Jim Legxacy announces the long-awaited LP release of his mixtape, black british music (2025) via XL Recordings. A rapper with intensity, a vocalist with passion and a producer who harnesses nostalgia to command the future, the project is poised to earn era-defining significance. Critical to UK music in 2025, Jim’s prolific output forever tells an important story. Always ahead of the game, his songwriting holds a mirror up to the Black British experience in which himself and his peers are reflected. He stands proudly but humbly at the helm of a movement; a new generation of storytellers and pioneers carving a path out of the comfort of the underground, always pushing upwards. Creating space for complexity, sensitivity, and experimentation, black british music (2025) not only reshapes expectations of what UK music can sound like, but what it can stand for.

TRACK LISTING

Context
Stick
New David Bowie
Sun (Jim Legxacy & Fimiguerrero)
'06 Wayne Rooney
Issues Of Trust
Father
D.b.a.b
Big Time Forward
Sos
I Just Banged A Snus In Canada Water
Dexters Phone Call (Jim Legxacy & Dexter In The Newsagent)
3x (Jim Legxacy & Dave)
Tiger Driver '91
Brief

Overmono - aka brothers Tom and Ed Russell - are deep into their biggest summer yet. From headline festival appearances at Glastonbury (West Holts) - featuring special live guests Kwengface and For Those I Love - to All Points East, Boomtown, and Love Saves The Day, the duo have further cemented themselves as one of the UK’s most vital live electronic acts.

Their reimagining of High Contrast’s legendary drum & bass anthem “If We Ever” has become the defining sound of summer. First unveiled during their headline Love Saves The Day show, the track became a viral highlight following their Glastonbury set, with clips racking up millions of views on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, and fans flooding comment sections demanding an official release. The groundswell of energy caught High Contrast’s attention, prompting him to reach out. Its latest huge moment came at Boomtown, where it confirmed its status not just as the festival anthem of 2025 but as a track destined to echo through clubs and dancefloors long into the autumn, winter, and beyond.

Now, after months of anticipation, Overmono & High Contrast’s If We Ever gets a global digital release via XL Recordings’ iconic housebag series. The single premiered Tuesday 26 August - as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record where Tom and Ed said on the track “High Contrast used to work in this record shop in Cardiff called Catapult Records. We lived on the other side of the city, but Tom would go and buy records from him there all the time. I’m pretty sure it was the first record shop I went to after I bought Tom a voucher for his birthday one year. ‘Tough Guys Can’t Dance’ was one of those records that was just everywhere, we were all battering it, and “If We Ever” was the anthem. Ahead of summer this year, we started working on our own version of If We Ever just for fun, but the reaction was so wild, we ended up playing it in every set.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: It's another one of those stupendously mega, limited run, one-sided 12" from the UK dance music demigods. After reinventing The Streets' "Turn The Page"; they now to turn their attention to High Contrast's epic 2007's dnb track. Updating it with new drum programming, a fiercer break, and a more rabid, breakout jungle energy; it's a brilliant update to this high watermark of the liquid genre.

TRACK LISTING

A: If We Ever (Extended)

Internationally acclaimed drummer, producer, and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven returns to announce four distinct yet interconnected, digitally released EPs - Techno Logic, The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out!, and PopUp Shop. The four EPs are also compiled on this 2xLP and 2xCD physical release titled Off the Record. Together they mark McCraven’s first recorded offerings since 2022’s In These Times (“McCraven’s most ambitious set of music” -GRAMMY) and a deep return to the signature “organic beat music” approach that Makaya first debuted on his 2015 album In The Moment and further developed across subsequent releases Highly Rare (2017), Where We Come From (2018), and Universal Beings (2018). Built from live recordings, the music is later reshaped by McCraven via extensive editing, overdubs, and post-production at his home studio in Chicago.

The source material from each EP is drawn from moments of pure improvisation, recorded live in performance, shaped as much by the room and audience as by the musicians themselves.

Techno Logic features Ben LaMar Gay and Theon Cross, and draws from performances in London (2017), Berlin (2024), and New York (2025), showcasing nearly eight years of developing rapport between the three musicians, starting with their very first session at Worldwide FM’s former North London studio.

The People’s Mixtape has its foundation in a live recording from Brooklyn’s Public Records in January of 2025, where McCraven celebrated the 10 year anniversary of In The Moment with an intentional return to the improvisational language he developed over that album’s sessions. For the occasion, McCraven played with bassist Junius Paul and trumpeter Marquis Hill (two musicians who are majorly present on In The Moment), as well as vibraphonist Joel Ross (who has been a regular collaborator of McCraven’s since the 2017 sessions for Universal Beings), and synthesist Jeremiah Chiu (marking the first occasion for McCraven to play with the SML co-leader and International Anthem labelmate).

Hidden Out! is built off recordings from McCraven’s June 2017 residency at The Hideout in Chicago, where he improvised weekly with a revolving cast including bassist Junius Paul, Tortoise member, International Anthem labelmate, composer and guitarist Jeff Parker, and SML co-leader, GRAMMY-award winning producer and alto saxophonist Josh Johnson.

PopUp Shop was created from recordings of McCraven’s Los Angeles debut at Del Monte Speakeasy in 2015, where McCraven took part in the King Hippo and Grown Kids Radio produced event RAWS:LA, and improvised with guitarist Jeff Parker, vibraphonist Justefan, and bassist Benjamin J. Shepherd.

The OFF THE RECORD vinyl LP and CD compilation is not just a collection of these recordings, but a tactile document celebrating creative, communal, IRL moments of musical gathering.

Speaking on the record, McCraven says, “In a time where we’re increasingly connected through phones, in a virtual world where you can’t really tell what’s real or what’s fake, there’s something special where we come together and share space, there is something special where we are sharing music, art. I want to create an energy that amplifies the magic in the underground moments where we come together and we experience something wild, different, off the cuff, human. What I’m trying to present is a dreamlike alteration of that energy, which only exists in the recorded realm. But to actually have been there, in real life, is the special thing.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: McCraven's dynamic fusion of jazz and electronic soul hits a peak of improvisational synchronicity and psychedelic interplay here for International Anthem. A masterclass in musicianship.

TRACK LISTING

PopUp Shop EP
1. YoYoYo Intro
2. Venice
3. Imafan
4. Los Gatos
5. Sweet Stuff

Hidden Out! EP
1. Battleships
2. Away
3. Dark Parks
4. Awaze
5. News Feed
6. Braddas

Techno Logic EP
1. Gnu Blue
2. Technology
3. Boom Bapped
4. Prime
5. Strikes Again

The People’s Mixtape EP
1. Choo Choo
2. The Beat UP
3. What A Life
4. Lake Shore Drive Five

One year on from the release of the critically acclaimed 'Breathe... Godspeed' for Bristol's Timedance, Verraco - aka JP López - returns to announce 'Basic Maneuvers', his debut for XL Recordings.

Sonically, the project reflects this physical and emotional shift from the more introspective beauty of Medellín to the vibrant energy of Colombia's capital, Bogotá. 'Basic Maneuvers' reflects movement — between scenes, sounds, and cities — pushing forward Verraco's cross-culture sound; one that collides South American dembow rhythms with maximalist synths, UK soundsystem bass culture, meticulous IDM sound design, with the intensity and precision of techno.

Across the EP, he expands his range with the main single, a powerful 4x4 club-ready edgy banger, a dubbed-out stepper 'Total' and 'Sobe Sobe', a grime-infused collaboration with legendary Kenyan-Ugandan rapper affiliated to Nyege Nyege, MC Yallah, that celebrates the deep-rooted connection between the underground dancefloors of Africa and South America. 'Basic Maneuvers' is a bold statement of intent from one of electronic music's most vital and exciting producers.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Along with fellow XL signing Blawan, Verraco is one of the current stars of the bass-techno scene; consistently pushing the envelop in terms of synthesis and dynamics. A distinctly Bogotán flavoured EP, signalling his move from Medellín and all the more tougher and rampant for it. Check!

TRACK LISTING

Basic Maneuvers
Total
Sobe Sobe (feat. MC Yallah)

Eschewing hand-me-down ghetto tales from an across-the-pond 'hood, the precociously talented Dizzee Rascal instead told it from his (18 year old, East End) angle - unemployment, gun-crime, relationships, MC battles etc. Two years in the making, this LP took in influences from UK garage, hip hop, r'n'b and drum'n'bass, to creat a unique sounding jagged-edged electronic sound.

This 20th Anniversary 3LP release features instrumentals and never before heard rarities, pressed on white, yellow and black vinyl in a wide spine sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

A1: Sittin’ Here
A2: Stop Dat
A3: I Luv U
A4: Brand New Day
B1: 2 Far (Feat. Wiley)
B2: Fix Up, Look Sharp
B3: Cut ‘em Off
B4: Hold Ya Mouf’ (Feat. God’s Gift)
C1: Round We Go
C2: Jus’ A Rascal
C3: Wot U On?
D1: Jezebel
D2: Seems 2 Be
D3: Live O
D4: Do It!


E1: Vexed

E2: Street Fighter

E3: Win Feat. Breeze

E4: We Aint Havin It Feat. Wiley

E5: Kryme Feat. Redrum And Sharky Major

E6: Ready 4 War Feat. Sharky Major, Armour And Stormin

F1: Street Fighter (Instrumental)

F2: Go (Instrumental)

F3: Ho (Instrumental)

F4: String Ho (Instrumental)

F5: Ting Ting (Instrumental)

F6: Wheel (Instrumental)

Peggy Gou’s global chart-topping hit ‘(It Goes Like) Nanana’ lands on 12” vinyl via XL Recordings featuring the original extended mix and an exclusive ‘Nananadub’ b-side. Inspired by the eclectic house and pop classics that defined the Balearic sound, alongside 90s and 2000s dance anthems and Peggy’s own inimitable contemporary club production, “(It Goes Like) Nanana” is undoubtedly the song of the summer.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: You've heard the hit all summer, now it finally arrives on vinyl. Peggy Gou's global smasher complete with dub version. I'm sure she's ripped off the keyboard preset from ATB's "Til' I Come"; whatever, it's a biggie!

TRACK LISTING

A1 - “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (Edit)
B2 - “(It Goes Like) Nanana” (Nanadub)

Highly anticipated would be an understatement; since their inception Overmono have purposefully cultivated a fanbase that heralds them as one of the UK’s most original contemporary live electronic acts.

A run of ground-breaking club EPs between 2020 and 2022 built momentum and culminated in their breakthrough club single, “So U Kno”, which encapsulated the hearts of clubbers and went on to become a bonafide phenomenon as dancefloors re-opened; featuring in end of year lists published by Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, DJ Mag and Mixmag. Since then, Overmono have been named ‘Best Live Act’ at the prestigious DJ Mag Best of British Awards, taken their custom audio-visual live show to the most credible festivals across the globe, including Glastonbury, Movement Festival, Dekmantel and to sold-out crowds in London, LA and NYC as part of their debut headline tour last year. And, they have produced innovative releases including their instalment of their ‘Fabric Presents’ DJ mix series and collaborations with the likes of Joy Orbison.

Now, Overmono return to present their most ambitious release to date. Across the twelve-track project, Overmono journey through a powerful distillation of their musical career so far; incorporating “So U Kno” alongside new music that propels them beyond the dancefloor. Good Lies remoulds and interweaves captivating vocal cuts into a series of multi-genre electronic sounds that flits effortlessly between euphoria and melancholy.

Talking about their debut album Good Lies, Overmono says: “Across the last two years, we have spent so much time on the road, making music whenever we could. Moving around all the time was always really inspiring and got us experimenting a lot and having fun with how we created chords or chopped and pitched vocals. This album is really a letter of love to the journey so far and marks where we want to take things. Much love, T&E x

STAFF COMMENTS

Ethan says: ‘Good Lies’ opens with what could easily be mistaken for a scrapped 2020 Charli XCX instrumental – chopped cutesy vocals, bubble-gum bass passages, the occasional eclectic SOPHIE-esque drum pattern. This may seem undermining, but only reflects the current trajectory of the Welsh duo – a clear path to the (metaphorical) electronic hall of fame.

There’s brilliant runs of hit-after-hit throughout this album that somehow convinced my musically-blind (and likely tone-deaf) dad that he wanted to start DJing. But when you’ve got songs like “Cold Blooded” and “Skulled” transitioning perfectly into each other, it’s not hard to see why. The title track is one of the biggest mood-lifters I’ve heard in a good while and I think it’s a crime that I’ve not heard it played in more clubs this year. However, some of the album's greatest strengths lie in its alternative R&B and even ambient passages – which feels almost polarising to say when considering the club potential of tracks like “Is U” and “‘So U Know”. “Arla Fearn” functions as a breather between the bangers that open the album up, with its droning pads and bass-driven instrumental, but there’s still a bouncy feel to the drums here that keeps the energy flowing. The snappy snare with its trail of reverb is a really satisfying piece of production. “Vermonly” definitely runs with the ambient ideas as well, with the drums being subdued for once and lead cycling through a glossy motif.

And to top it all off, there’s a cool dog on the cover. That should sell you on the album alone!

TRACK LISTING

1. Feelings Plain
2. Arla Fearn
3. Good Lies
4. Walk Thru Water
5. Cold Blooded
6. Skulled
7. Sugarushhh
8. Calon
9. Is U
10. Vermonly
11. So U Kno
12. Calling Out

Dreamt up across New York, London and Seoul, With A Hammer sees Yaeji contending with a lifetime’s worth of both societal and self-imposed repression. The resulting 13-track full-length from the producer, vocalist, DJ, visual-artist and creative director is an exploration of shapeshifting sonics - blending Yaeji’s original dance music roots with Korean indie rock, electronica and pop from the ‘90s and early 2000s.

With A Hammer follows Yaeji’s journey as she wades through the murkiness of sorrow and doubt and releases the frenzy of anger, with the help of a metaphorical hammer - Hammer Lee - which she wields to smash the rigid rules, expectations, and barriers that have prevented her from speaking her fullest truth. Through this transformative process she eventually meets the thrilling self-determination and hope that awaits on the other side, and invites her listeners and fans to do the same.

Yaeji enlisted some close friends to join her on the record as features, including British musician Loraine James, up and coming Baltimore singer Nourished By Time, plus NYC-based producers K Wata, Enayet from Yaeji’s extended crew SLINK NYC. Yaeji once again floats back and forth between English and Korean to convey what’s on her heart with the utmost sincerity. It’s in this sincerity, deep care and awareness that Yaeji is seen in the U.S. and Korea as a musical renegade who has carved out her own world that exists in-between the traditional and conventional, the personal and the universal.

After breaking out with her 2017 debut EPs that featured singles “Raingurl” and “Drink I’m Sippin On,” Yaeji featured on Charli XCX’s 2019 album Charli, produced remixes for Dua Lipa, and Robyn, collaborated with the beloved Seoul-based polymath OHHYUK for stand-alone singles “29” and “Year to Year”, headlined her own and festival stages around the world, and launched her bespoke lifestyle webstore JI-MART. Born in Flushing, Queens in 1993, she has roots in Seoul, Tokyo, Atlanta, and New York City, all serving as the backdrop for her singular, hybrid-sound that synthesizes influences of Korean indie rock and electronica, late ‘90s and early 2000s hip hop and R&B, and leftfield bass and techno. With her critically-acclaimed 2020 mixtape WHAT WE DREW 우리가 그려왔던, she sharpened her vision as a musician who is creatively unbounded by language and geography, leading to collaborations with timeless entities such as PAC-MAN. Named by Pitchfork as one of the “25 Artists Shaping the Future of Music” in 2022, she’s also graced the cover of Crack, The FADER, MixMag, and Burdock, among others, and has been featured in programming at the V&A Museum, Serpentine Gallery, and MoMA PS1. Her highly anticipated debut album, With A Hammer, sees Yaeji excavating her inner world with full force, smashing everything in order to build it back up into the true visions of her dreams.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A sleek and perfectly produced juxtaposition of dancefloor-ready rhythms, crystalline synth work and cavernous bass grooves, all forming the perfect bed for Yaeji's otherworldly vocals. Chaotic in places and swooningly placid in others, but never less than impeccable.

TRACK LISTING

Submerge FM
For Granted
Fever
Passed Me By
With A Hammer
I’ll Remember For Me, I’ll Remember For You
Done (Let’s Get It)
Ready Or Not
Michin
Away X5
Happy
1 Thing To Smash
Be Alone In This

LOUIE is the debut album from Kenny Beats, best known for producing seminal albums for some of the world’s most exciting artists (including Vince Staples, IDLES, Rico Nasty and Denzel Curry). On LOUIE Kenny subverts expectations with an almost entirely instrumental artist record, looping obscure 70s soul, lo-fi snippets of his fathers voice, along with guest 'vocals' from the likes of Jpegmafai and Slowthai over woozy beats. The cut'n'paste, sample heavy vibe brings to mind the likes of DJ Shadow and Avalanches in an LP that acts as a deeply personal tribute to his father.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Really nice cut-n-paste, (mainly) instrumental LP from this relatively new studio wizard who's already turned heads working with some fantastic high profile artists.

TRACK LISTING

Leonard
Parenthesis
Hold My Head
So They Say
Family Tree
Hooper
Still
Moire
Get Around
Eternal
Last Words
Drop 10
The Perch
Really Really
That Third Thing
Rotten
Hot Hand

With Coexist, The xx defied any perceived "difficult second album" pressures to create a record that cemented their status as a truly global breakout act. On the follow up to their acclaimed, era-defining debut, the London based trio of Romy Madly Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith (aka Jamie xx) continued to deal in compelling, sparse atmospherics but expanded their musical world, especially through producer Jamie's growing electronic sound palette.

Coexist surpassed expectations to become the best-selling vinyl record of 2012. Meanwhile, the band progressed from playing intimate venues to becoming an international must-see live act, curating their own festivals and collaborating with symphony orchestras. A final ambitious run of 25 shows at New York's legendary Armory venue rounded off the album campaign, witnessed by fellow artists (such as Beyonce, Jay-Z and Madonna) and fans alike.

TRACK LISTING

Angels
Chained
Fiction
Try
Reunion
Sunset
Missing
Tides
Unfold
Swept Away
Our Song

In These Times is a collection of polytemporal compositions inspired as much by broader cultural struggles as McCraven’s personal experience as a product of a multinational, working class musician community. With contributions from over a dozen musicians and creative partners from his tight-knit circle of collaborators – including Jeff Parker, Junius Paul, Brandee Younger, Joel Ross, and Marquis Hill – the music was recorded in five different studios and four live performance spaces while McCraven engaged in extensive post-production work at home. Featuring orchestral, large ensemble arrangements interwoven with the signature “organic beat music” sound that’s become his signature, the album is an evolution and a milestone for McCraven, the producer. But moreover, it’s the strongest and clearest statement we’ve yet to hear from McCraven, the composer.

TRACK LISTING

In These Times
The Fours
High Fives
Dream Another
Lullaby
This Place That Place
The Calling
Seventh String
So Ubuji
The Knew Untitled
The Title

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are joined by Tom Skinner of Sons Of Kemet fame, and it's amazing how transformative his presence can be. While there are elements of the sombre avant-electronics of Radiohead (obviously), Skinner's frenetic drumming morphs the whole sound into the peripheral realms of modern Jazz. We get surprising progressions, soaring orchestration and glimmering pop all at once. As expected, a thoroughly stunning listen.

The 13- track album was produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Tracks feature strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contempoarary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman and Jason Yarde.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are joined by Tom Skinner of Sons Of Kemet fame, and it's amazing how transformative his presence can be. While there are elements of the sombre avant-electronics of Radiohead (obviously), Skinner's frenetic drumming morphs the whole sound into the peripheral realms of modern Jazz. We get surprising progressions, soaring orchestration and glimmering pop all at once. As expected, a thoroughly stunning listen.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
The Same
The Opposite
You Will Never Work In Television Again

Side B
Pana-vision
The Smoke
Speech Bubbles

Side C
Thin Thing
Open The Floodgates
Free In The Knowledge

Side D
A Hairdryer
Waving A White Flag
We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings
Skrting On The Surface

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
In The Face
Pu
Chiquito
Estrogen
Ether
Amrep
Sanctuary Ft. Ryuichi Sakamoto

Side B
Tierno
Músculos
La Infinita
Fireprayer
Crown

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Doña
Prada
Rakata
Tiro
Luna Llena
Lethargy

Side B
Araña
Femme
Muñecas
Confianza
Born Yesterday Ft. Sia
Andro

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Bruja
Incendio
Morbo
Fiera
Skullqueen
Electra Rex
Ripples

Side B
Rubberneck
Señorita
My 2
Intimate Flesh
Joya

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Whoresong
Esuna Ft. Oliver Coates
Xenomorphgirl
Queer Ft. Planningtorock
Witch Ft No Bra
Hija

Side B
Boquifloja
Alien Inside Ft. Shirley Manson
Altar
Lost Woman Found
Paw

The third album from Afro-Cuban French twins Lisa-Kainde and Naomi Diaz who together are Ibeyi. Inspired by the Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead, this is a record celebrating their multitudes are harnessing their power to heal others. Featuring collaborations with Pa Salieu, Jorja Smith, BERWYN, Dave Okumu, Ben Reed and Owen Pallett, with production by Richard Russell.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ibeyi fall perfectly in that magical middle ground between synth-pop disco and funk, imbued with musical sensibilities from their Afro-Cuban heritage, it's a beautifully balanced and eminently listenable triumph. The track with Jorja Smith on it is a particular delight too, probably my favourite piece of theirs to date. ace.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Sangoma
O Inle
Made Of Gold Feat. Pa Salieu
Sister 2 Sister
Creature (Perfect)

Side B
Tears Are Our Medicine
Foreign Country
Lavender & Red Roses Feat. Jorja Smith
Rise Above Feat. BERWYN
Los Muertos

Continuing his signature slacker sound ‘stupid’ comes with an infectious acoustic hook and trademark wry lyricism. Written, recorded and produced by dvr he’s fast becoming one of the UK’s most compelling young talents. Fans include Snoop Dogg, FINNEAS, Omar Apollo, Joy Orbison + Clara Amfo: “dvr - a name that is going to be everywhere in the coming years.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Dirty Tapes
2. Stupid
3. Lowlife (With Kenny Beats)
4. Drugs
5. Tunnel Vision

“Saturday Specials” sees the legendary Bristol drum & bass don Clipz remixing Everything Is Recorded’s acclaimed second album “Friday Forever” in its entirety. Clipz’s first album length project, split here across three volumes; and at first a strange but ultimately rewarding hybrid of the two artists’ involved styles. This third and final set of club ready remakes features the talents of Everything Is Recorded collaborators Infinite Coles & Berwyn.

Swerving between adderol-fuelled, agro-jungle and smoother-edged, mainroom rollers, it's another perfectly curated and classy display of everyone involved's unique take on modern dnb. Winner!

TRACK LISTING

1. Walk Alone - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ Feat. Infinite Coles, Berwyn
2. Dream I Never Had - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ
3. The Night - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ Feat. Berwyn

“Saturday Specials” sees the legendary Bristol drum & bass don Clipz remixing Everything Is Recorded’s acclaimed second album “Friday Forever” in its entirety. Clipz’s first album length project, split here across three volumes; and at first a strange but ultimately rewarding hybrid of the two artists’ involved styles. This second set of club ready remakes features the talens of Everything Is Recorded collaborators Ghostface Killah, FLOHIO and Maria Somerville.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: New drum n bass is apparently due a huge market uplift this year. And there's plenty of reasons to see why: acts this this, alongside Tim Reaper, Disclosure and Coco Bryce are adding new twists to this long established genre; tickling the speaker stacks once again and hitting the accelerator. Hold on tight!

TRACK LISTING

1. Pretending Nothings Wrong - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ Feat. Ghostface Killah
2. I Don’t Want This Feeling To Stop - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ Feat. FLOHIO
3. That Sky - Everything Is Recorded & CLIPZ Feat. Maria Somerville

Nine years since their first collaboration, the three modern musical monoliths, Burial, Thom Yorke and Four Tet return for another spellbound session. Conjuring up two tracks of rainy day, dreamstate melancholia that seemed perfectly suited to the drugery of lockdown whence it was first released.

Thom Yorke's vocals are stunning, yet subtley blended with a kind of fractal haze, reflecting Four Tet grasp of soundscapes while Burial's hushed ghostly whispers also reflect the kinda decayed urban dystopia the producer has singlehanded produced over his career.

Downtempo and understated, they're highly emotive tracks that challenge your perceptions of how a track should make you feel and behave.

*LIMITED REPRESS - MOVE QUICK!*

TRACK LISTING

Her Revolution
His Rope

The band's Mercury-nominated second album from 1994.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Break & Enter
3. Their Law
4. Full Throttle
5. Voodoo People
6. Speedway (Theme From Fastlane)
7. The Heat (The Energy)
8. Poison
9. No Good (Start The Dance)
10. One Love (Edit)
11. 3 Kilos
12. Skylined
13. Claustrophobic Sting

Produced and recorded by Arca, KiCk i defines a new era of multiplex harmony for the Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer and experimental music composer. With appearances from Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl and SOPHIE, this is the first time Arca has invited collaborators into her world, previously having lent her sound to some of the decades most avant-pop artists. With the release of “Nonbinary” kicking off the new era, today Arca shares the first single from KiCk i called “Time”:

“Time” originally premiered in September 2019 at Arca’s Mutant;Faith, a four-part experimental performance cycle at the new NYC performing arts space The Shed. The performance “stood to prove why Arca’s work is beyond innovative, and why her vision for the future of pop is so thrilling,” declared them., with Pitchfork revering Arca’s ability to “continue to create a singular world.” Captured on the fourth-day of Mutant;Faith performance cycle, the video for “Time” was conceptualized by Arca, Carlos Sáez and MANSON, who directed the video in front of a live audience at The Shed and on the streets of NYC.

KiCk i is a celebration not only of the joy Arca’s been able to find in her life, but the sometimes arduous journey it took for her to find it. Her struggles to reconcile her Venezuelan heritage and her trans Latinx identity emerge as reggaetón and pop en Español. But KiCk i isn’t just a pop record, or an experimental record, or even simply a mix between the two, but rather all of them at once- and so much more. Depending on where you drop the needle you’ll find bubblegum, harsh noise, electronic psychedelia, balladry, bangers, laughter, tears, passion, and expressions of faith - sounds and ideas that don’t simply blend together, but coexist simultaneously in quantum superposition made possible inside the sonic worlds Arca builds in her music.

“I don't want to be tied to one genre,” Arca explains. “I don't want to be labeled as one thing.” Where she is now, being nonbinary doesn’t end with her gender identity. It’s become a mindset where no one thing has to be just one thing, where multiple meanings, multiple realities can coexist in superposed balance. In this space between states, where one thing is the other, Arca has discovered a vast field of untapped creative power. KiCk i is the sound of her plugging in.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Venezuelan sound artist and synthpop wunderkind Arca brings all of the heat from their hugely popular last two releases into the first of a quadrilogy of releases. If this is anything to go by, it's sure to take the synth world by storm. Vapourwave meets glitch via everything else.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nonbinary
2. Time
3. Mequetrefe
4. Riquiqui
5. Calor
6. Afterwards Ft. Björk
7. Watch Ft. Shygirl
8. KLK Ft. Rosalía
9. Rip The Slit
10. La Chíqui Ft. SOPHIE
11. Machote
12. No Queda Nada

Friday Forever is the second album from multi-artist project Everything Is Recorded, helmed by producer artist Richard Russell. This follows the critically acclaimed and Mercury Music Prize nominated debut of 2018, Everything Is Recorded by Richard Russell. Friday Forever takes on a multi-lensed perspective of a classic night out, followed closely by the sobering reflections of the next morning. The album features an array of new collaborators – in British rappers Aitch, Flohio and Berwyn, Irish singer songwriters Maria Somerville and Kean Kavanagh, the inimitable voices of A.K. Paul, James Massiah, and returning vocalist Infinite Coles – as well as established names like Ghostface Killah and Penny Rimbaud.

TRACK LISTING

10:51 PM / The Night
09:46 PM / Every Friday Thereafter
12:12 AM / Patients (Fucking Up A Friday)
01:32 AM / Walk Alone
02:56 AM / I Dont Want This Feeling To Stop
03:15 AM / Caviar
04:21 AM / That Sky
05:10 AM / Dream I Never Had
09:34 AM / Pretending Nothings Wrong
10:02 AM / Burnt Toast
11:55 AM / This World
11:59 AM / Circles

Through Water is the follow up to Lapsley's 2016 album Long Way Home, one of that year’s most acclaimed debuts. Released while she was still a teenager, Long Way Home featured Låpsley’s breakthrough moments ‘Station’ and ‘Falling Short’ and spawned one of the biggest club tracks in recent years (DJ Koze's edit of "Operator") as well as inspiring a new generation of electronically minded songwriters including Billie Eilish, who namechecked it as a key influence on her sound.

Through Water is without doubt Låpsley’s most accomplished work to date, written and recorded during her transition into young womanhood. With Låpsley as the major producer and songwriter, the ten songs (whittled down from over one hundred) reflect her newfound confidence, clarity and self-awareness as an artist, documenting a wealth of personal experiences and coming-of-age stories set against a thematic backdrop of water, climate, weather and the elements.

TRACK LISTING

Through Water
My Love Was Like The Rain
First
Ligne 3
Our Love Is A Garden
Leeds Liverpool Canal
Sadness Is A Shade Of Blue
Womxn
Bonfire
Speaking Of The End
Online (bonus 7” Only)

To mark the tenth anniversary of the release of "I’m New Here", the thirteenth - and last - studio album from the legendary US musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron, XL Recordings release a unique reinterpretation of the album by acclaimed US jazz musician Makaya McCraven. Titled "We’re New Again", the album's release comes exactly a decade after the release of Scott-Heron’s original Richard Russell-produced recording. Following in the footsteps of Jamie xx’s highly acclaimed 2011 remix album "We’re New Here", this is McCraven’s first release of 2020, following the huge global acclaim heaped upon his 2018 album "Universal Beings". One of the most vital new voices in modern jazz, McCraven is described by the New York Times as a "Chicago-based drummer, producer and beat maker, [who] has quietly become one of the best arguments for jazz’s vitality".

TRACK LISTING

Special Tribute (Broken Home Pt. 1)
I'm New Here
Running
Blessed Parents
New York Is Killing Me
The Patch (Broken Home Pt. 2)
People Of The Light
Being Blessed
Where Did The Night Go
Lily Scott (Broken Home Pt. 3)
I'll Take Care Of You
I've Been Me
This Can't Be Real
Piano Player
The Crutch
Guided (Broken Home Pt. 4)
Certain Bad Things
Me And The Devil

In February 2010, the late, legendary musician, poet and author Gil Scott-Heron released his thirteenth, and last, studio album. First conceptualised in 2005, and ultimately produced by XL Recordings head Richard Russell during New York recording sessions that commenced in January 2008, "I’m New Here" was Scott-Heron’s first album in thirteen years and found him sounding as vital, boundary-pushing and insightful as ever before.

In addition to the original album, this 'I'm New Here' 10th Anniversary Edition features two unreleased tracks - a cover of Richie Havens’ 'Handsome Johnny’ and a previously unheard Scott-Heron song 'King Henry IV’ - as well as a selection of other recordings from the original I’m New Here sessions that were only previously available on a rare, vinyl only deluxe version of the LP.

"Ten years ago I was in the midst of recording “I’m New Here” with Gil. There was a lot more to the experience than it was possible to process at the time, and there was some great material that never made it onto the album. Our cover of “Handsome Jonny” was the last recording Gil and I made on the last day of the last session for “I’m New Here”, at Clinton Studio in Hell’s Kitchen, NY, on September 19, 2009. Gil had introduced me to the original version of the song, explaining how Richie Havens had performed it in his opening set at Woodstock some forty years earlier, and we added it to a list of material we were considering for the album. In the end we recorded some of these songs, like Bobby Blue Bland’s “I’ll Take Care Of You”, Bill Callahan’s “I’m New Here” and Robert Johnson’s “Me and the Devil”, and didn’t get round to some others, including Joy Divison’s “Disorder”." - producer Richard Russell

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A Piccadilly Records Album Of The Year back in 2010. There's little that can be said about this legendary outing from XL head Richard Russell and the great GSH that hasn't already been said, it's an absolutely essential listen, and this expanded edition makes it even more so. A wildly groundbreaking and influential recording.

TRACK LISTING

On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt. 1)
Me And The Devil
I'm New Here
Your Soul And Mine
Parents (Interlude)
I'll Take Care Of You
Being Blessed (Interlude)
Where Did The Night Go
I Was Guided (Interlude)
New York Is Killing Me
Certain Things (Interlude)
Running
The Crutch
I've Been Me (Interlude)
On Coming From A Broken Home (Pt. 2)
Handsome Johnny
King Henry IV
Piano Player (Intro)
Home Is Where The Hatred Is
Winter In America
Winter In America
Jazz (Interlude)
Is That Jazz
A Place To Go (Interlude)
My Cloud

The first new Låpsley music since debut album "Long Way Home", which across its four tracks expresses a newfound confidence and glimpses the brave new direction her life and work are taking. Intimate and heartfelt but with expansive and expressive lyrical content; the songwriting prowess, combined with the finest modern production techniques (especially vocal layering) create an arresting and
magical piece that glimmers in the clear Winter crispness.

Comes in a screenprinted reuseable poly bag sleeve, with photography by Maisie Cousins.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Poised electronics merged with sincere and layered vocals maketh a pretty arresting combo here as Lapsley finds her stride for XL.

TRACK LISTING

My Love Was Like The Rain
Eve
Ligne 3
Drowning

Over a decade in the making, ‘After You’ was produced in collaboration with Paul Epworth, Inflo and Alex Epton. Prayer, the first single from the album, features Peñate playing several instruments, as well as the production credit he set out to achieve. It carries more than a nod to gospel, all set around a glorious pop hook, played on a Farfisa organ. Its musical and lyrical complexities belies the fact it was written in twenty minutes. “Once we had written it, all the pieces of the past ten years fell into place. It was like a puzzle coming together.”

Former Spankrock member turned producer and jazz drummer, Alex Epton came on board and set to bring together 10 years worth of work into a cohesive album in XL’s New York studio, adding in additional programming and production as well as drums and percussion. Paul Epworth, with whom he created Everything Is New, came back in and worked on several tracks.

The album doesn’t just draw on his musical journey of the past ten years, it brings in influences from the music he heard as a child. Loaded Gun has a prechorus that Lennon and McCartney would have liked to have written. As a child his brother would play him Jungle music. There’s elements of that too. His dad ran acid house raves – that’s in there. But perhaps, the most poignant track is Gemini. With nothing more than piano, vibraphone and drum beat, the words of Peñate’s grandfather, the writer and artist Mervyn Peake, are read by his uncle Fabian. And it’s not the only family tie. The artwork for the album, and the first video, has been done by Peñate’s cousin, the acclaimed artist, Eddie Peake. “We both grew up with an uncanny focus on what we wanted to do, but had never worked together,” says Jack. His work is both incredibly joyous and melancholy, and it does something to me that music does to me too.”

If Peñate’s ambition was to be able to make a sound that sounded like a feeling felt, and to be able to master studio production, and to be able to have longevity in his career, then it’s safe to say that with After You, that ambition has been realised.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Peñate returns after a full decade (almost) to reiterate his dedication to smooth, richly produced soulful downbeat business, and it doesn't disappoint. Full of momentum and perfectly measured instrumentation bolstered with Peñate's unmistakable acrobatic vocal bliss.

TRACK LISTING

Prayer
Loaded Gun
Round And Round
Cipralex
Murder
Gemini
Let Me Believe
GMT
Ancient Skin
Swept To The Sky

Jack Peñate’s new single ‘Prayer’, is his first official release in a decade since his second album ‘Everything is New’ was released on XL Recordings in 2009.

Jack took time away from releasing music to experiment with writing and production, collaborating with others along the way (including David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’). ‘Prayer’ was written and recorded in the space of one day when Jack meet the producer Inflo. They immediately jumped in a car and drove to Jack’s garage-converted studio in Oxford where ‘Prayer’ was born, before being finished in New York with Alex Epton.

“Prayer was made for and with my family and friends. It’s a piece about the unifying nature of loss and the thread of hope that survives throughout.”

TRACK LISTING

Prayer
Prayer (Bobby Remix)

Thom Yorke releases his new album ‘ANIMA’.

‘ANIMA’ was written by Thom Yorke and produced by Nigel Godrich.

A ‘one-reeler’, also entitled ‘ANIMA’, will be available exclusively via Netflix, made by Paul Thomas Anderson and set to three tracks from Thom’s new album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: ‘Anima’ is yet more evidence of Yorke's endless artistic vision and his ability to turn his hand to any musical or audio-visual endeavour with unparalleled success. ‘Amina’ is both an arresting visual feat and a brilliantly realised auditory artifact, as comfortable being listened to in situ (with visuals) or on it's own.

TRACK LISTING

CD/DOWNLOAD:
Traffic
Last I Heard (...He Was Circling The Drain)
Twist
Dawn Chorus
I Am A Very Rude Person
Not The News
The Axe
Impossible Knots
Runwayaway

Vinyl:
Traffic
Last I Heard (...He Was Circling The Drain)
Twist
Dawn Chorus
I Am A Very Rude Person
Not The News
The Axe
Impossible Knots
Runwayaway
Ladies & Gentleman, Thank You For Coming (NB: This Track Is Vinyl Only And Isn't Available On The Download Voucher)

Suspiria consists of 25 original compositions written by Thom specifically for Luca Guadagnino reimagining of the 1977 Dario Argento horror classic. The album is a mix of instrumental score work, interstitial pieces and interludes, and more traditional song structures featuring Thom’s vocals such as “Unmade”, “Has Ended” and “Suspirium,” the album's first single featuring the melodic theme that recurs throughout the film and its score.

As scoring a horror film presented Thom with altogether new challenges and opportunities, Suspiria stands apart from any of his other work. Piano/vocal ballads, Krautrock-esque modular synth work inspired by the film’s Berlin 1977 setting, multilayered vocals, and melodies that convey terror, longing and melancholy combine to create a chaotic yet cohesive musical spell.

Suspiria was written and arranged by Thom Yorke, recorded and produced by Thom and Sam Petts-Davies. The album also features the London Contemporary Orchestra and Choir, Noah Yorke on drums on “Has Ended” and “Volk,” and Pasha Mansurov on solo flute on “Suspirium.”

TRACK LISTING

A Storm That Took Everything
The Hooks
Suspirium
Belongings Thrown In A River
Has Ended
Klemperer Walks
Open Again
Sabbath Incantation
The Inevitable Pull
Olga’s Destruction (Volk Tape)
The Conjuring Of Anke
A Light Green
Unmade
The Jumps
Volk
The Universe Is Indifferent
The Balance Of Things
A Soft Hand Across Your Face
Suspirium Finale
A Choir Of One
Synthesizer Speaks
The Room Of Compartments
An Audition
Voiceless Terror
The Epilogue

New single by London based soul collective, Jungle. Radiant, shimmering and golden voiced, their songs possess a catchy, mainstream appeal yet are light years ahead of the pop market - with technologically advanced production galvanzing much of their tunes in much the same way The XX seems like love songs beams from the future.

"Heavy, California" and "Cherry" epitomizes this ethos, with the former quicker paced and primed for excitement singing about the graces of the Golden State while the latter is slower, playful and tantric, with Lloyd-Watson & McFarland's delicate falsetto sounding in fine form. Killer stuff from one of the hottest acts on the scene right now.  

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: We’ve being spoilt here by Jungle, another release!! We’re all in anticipation for the new album ‘For Ever’ due out next month. They are a Piccadilly favourite here, catchy and drenched in synth drops to die for. So good.

Jungle return with a set of new songs, each showcasing a very different side of their sound.

AA-sided single cuts 'Happy Man' and 'House In LA' are the first tracks to be revealed from Jungle's forthcoming second album which was recorded in London; J and T describe it as "a post-apocalyptic radio station playing break up songs”.

If Jungle’s first album was their imaginary soundtrack to the places they had never been, their new record captures the landscapes they had so often dreamed of. To write and record the new album, J and T swapped Shepherds Bush for the Hollywood Hills. Their romanticization of The California Dream clashed with the reality of living it—although the experience led them back home to London to finish the album, the journey itself ultimately defining the music it produced.

'Happy Man' sees the band visiting themes of disenfranchised youth in an era where the dreams of the Baby Boomers are out of reach for a younger generation (lyrical terrain previously explored in Jungle's crossover anthem 'Busy Earnin’).

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Jungle’s new sound is irresistibly good, the lyrics and rhythm are pure goodness and oh so catchy. They’ve come a long way since their self-titled album nearly four years ago (!!) and it’s good to have them back.

‘Bodysong’ is an album by Radiohead member Jonny Greenwood as well as a soundtrack to a film of the same name. On the album, Greenwood fuses elements of jazz, electronic, classical and experimental music.

The soundtrack was originally released in 2003. Now remastered by Christian Wright.

TRACK LISTING

Moon Trills
Moon Mall
Trench
Iron Swallow
Clockwork Tin Soldiers
Convergence
Nudnik Headache
Peartree
Splitter
Bode Radio / Glass Light / Broken Hearts
24 Hour Charleston
Milky Drops From Heaven
Tehellet

TRACK LISTING

A Brain In A Bottle
Guess Again!
Interference
The Mother Lode
Truth Ray
There Is No Ice (For My Drink)
Pink Section
Nose Grows Some

One of ex-staffer Michael Riley and current staffer Matt Ward's favourite rappers of late, Wiki of Ratking and solo fame drops a much anticipated new full length via XL as he climbs to the top of the new school and hits a well documented purple patch. The toothless, skateboard loving, Arnold Palmer drinking upstart has had quite a rise to stardom, after blowing us away with hit after potty-mouthed hit and with some of the most creative and unique videos to have hit the hip-hop genre in recent times. With Ratking he flipped what was expected of hip-hop groups in general, adding a psychedelic yet gritty haze, flipping song structures and retreating from the misogynistic, all-frontin' bullshit that half of the hip-hop game seem to be peddling. Solo we see him in comfortable stride, mixing a half-sung vocal style with fiery and poignant flow, always sticking to content that's real and fully lived be him and his crew. You won't hear him fake-talking about peddling crack and having millions in the bank (or driving a Ferrari for that matter...), just quick-witted, keen-eyed observations on street life delivered with a sharp tongue. The album features fellow New York natives, both legend and novice, including Ghostface Killah, Lakutis, ACAB, Slicky Boy, Your Old Droog and more. Production credits include Ratking’s Sporting Life, Tony Seltzer, Kaytranada, Earl Sweatshirt and Wiki himself; a who's who of who's reinventing the script in 2017>18. Highly recommended. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: It's time for the whole world to hear how Wiki-speaks as the NY rapper climbs to the top of the game and shouts his message to the world. Get on board.

XL Recordings are very happy to announce the release of ‘The Lost Tape’. Having already made history by single-handedly bringing back UK garage, the stars of BBC’s BAFTA winning comedy ‘People Just Do Nothing’, Kurupt FM, have decided to do it again with the greatest mix ever recorded - according to them. The legendary set was broadcast live in 2011 on Kurupt FM 108.9 and was recorded onto cassette tape by an anonymous listener. Once lost in a backpack in deepest Brentford, the lost tape has now been uncovered, remixed and mastered for the very first time.

‘The Lost Tape’ is a journey across an entire CD, documenting the seminal tracks which have shaped club culture from Hammersmith Boulevard to the Champagne Steam Rooms.

Featuring MCs DJ Beats and MC Grindah and mixed live by Steves, it’s over an hour of UK Garage, Grime and 100% Kurupt originals, including ‘Suttin’ Like That’.

With a feature documentary from legendary filmmaker Ewen Spencer on the way, who has previously made documentaries about The Streets and Massive Attack as well as his scene-defining piece ‘Brandy & Coke’, Ewen’s film will cement Kurupt FM even further in to UK music history.

‘The Lost Tape’ is the culmination of a big 18 months that’s seen Kurupt FM named GQ Men Of The Year, collaborate with Ed Sheeran for Comic Relief, sell out Brixton Academy, two nights at London’s Roundhouse and festival slots from Reading and Leeds to Lovebox.

French-Cuban twins Ibeyi are back with their second album ‘Ash’, a record that tackles subjects as diverse as womanhood, spirituality, activism and racism, all conveyed in Ibeyi’s own unique blend of modern pop, hip-hop and electronic influenced music that incorporates the traditional sounds of Yorùbá. ‘Ash’ is the follow-up to the twin’s 2015 critically acclaimed, eponymous debut album that made Ibeyi a globally recognized name.

While Ibeyi’s first album grappled with the past—the sister’s relationship, origins, loss, and roots. It earned them fans and collaborators in some of the most iconic and crucial artists of today, Beyoncé and Alvin Ailey included. By contrast, Ash is a more visceral and potent political statement, and while firmly rooted in Afro-Cuban culture and history, finds itself entirely concerned with Ibeyi’s present: Who Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi are, what’s important to them, and how they live today, especially given that the spheres, both personally and politically, are entirely different from when Ibeyi was recorded.

‘Ash’ was recorded in November 2016 in London with producer Richard Russell at his studio The Copper House. The album features twelve new tracks, including ‘Away Away’ which was released in June, and includes appearances from Kamasi Washington, Mala Rodriguez, Chilly Gonzales, Meshell Ndegeocello.

‘Deathless,’ the second track to be debuted from ‘Ash’, features the incomparable Kamasi Washington on saxophone, and was written in the wake of an experience that Lisa-Kaindé had when she was sixteen that involved her being wrongly arrested by French police. She went home and wrote the emotive ‘Deathless,’ in which she describes her experience: “I was writing ‘Deathless’ as an anthem for everybody!” Lisa-Kaindé says. “For every minority. For everybody that feels that they are nothing, that feels small, that feels not cared about and I want them to listen to our song and for three minutes feel large, powerful, deathless. I have a huge amount of respect for people who fought for, what I think, are my rights today and if we all sing together ‘we are deathless, ’they will be living through us into a better world”.

Step out of the gloom and into Ibeyi’s world, a place of optimism, openness and acceptance. The modern world never looked so beautiful as it does through Ibeyi’s lens

Rescued from defunct formats, prised from dark cupboards and brought to light after two decades in cold storage… OKNOTOK will be issued on June 23rd through XL Recordings, coinciding (roughly) with the original 1997 release date(s) of Radiohead’s landmark third album OK COMPUTER.

OKNOTOK features the original OK COMPUTER twelve track album, eight B-sides, and the Radiohead completist’s dream: “I Promise,” “Lift,” and “Man Of War.” The original studio recordings of these three previously unreleased and long sought after OK COMPUTER era tracks finally receive their first official issue on OKNOTOK.

All material on OKNOTOK is newly remastered from the original analogue tapes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I can't think of anyone that wasn't floored by Radiohead's transformation from grungy gloom mongers to the indie/electronic greats they have become today, and this was the turning point. Liberally spread with their trademark morosity but with an unheard technical ability, ‘OK Computer’ was a stinging criticism of modernity delivered via a new sonic language. Now, twenty years after its landmark release, the band revisits this masterpiece with the definitive version. Alongside the original twelve track LP we’re treated to eight B-sides and a trio of previously unreleased tracks from the same era. This isn’t just an LP, it’s a historical document.

“Here’s my voice and all my guts: feel free to judge it. It’s like a bullfight: you’re watching emotional violence for pleasure. So this is a character who, almost as a mockery of the transaction, goes uncomfortably deep, into selfmutilation. ‘You want gore? Here’s gore.’” - Arca on ‘Arca’

Arca releases his third full length album. The selftitled record will be the Venezuela-born, London based artist’s first on XL Recordings and follows the release of his two previous albums: 2014’s ‘Xen’ and 2015’s ‘Mutant’

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Riding the spooky post-dubstep wave, Arca smashed it out of the park with 'Mutant' and this is unbelievably, one step further. Futuristic swarms of crackling percussion, constantly evolving synthwork and haunting omnipresent vocals. Deeply rewarding downbeat synth anthems.

TRACK LISTING

Piel
Anoche
Saunter
Urchin
Reverie
Castration
Sin Rumbo
Coraje
Whip
Desafío
Fugaces
Miel
Child

XL Recordings release Nines’ eagerly awaited debut album ‘One Foot Out’. It follows his ‘One Foot In’ mixtape, titles informed by the desire to move away from street activity and towards the industry recognition he deserves.

For those not familiar with with the most authentic name in London’s exploding underground scene, Nines hails from the Church Road Estate in North West London. Without the approval of the industry, Nines’ previous four music videos have amassed over 31.2 million views on YouTube. He has self-released four mixtapes since 2011 and his debut single ‘Yay’ sold over 30,000 copies - staggering figures that fully justify the hysteria surrounding Nines’ rap pedigree and which reinforce that this is no false dawn but a golden age for UK rap music.

In addition to the mixtapes and singles, Nines is also infamous for his ‘JD Sports Shutdown’ and ‘Turkey Shutdown’ videos (the former featured on Worldstarhiphop.com), which saw the rapper taking kids from his neighbourhood to JD Sports to buy them new trainers, as well as providing Christmas turkeys to those less fortunate to the whole of his Church Road Estate.

With production from the likes of Jevon (New Gen) and Menace (Desiigner’s ‘Panda’) and featuring guest appearances from Taylor Gang’s Berner, previous collaborator Tiggs Da Author, J Hus and Akala, ‘One Foot Out’ sees Nines stepping out of his comfort zone and displaying the depth of UK rap. His charismatic, laid back flow covers braggadocio on ‘High Roller’ (“Came through in the Audi you’re in that Honda Accord / All this gold got me looking like a Oscar Award”), soul searching on ‘I Wonder’ (“Wonder how all these guns get in to my area / wonder why they care about celebs instead of Syria”) and is filled with pop culture references (“acting like he’s shotting all that coke / looking invisible in the club like he’s got on Harry Potter’s cloak”), ‘One Foot Out’ is a statement of intent that should promote Nines into rap’s premiere league.

TRACK LISTING

Intro
Going In
Trapper Of The Year (ft Jay Midge)
Love 2 The Game (ft Hudson East)
Getting Money Now
These Keys (ft Berner)
Stacey Adams
Hoes (ft Tiggs Da Author)
Nervous
High Roller (ft J Hus)
Break Away
I Wonder (ft Akala)
Trap Music
Make It Last
Outro

Released in 1993, Pablo Honey is the debut studio album from Radiohead. Produced by Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie, the album was recorded at Chipping Norton Recording Studios and Courtyard Studio, Oxfordshire. The album features the singles, "Anyone Can Play Guitar", "Stop Whispering", and "Creep". - The standout single "Creep" was the international hit that helped propel Radiohead and Pablo Honey to popular acclaim. Released several months before the album itself, "Creep" went on to define the band's early career. Also included on Pablo Honey are ethereal rocker "You", fan favorite "Thinking About You", and "Blow Out", all of which point to the band's future sonic manipulations.

TRACK LISTING

1. You
2. Creep
3. How Do You?
4. Stop Whispering
5. Thinking About You
6. Anyone Can Play Guitar
7. Ripcord
8. Vegetable
9. Prove Yourself
10. I Can't
11. Lurgee
12. Blow Out

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of his seminal, magical, Mercury-prize winning debut, Badly Drawn Boy (aka Damon Gough) releases a new deluxe version of the album, including bonus unheard tracks (on the double CD version) and new artwork.

Released in May 2000 to widespread acclaim, ‘The Hour Of Bewilderbeast’ beat other shortlisted nominees including Coldplay, Doves, Leftfield and Richard Ashcroft to that year’s Mercury Music Prize. Like all great debuts, it captured the zeitgeist of the moment, managing that rare feat of sounding both completely of its time, and utterly timeless. The album went platinum and Damon was then asked to write the soundtrack the film of Nick Hornby’s book ‘About A Boy’, which became a huge hit. He went on to release eight studio albums over 12 years, before taking a break over the last couple of years and now he’s back with a fresh focus.

It’s an album that shouldn’t really work on paper, a bewildering assortment of leftfield folk ditties, poetic shanties, experimental passages and nocturnal piano ballads, some recorded in bedrooms, some in studios, with a myriad of different oddball production techniques, and numerous personnel playing most instruments known to man, and several not. However, underpinned by the genius songwriting of Damon Gough and his intuitive ear for melody, it worked beautifully, and charmed a generation of music critics and music lovers. Damon arrived fully formed yet badly drawn, an overnight success which had taken years, simultaneously a little shambolic and in possession of grand vision, somehow both cocksure and yet self-doubting, all of which only endured him to a public growing tired of the over-polished sheen of late 90s.

Andy Votel has updated his classic artwork, loosely based on Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’, for the re-release. “I’m very fond of the cover,” says Damon. “It sums up the time as much as the music does. The gatefold vinyl will have the original artwork and when you open it up there’s a new version which reflects everything that’s happened in the last 15 years.”

"In 2005, having decided to approach Gil Scott-Heron to suggest that we made a record, I stopped listening to any of his previous output. This was to avoid feeling intimidated by the weight of Gil's musical history, and by the sheer quality of the 14 studio albums he'd released since 1970.

Part of my initial suggestion to Gil was that we recorded sparse, stripped down versions of his old songs. We both thought that might make an intriguing album. So we started off recording versions of some of Gil's repertoire, just voice and piano. But our album gradually evolved into something different - "I'm New Here", which as the title suggested, didn't touch on any of Gil's previous recordings (except for "Your Soul And Mine", which is a re-imagining of "The Vulture" from Gil's 1970 debut LP "Small Talk at 125th and Lennox").

I didn't pay much attention to the acoustic versions of Gil's older repertoire that we had recorded, as I was so focused on our making an entirely new album. We didn't make the album we set out to; we made something different.

In November 2011, six months after Gil died, I sat down to listen to the whole of Gil's back catalogue, on vinyl, album by album, chronologically. It's an incredible body of work; 13 albums between 1970 and 1982, and then 2 ("Spirits" and "I'm New Here") until Gil passed in 2011. I did this as a sort of meditative exercise, for the joy of sitting and listening to Gil, now that I was no longer getting to hear his voice down the phone from Harlem.

I listened to these 15 albums over the course of a few weeks as a way to keep our communication going. They led me back to the acoustic piano versions of Gil's old songs that we had captured in New York and I found that they were in themselves remarkable; completely different to the originals, and full of magic in their simplicity. I realised we in fact had made the album we originally set out to, as well as "I'm New Here". We had recorded an album's worth of new, stripped down versions of some of Gil's best (but not necessarily best known) songs. We had recorded an album I thought should be called "Nothing New".

"Nothing New" is recordings Gil and I made in New York of songs he chose from his catalogue, just voice and piano, pure Gil. I realised that each song he had chosen was from a different album of his. He had carefully curated the selection, so the album serves as an excellent introduction to his previous output.

In our early letters, Gil had picked up on my use of the word "spartan" to describe how our record could be. The Oxford dictionary defines "spartan" as showing "indifference to comfort or luxury". Very Gil. "Nothing New" is truly spartan in that it is utterly sparse and devoid of anything that is not completely necessary. All it contains is Gil's singing and piano playing.

You also hear excerpts of our conversations between takes; these give a sense of Gil's profound and profane nature. I believe Gil would approve of calling an album of him covering his own material "Nothing New"; the wordplay is inspired by him. Gil once expressed that he felt our album "could do with a few more yuks" - so now you can check out some of Gil's asides, and particularly the final interlude "On Bobby Blue Bland" for a glimpse of the man's playful sense of humour.

Once I'd compiled and edited these songs, I made three acetates, and we screenprinted artwork at XL. I gave one of these three special copies to Gil's son Rumal Rackley, sent another to Gil's friend and keyboard player Kim Jordan in Washington DC, and the third went to Ms Mimi, who kept Gil's house in order. This could have been the end of the process, but Rumal felt we should share this work with people - so here it is.

I hope you enjoy this album. It completes the set of 3 albums generated from our sessions in New York between 2005 and 2009 - the first 2 records being the main work "I'm New Here" and Jamie xx's remix album "We're New Here".

This is "Nothing New"."

Richard Russell, XL Recordings, London, 2014

TRACK LISTING

01. Did You Hear What They Said
02. Better Days Ahead
03. Household Name (Interlude)
04. Your Daddy Loves You
05. Changing Yourself (Interlude)
06. Pieces Of A Man
07. Enjoying Yourself (Outro)
08. Alien (Hold On To Your Dreams)
09. Before I Hit The Bottom (Interlude)
10. 95 South (All Of The Places We’ve Been
11. The Other Side
12. The On/Off Switch (Interlude)
13. Blue Collar
14. On Bobby Blue Bland (Outro)

Recorded over 15 months in the band’s east London studio-laboratory-bunker with co-producer Craig Silvey, it’s the follow-up to the band’s 2007 debut Strange House, the Mercury-nominated Primary Colours (2009), and the critically-acclaimed Skying (2011) – a record that entered the charts at Number Five, featured prominently in the end-of-year magazine/newspaper polls, and was anointed NME's Album Of The Year.

Luminous is an album that, for once, merits that over-used phrase “keenly-anticipated”. Tipped to be one of the biggest British albums of 2014, it follows the breakthrough success of the silver-selling Skying, an album beloved of heroes and peers such as Bobby Gillespie, Alex Turner and Trent Reznor and that also brought The Horrors into the world of the Radio 1 A-list and Later… With Jools Holland. Tasking themselves with, as ever, moving onwards, The Horrors determined to make an album that was brighter, more positive, more electronic. ‘We’ve refined our sound,” affirms lead singer Faris Badwan, “and in terms of songwriting it is the record I'm happiest with.” Or, in the words of bass player Rhys Webb, “it’s not so much about heavier guitars as a heavier potency… We want to make music you can dance to, music that elevates…” Luminous by name, luminous by nature: this is an album radiating light and energy. These songs are The Horrors writing at their instinctive, intuitive and accessible best.

By way of explaining the intense but unhurried writing and recording of the album, the frontman says that, “If you're happy with one record I think you always have those fears that you'll somehow never be able to write a good song again. But I think between us we would never allow something that we weren't happy with to be released. I can imagine it taking us 10 years to finish something – but I'd rather that than be a band who regress with each release.” Shedding some light on the intra-band, in-studio creative process, keyboard player Tom Furse mentions an ever-evolving playlist featuring “so much, the usual – Beatles, Sabbath, Kraftwerk also Eno, J Dilla, Metroplex/Trax Records…but as always psychedelic music from all over the world, soul, funk, dub…”

Further input came from producer Paul Epworth (Adele, Paul McCartney, Foster The People) on the track Falling Star. There was also a crucial role for a new piece of kit. Badwan reveals that Richard Russell, boss of their label XL, “had the pyramid synth from our Changing The Rain video built for us.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Beautifully produced, deep, melodic, doomy yet somehow skyscraping album. Great songs, bringing the past into the future. Their best album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Chasing Shadows
2. First Day Of Spring
3. So Now You Know
4. In And Out Of Sight
5. Jealous Sun
6. Falling Star
7. I See You
8. Change Your Mind
9. Mine And Yours
10. Sleepwalk

"Kid A is like getting a massive eraser out and starting again," Thom Yorke said in October 2000, the week this album became the British band's first Number One record in America. "I find it difficult to think of the path we've chosen as 'rock music'."

"In texture and structure, Kid A, Radiohead's fourth album, renounced everything in rock that, to Yorke in particular, reeked of the tired and overfamiliar: clanging arena-force guitars, verse-chorus-bridge song tricks.

With producer Nigel Godrich, Yorke, guitarist Ed O'Brien, drummer Phil Selway, bassist Colin Greenwood and guitarist Jonny Greenwood created an enigma of slippery electronics and elliptical angst, sung by Yorke in an often indecipherable croon. The closest thing to riffing on Kid A was the fuzz-bass lick in "The National Anthem"; the guitars in "Morning Bell" sounded more like seabirds.

The result was the weirdest hit album of that year, by a band poised to be the modern-rock Beatles, following the breakthrough of OK Computer. In fact, only 10 months into the century, Radiohead had made the decade's best album — by rebuilding rock itself, with a new set of basics and a bleak but potent humanity. Yorke's loathing of celebrity inspired the contrary beauty of "How to Disappear Completely," with its watery orchestration and his voice flickering in and out of earshot. His electronically squished pleading in "Kid A" sounded like a baby kicking inside a hard drive.

Ironically, Radiohead, by the end of this decade, had fulfilled much of that modern-Beatles promise by following rock's first commandment: Go your own way.

"Music as a lifelong commitment — if that's what someone means by rock, great," Yorke said in that 2000 interview. By that measure, with Kid A, Radiohead made the first true rock of the future." - Rolling Stone.

TRACK LISTING

1 Everything In Its Right Place
2 Kid A
3 The National Anthem
4 How To Disappear Completely
5 Treefingers
6 Optimistic
7 In Limbo
8 Idioteque
9 Morning Bell
10 Motion Picture Soundtrack
11 Untitled

Vampire Weekend’s third album is ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’, released on XL Recordings.

When asked in interviews about the new record, the band have been guarded in describing it, but have stated the album is darker and warmer, saying in Triple J Magazine that “this is our most American album” and citing New York City at night as inspiration for the new sound. The band told interviewer Zan Roew that they focused on “good songwriting”, saying “we wanted the songs to just be amazing”, working towards a sound in which “something that sounds traditional and maybe something that seems modern come together and it feels natural.”

The cover art is a 1966 photograph by Neal Boenzi of the smoggiest day in New York City history, on which the air pollution killed at least 169 people.

TRACK LISTING

1. Obvious Bicycle
2. Unbelievers
3. Step
4. Diane Young
5. Don't Lie
6. Hannah Hunt
7. Everlasting Arms
8. Finger Back
9. Worship You
10. Ya Hey
11. Hudson
12. Young Lion

‘Amok’ is the debut album from Thom Yorke (Radiohead)’s new project Atoms For Peace.

Atoms For Peace include Thom Yorke (vocals, keyboards, programming, guitars), Nigel Godrich (production & programming), Joey Waronker (drums), Mauro Refosco (percussion), Flea (bass).

In Thom Yorke’s own words: “We formed to learn to play ‘The Eraser’ record, if you know that, and discovered a really good energy doing that… and it fell into this record. I’m still reeling from being on tour for much of the year but we are planning to get together and play etc next year! We’re figuring all that out right now. Atoms… is an ongoing and open ended project, where it leads I know not for certain... which is what is nice about it.”

TRACK LISTING

01 Before Your Very Eyes
02 Default
03 Ingenue
04 Dropped
05 Unless
06 Stuck Together Pieces
07 Judge Jury And Executioner
08 Reverse Running
09 Amok

ULTRA LIMITED DELUXE VERSIONS ON CD AND VINYL.

‘Amok’ is the debut album from Thom Yorke (Radiohead)’s new project Atoms For Peace.

Atoms For Peace include Thom Yorke (vocals, keyboards, programming, guitars), Nigel Godrich (production & programming), Joey Waronker (drums), Mauro Refosco (percussion), Flea (bass).

In Thom Yorke’s own words: “We formed to learn to play ‘The Eraser’ record, if you know that, and discovered a really good energy doing that… and it fell into this record. I’m still reeling from being on tour for much of the year but we are planning to get together and play etc next year! We’re figuring all that out right now. Atoms… is an ongoing and open ended project, where it leads I know not for certain... which is what is nice about it.”

‘About A Boy’ is an album by Badly Drawn Boy (Damon Gough) released in 2002 as the soundtrack to the film starring Hugh Grant and Rachel Weisz.

‘About A Boy’ is a 2002 comedy-drama film directed by brothers Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, based on the novel of the same name by Nick Hornby.

Gough was chosen to compose and perform the entire soundtrack. In ‘About A Boy’ author Nick Hornby’s book ‘31 Songs’, he lists Gough’s track ‘A Minor Incident’ as one of the songs that has had an effect on his life.

Of 16 tracks, seven are instrumental passages that realise Damon Gough’s penchant for pretty orchestral reveries. The other nine, meanwhile, are fully formed new Badly Drawn Boy songs, rarely straying far from the templates set on his ‘The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast’ album.

Now reissued on deluxe vinyl by XL Records.

Originally out on Kitty-Yo in 2000, Peaches debut LP gets re-released by the UK's XL label. It's a fantastic mash-up of dirty electro-clash and sleazy punk-funk with lyrics that have me blushing with their XXX-ratedness (check track listing - "Fuck The Pain Away", "Cum Undun", "Suck And Let Go", "Lovertits" etc). Oooh, she's a saucy lady!

Named after the island in Aldous Huxley's 1962 novel 'Island', "Pala", recorded over the last 12 months in locations across London, St. Albans, Rye, New York and Yvetot, France, has been produced in part by Paul Epworth along with the band. The artwork for the album features a parrot photograph from one of famed fashion photographer Solve Sundsbo's personal projects, while the album also sees musical collaborations with The Harlem Gospel Choir and Holy Ghost's Alex Frankel. The release follows the success of the band's debut album which received two Brit nominations as well as picking up a Mercury Prize nomination.

THE PICCADILLY RECORDS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 1997

This is the album that started to show their real potential and their first use of electronics (which mix beautifully with their older rawer rock style). The album that pushed them to the very top.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: There can be few greater endorsements for anything than winning over a convinced sceptic. I started off from the premise that I didn't like this corporate indie sellout, but that, I am happy to say, proved an utterly impossible position to maintain after I actually heard it. Every last track is an utterly mesmerizing glimpse into blighted existence; a beautifully rendered, multilayered kaleidoscope of angst. 'Classic' is an overused word, but this is precisely the kind of idea it was coined for.

TRACK LISTING

1. Airbag
2. Paranoid Android
3. Subterranean Homesick Alien
4. Exit Music (For A Film)
5. Let Down
6. Karma Police
7. Fitter Happier
8. Electioneering
9. Climbing Up The Walls
10. No Surprises
11. Lucky
12. The Tourist

Karen Elson's transformation from fashion’s favourite redheaded ingénue to beguiling chanteuse has been something of a slow burn. In 2003 she provided vocals for a version of Robert Plant's "Last Time I Saw Her" and in 2006 she recorded an English language version of "Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus" ("I Love You… Me Neither") with Cat Power for a Serge Gainsbourg tribute album, but her main musical outlet has been as a founding member of New York City cabaret The Citizens Band, a downtown collective of musicians, performers, artists and acrobats whose lively Weimar-esque performances have enjoyed successful theatrical runs of their politically thematic shows.

The 11 original compositions on "The Ghost Who Walks" were all written following Karen Elson’s 2005 relocation from New York City to Nashville. While making her home – and raising two children - in the city of country music, Karen took to writing songs for The Citizens Band and found she had plenty of other melodies in her head. Her and spouse Jack White quickly put a band together: Karen’s cabaret cohort Rachelle Garniez on accordion and vocals, The Dead Weather's Jack Lawrence on bass, My Morning Jacket's Carl Broemel on pedal steel and brother-in-law Jackson Smith on guitar. Jack White took the role of producer and provided drums. Karen added a cover of Garniez's "Lunasa" to the recordings and within a matter of weeks she had an album's worth of material. Two of her more theatrical tracks, "100 Years From Now" and "Mouths To Feed", inspired in part by author Tim Egan’s dust bowl saga "The Worst Hard Time", were originally penned for her cabaret troupe. The rest of the album richly evokes the lonesome feel of country ("Cruel Summer"), the tormented side of the blues ("The Truth Is In The Dirt") and the haunted stories of traditional folk balladry ("Stolen Roses").

Graphic artist Rob Jones took inspiration from Karen’s penchant for peach and black to create gorgeously smoldering album art.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: A surprisingly excellent album from Jack White's missus, awash with sweet country tinged melodies.

Some bands stay in a holding pattern their whole careers. Others jerk the steering wheel hard and fly off the road. On their second album, Vampire Weekend do neither. Or maybe they do both. “I think we sound more like Vampire Weekend than we did on the first record,” says drummer Christopher Tomson.

"Contra" pulls off a series of impressive feats: It’s bustling with fresh ideas and yet it sounds immediately familiar; it’s heavily layered but taut and kinetic; it chews ravenously through sound palettes and rhythms, and yet it’s nimble and assured; it’s still breezy, and yet it smolders with a newfound emotional heft. “It’s sadder than the first one, a bit more sentimental,” says singer Ezra Koenig. The songs are catchy, fast, twinkling, clattering – the darker themes of loss, doubt and regret accumulate almost imperceptibly, but they land a powerful blow.

TRACK LISTING

1 Horchata
2 White Sky
3 Holiday
4 California English
5 Taxi Cab
6 Run
7 Cousins
8 Giving Up The Gun
9 Diplomat’s Son
10 I Think Ur A Contra

The Horrors follow-up 2007's critically acclaimed debut "Strange House" with "Primary Colours", a record that represents a band striving for musical progression and, in doing so, finding an interesting new direction. While the gothic punk influence of such bands as The Cramps remains, there is now a strong 80s Chameleons / Echo & The Bunnymen style flavour to The Horrors' sound, resulting in a well-rounded and engaging listen. Includes the single "Sea Within A Sea".

TRACK LISTING

1. Mirror's Image
2. Three Decades
3. Who Can Say
4. Do You Remember
5. New Ice Age
6. Scarlet Fields
7. I Only Think Of You
8. I Can't Control Myself
9. Primary Colours
10. Sea Within A Sea

Already the winner of a Brit Award (Adele was voted the 'Critics Choice' - the most exciting new British artist expected to 'make it big' in 2008) (and didn't she just!), "19" is Adele's debut album. She combines the full range of her influences: Etta James, Jill Scott, Bjork, Dusty Springfield, Billy Bragg, Billie Holiday, Jeff Buckley, The Cure and Peggy Lee with her stunning voice on this great debut. Includes her classic debut single "Chasing Pavements"

TRACK LISTING

1. Daydreamer
2. Best For Last
3. Chasing Pavements
4. Cold Shoulder
5. Crazy For You
6. Melt My Heart To Stone
7. First Love
8. Right As Rain
9. Make You Feel My Love
10. My Same
11. Tired
12. Hometown Glory

Dealing in genres the band have dubbed 'Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa' and 'Upper West Side Soweto', Vampire Weekend is a breath of fresh air, both musically and lyrically, with this New York band endeavouring to make music that is anything but straight ahead rock. This is indie-rock that isn't indie-rock, a joyously exuberant carnival of melody and rhythm. Strings. Organs. Afro-funk guitars. Courtly 18th century harpsichord. A bit of post-punk (maybe Franz Ferdinand crossed with the Bhundu Boys?). Lyrics about grammar and architecture and preferred bus routes and the British Imperial origins of American preppie fashion. With fleet-footed pizzazz Vampire Weekend deploy all these to craft a tinglingly refreshing sound. Anyone for brainy party music?

TRACK LISTING

1 Mansard Roof
2 Oxford Comma [Explicit]
3 A-Punk
4 Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa [Explicit]
5 M79
6 Campus
7 Bryn
8 One (Blake's Got A New Face)
9 I Stand Corrected
10 Walcott [Explicit]
11 The Kids Don't Stand A Chance

Following the landmark independent digital release of Radiohead's seventh LP whereby customers could name their own price, the experimental British rock stalwarts finally issued "In Rainbows" in its physical formats. Musically, this release can be seen as a logical culmination of much of the band's previous work, incorporating the avant-garde electronics of later records and more traditional guitar-heavy elements synonymous with their inception. The overt political themes of previous album "Hail To The Thief" are largely jettisoned for an altogether more romantic milieu, with songs such as "Videotape" and "Nude" showcasing the intimate nature of singer Thom Yorke's voice.

"Classics" remains resolutely instrumental, but they have however introduced a wealth of new sounds, from acoustic and slide guitar through to sleigh bells and cello. Having laid out their blueprint with "Ratatat", their vastly improved production and writing makes "Classics" a refinement of their art.

Loved by true innovators as diverse as Deborah Harry, Iggy Pop, Bjork, Josh Homme, Lil Kim, Marilyn Manson, Kelis, 2 Many DJs, MIA and LCD Soundsystem not to mention the entire fashion and art world, Peaches returns with a brand new album. Well, she hasn't cleaned up her act with "Impeach My Bush" you'll be heartened to hear, it's a massive record, as ambitious as ever – it's pure Peaches. Recorded at Jeff Porcaro's (the drummer from Toto, no less) old self-built studio in Laurel Canyon, LA, the album rolls out Ms P's distinctive minimal electroclash and electrock'n'roll sound. The guests who dropped by to party and play on the record include Joan Jett (who features on vocals and guitar on the raw rock of "You Love It"), Josh Homme, Feist (who both appear on "Give 'Er"), Samantha Maloney, Darlin' Dave Catching and Brian 'Big Hands' O'Conner.

"Crazy Itch Radio" certainly scratches the spot, with Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton swerving from all-out drama on the operatic intro straight into the jet-packed kaleidoscopic pop of the future hit single "Hush Boy" which features live collaborator Vula Malinga, last heard on "Oh My Gosh". Rammed up next, "Take Me Back To Your House" is a sexy, energetic moment of what they're calling 'banjo house'. There's also Balkan folk woven into vocals from Swedish pop sensation Robyn on "Hey U", a hyper grime tune cussing vain boys from East London's Lady Marga, titled "Run 4 Cover" (previewed on one of their Stop label 10"s), and "Lights Go Down", a Wil Malone-scored beauty with legendary British singer Linda Lewis.

Ratatat are Mike Stroud (Ben Kweller, Dashboard Confessional) and Evan (co-founder of the Audio Dregs label and better known as the artist E*Vax). Mike left on tour, he was always leaving on tour but he had to, had to play music, had to make a living. Evan was often left alone to cook up new beats and make CDRs. He would mail them to Mike on the road, and he scattered them amomgst a thousand or so people around the world. People took to the sound, the buzz began. At the time they were called Cherry and everyone wanted to hear more, or better yet sing for them, but this was never going to be the case. Then Paul Banks from Interpol got a demo. He took to the sound, but he never asked to sing for them. He asked them to open for his band on the West Coast.

The Jaxx are back with an LP packed to the brim with punk-electro-soul-funk-house-clash joints that switch effortlessly between in-yer-face pogo-disco and sneaky under-your-skin melody. There's a wide ranging set of guests, including Siouxsie Sioux (playing bagpipes...only joking!), Meshell N'degeocello, Dizzee Rascal, Lisa Kekaula, JC Chasez etc.

Eschewing hand-me-down ghetto tales from an across-the-pond 'hood, the precociously talented Dizzee Rascal instead tells it like it is from his (18 year old, East End) angle - unemployment, gun-crime, relationships, MC battles etc. Two years in the making, this LP takes in influences from UK garage, hip hop, r'n'b and drum'n'bass, but comes up with a unique sounding jagged-edged electronic sound. Definitely one to check out!

For her second LP Peaches gets a split personality, either talking dirty over minimal electro grooves (check the wicked "I U She" or "Bag It") or showing us her hairy side screaming and rocking out with the lads like some evil spawn of Suzi Quatro and Joan Jett on some stadium stormers (see "Kick It" with Iggy Pop, or "I Don't Give A"). Sometimes she even combines these two elements in one song for pure electroclash mayhem!

Has anyone ever done this before? Achieved massive commercial success and followed it with three totally uncompromising, madly unexpected records. You have to admire their integrity. This album is something of a consolidation of their post- "OK Computer" direction. While it's choc-ful of analogue electronics, jazz-rock oddness, techno Gothic wierdness, scatterbrained drum-machines and insanely-inspiring words - there is actually more to properly grab a hold of this time. There's a number of conventional(ish!) piano songs including one acheingly gorgeous standout called "Sail To The Moon". There's also more obvious(ish!) rockier moments like "2+2=5" which ends in punky, thrashed guitar, and "A Punch-Up At A Wedding" that has lyrics you can follow (!!) and a sweet, undulating bassline. This album's just as challenging as the last two, but a lot more rewarding.

The follow up to  "Kid A" finds Radiohead continuing their experiments of the previous album but with added structure and a stronger 'song' base. This all adds up to a phenomenal album of vision and depth that will disappoint no one.

TRACK LISTING

1 Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box
2 Pyramid Song
3 Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors
4 You And Whose Army?
5 I Might Be Wrong
6 Knives Out
7 Morning Bell/Amnesiac
8 Dollars & Cents
9 Hunting Bears
10 Like Spinning Plates
11 Life In A Glasshouse

Do you remember what you were doing fifteen years ago? I do. I was a fifteen year old kid from the burbs, spending my summer playing football and recreating WWF classics in the back yard while dressed like a nerdish Eminem (bleach blonde hair and everything). Then a wacky-ass radio track packed with film snippets and horse noises worked its way into my teenage brain and changed things for good. The Avalanches were insane, inspired and in full effect; following the 'horse song' ("Frontier Psychiatrist") with a soulful and swooning summer jam ("Since I Left You") which has played in my head ever since. Family Allowance firmly in hand I took my privilaged ass off to the Market Hall, picked up a CD copy of this album and spent the whole bus journey home feasting my eyes on the liner notes and sleeve artwork. As I hit the play button on my naff home stereo, I was whisked away Dorothy-style and taken on a head spinning journey through 50 years of popular music. Leaving the monochrome mundanity of Bolton behind, I soared through technicolour stage sets of paradise islands, Brooklyn block parties and countryside BBQs, Sci-Fi spectaculars and rewired romances as 3,500 samples were sticky taped together before my very ears. The plunderphonic sound of six men who spent their adolesence rummaging through the bargain bins of Melbourne's record shops, "Since I Left You" applies hip hop's cut'n'paste mentality to the full gamut of weird and wonderful pop, from exotica to erotica, disco and funk to lounge and psych. Unlike anything I'd ever heard before, and better than any imitators I've heard since, The Avalanches are truly in a class of their own.  

TRACK LISTING

Since I Left You 4:18
Stay Another Season 2:15
Radio 4:52
Two Hearts In 3/4 Time 3:22
Avalanche Rock 0:23
Flight Tonight 3:51
Close To You 3:56
Diners Only 1:43
A Different Feeling 4:23
Electricity 3:29
Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life 2:20
Pablo's Cruise 0:53
Frontier Psychiatrist 4:47
Etoh 5:02
Summer Crane 4:39
Little Journey 1:53
Live At Dominoes 5:38
Extra Kings 3:46