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Release Date: 03/05/2024Visit product page →
After two critically acclaimed albums (2020’s ‘Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future’ and 2022’s ‘The Rest Is Distraction’), and numerous mini-album, EP and single releases, London-based trio Girls In Synthesis return in May ’24 with their new statement; their third album ‘Sublimation’.
If you thought you knew GIS, think again… they have moved on and created a dark and intense, yet melodic, collection of songs; their take on an angular pop record. Opening song ‘Lights Out’ is split into two distinct sections; the opening a Barrett-esque vocal and guitar lament to sleep deprived anxiety which morphs, via a ‘Faust Tapes’ influenced freeform noise section, into a stomping, high intensity closing blitz.
Tracks such as ‘Deceit’, ‘We Are Here’ and ‘Picking Things Out Of The Air’ see the group at their most melodic to date, minimising some of the chaotic noise elements of their signature sound and bringing to the fore impassioned, soaring vocals and keys melodies.
Their trademark, driving drums and bass foundation is particularly evident on songs ‘I Judge Myself’ and ‘Corrupting Memories’, but is counterbalanced by intense, early goth influenced keyboard lines, bringing influences from late 1970s/early 1980s into focus with the contemporary GIS intensity. Slow-burning tracks ‘I Was Never There’ and ‘The Prefix’ build up tension and atmosphere with sparse arrangements and circular, spiralling outros, while closer ‘A Damning Lesson’ sees the band return to their intense, bludgeoning wall of sound only to send it into a blur of echoing drum machine, reminiscent of the early work of Cabaret Voltaire.
Lyrically, GIS prove themselves head and shoulders above their contemporaries, leaving the pastiche sloganeering and lecturing to those wishing to preach to the converted, and reach inside to bring forth poetic and challenging analysis of the anxiety and emotional turmoil of self-reflection and human relationships.
Booked in for extensive UK/EU touring throughout May and June, the band will be adapting their white-heat live show to bring subtlety and clarity to the new songs from ‘Sublimation’, losing none of their unique and intense performance in the process. Be ready…
Tracklisting:
1. Lights Out
2. Deceit
3. Semblance of Choice
4. We Are Here
5. Corrupting Memories
6. I Was Never There
7. Picking Things Out Of The Air
8. I Judge Myself
9. Subtle Differences
10. The Prefix
11. A Damning Lesson -
Release Date: 15/03/2024Visit product page →
Heavee is a Queer Chicagoan DJ & producer with a long history in footwork. His 2022 'Audio Assault' EP on Hyperdub showcased synth-driven, melodic footwork, but ‘Unleash’ goes much further into audio world-building, with a fresh, spongy and citrus-y sound palette and rich, bright chord sequences.
It's minimal, airy, balancing light and dark, sometimes breezy and sometimes clinical. Heavee works simultaneously outside and inside the box, rebuilding footwork's framework and vibe to his own unique specification. Rhythmically, it's dance floor ready, using footwork's 160 template as a springboard for building new drum sounds to express these rhythms, and draws from R&B, rap, jazz and grime, with a sprinkling of bitter-sweet vintage Detroit techno.
‘Unleash’ takes footwork’s “eats all” approach to music and leads it in a fresh direction with a freedom of spirit. It's a strong addition to the footwork cannon and shows that experiments in dance music can be fun.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. StarSeeker
2. Unlock
3. SearchN 4 ft Babii
4. Bang Bang
5. Can U Feel It
6. Bounce Dat ft PayPal & DanTOG
Side B
7. Unleash
8. See the Sun
9. Whiplash
10. Sumthin Different
11. Heart Fragments
12. Work Me
13. Make it Work
14. Smoke Break ft Homesiick & Takuya Nakamura -
Visit product page →“But into my miserable brain, always concerned with looking for noon at two o’clock"
- Charles Baudelaire (1869)
The Foreign Department is the second album by Astrel K, the solo project helmed by Stockholm-based British ex-pat, Rhys Edwards. Those already familiar with Edwards’ work will likely know him for fronting the cultishly great Ulrika Spacek, and given he operates as the principal songwriter in both projects, much of the same hallmarks of his cathartic, elliptical songwriting are present in Astrel K. Nonetheless, The Foreign Department feels like a rubicon moment of sorts, and the album that Edwards has unconsciously been working towards his entire creative life.As a title, The Foreign Department offers an instructive guide for the listener, framing a life-in-transition/artist-in-exile document that maps two impromptu moves in twelve months for its songwriter: the first from London in pursuit of a relationship, the second between homes in Stockholm as that decade long relationship then suddenly dissolved.
Indeed, diffusion, dissolution and reconstitution feel like appropriate touchstones for its recurring themes. Written amidst the flux of two states, at once isolated from home and then any established emotional anchor, the resulting eleven tracks came to represent a precognitive search for shifting identity and with it forming an unwittingly biographical record. It's commendable and somewhat telling that during this shake up, Edwards somehow landed upon his most realised and original work.With a former life stripped away, there emerged an opportunity to reinvent a sense of self through art, now not just as a writer, but a composer also. Developing the confidence to arrange songs in ways he'd previously considered off-limits, while also taking cues from the opulent string and brass arrangements of records like Mercury Rev's Deserters' Songs and Death of A Ladies Man by Leonard Cohen, Edwards enlisted a range of performers to bring to life the mini-symphonies forming in his head. Perhaps it's inevitable that an album written while facing the consequences of being alone would eventually ossify around the process of bringing people together.
For all its troubled origins, The Foreign Department is a remarkably warm sounding collection. Edwards' lyrics are typically knotty and neurotic, dancing around the poetry of quarter-life anxiety, but the music itself is often joyous and even uplifting, the combination expressing that neat duality of melancholic euphoria.
Lead single, 'Darkness At Noon', likely captures this all best. Named for the French idiom "midi a quatorze heures", the maddening idea of attempting the impossible for the sake of some greater possibly pointless cause, it directly grapples with the opposing notions of wanting and not wanting, of being here and being there at the same time. The conflicting and impossible self. It’s something Edwards addresses in the song at perhaps his most open, opining, “I know I want to be seen, but I hate most of what comes out of me”. And yet here is, putting it all out in the open and on the line, the dialectics of his enlightenment up on show.
Edwards sings variously of crises, "torrid pieces of art", of "houses on fire" and not "having the guts for it", yet these troubling sentiments are framed by seemingly incongruous swelling strings, chirping horns or motorik percussion, creating that sense of pushing forward or floating above, of wrapping your troubles in dreams, a salve for the moments when you get a bit too much for yourself.
Tracklisting:
1. Heavy Is the Head
2. Darkness At Noon
3. By Depol
4. Brighter Spells
5. Firma
6. Birds In Vacant Lots
7. The Foreign Department
8. C Ya!
9. A Rudderless Ship
10. Daffodil
11. R U A Literal Child? -
Release Date: 05/04/2024Visit product page →
Recalibrating her singular journey in the British musical landscape with her most open-hearted, direct and intimate collection of material yet. Love In Constant Spectacle evokes spectacular imagery and distills the artists’ vision in its purest form, elevating her inimitable sound and poetic vision to new heights.
Recapturing the melancholy of her early work whilst propelling it forward, she sketches scenes as we watch new colours, shapes and languages emerge and fill the frame. Love In Constant Spectacle sees her take measured steps towards a vivid, dreamlike record, that offers resolve in the face of life’s inevitability.
The foundations of Weaver’s sound are still evident – lush motorik drums, pulsating bass, custom modded synths and exotic fuzz pedals - but the stream is awash with scrabble piece poetry and Letraset lullabies leading to lush escapism, the free abandon that you’d associate with free jazz and the avant-garde.
But, as determined and visionary as Weaver might be, Love In Constant Spectacle wasn’t executed without assistance. Here we find a long mooted unison with Jane’s first ever producer, John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding), who has shared Weaver’s process in the surrounds of Rockfield Studios and Geoff Barrow’s Invada studio.
Love In Constant Spectacle is otherworldly, it is both intimate yet distant, a surrealist interpretation of the foundations that make us human – the stories and landscapes it paints are habitats of their own. A voyage into undisclosed pastures, it’s a heartfelt manifesto from an artist that continues to boundlessly evolve with each chapter in her career.
Tracklisting:
Side A
1. Perfect Storm
2. Emotional Components
3. Love in Constant Spectacle -
4. Motif
5. The Axis and The Seed
Side B
6. Is Metal
7. Happiness in Proximity
8. Romantic Worlds
9. Univers
10. Family of the Sun -
Visit product page →Release Date: 26/04/2024
EYE – the new band from Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard (MWWB) singer-songwriter/musician Jessica Ball – has announced the arrival of their eagerly awaited debut album, 'Dark Light’.Triggered in part by the existential dread looming outside as well as the sudden ill health of her dear friend, MWWB guitarist Paul “Dave” Davies, then fighting for life after a Covid-related stroke. Ball took the opportunity to compose songs that were all her own – nuanced, lyrical, and hypnotically distinctive.
Having earned a fervent fan following with MWWB, Eye are a different proposition, though no less compelling. Traversing a diverse spectrum of dark folk, dreampop, IDM and psychedelic doom, to create sometimes heavy and foreboding drones, alongside spare but still richly textured sonics.
‘Dark Light’ is an intensely atmospheric fusion of emotionally charged songcraft and inspired sonic energy. The clue is in the album's paradoxical title. Chilling and even bleak melodies with arrangements daringly and deliberately stripped down and minimal. Revealing a kinship with sonic bed-fellows Mazzy Star, Chelsea Wolfe or even Portishead.
So, whilst not strictly speaking ‘Doom’ or ‘Metal’ fans of Jessica’s previous work with MWWB will not be disappointed. Along with producer Chris Fielding (MWWB, Conan) EYE have produced something otherworldly, which is at times heavy and epic, yet still deeply intimate and dark.
A striking debut.
Tracklisting:
1. Window
2. Dark Light
3. The Other Sees
4. In Your Night
5. In The Sun Eternally
6. Respair
7. Out Of Sight
8. Stillness
9. See Yourself
10. Rescue You -
Release Date: 10/05/2024Visit product page →
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut live double album, Fu Manchu is releasing the first ever repress of Go For It…Live!, which has been out of print since the original pressing.
The 22 song release was recorded on the band’s 2002 California Crossing World Tour, which marked the debut of drummer Scott Reeder. Fu Manchu is renowned for their live performances and this set doesn’t disappoint, with incendiary renditions of fan favorites such as: “Hell On Wheels,” “Mongoose,” “King Of The Road,” “Evil Eye” and their always requested cover of “Godzilla.”
As AllMusic.com said, “Go for It...Live! is an absolute must for those enamored by Fu Manchu's buzzy sound, and a great introduction for those curious about a band woefully ignored by radio stations and video channels.”
This limited edition vinyl run of 2000 units has one LP pressed on Neon Yellow and the other on Neon Orange vinyl and is packaged in a gatefold sleeve with brand new artwork including never before seen photos of the band and flyers from the associated tour along with printed dust sleeves with additional new images.
This new pressing has been specifically remastered for vinyl by Carl Saff for optimum fidelity.
The limited edition 1000 unit CD run also features the updated art and a digital specific remaster.
Tracklisting:
LP 1
1. Hell On Wheels
2. Laserbl’ast!
3. Asphalt Risin’
4. Mongoose
5. Downtown In Dogtown
6. Boogie Van
7. Tilt
8. Ojo Rojo
9. Strato-Streak
10. King Of The Road
11. Anodizer
LP 2
1. Evil Eye
2. Hang On
3. Wurkin’
4. California Crossing
5. Over The Edge
6. Regal Begal
7. Godzilla
8. Superbird
9. Weird Beard
10. Squash That Fly
11. Saturn III -
Release Date: 24/05/2024Visit product page →
British four-piece rock band Collateral are set to release their highly anticipated sophomore album Should’ve Known Better on May 24, 2024. The album is distributed worldwide by Cargo. The album will be released on CD, red vinyl, picture disc, limited edition cassette, and digital. Friday February 9th will see the release of the lead single “Glass Sky.”.
The new single “Glass Sky” and the forthcoming album Should’ve Known Better is produced by Dan Weller (Those Damn Crows, Enter Shikari, Monster Truck, Kris Barras, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow).
"I love massive riffs, massive hooks and feel-good guitar music,” says Weller. “When Collateral sent me their demos, I jumped at chance to produce their new record. I’m proud of what we managed to create. It’s Collateral mk2 - ambitious, daring and refined. I can’t wait for people to hear it."
Since the band released their debut album (Top 5 UK Rock Album Chart) at the start of 2020 Collateral have spent no time standing still. Covid came only weeks after the debut album was released and forced the band to cancel their highly successful tour with Phil X (Bon Jovi) halfway through. This made the band hungry to keep the momentum. With innovative ways to produce top quality live streams, the band became special guests supporting the likes of Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love.
The exciting and flamboyant Kent-based rock and roll band are comprised of Angelo Tristan (lead vocals, guitar), Louis Malagodi (guitar), Jack Bentley-Smith (bass) and Ben Atkinson (drums).
On October 21, 2022, Collateral independently released a re-mixed and re-mastered version of their debut album “Re-Wired” which featured Jeff Scott Soto, Phil X, Kee Marcello, Rudy Sarzo, Danny Vaughn, and Joel Hoekstra. The re-release saw the band in the Official UK Rock Charts at #12.
After the gruelling back-to-back tours with Skid Row, H.E.A.T and Reckless Love, the band ignited a spark and strengthened their already loyal fanbase leading them to win the opening slot at 2023s Stonedead Festival, leading the band to perform their biggest show.
Collateral’s hotly tipped sophomore album looks like it will take them to the next level. A lot of people don’t know what to expect from the new album, as the band have been tight-lipped about the new songs. Collateral have created a state-of-the-art rock album that will immerse listeners in their rock music universe, enabling fans to feel the blood, sweat and glory that went into the recording of every song.
“We felt that our debut album was lacking the production,” reflects Collateral’s frontman, Angelo Tristan. “For the sophomore album, I wanted to make sure that this time we left no room for error and so got one of the hottest producers in the music industry, Dan Weller, to help lift these songs into a new dimension. With Dan’s pioneering studio expertise, this album has massive production quality that enables you to get lost in each character-filled track. Dan really brought out the emotions we were trying to portray and has achieved it with his own unique style.”
“We wanted this album to express where we were in our own lives since the release of our first. So much has happened since then, I mean the world shut down for what felt like a lifetime! And it was obvious that people were going to need some sort of optimism. I hope ‘Glass Sky’ is one of those songs that gives people the belief to find themselves again.”
“Whereas, the feel-good ‘Just One Of Those Days’ is trying to find the good side of a bad day. Me being me, couldn’t help but to write a big power ballad, ‘The Long Road’, that I wrote from a very hard and deep place, in hope that it could maybe bring some peace and comfort to people who need it. I think there’s all aspects of life running though this album and what it means to us will remain in our hearts forever.”
“Should’ve Known Better” is an album that goes beyond specific music genres,” says Angelo. “It’s almost like a soundtrack to a beating heart. It’s an album that will remain timeless in years to come.”
Tracklisting:
1. Glass Sky
2. Original Criminal
3. One Of Those Days
4. Teenage Dreams
5. Elysium
6. On The Long Road
7. No Place For Love
8. Game Changer
9. Final Stand -
‘And Also The Trees’ compelling new album, ‘Mother-of-Pearl Moon’, was born from a series of extraordinary electric guitar improvisations created by guitarist Justin Jones in the pre- and postdawn hours during a month of solitude in 2020.Visit product page →
Each piece then developed in its own way - the guitar, often left in its raw, unaltered form, is accompanied by the voice of his brother Simon, bringing imagery and narrative, Colin Ozanne’s clarinet and piano adding poise, colour and harmony, Paul Hill’s percussion creating depth… on occasion an autoharp, a Moog… all leading the listener from the depths of the English countryside far out in all directions of the compass.
The music is often filmic, reminiscent of various film genres from the ‘50s to the ‘70s. This is most apparent in ‘This path through the meadow’, a song that explores the intertwining of human nature and nature in its animal and botanic form, and in its video where the band appear to be performing to an imaginary screening.
Elsewhere, the album title track transports the listener across the oceans to the Far East...and to its exotic gardens, still waters and the ‘Mother-of-pearl moon’.
And Also The Trees (AATT) formed during the original post-punk era in rural Worcestershire, an environment that has provided a constant inspiration to a group whose music has often explored the dark underbelly as well as the beauty of the British countryside.
They are renowned for their captivating live performances, a unique style of mandolin-like electric guitar, evocative lyrics and dark jazz rhythms - not to mention a creative independence fiercely preserved for over four decades.
Founded by singer Simon Jones and his guitarist brother Justin, AATT have maintained a continuous presence on the post-punk, alternative rock and Gothic scenes worldwide. They have released fifteen studio albums.
Tracklisting:
1. Intro
2. The Whaler
3. Town Square
4. Mother-of-Pearl Moon
5. This Path Through The Meadow
6. Valdrada
7. No Mountains, No Horizon
8. Visions of a Stray
9. Field After Field
10. Ypsilon
11. Away From Me -
The band SANG FROID was born in Nantes in winter 2019. It is made up of two current members of REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER and one member of THE VEIL. Passionate about New Wave, Cold Wave and Goth Rock music, the three artists wanted to create a band in homage to this scene. The result was their first 3-track self-produced EP, released on January 8, 2021, to rave reviews from the specialist press.Visit product page →
Since then, the group has performed numerous times, notably alongside bands such as Perturbator, Front 242, Covenant and Frustration.
In early 2023, the band decided to enter the studio to record their first album with Benoit Roux (producer of Alcest albums). Sang Froid delivers 8 very Goth Rock-oriented tracks.
Walking alone at night, heart too heavy, in a city too big, with cold architecture, that's the feeling you get when listening to SANG FROID tracks. Highly inspired by bands such as Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Sister Of Mercy and Depeche Mode, the band's music navigates a cold, grey universe that is sometimes pierced by the brilliance of feelings and the rage to live.
FFO: Depeche Mode, Drab Majesty, Sisters Of Mercy
Tracklisting:
1. Proudly Ruining Yourself
2. Eternal Light
3. Lymphatic
4. House Of Resignation
5. Grace & Doom
6. The Eleventh Dawn
7. Nightline
8. Inquisitive Nature -
Visit product page →Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts is an American rock band from Nashville founded and fronted by former Biters leader Tuk Smith, originally from Atlanta, now living in Nashville. The band released their debut single "What Kinda Love" on January 10, 2020 and were also added as an opening act for The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard and Mötley Crüe on the same day.
Then came the onset of Covid 19. “When the pandemic hit, it was like hitting the reset button on my music career” recalls Tuk, “everything got taken away…album campaign, stadium tour, record deal. The world was in lockdown, and the only way to escape was to throw myself into writing. My thoughts began exploring the past, and the inspiration for the songs just came in tidal waves.”
The new collection is a rock ‘n roll silver lining that came out of the solitude and reflection of the pandemic. Ballad Of A Misspent Youth is the new single (and subsequent album of the same name) released summer of 2022 on Tuk’s new record label MRG, through Virgin Music.
Tuk explains, “I decided to make a rock and roll record for me and what I like because there was no label, there was no committee involved…just me and my stories. I wanted to create a setting and an authentic feeling about everything. I reunited with long-time friend Dan Dixon and recorded these songs in his garage studio, and there is a purity to the work that came from all the circumstances of that time.”
Growing up as an outsider in rural Georgia, Tuk found solace in hardcore punk acts like Black Flag and The Exploited. From there, Smith branched out into exploring seventies New York bands like The Dead Boys and New York Dolls, which lead him across the sea where he embraced first-wave British acts like The Buzzcocks and the Clash. Smith wasn’t just a casual fan of these acts, he was obsessed with them and traced their lineage with fervent dedication. “I was always into the Clash growing up and Mick Jones’ favorite band was Mott The Hoople, so through the years I ended up developing a love of the first wave of British glam, power pop and things like that,” he explains.
Soon Smith was forming his own acts, touring relentlessly and building a following with his high-energy live shows, including his tour of duty as lead singer for the Biters, who he fronted for nearly a decade. He offers “Then after being on the road for years, I had a reckoning about where I was at and the future ahead. …I realized the only way to achieve something meaningful was to be a good songwriter…that clicked. I went on a musical diet where I stripped the obscure stuff away, and I really started focusing on the greats. When I started clicking that it was just about the songs, things changed. I had already put my 10,000 hours in the van to play in the dive clubs, but then I put my 10,000 hours into figuring out how to write. I also started working with other songwriters. I humbled myself… it was an education, like going to school.”
Tuk elaborates, “I wanted to kind of branch out musically and do different things, and I figured to go solo would be better. My manager actually suggested I call my new band “The Restless Hearts” and that's what he would call me all the time. It was the title of a Biters song that people loved and I’d seen a few restless hearts tattoos at our shows along the way… and so Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts was born. I was in a period where I changed everything including the way I lived my daily life. I experimented with different ways to tap into positive/creative energy…it was an evolving overall process (and still is).”
Tuk summarizes, “Things used to be about debauchery, and now they’re more about dedication. I mean, I was always driven, but I was sometimes focusing on the wrong things. Now I focus on the music and the craftsmanship of writing and producing and performing.“
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Limited edition coke bottle green vinyl comes with download code and poster. Black vinyl comes with a download code. CD is a digipak CD.Visit product page →
The sixth album from Still Corners is “Dream Talk”. Beautifully arranged, elegant and wistful, Dream Talks is a set of ten carefully crafted classic songs. From the autumnal opener "Today is the Day" to the hot summer night finale of "Turquoise Moon", Still Corners have created a sound that is focused, stylish and seductive.
Tessa Murray says, "The genesis for a lot of these songs came from dreams. Every night I would write down the dreams I could remember. While recording I would pull out my book of dreams and sing over various looped phrases Greg had been working on, the repetitive nature of the looping and singing almost felt like going into a trance. A lot of the songs came from that process, it was fun and what I thought were sort of ramblings ended up surprising us with their various meanings and imagery."
Tracklisting:
1. Today is the Day
2. The Dream
3. Faded Love
4. What is Real
5. Lose More Slowly
6. Secret World
7. Let's Make Up
8. Crystal Blue
9. The Ship
10. Turquoise Moon -
Sal, Bea and Raquel aka Shooting Daggers, are fast becoming a fiery beacon at the beating heart of the burgeoning UK hardcore scene.Visit product page →
Their first EP 'Athames' hinted that there was something special here, and left folks gagging for more.
Their debut album will not disappoint. Titled ‘Love and Rage’ it’s a huge leap forward from their EP, in fact we believe Daggers have recorded something of a corker in terms of modern hardcore in fact ... a potential minor classic debut maybe.
Whatever way you spin it, there is no doubt that ’Love and Rage' is an album of jaw dropping depth and melody as well as blinding energy, feminist fury and angst.
There are kick ass buzzsaw punk bangers of course, blistering shards of pent up fury, like ‘Dare’ and ‘Not My Rival’ ‘Wipeout’ and ‘Bad Seeds’.
Daggers ‘as you might expect, but here, more catchy, more direct, more focussed than before. However, things start to get even more interesting with songs like ‘Smug’ and ‘Tunnel Vision’ a big hint that this is no ordinary punk rock record.
A grungy intro bangs into stuttering riffs and chorus with harmonies that will lock itself into your head.
Then the band drops ‘A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser’ and you go well what is this? A sort of 90’s shoegaze grunge infused soaring ballad, that is as breathtakingly bold as it is unexpected and a real standout.
As is the album’s title track ‘Love And Rage’ with its Dinosaur Jr meets Lush vibe. It all fits perfectly. The final track ‘Caves/Outro’ is just vocals and piano … it can only be described as ‘lovely’. Wow. The influences never overwhelm, it’s always unmistakably ‘Shooting Daggers’ pushing that hardcore envelope big time.
With ‘Love and Rage’ Shooting Daggers could quite possibly become your favourite band.
Tracklisting:
1. Dare
2. Not My Rival
3. Smug
4. Wipe Out
5. A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser
6. Tunnel Vision
7. Bad Seeds
8. Love & Rage
9. Caves/Outro -
Visit product page →Hailing from New York, GUHTS (pronounced ‘guts’) are a bold new voice within a maelstrom of genres and sub-genres.
They declare themselves to be an ‘avant-garde post-metal project, delivering larger than life sounds through, deeply emotional music’.
And they deliver that statement in full effect in the form of their debut album ‘Regeneration’.Pointers can be made of course. By their own admission, GUHTS' musical style is influenced not only by iconic metal bands like Gojira, Cult of Luna, YOB and Deftones, but more unconventional acts like Bjork, Subrosa, Isis, Julie Christmas, and even PJ Harvey. It’s undoubtedly heavy, with a strong feminist streak, it’s cathartic and weighty, a formidable debut for such a new band.
‘Regeneration’ is set to cement their status as one of the coolest and most interesting bands on the scene.A powerful and intense series of songs, topped off by some seriously mighty, expressive vocal performances.
It’s slow-shifting chords, moving like sheets through sludge. High guitar lines above, ranging from piercing and shimmering to nasty. Drums pound but not without groove. There are strings, pianos and synths widening the palette. Atmospheric sludge, metalgaze, maybe, but there’s also that link to the New York Noise lineage from The Velvets and Sonic Youth, becoming a type of post-hardcore in the process, while gaining a connection to metal partly due to the sheer heaviness.
A raft of creative experimentation that pushes beyond the realm of post-metal. And then of course, the very first thing that hits you is Amber Gardner's unbelievable, hypnotising vocals - as scary as a banshee while also intimate and persuasive. Amber means it for sure and almost dominates the proceedings.
In short ‘Regeneration’ is a bold and startling debut, that will reward and enthral listeners the deeper they delve into its many layers.
Tracklisting Vinyl:
Side A
1. White Noise
2. Til Death
3. The Mirror
4. Handless Maiden
Side B
5. Eyes Open
6. Generate
7. The Wounded Healer
Tracklisting CD:
1. White Noise
2. Til Death
3. The Mirror
4. Handless Maiden
5. Eyes Open
6. Generate
7. The Wounded Healer
8. Burn My Body (CD Bonus Track) -
In 1995 the album was an unexpected comeback and a lost classic. It was the first new material recorded by the band for years despite many of the songs being written a decade before. On release, though, the album disappeared into a void being out of sync with the times and before Poly got her deserved iconic status.Visit product page →
Bassist Paul Dean was equally shocked at the out of the blue recording.
‘I was very surprised, this was the mid 1990’s and 17 years since Germfree. It was the time of Britpop, Punk was now old news. Poly had 12 new songs and she said the album was going to be called Conscious Consumer and she wanted me on bass. I thought about and said yes of course’
Sax legend Lora Logic was equally surprised by the return of the band.
‘I was ensconced in mummyhood with a 3 year old and hadn't connected with Poly for a long time. She rang me out of the blue, and without any small talk, suggested I come and stay with her in her small London flat to record a brand new X-Ray Spex album.
Excited and without considering any repercussions, I found myself on the train with my tenor sax, (childcare sorted) which had been sleeping in it's case for years, and a soprano sax which I had not played since recording ‘Pedigree Charm’ in 1981.’
The band who also re-formed in 1991, 1995 and 2008 are now revered worldwide for sparking a new kind of attitude in music. The late Poly is now a pop culture pin-up for an originality and feminism that barely existed at the time. Her acerbic, witty and brilliant lyrics and distinctive voice have stood the test of time, and along with the band’s original sax player Lora Logic, she has become part of the punk rock narrative. The fuzzy snapshots of the brief early lineup see the sassy and sharp dressed teenager core oozing talent, originality and style in a freeze frame of pop culture punk rock perfection.
The X-Ray Spex story has been told over and over in books, films and online and yet the band’s second album seems to have slipped from view. Finally lovingly restored it’s getting its moment in the sun and its punky pop/noise songs that drip a punky sass with an added bubblegum melody with Poly’s sassy lyrical genius.
There is not a dud on the album that updates the debut’s kooky Day-Glo genius with a song cycle that are snapshots of the then contemporary culture. The tunes come wrapped up with Poly’s distinctive voice and, finally, Lora Logic who is unleashed on a whole album playing her exquisite sax on each track with her distinctive stand out style that is her trademark.
There is something magical about the way the voice and the sax slip around each other in their own individual perfection. Poly’s instinctive pop nous and Lora’s bleating sax give the songs their distinctive twists and turns.
Paul Dean remembers the recording.
‘It was Poly, Lora and me from the original band and we recruited Crispian Mills on guitar and Paul Winterhart on drums who were both brilliant and had a lot of input.
Some of the songs I was already aware of and had been around for years e.g. ‘Prayer For Peace’. We had a few rehearsals, there were 12 songs to work out. Poly had the lyrics and melody and the band worked out the chords, riffs and song arrangements into a recordable structure, it was a lot of work in a short time.
Sound wise it was the classic X-ray Spex set up with Poly’s unique vocals and raps and Lora’s trademark saxophone melodies swinging it along on top of the guitar, bass and drums. If I remember correctly, it was all done in a few weeks.’
For Lora Logic, it was initially an exciting experience.
‘My first studio memory was being struck by Crispian Mill's (or Red Spectre, his album pseudonym) impressive guitar presence and how tightly he played with drummer Paul Winterhart (or Pauli OhAirt, his album pseudonym), strengthened by a musical bond from years of gigging together. I had seen Crispian play in his first band in his early teens before Kula Shaker. Having previously made friends with his mum, Hayley Mills, from her Krishna Temple visits. It was awesome to find myself bumping into him again on an X-Ray Spex album!
Meeting up with original Spex bassist Paul Dean again, after nearly 20 years, was also wonderful. I very much enjoyed pulling sax flurries out of the ether after Crispian had arranged guitar to Poly's contagious new tunes.
However it was not easy to finish. Poly began suggesting that most of the sax should be taken out. Fortunately, the producer convinced her otherwise and the sax parts were subtly mixed in. Sadly, her emotional and mental decline became increasingly apparent as we went along. Completing Poly’s vocal over-dubs became a priority.’
Finally recorded, the album is full of lost classics like ‘Crystal Clear’ that revisits the tension and release of the debut album whilst ‘Cigarettes’ and ‘Junk Food Junkie’ are closest to classic Spex style with an added pop touch and see Poly still examining the crassness of consumer culture. There is the amusing nod to Iggy Pop in ‘Dog In Sweden’, which is an urgent punk rock missive just like the band had staked their reputation on years before.
There is the nod to T. Rex on ‘Prayer for Peace’ that featured on both this album and the recent Essential Logic Album ‘Land Of Kali’. or the hypnotic mantra like ‘Sophia’ that has the mystery of a Kate Bush in its exquisite grooves. ‘India’ is a paean to the holy nation of Poly’s dreams that embraces a spiritual serenity far away from the urgent rush of the debut album whilst ‘Hi Chaperone’ has the cheeky twist of Lora Logic’s own acclaimed post Spex band Essential Logic given the X-Ray treatment. Lora recalls the album fondly.
‘I am honoured to have been creatively involved with this unique collaboration of musicians and sound engineers and to have contributed to Poly’s extraordinary songwriting and performance’
Listening to the album again after a long break, Paul Dean is surprised.
“Conscious Consumer now sounds so much better than I remember. It wasn’t properly released at the time and so no one knows about it. If you love Germfree Adolescents you will love Conscious Consumer they are linked together. X-Ray Spex didn’t have just one great album it was two!”
The album rewrites the X-Ray Spex story. No longer can they be seen as a moment freeze framed in time back in the punk wars but a potentially longer term project that never lost their creative soul power. No mere flash in the pan, in many ways the album is even more frustrating and full of ‘what ifs’.
Of course, Poly made her own great solo records and Lora Logic was also on her own creative high with Essential Logic but the pair of them working in tandem was potentially one of the great sounds of UK pop culture. They had a rare magic that is the heart and soul of all great music, and the album is finally a reminder of just how much potential there was whilst also being a document of their innate brilliance.
Tracklisting:
1. Cigarettes
2. Junk Food Junkie
3. Crystal Clear
4. India
5. Dog In Sweden
6. Hi Chaperone
7. Good Time Girl
8. Melancholy
9. Sophia
10. Peace Meal
11. Prayer For Peace
12. Party -
Visit product page →The classic loops of the original FM3 Buddha Machine evoke instant nostalgia for a slower, more simple world.
Born before the iPhone era, this iconic device has weathered two decades of pop culture and fashion trends, yet remains defiantly, heroically unique.
Its enduring simplicity cloaks an extraordinary power: the ability to transcend time. It is both a sonic portal to a hands-on analogue past and a bridge to a digital ever-present.
This is not just a re-issue; it is a revival and refinement of a sonic manifesto that unfolds softly, gently and organically, resonating with the subtle rhythms of life.
The Buddha 1 2023 edition from FM3.
Available now in 5 colours: Red, Orange, Green, Blue and limited-edition Pink. Features upgraded sound quality and user experience.
Louder speaker and 2 new individual side buttons make device control more direct and intuitive. -
Public Service Broadcasting announce This New Noise, the newly remixed and remastered live recording of their acclaimed 2022 BBC Proms show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, released on 8 September 2023 via Test Card Recordings. A celebration of the power of radio written in recognition of the centenary of the BBC, This New Noise saw the band joining forces with the 88 piece BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley.Visit product page →
A standout performance from 2022’s BBC Proms, it received 5*s in The Telegraph who called it “a resonant, timely and ultimately touching show”. Founder member J. Willgoose, Esq. remixed the concert from scratch, bringing out even more depth and texture from a multi-layered performance and showing it in a new light. This New Noise is the second time Public Service Broadcasting have been commissioned for the BBC Proms.
In 2019 the band performed an orchestral arrangement of their 2015 studio album The Race for Space with The Multi-Story Orchestra to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to the Moon. In conjunction with the announcement, the band shares "Broadcasting House". Public Service Broadcasting have been “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future” for more than a decade now.
2013’s debut album Inform - Educate - Entertain used archival samples from the British Film Institute as audio-portals to the Battle Of Britain, the summit of Everest and beyond. Two years later, The Race For Space used similar methods to laud the superpowers’ rivalry and heroism in orbit and on the Moon. An indie DIY phenomenon the album has remarkably since achieved gold disc status having sold over 100,000 copies in the UK alone.
In 2017, joined by voices including Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, Every Valley was a moving exploration of community and memory via the rise and fall of the British coal industry. Their most ambitious undertaking yet, Bright Magic brought the listener to Europe’s heart and de facto capital, the cultural and political metropolis that is the ‘Hauptstadt’ of the Federal Republic of Germany – Berlin.
Released in late 2021, and debuting at No 2 in the UK album chart, the band’s fourth album was described by Electronic Sound as “their most ambitious, leftfield and majestic work to date, their glorious creative peak, their magnum opus”, DIY said “it flourished at its most calm and erupted at its most fervent” and Clash said it “cemented PSB's reputation as a vital act right at the top of their game”.
The album also featured multiple BBC Radio 6 Music A-Listed singles, including “People, Let’s Dance” [ft. EERA] and “Blue Heaven” [ft. Andreya Casablanca].
Tracklisting:
1. Ripples in the Ether (Towards the Infinite)
2. This New Noise
3. An Unusual Man
4. A Cello Sings in Daventry [ft. Seth Lakeman]
5. Broadcasting House
6. The Microphone (The Fleet is Lit Up)
7. A Candle Which Will Not Be Put Out
8. What of the Future? (In Touch with the Infinite) -
‘The Acoustic Album’ is the seventh album to be released by Lewis Taylor, coming out on his own label Slow Reality (an anagram of his name). The enigmatic singer-songwriter Lewis Taylor returns with his offering for 2023.Visit product page →
‘The Acoustic Album’ sees Taylor revisiting and reimagining sixteen carefully selected songs from his back catalogue, some well-known to fans and some never performed before.
Warm acoustic guitars and lilting pianos abound, as Taylor’s vocals show him in a far more intimate setting than ever before.
Tracklisting:
1. I Dream The Better Dream
2. Betterlove
3. Lovelight
4. Right
5. Feels So Good
6. Bittersweet
7. Lewis IV
8. Is It Cool
9. Numb
10. Damn
11. Can You Feel It
12. No Hope In Here
13. Waves
14. Sheneverdid
15. Worried Mind
16. Keep On Keeping On -
Capitane Records is re-issuing Adam Green's Friends of Mine in recognition of the album's 20th anniversary. For fans of Green and his band The Moldy Peaches, it may be hard to believe that it's been twenty years since those days of the early 2000s when the indie rock world was set ablaze by a new generation of artists, performers, and songwriters.Visit product page →
Within what felt like only a few months, bands like The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Libertines, and The Moldy Peaches, provided indie music audiences with fresh iterations and interpretations of the rock and roll canon, with influences that included both standard bearers like The Velvet Underground, Television, The Stones, The Doors, The Stooges, Leonard Cohen, The Modern Lovers, and Bob Dylan, and also more recent artists like Beck, Daniel Johnston, Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Will Oldham, Pavement, and The Silver Jews.
The results varied between straight up rock and roll and punk with a songwriting, folk-inspired, consciousness. Gone were the ripped-up jeans and flannels of yore. Tight trousers and leather jackets ruled the day. It was on the heels of the success of his band The Moldy Peaches (who signed along with The Strokes to Rough Trade Records in 2001 and subsequently toured with them) that Adam Green wrote and recorded Friends of Mine, the seminal album that would define a new direction in his career.
Diverging from the home-recorded, 8 track-analog framework of his previous albums, Green adopted what then seemed like a distinctly hi-fidelity sound, complete with a full band, crooning vocals, and a string section (with arrangenments by Jane Scarpantoni).
Friends of Mine drew on the work of Serge Gainsbourg, Scott Walker, and Frank Sinatra, while its lyrical content felt as if derived from symbolist poetry and the surrealism of Brecht and Dylan. The result was something altogether new, a record that could feel both touchingly sad and also sardonic, satirical, louche, and even laugh-out-loud funny. Songs like "Jessica" would become anthems to a new generation of young indie rock fans both in the United States and Europe.
Capitane is proud to release Friends of Mine as a double LP, with a second disc of outtakes, B-sides, and live versions. This deluxe edition features notes on the songs by Green, a text which provides new insights into his often cryptic lyrical methodology along with anecdotes from the days when these songs were composed.
Also featured is a conversation between Green and Dan Myers (producer), Steven Mertens (bass player), Matt Ramono (drummer) and Larissa Brown the time). The five old friends do a deep dive into the production of Friends of Mine and trade stories of the bygone era.
The 2023 edition of Friends of Mine is a window into an essential part of our recent past as well as a testament to an artist who has stood the test of time.
Tracklisting:
A1. Bluebirds
A2. Hard to be a Girl
A3. Jessica
A4. Musical Ladders
A5. The Prince's Bed
A6. Bunnyranch
A7. Friends of Mine
B1. Frozen in Time
B2. Broken Joystick
B3. I Wanna Die
B4. Salty Candy
B5. No Legs
B6. We're not Supposed to be Lovers
B7. Secret Tongues B8. Bungee
C1. I Wanna Die (demo)
C2. Friends of Mine (fragment 1)
C3. What a Waster
C4. Hard to be a Girl (demo)
C5. Eating Nod demix
C6. The Prince's Bed (demo)
C7. Kokomo (With Ben Kweller)
C8. Born to Run
C9. No Legs (demo)
D1. Jessica (demo)
D2. Salty Candy (Live)
D3. Bungee (demo)
D4. Were not Supposed to be Lovers (demo)
D5 Friends of Mine (demo)
D6. Jessica (Live)
D7. Frozen in Time (demo)
D8. Bluebirds (demo)
D9. Friends of Mine (fragment 2) -
#EXCLUSIVE NEON GREEN VINYL#Visit product page →
Public Image Ltd. (PiL) have decided to continue plans to announce their 11th studio album and first album in 8 years, End of World, today, following the sad passing of John’s wife of more than 4 decades, Nora Forster, on 5th April. End of World will be released on 11th August 2023 on PiL Official via Cargo UK Distribution, followed by a 38-date UK and European Tour.
Earlier this year, PiL released Hawaii, the most personal piece of songwriting and accompanying artwork that John Lydon has ever shared. The song is a love letter to John's wife Nora, who sadly passed away from Alzheimer’s on Wednesday 5th April. A pensive, personal yet universal love song that has resonated with many since its release in January, the song sees John reflecting on their lifetime well spent and in particular one of their happiest moments together in Hawaii. John said, “Nora loved the album, she wouldn’t have wanted us to postpone it or change any of our plans.” Previously he has said of Hawaii, “It is dedicated to everyone going through tough times on the journey of life, with the person they care for the most.”
The band began writing and recording End of World in 2018, during their 40th anniversary tour. After The Great Pause, the band regrouped in the studio and “there was just this massive explosion of ideas,” Lydon says. The result finds PiL set to release 13 of the best tracks they have ever written.
The announcement comes with the release of new single Penge, which John has described as, “something of a mediaeval Viking epic.”
Celebrating their 40-year anniversary in 2018, the band is widely regarded as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time.
PiL’s music and vision has earned them 5 UK Top 20 singles and 5 UK Top 20 albums. With a shifting line-up and unique sound - fusing rock, dance, folk, pop and dub – Lydon guided the band from their debut album First Issue in 1978 through to 1992’s That What Is Not, before a 17 year hiatus. Lydon reactivated PiL in 2009, touring extensively worldwide and releasing two critically acclaimed albums This is PiL in 2012 followed by their 10th studio album What The World Needs Now… in 2015, which peaked at number 29 in the official UK album charts and picked up fantastic acclaim from both press and public. (The album also peaked at number 3 in the official UK indie charts and number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts). What The World Needs Now… was self-funded by PiL and released on their own label ‘PiL Official’ via Cargo UK Distribution. In 2018 PiL celebrated their 40th anniversary with a career-spanning box set and documentary, both called ‘The Public Image Is Rotten’, and a 32-date UK/Europe tour, plus dates in Japan.
John Lydon, Lu Edmonds, Scott Firth and Bruce Smith continue as PiL. They are the longest stable line-up in the band's history and continue to challenge and thrive.
PiL will be touring the UK and Europe in September and October 2023 - dates below.
Press quotes for lead single ‘Hawaii’, which was released in January:
“A beauteous and touching love song” - Mojo
“Uncharacteristically soul-bearing” - Pitchfork
“an understated and emotional ballad” - Rolling Stone
“a swooning, poignant ballad awash with memories of happier times… He’s remarkably tender as he croons: “Don’t fly too soon / No need to cry, in pain / You are loved.” It’s the vulnerability that is most striking. Lydon’s love for his wife shines through like sunrays breaking through clouds, casting everything in a golden light: “I remember you,” he reassures her. He’s backed by harmonising chants of “aloha”, the Hawaiin term that is both a greeting and a farewell. It’s a message from the heart, overflowing with spirit and compassion. What better word for what Lydon is trying to convey here?” - The Independent
“a beautiful and rueful ballad written by Lydon to his wife Nora, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. It’s a peach of a track: both pensive and personal, it reflects on one of their happiest times together in Hawaii. “Remember me / I remember you… You are loved,” not-so-Rotten sings over a lush soundscape of gently twanging guitars vaguely reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross.” - Telegraph
Tracklisting:
1. Penge
2. End Of The World
3. Car Chase
4. Being Stupid Again
5. Walls
6. Pretty Awful
7. Strange
8. Down On The Clown
9. Dirty Murky Delight
10. The Do That
11. L F C F
12. North West Passage
13. Hawaii
