital Bonus) 05:10

Former Harry Pussy guitarist, Palilalia label boss and post-punk blues survivor, Bill Orcutt has been especially prolific in recent years. A sustained proliferation of live and studio-based activity has consolidated his profile as both a collaborator, mentor and leading light to a new generation of six-string explorers such as his guitar quartet bandmates Shane Parish, Ava Mendoza and Wendy Eisenberg. By Tony Rettman.

Every copy of the August issue will come with a free CD of The Wire Tapper 68 attached to the cover. This latest edition of the Tapper features a cover designed by Firpal and contains 16 new tracks by Nadah El Shazly, Lyra Pramuk, RG Rough, Bhajan Bhoy, Annie A, Hyperrêve + CoH and more.

Following the departure of Wire’s drummer Robert Grey in 1990 WIR had risen phoenix like from the ashes of the acclaimed UK post-punk band after and were created to fulfil the final phase of Wire’s Mute Records contract. With a more sequence based sound, WIR saw the band breaking all their own rules by creating a new sparse electronic music with Graham Lewis singing most of the vocals and even cannibalising their own catalogue by sometimes sampling their own older material. WIR was, however, not a long-term project and besides completing their only album, The First Letter, their only other activities were a very small number of gigs and two multi-artist “conceptual happenings” under the name I Saw You. One of these was in Clapham in April 1992 on election night and the other in Vienna in Feb 1993. On that Vienna trip, in addition to playing the gig, the band recorded a radio session for the Austrian national broadcaster ORF which was organised by Peter Rehberg - later the person behind MEGO & sadly no longer with us. This was released in 1996 by Touch on CD and consisted of two long tracks with a running time of almost 25 minutes. Once the short run of CDs had sold out, the rights technically fell to the band, and pinkflag released it - digital only - in 2007 ..

The remastered 2025 CD edition adds a newly recorded, Taylor Swift style re-recording of what is undoubtedly WIR’s most pop moment, the dark brooding shadows of So and Slow. The version released here is based on how the band played it live, so, in spite of being instantly recognisable, it does not follow the arrangement of any previously released version.

TRACK LISTING

1. The First Letter (2025 Re-master)
2. Sexy & Rich (Janet) (2025 Re-master)
3. So & Slow (2025 Re-recording)

Released on a double vinyl LP for RSD 2025 and now available on CD, Nine X Seven was originally released as a box set of 9 x 7“ records for RSD in 2018.

Combining the run of early singles with more obscure later period tracks underlines the strength in depth that Wire had. This is pop art as art/pop and an exploration of the blank canvas of pop culture and how far that canvas can be stretched going from three minute constructs to ambient washes. The 7” single was always the ultimate artefact and statement with the A side being the band momentarily paused in time and distilled and freeze-framed into the forever with less than three minutes of electric sound.

These “sevens” released from 1977 to the end of that decade signpost the band's remarkable development from their brilliantly monochromatic early phase to the textured complexity of the almost psychedelic unzipping of their sound and vision.

In some ways the compilation of Nine Sevens onto a double album makes for quite a weird documentation of the band in this period. The first disc, to some extent, follows the script of a singles / greatest hits collection but the second one goes wildly off-piste and ends up somewhere quite far from where the collection started. A conventional Greatest Hits collection, besides being conceptually a bit naff would, if strictly based on charting singles, consist of only one song! A Best Of is subjective and somewhat pointless in the age of the Spotify playlist that anyone can make. The only thing really that these tracks have in common (besides being by Wire) is that they were released or destined to be released on 7” by Wire in the period 1977-1980. – Nine Sevens is both title & elevator pitch!’

Wire always understood the language of pop and also the artfulness of playing with it, deconstructing it and reassembling it into new and thrilling shapes. Decades later, these adventures into sound are like slices of delicious, perfect pop/noise and hits from a parallel universe.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mannequin
2. Feeling Called Love
3. 12XU
4. I Am The Fly
5. Ex-Lion Tamer
6. Dot Dash *
7. Options R *
8. Outdoor Miner (single Version) *
9. Practice Makes Perfect
10. A Question Of Degree *
11. Former Airline *
12. Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW
13. Go Ahead *
14. Our Swimmer *
15. Midnight Bahnhof Café *
16. Second Length (Our Swimmer) **
17. Catapult 30 **
(154 EP)
18. Song 1 *
19. Get Down 1 + 2 *
20. Let's Panic Later *
21. Small Electric Piece *
* Previously Unreleased On Vinyl Album
** Recorded In 1980 But Not Released Until 2014

20th anniversary album edition with bonus live disc . 6 panel digifile with booklet. Deluxe edition CD with bonus unreleased live disc - limited to 1000 copies.

Combining elements of punk, country and folk music, the members of Richmond Fontaine provide a compelling backdrop for the heart wrenching tales of lead singer Willy Valutin. His Carver-esque lyrics bring a vision of the West which is both vital and compelling.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 12TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 14th.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 12TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 14th.

On the cover: Raven Chacon: The Diné/Navajo composer foregrounds unheard and silenced voices in his radical works for ensembles, electronics and noise. By Esi Eshun. Inside: Ingrid Laubrock: The New York based reedist creates settings for koans and poems as part of a unique new compositional practice. By Stewart Smith; Bastard Assignments: The radical new music ensemble get lost in the woods with their satire of the English countryside. By Robert Barry; Infinity Knives: From Tom And Jerry to sociopolitics, rapper Tariq Ravelomanana keeps it unreal. By Lucy Thraves; Cleaners From Venus: Martin Newell’s songcraft and wordplay across many DIY albums evidence a uniquely wired mind. By Mike Barnes; Lukas De Clerck: Brussels musician extends ancient pipe instruments into the present moment. By Antonio Poscic; Penelope Trappes: Australian artist voices griefs past and present. By Spenser Tomson; Ciaran Mackle: Sample manipulator twists folk song into cubist forms. By Daryl Worthington; Invisible Jukebox: Jeff Mills: Will Detroit techno’s great conceptualist be a wizard IDing The Wire’s mystery record selection? Tested by Chal Ravens; Unlimited Editions: Robert Ridley-Shackleton’s Cardboard Club cutouts. By Spenser Tomson; The Inner Sleeve: Loraine James on Circa Survive’s On Letting Go; Global Ear: Osaka’s proto-industrialists revitalise the city’s experimental music scene. By Jere Kilpinen; Epiphanies: Golem Mecanique rewinds to a treasured VHS tape of Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Accattone; Against The Grain: Mosi Reeves takes on underground hiphop’s gender imbalance. Plus 40 pages of reviews including Backxwash: Done and dusted. By Claire Biddles; Labyrinthe Des Esprits: Therapeutic settings. By Spenser Tomson; The Texas Chain Saw Massacre OST: Pleasures of the flesh. By Philip Brophy; BEAM SPLITTER x Xiu Xiu: Pan-Asian improv. By Daniel Glassman; and much, much more.

Buzzkunst is PETE SHELLEY & HOWARD DEVOTO…‘SPECIAL SAUCE' is mostly a reconfiguration of the 2002 album 'Buzzkunst’ by ShelleyDevoto. NOW! For the first time on vinyl, with a REFRESHED RUNNING ORDER and TWO PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS – 'Psychosomatic' and 'Punk Of Me'. PLUS! If that isn’t enough, there is a SECOND mini album included in the package…11 NEVER BEFORE RELEASED Howard Devoto ARCHIVE RECORDINGS from the same period, titled ‘DESIGNOID’. Instrumentals and songs, idiosyncratic as ever, and including a 21st century re-working of ‘Breakdown’, as originally featured on the Buzzcocks’ debut and seminal self-released EP, ‘Spiral Scratch’. 

TRACK LISTING

LP1: Buzzkunst - Special Sauce
Side 1:
Self-Destruction
God’s Particle
So There I Was
On Solids
Psychosomatic
Stupid Kunst
Side 2:
Strain Of Bacteria
Deeper
Till The Stars In His Eyes Are Dead
Wednesday’s Emotional Setup
Going Off
Punk Of Me
System Blues

LP2: Howard Devoto – Designoid
Side 1:
The Presentation Of The Self In Everyday Life
Designoid
Like Elvis (Hello Mr Curtis)
Bungled Existence
Once In Montecorto
Side 2:
Theme From Goodbye Antarctica
Under A Lenient Moon
Breakdown
It Mattered
Your Talking Sense
Bet Your Mind

Punk pioneers Crass continue their vinyl reissue series, re-pressing their limited releases by adjacent artists through Crass Records. The series, including over twenty bands and solo artists recorded at the legendary Southern Studios and produced by Penny Rimbaud, continues with two more historic pieces from the Crass Records catalogue; ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ by Annie Anxiety and ‘Neu Smell’ by Flux of Pink Indians.

“Trying to categorise Annie Anxiety is a futile task… [she] exudes a magnetic presence on anything she’s contributed to” The Vinyl Factory

New York City musical maverick and performance artist Annie Anxiety, aka Little Annie aka Annie Bandez, began her illustrious career (including work with Adrian Sherwood, Coil, Current 93, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) with Crass. They released her first solo single, 1981’s ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ alongside ‘Cyanide Tears’, an extraordinarily prescient piece of jagged electronics, samples, and skeletal rhythms, led by Annie’s nightmarish vocals.

She tells us; “When creating this single with Penny I hadn’t heard the word ‘avant-guard’ nor could I spell it - I only got explained ‘concretism’ via an interview I did in Berlin regarding some of my work three years ago - My father was a printer so I grew up with sound of printing press and subway train beats and always heard melodies and cross rhythms within those beats - I was just making dance music / disco tunes to my mind and Pen heard those same tunes I was hearing - my first recording, in retrospect I guess, was pretty ‘out there’ at its release, but to us it was dance floor for a club yet to be invented- one day”.

Penny Rimbaud expands; “Annie Anxiety is a total enigma, a passionate voice in the wilderness of consensual reason. Dada in instinct, Monroe in affection, Rambo in inflection, Annie rams it home with divine thunder. An instigator and innovator, she’s the bonkers angel of Yonkers, NYC. With no time to spare, Annie takes to the road with complete conviction, overtaking Kerouac halfway down 5th Avenue. Catch her if you can”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hello Horror
2. Cyanide Tears

Released on vinyl for RSD 2022 and now available on CD. The original Not About To Die was an illegal /bootleg, released at some point in the early 80s, by the dubiously named Amnesia Records. The album was made up of selections from demos recorded by the group for their second and third albums: Chairs Missing and 154. These demos had been recorded for EMI, with cassette copies circulated amongst record company employees. However, they were never intended for release. A typically shoddy cash-in, the songs on Not About To Die were taken from a second or possibly third generation cassette, with the album housed in a grainy green and red photo-copied sleeve. Compared with the high standards of production and design Wire have always been known for, it was something of an insult to band and fans alike.

Now, in a classic act of Wire perversity, the group have decided to redress the balance and reclaim one of the shadier moments of its history, by giving Not About To Die its first official release. All the tracks have been properly remastered, with the relevant recording details in place. As for the sleeve artwork, whilst it strongly references the original, it is decidedly more artful in its execution. Not About To Die emerges as a fascinating snapshot of Wire in transition with embryonic versions of classic songs such as ‘French Film (Blurred)’, ‘Used To’ and ‘Being Sucked In Again’, that the group would develop considerably for their epochal 1978 album Chairs Missing. Later demos such as ‘Once Is Enough’, ‘On Returning’ and ‘Two People In A Room’ would surface in radically altered form on 1979’s 154. Some songs, such as ‘The Other Window’, are virtually unrecognisable from their later iterations but the biggest prizes here may well be the tracks that were omitted from Wire's later studio albums... Highlights include ‘Motive’, which has an undeniable power.

Robert Grey’s drumming is crisp and minimal, and Graham Lewis’s bass runs are particularly ear-catching. Despite its distinctly un-Wire title, ‘Love Ain't Polite’ is also something of a gem. Meanwhile, the track which gives the album its title Not About To Die (officially known as ‘Stepping Off Too Quick’) possesses what Newman half jokingly calls “The best intro to any song ever”. The intro is so good in fact, that it takes up a third of the song’s entire time frame. These properly mastered tracks have never been available on vinyl before, and they provide an opportunity to hear Wire at a point in their development when they were bursting with fresh ideas and a will to communicate them. This is post-punk at its very finest. 

TRACK LISTING

Oh No Not So (Save The Bullet 4th Demo 
Culture Vultures 4th Demo 
It's The Motive 4th Demo 
Love Ain’t Polite 4th Demo 
French Film (Blurred) 4th Demo 
Underwater Experiences 4th Demo 
Stalemate 4th Demo 
Options R 4th Demo 
Indirect Enquiries V1 5th Demo 
Chairs Missing (Used To) 5th Demo 
Being Sucked In Again 5th Demo 
Ignorance No Plea (I Should Have Known Better) 6th Demo 
Once Is Enough 6th Demo 
The Other Window 6th Demo 
Stepping Off Too Quick (Not About To Die) 6th Demo 
On Returning 6th Demo / Former Airline 6th Demo 
Two People In A Room 6th Demo

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

Released as an illegal bootleg back in the early1980's Not About To Die were recordings made for EMI as demo's for 1978/1979 albums Chairs Missing & 154. Now Wire have decided to redress the balance and give the album it's first offical release on their own pinkflag imprint

Celebrating 10 years since his first album, Tom Williams releases his most eclectic project to date. 'Follow The Leader' represents a departure from his previous output, and is comprised of a collection of songs which comment on pre- and post-lockdown life, providing beautifully crafted snapshots of modern Britain.

Having released six studio albums to date, Tom Williams has built a passionate fanbase of discerning music lovers since his first album, Tom Williams & The Boats Too Slow ten years ago. His 2017 album All Change was voted by BBC 6 Music Recommends as one of their Top Ten Albums Of The Year, and his last album 2019s What Did You Want To Be? which was produced by Tim Rice-Oxley, was described by The Guardian as surging, vintage pop-rock and championed extensively by Jo Whiley at BBC Radio 2, Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne at BBC 6 Music, Huw Stephens at Radio 1, Q Magazine and Clash.

Follow The Leader signifies a departure from Williams previous output. Self-produced, the album boasts rich orchestral sounds and full band performances, mixed with claustrophobic drum machines, synthesizers and deep sub bass sounds.

The Wire album Send (pf6) originally released in 2003 was in fact a compilation of material contained on the releases Read & Burn 01 (pf4), Read & Burn 02 (pf5) & new tracks. The original plan had in fact been to simply compile the 2 planned Read & Burns but the unforeseen runaway success of Read & Burn 01 meant that in spite of the “band merch only” status of Read & Burn 02 there would be too much duplication if that plan was to go ahead so an extra 4 tracks were made and some Read & Burn material was dropped in order to come up with an acceptable track list for Send. As none of those tracks had ever been released on vinyl a creative solution was sought that would accommodate all of the tracks contained in those 3 releases (which unhelpfully equals 1.5 standard 12” vinyl records). While 2021’s solution was 2 X 10”s - 2003’s solution was a set of fairly brutal edits and the resulting release became PF456 REDUX . A “does what it says on the tin” title which basically lists the catalogue numbers and the process by which they were squashed into a single 12”.

There was a limited run in 2003 and then the title was never re-pressed, living on as a digital product only. The item remains, nonetheless a curio. Born as much of creative curiosity as necessity and as the full tracks have found their ultimate expression as PF456 DELUXE, an expanded version with a book, it is perhaps fitting that PF456REDUX now finds its new home as a limited CD release. title PF456 Redux is both catalogue number and descriptor of the process.

TRACK LISTING

1. In The Art Of Stopping.
2.I Don’t Understand.
3. Comet.
4.Germ Ship.
5. 1st Fast.
6. The Agfers Of Kodack .
7. Half Eaten.
8. Being Watched.
9. You Can’t Leave Now.
10. Mr Marx’s Table.
11. Read And Burn.
12. Spent.
13. Trash Treasure .
14.Nice Streets Above.
15. Raft Ants.
16. 99.9

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2021 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY JUNE 12TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 6PM ON THE SAME DAY (SATURDAY JUNE 12TH).

Full length versions on vinyl for the first time in a unique package

Originally scheduled for RSD 2020 Pink Flag have decided to make 10:20 a regular LP/CD release. A glimpse into Wire’s working practices, when Wire play live there are different 3 classes of pieces that are performed, new songs, old songs and “new old” songs. The latter often involves taking something that existed on a previous release and re-working it, very often evolving a stage highlight from it. There also pieces that have never seen a major release but for some reason never fitted on an album. The best of these ideas were recorded in 2 sessions - one relating to Red Barked Tree but recorded in 2010 and another relating to Wire’s latest album Mind Hive released in 2020. Incidentally celebrating the decade Matt Simms has been with the band.

The album divides in to two halves - the 2010 side & the 2020 side - hence the title.

Tracks 1 to 4 were recorded in the latter part of 2010 and feature contributions from both Margaret Fielder (of Laika) – who had been performing guitar duties with Wire on live dates the previous year – and Simms, who was on the point of becoming an official member of the band.

Track 1 ‘Boiling Boy’ first appeared on 1988’s A Bell is a Cup… Until it is Struck. ‘Boiling Boy’ has gone on to become perhaps the most played Wire song ever. Throughout the ’00s, it became one of the acknowledged highlights of Wire’s live sets.

Track 2 ‘German Shepherds’ is another late ’80s Wire song that has developed a second life on stage. The recording is also notable in that it includes vocal contributions from Newman, Lewis and Fielder.

Track 3 ‘He Knows’ was developed back in 2000 when Bruce Gilbert was still with the band. It emerged in a reinvigorated form in 2008 when it became a staple of Wire’s live show. This is the only studio recording to have surfaced.

Track 4.’Underwater Experiences’ was demoed for the band’s sophomore album Chairs Missing, but in the end was omitted. Having lay dormant for a couple of years, the song later appeared in two fast, abrasive, contrasting versions on Wire’s notoriously confrontational live album Document And Eyewitness, and a fifth iteration surfaced on 2013’s Change Becomes Us. However, the song has never sounded quite as it does here .

Tracks 5 to 8 were recorded more recently with the long-established line up of Newman, Lewis, Grey and Simms.

Track 5 . ‘The Art of Persistence’ arrived fully formed when Wire reconvened in 2000. But it was previously only available as a rehearsal room run-through on long deleted EP The Third Day or as a live version on Legal Bootleg album Recycling Sherwood Forest.

Track 6 ‘Small Black Reptile’ originally appeared on the band’s 1990 album Manscape. Of all the reimagined songs on 10:20, this is the one that has traveled the furthest. Whereas the original was a skeletal and arch computer-driven pop song, this new version sees the composition retooled as a piece of melodic rock.

Track 7 ‘Wolf Collides’, with its warm synth tones and spindly lead lines, sounds as if it deserves to be sitting regally on side two of 1978’s Chairs Missing. In actual fact, it was written in 2015 and became a stalwart of that year’s live set. This version was recorded for inclusion on 2017’s Silver/Lead but was omitted due to lack of space.

Track 8 ‘Over Theirs’ is the climax of the continuing reassessment of Wire’s 1980s output. Although the song appeared on The Ideal Copy and has been an intermittent component of the group’s live shows since 1985, its true power had never been properly harnessed in the studio – until now.

10:20 is that rare thing: an album that not only serves as a must-have for long-term fans and completists, but paradoxically also the perfect introduction for anyone new to the band.

TRACK LISTING

2010 SIDE.
1. Boiling Boy
2. German Shepherds
3. He Knows
4. Underwater Experiences

2020 SIDE
5. The Art Of Persistence
6. Small Black Reptile
7.Wolf Collides
8. Over Theirs

Wire exhibit little inclination to look back - rather they remain resolutely focused on producing music which is smart, vital and defiantly modern. Mind Hive is the group’s first newly recorded material since 2017’s Silver/Lead. That album garnered rave reviews and career best sales. Yet, if Silver/Lead set the bar pretty high, Mind Hive seems to have no problem vaulting over it.

Be Like Them is a super-angular composition, utilizing a recently rediscovered Wire lyric from 1977. Colin Newman and Matthew Simms’ guitars constantly mesh and diverge, whilst the rhythm section ensures the song prowls forward with an unstoppable menace.

Cactused is the first of Mind Hive’s pop moments. The vocal is wide eyed and wired, with effects-heavy guitar work creating a bright web of noise, with the song’s stop/start moments providing a series of precise energy bursts.

Primed And Ready rides out on a tightly pulsing synth sequence punctuated by icy slivers of guitar. This is Wire at their most compressed yet propulsive.

Off The Beach is another prime pop song. With its breezy, optimistic melody, and blend of electric and acoustic guitars, the song initially sees the group seemingly celebrating the joys of everyday life but things are destined to turn a shade stranger.

Unrepentant explores the kind of bucolic soundscape early Pink Floyd would have been proud to call their own. Boasting one of the album’s finest texts, the song radiates out into a shimmering sonic heat haze.

Shadows pulls the classic Wire trick of placing a dark and cruel lyric in a musical setting of tender beauty. Never has the recounting of atrocity been so seductively pitched.

Oklahoma is the muscular and dramatic joker in the pack. Lewis’ dark vocal swims through a rich compound of guitar textures and synth tones, building into a masterclass of tension and release.

Hung is the album’s centrepiece. This 8-minute excursion matches a brief but evocative lyric with a dense, mesmeric guitar grind. Simms and Newman’s keyboards add a plaintive note, as the song moves through a series of sections, each with its own distinct atmosphere.

Humming is a beatless autumnal drift fashioned from delicate keyboard textures and rich soaring guitar tones. Newman delivers a state of the world lyric with a touching sense of innocence, whilst the piece ends with Lewis’ husky baritone listing locations and their difficult associations. An elegiac end to a supremely confident album.

Mind Hive arrives at a time when Wire are being cited as an influence by yet another generation of bands. A career spanning feature documentary called People in a Film is due for release late 2020. Quite how a group that has been operating for such a long period is still able to produce such exciting and essential work is difficult to understand. And yet here we are…

TRACK LISTING

Be Like Them
Cactused 
Primed And Ready
Off The Beach
Unrepentant
Shadows
Oklahoma
Hung
Humming

Having taken a break from the music industry to teach in 2015, Tom was offered a week-long artist residency in the music department of Leeds Beckett University, and on the condition the university provided him with a band, Tom accepted the post and entered into one of the most creatively inspiring periods of his career, and resulted in the critically acclaimed album ‘All Change’. The new album ‘What Did You Want to Be?’ was recorded in January 2018 in East Sussex at Tim Rice-Oxley’s (Keane) home studio. Written under a year since ‘All Change’ came out, the album came from a series of intense, ‘20 song days’ that Rice-Oxley encouraged Tom to throw himself into.

TRACK LISTING

Run Down
Rock & Roll
Dawned On Me
Graveyard
Stay Afloat
Keeping It In
Early Morning Rain
Some Time
It’s Dark Now
Crying At The TV
Real Slow

Wire’s first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire’s reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first. These are the definitive re-releases. Each album is presented as an 80-page hardback book – the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker. After a special introduction by Jon Savage, Graham Duff provides insight into each track. These texts include recording details, brand-new interviews with band members, and lyrics.

This stunning set of presentations also includes a range of images from the archive of Annette Green. Wire’s official photographer during this period, Green also shot the covers for Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. Promotional and informal imagery – in colour and black and white – is featured throughout the books. Most of the photographs have not been seen for 40 years – and many have never been published anywhere before.

These special editions are something every Wire fan will want to own. It has been a number of years since these albums were readily available. The aim with these new vinyl and CD releases is to approximate the original statements as closely as possible, but with remastered audio. The vinyl releases have the same covers and inners as the originals (minus the Harvest logo). The digipack CDs have identical tracklistings to their vinyl counterparts. These versions should be considered Wire’s classic 1970s albums, pure and undiluted.

Pink Flag was very much Wire's punk rock album, and while they fully embraced it's revolutionary spirit, they came at it from their own obtuse angle. unhindered by talent (any kind of prior musical schooling) they gleefully took a baseball bat to Rock's overblown torso with humour and irreverence, producing classic, unsurpassed razor pop brilliance and a joyful antidote to the pomposity of their forerunners.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: From the naked aggression of "12XU" and the ominous chordless drone of the title track, to the playful artpunk of "Start To Move" and "Brazil", this is, beginning to end, pure, unadulterated genius. Nothing more to add.

TRACK LISTING

01/ Reuters
02/ Field Day For The Sundays
03/ Three Girl Rhumba
04/ Ex Lion Tamer
05/ Lowdown
06/ Start To Move
07/ Brazil
08/ It’s So Obvious
09/ Surgeon’s Girl
10/ Pink Flag
11/ The Commercial
12/ Straight Line
13/ 106 Beats That
14/ Mr. Suit
15/ Strange
16/ Fragile
17/ Mannequin
18/ Different To Me
19/ Champs
20/ Feeling Called Love
21/ 12XU

Wire’s first three albums need no introduction. They are the three classic albums on which Wire’s reputation is based. Moreover, they are the recordings that minted the post-punk form. This was adopted by other bands, but Wire were there first. These are the definitive re-releases. Each album is presented as an 80-page hardback book – the size of a 7-inch, but obviously much thicker. After a special introduction by Jon Savage, Graham Duff provides insight into each track. These texts include recording details, brand-new interviews with band members, and lyrics.

This stunning set of presentations also includes a range of images from the archive of Annette Green. Wire’s official photographer during this period, Green also shot the covers for Pink Flag and Chairs Missing. Promotional and informal imagery – in colour and black and white – is featured throughout the books. Most of the photographs have not been seen for 40 years – and many have never been published anywhere before.

With "Pink Flag" Wire tapped happily into punk's energy and iconoclastic tendencies, "Chairs Missing" is, perhaps, a little truer to their own instincts. They didnt completely shed the past completely; the joyful "Sand In My Joints" and grinding "Mercy" have more than a hint of "Pink Flag" about them, but their 1978 offering is moodier and much more textured than its predecessor, the addition of swathes of electronic sounds moving them firmly into post punk territory, a genre they helped to spawn. There is pure pop beauty on here too, of which "Outdoor Miner"  and "French Film Blurred" being the most gorgeous examples. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Their most varied L.P. and possibly their finest hour (or so). Straddling the fire of punk and the colder, darker charms of brooding electronic post punk, it also contains within its grooves moments of melodic magic. Worth buying for the outrageously amazing "Outdoor Miner" on its own.

TRACK LISTING

SE Tracklist: Disc 1 (Original Album)

01/PracticeMakesPerfect
02/French Film Blurred
03/Another The Letter
04/Men 2nd
05/Marooned
06/Sand In My Joints
07/Being Sucked In Again
08/Heartbeat
09/Mercy
10/Outdoor Miner
11/IAmTheFly
12/I Feel Mysterious Today
13/From The Nursery
14/Used To
15/Too Late

Disc 2 (Singles, B-sides & Studio Recordings)

01/I Am The Fly (single Version)
02/Dot Dash
03/Options R
04/Outdoor Miner (single Version)
05/Practice Makes Perfect (single Version)
06/Underwater Experiences (Advision Version)

Disc 3 (Studio Demos) Fourth Demo Sessions

01/Practice Makes Perfect
02/OhNoNotSo
03/Culture Vultures
04/It’s The Motive
05 Love Ain’t Polite
06/French Film Blurred (version 1)
07/Sand In My Joints
08/Too Late
09/I Am The Fly
10/Heartbeat
11/Underwater Experiences
12/Stalemate
13/I Feel Mysterious Today Fifth Demo Sessions
14/ Dot Dash
15/ French Film Blurred (version 2)
16/ Options R
17/ Finistaire (Mercy)
18/ Marooned
19/ From The Nursery
20/ Indirect Enquiries (version 1)
21/ Outdoor Miner
22/ Chairs Missing (Used To)
23/ Being Sucked In Again
24/ Men 2nd
25/ Another The Letter
26/ No Romans 

London quartet, PIANO WIRE announce their debut album ‘Dream Underground’ via their own Hanging Houses label. To celebrate the occasion, here’s ‘Cherry Coma’, a relentless hybrid, fusing rock’n’roll, pop sensibilities and their distinctive lopsided song-writing. It’s another tale from the darkside, a place all too familiar to the band: "The hallucinations of a dark, neurotic sycophant lost and lonely in his addled obsession". The video is directed by their visual collaborator, Steve Gullick, filmed within the fruity confines of London’s notorious Flying Dutchman.

Formerly of Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster, Sym Gharial and Andy Huxley split the duties thusly - Sym on bass and crafting those unique lyrics; Andy singing, writing the music and playing guitar. Their 2015 EP, ‘The Genius Of The Crowd’ set out the band’s stall, discharging 8 blistering pop songs in 20 minutes.

‘Dream Underground’ shows a giant leap forward in song-writing and approach, realising their aim to make a huge and satisfying rock album that could rattle the ribcages and fuel the imaginations of as many people as possible. It begins in style with the Gil Norton-produced ‘Get A Life’, a riff-fuelled punch in the gut, which serves as a delicious warning of what is to follow. It’s a down and dirty juxtaposition of dark and light, grit and sweetness, grinding riffs and explosive melody - a theme that continues throughout the record. The idea of hedonism and its consequences is often at the heart of their songs. Sym and Andy’s experiences have provided a lifetime’s worth of inspiration, powering the weirdly wonderful tales of the ‘Dream Underground’ and beautifully realised in Jude Wainwright original oil paintings, commissioned for Loose Collective.

The literary influence is strong in Piano Wire’s approach. Lyricist Sym draws succour from the likes of Oscar Wilde and Chuck Bukowski and the parallels can be seen in a number of places across ‘Dream Underground’ – “I thought I found romance in drinking and hard drugs but realised I had been fooled and was fooling everyone,” he says. “I like Oscar Wilde a lot. The lyrics to the tracks are about fucked up, twisted love and being a loner and going mad. The tragedy of old fashioned Romance. Wanting what you can't have. Feeling detested. And Fear. Strong experiences.” Despite the darkness that undercuts many of their tracks, Piano Wire’s exuberant aesthetic is uncontrollable on the record’s monstrous peaks and choruses.

TRACK LISTING

1 Get A Life
2 Cherry Coma
3 Outline Of A Massacre
4 Hooligan In The USA
5 Glass Elevator Music
6 Weird Heroes
7 All Roads Lead To God
8 Red Electric Flower
9 Liquorice Junkie
10 Fifteen Year Comedown
11 Slip Inside The Shadow
12 Gangs

After releasing ‘Easy Fantastic’, his acclaimed third LP with The Boat on Moshi Moshi Records last year, Tom Williams jumped ship to explore a stripped back solo venture that focuses entirely on the charming intensity of his lyrical songwriting and the minimal arrangements provided by a close circle of friends. The “New House” mini-album follows “New Guitar” (released in March this year) and both feature seven new songs each, all written over the past two years and put to tape at 2kHz Studios in Crouch End, London with Ian Grimble (The Fall, Manic Street Preachers, Siouxie And The Banshees). The collection of songs give an intimate insight into Tom’s transition from band to solo artist, his relocation from Tunbridge Wells to St Leonards and eventually settling in the new house which became the central point to the stories tying all these songs together. Playing with Tom on many of the tracks and also on stage is Ant Vicary from The Boat as well as Sarah Maycock, Fiona Keeler and Catherine Black on piano, vocals and cello respectively. 

After releasing Tom Williams and The Boat’s acclaimed 3rd LP ‘Easy Fantastic’ on Moshi Moshi Records, Tom is jumping ship to explore a stripped back venture called ‘New Guitar’, one that focuses entirely on the charming intensity of his lyrical songwriting and the minimal arrangements provided by a close circle of friends.

The first single ‘New Guitar’ is revealed here in the form of a live performance at Replay Acoustics, the place where Tom found the Guitar that “all kinds of new songs fell out” of. The first song that did, is about moving down to the sea and serves as a perfect introduction to the project. The mini-album features more songs written over the past two years and studio versions (available upon release) were put to tape at 2kHz Studios in Crouch End, London with Ian Grimble (The Fall, Manic Street Preachers, Siouxie And The Banshees). Footage from these sessions was captured to create The Making-of “New Guitar” Mini Album Documentary directed by Jake Cunningham, giving a insight into Tom’s transition from band to solo artist, his relocation from Tunbridge Wells to St Leonards and the pivotal instrument that ties all these songs together.

This release see’s Tom accompanied by Ant Vicary from The Boat as well as Sarah Maycock, Fiona Keeler and Catherine Black on piano, vocals and cello respectively. It is released on Tom’s own Wire Boat Recordings label.

TRACK LISTING

1. New Guitar
2. Oh Boy
3. Tuesday Morning
4. Open Mic
5. She's Everything
6. I've Been Thinking
7. 1992

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin returned to the attic where they made their debut full-length Broom. Phil Dickey, Will Knauer, and Jonathan James spent up to twelve hours a day working on the songs that would become Fly By Wire. With James assuming the role of engineer, Dickey and Knauer wrote lyrics and guitar parts on a third floor windowsill and recorded vocals in the staircase. This laid-back approach to recording is clearly evident in the album’s warm, welcoming sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Harrison Ford
2. Young Presidents
3. Cover All Sides
4. Lucky Young
5. Ms. Dot
6. Loretta
7. Unearth
8. Bright Leaves
9. Nightwater Girlfriend
10. Fly By Wire

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.

Tom Williams and the Boat return following a summer that has seen them play across the UK at various festivals including five sets at Glastonbury and high profile sets at Latitude and Lounge On The Farm with an EP of new material recorded throughout August. The band are currently putting the finishing touches to their debut album, due for release in Spring 2011.

Lead track "See My Evil" has been raising eyebrows amongst fans, who now number the likes of Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson, taking their well known ear for a melody into new and darker musical territory and saw The Fly rapt with ‘an unexpected dark dynamism, and an all-round righteous fury’ whilst Likesounds thrilled to a track so ‘massive and loaded with hooks’ when they caught the band live at the Buffalo Bar. Coupled with "Get Older", a bluesy confessional burning with the anger of a young Nick Cave, the two tracks further demonstrate Tom Williams and the Boat as one of the most inventive songwriting teams around. With the dark mood persisting into the groove of "Strong Wheels", threaded gossamer like with a sinewy guitar line there is still space for the release of "Kick the Cat" and the warped confessional of "In Love".

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: This EP is all over 6 music at the moment, and deservedly so - it's ace!

TRACK LISTING

1. See My Evil
2. Get Older
3. Strong Wheels
4. In Love
5. Kick The Cat

At a time when back catalogue outsells fresh creativity and newcomers achieve fame by adding a lick of paint to their parents’ record collections, it’s unusual to find a band who, despite plying their trade for decades, are willing and able to make new work that’s as vital and relevant as their own illustrious past recordings. Wire are such a band, and with "Red Barked Tree" they have succeeded in making a statement that will sound as strong in 30 years as their celebrated historical oeuvre does today. "Red Barked Tree" rekindles a lyricism sometimes absent from Wire’s previous work and reconnects with the live energy of performance, harnessed and channelled from extensive touring over the past few years. "Red Barked Tree" was conceived, written and recorded mostly during 2010 by the pared-down lineup of Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Grey - with no guests.

Ranging from the hymnal "Adapt" to the barking sledgehammer art-punk of "Two Minutes", the album encompasses the full range of style and nuance that has always endeared Wire to pastel-tinged pop aficionados and bleeding-edge avant-rockers alike. Whatever Wire make is Wire music: this is the band’s enigmatic guiding axiom. While Wire remain agnostic about the nature and identity of their aesthetic essence, it’s always been instantly recognisable, manifesting itself throughout their heterogeneous work. This enigma waits be revealed among the "Red Barked Trees" …

TRACK LISTING

01. Please Take
02. Now Was
03. Adapt
04. Two Minutes
05. Clay
06. Bad Worn Thing
07. Moreover
08. A Flat Tent
09. Smash
10. Down To This
11. Red Barked Trees

Having recorded albums for labels such as XL and Planet Mu, Capitol K returns with full length number six, this time on Faith and Industry. The first track unfolds gradually in classic Capitol K style with the beat-poet driven, nostalgic rave of "Diamond Skys", the energy rises with the deconstructed bossa-nova of "Go Go Go", again influenced by the early days of Beat poetry. Things slow down a little for Steve Lamacq ROTW single "Libertania". Next up, "Acid Favela" takes the gigantic baile funk "Rambo" anthem and mixes in some acid lines and shoe-gazing riffage like only Capitol K can. "Freak" is a progressive hyper-funk freak out over a cut up 2-step rhythm. "Impression", is part two of "Freak", reflecting on a love with a sense of stillness and calm, musically revisiting K's penchant for revealing serene melodies from dictaphone tape cut ups.

A brand new EP from Southern California's explosive Red Onions. A hyper-charged blast-out of Stooges-fueled punk rock, delivered with tight rhythms, powerful riffs, tons of adrenaline, and plenty of destruction in mind.

The Get Up Kids are simply one of the best emocore outfits on the planet, they helped define the style and "On A Wire" is prepared to redefine the band again. It's mellow, even soppy at times but the emotion content is too high to ignore and they're not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves. Fulsome vocal harmonies, subtle acoustic melodies, poppy basslines - the Get Up Kids have taken emo one step further from core.