XL HHV Records 221 Items

Irish indie rock sensation Fontaines D.C. return with new album ROMANCE, their debut on XL Recordings, out on August 23rd. Recorded shortly after their tour supporting Arctic Monkeys, it seizes on the momentum of 2022's Skinty Fia, which firmly established them as one of today's most exciting rock bands. ROMANCE represents a bold sonic and stylistic evolution for the band and lead single "Starburster" (out April 17) shows the band at their most electrifying to date, as Chatten's swaggering stream of consciousness collides with explosive production.

produced by Rick Rubin & Paul Epworth

Featuring Remastered OK COMPUTER, B-Sides and Three Never Before Released Tracks: “I Promise,” “Lift,” “Man Of War” .

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.

OK COMPUTER was originally released on various dates ranging from May to July 1997. Produced by the band and Nigel Godrich, the album features the singles “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police,” “Lucky” and “No Surprises,” and is widely cited as one of the greatest works of Radiohead’s--or any artist’s—catalogue. OK COMPUTER was the first Radiohead record to reach #1 in the UK and to be nominated for the Album of the Year GRAMMY. In 2015, The National Recording Registry selected OK COMPUTER to be preserved in the Library of Congress as a recording that has proven “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

In Rainbows, as a title, implies a sense of comfort and delightfulness. Symbolically, rainbows are more likely to be associated with kittens and warm blankets than the grim and glum circumstances Radiohead is known for soundtracking. There's a slight, if expected, twist at play. The band is more than familiar with the unpleasant moods associated with colors like red, green, and blue -- all of which, of course, are colors within a rainbow -- all of which are present, and even mentioned, during the album. On a couple levels, then, In Rainbows is not any less fitting as a Radiohead album title than "Myxomatosis" is as a Radiohead song title. Despite references to "going off the rails," hitting "the bottom," getting "picked over by the worms," being "dead from the neck up," and feeling "trapped" (twice), along with Radiohead Wordplay Deluxe Home Edition pieces like "comatose" and "nightmare" -- in the same song! double score! -- the one aspect of the album that becomes increasingly perceptible with each listen is how romantic it feels, albeit in the way that one might find the bioport scenes in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ to be extremely hot and somewhat unsettling. Surprisingly, some of the album's lyrics are even more personal/universal and straightforward than anything on The Eraser, the album made by Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. "I'm an animal trapped in your hot car," from "All I Need," has to be one of the saddest, most open-hearted metaphors used to express unrequited love. "House of Cards" begins with "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover/No matter how it ends/No matter how it starts," and the one with the worms includes "I'd be crazy not to follow/Follow where you lead/Your eyes/They turn me." This effective weaving of disparate elements -- lyrical expressions commonly associated with the band, mixed in with ones suited for everyday love ballads -- goes for the music as well. The album is very song-oriented, with each track constantly moving forward and developing, yet there are abstract electronic layers and studio-as-instrument elements to prevent it from sounding like a regression. In Rainbows will hopefully be remembered as Radiohead's most stimulating synthesis of accessible songs and abstract sounds, rather than their first pick-your-price download. - allmusic.com

incl. diesel power feat. Kool Keith

Everybody's favorite new band debuts their seminal self-titled album. What an amazing amalgam of 80s Wave, Postmodern Folk, syncopated R&B madness and UK Bass culture. One of those rare albums that virtually nobody has anything to complain about.

Highly anticipated would be an understatement - so influential are his releases to date, it's difficult to believe he's never released a full length project. The name of the mixtape may already be familiar - an evolution from 2019's acclaimed "Slipping" EP and also the name of a Joy Orbison curated radio station ("Still Slipping: Los Santos") within Grand Theft Auto's immersive world - but in terms of scope and ambition, "still slipping vol.1" is without doubt O'Grady's boldest and most expansive project yet.

First coming to prominence in 2009 with his debut single “Hyph Mngo” - a track that became a bonafide phenomenon and changed the dance music underground forever - the London musician, DJ and producer is undoubtedly one of the most renowned, respected and influential electronic artists of his generation. Whether through his own game-changing releases such as “Ellipsis”, “GR Etiquette”, “Big Room Tech House DJ Tool-TIP!” or the “Slipping” EP, collaborations with the likes of Mansur Brown, Overmono and cutting edge Japanese clothing label Cav Empt, a run of genre-defining releases on his Hinge Finger label, a BBC Radio 1 residency and live appearances that span the most credible underground nights to festival headline slots around the world, the name Joy Orbison has been a constant byword for understated, uncompromising quality. "still slipping vol.1" is the next evolution in his journey. Fans of Joy Orbison's DJ sets and radio shows will already be aware of his diverse tastes and inspirations, represented here through a roll call of delicately curated, mainly UK, collaborators that include Herron, James Massiah, Bathe, Lea Sen, Goya Gumbani and Tyson. Just as important are the voices Joy Orbison's family - mum, dad, sister Sarah, uncle Frankie, uncle Keith (recently departed), auntie Helen and cousins Lola, Mia and Leighann, who was the first person to introduce O’Grady to drum and bass and garage as a kid and stars on the mixtape’s cover art. They appear throughout the record via a series of voice notes, his only contact with his family during this year of worldwide lockdown and an intimate, vicarious glimpse into the personal world of an artist who has generally side-stepped the public gaze. The result is Joy Orbison's best music to date and a powerful distillation of his musical career so far. Recorded in his Walworth Window studio in south east London, this is serious, future-facing sound system music cut through with a sense of warmth and playfulness much needed for these times. In O'Grady's own words, "I made a point of making it feel really human. I wanted it to be quite light hearted and humorous so that the weirder bits of the record didn't seem too wanky or self-indulgent. In my head it’s a soul record but I'm not sure that's how people will hear it”

Schon seit seinen Teenager-Jahren gehört Peter O’Grady, alias Joy Orbison, zu den treibenden Kräften der elektronischen Musik-Szene, der er immer wieder mit seinen Veröffentlichungen neue Wege aufzeigen konnte. Nun erscheint endlich sein erstes Mixtape „still slipping vol. 1“, das beweist, dass er auch in 2021 nichts an Relevanz oder Aktualität verloren hat.

„Heiß erwartet“, trifft es hier wohl, wenn man sich vor Augen ruft, dass Orbison bisher noch kein Album oder mehr als eine EP in seiner Karriere veröffentlicht hat. Der Titel erinnert dabei an die gefeierte 2019er EP „Slipping“ sowie an seinen kuratierten Radio-Kanal „Still Slipping: Los Santos“ in der Grand Theft Auto-Gaming-Welt – gleichzeitig ist dieses 14-Songs umfassende Mixtape die wohl ambitionierteste Veröffentlichung Orbisons bisher und ein Meilenstein in seiner Karriere. 2009 begann diese mit der Debüt-Single „Hype Mngo“, mit der der Londoner Musiker, DJ und Produzent hohe Wellen im Dance Music Underground erzeugte. Es folgten weitere Singles, EPs, Kollaborationen mit Acts wie Mansur Brown oder Overmono, eine BBC One Residency, DJ-Sets und Live-Auftritte in Clubs und bei Festivals auf der ganzen Welt. „still slipping vol.1“ zeugt wie gewohnt von den mannigfaltigen Einflüssen und Strömungen, von denen sich Joy Orbison treiben lässt und rollt den Teppich aus für Kollaborationen mit Acts wie Herron, James Massiah, Bathe, Lea Sen, Goya Gumbani und Tyson. Daneben bietet es einen intimen Einblick auch in die persönliche Welt des Künstlers während den vergangenen Lockdown-Monaten, beinhaltet das Mixtape doch auch einige persönliche Voice Messages seiner Mutter, seines Vaters, der Schwester und Cousinen.

Blawan returns with ‘BouQ’, the follow-up to his acclaimed 2023 “Dismantled Into Juice” EP; one that was heralded by Pitchfork as “dazzling… part of a long, proud tradition of UK club tracks that turn the dancefloor on its ear” and Resident Advisor as “mind-melting… truly unchartered territory.” “Fires”, the first single revealed from his freshly-announced new EP, has received global support from the likes of Four Tet and Skrillex over the summer, and sees Blawan push his distorted, syncopated productions into a new broken-pop lane, his own vocal creating an intense, visceral hook that rips through the track's multi-layered, pulsing beats.

Highly anticipated follow up LP to her two EPs! Janet Jackson meets The XX meets Massive Attack.

Including all their singles. Pressed on silver vinyl with download card.

Sampha announces "lahai", his highly anticipated second album, which will be released on Young on 20 October. Named after his paternal grandfather's name, which is also Sampha's middle name, the music on "lahai" flows between the awe of life and the magic of mundane existence, describing the chaos experienced when facing the cycle of life and the afterlife. On the 14 tracks, Sampha has called together close friends and colleagues - including fantastic artists such as Yaeji, Léa Sen, Sheila Maurice Grey (Kokoroko), Ibeyi, Morgan Simpson (Black Midi), Yussef Dayes, Laura Groves and Kwake Bass. Unlike its predecessor "Process", "lahai" is a more collaborative album. The latest single "Only", accompanied by a music video by Dexter Navy in collaboration with Sampha and following on from the advance track "Spirit 2.0", features an extremely vibrant Sampha singing melodically over a fragmented hip-hop beat with co-production by Spanish musician El Guincho. In June, Sampha returned to the stage for the first time in five years for his Satellite Business residencies in London and New York. The unique setup, with Sampha and his band performing in the middle of the room, gave fans intimate access to the improvised performance of new, unreleased music and alternative arrangements from Sampha's catalogue that left audiences "spellbound" (Pitchfork). This autumn, Sampha will take a larger version of the Satellite Business live show on tour. It kicks off with several nights in London at St Johns at Hackney Church in October, before returning to North America to perform in major cities: Los Angeles, Toronto, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Atlanta. In early December, he returns to Europe and plays in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. Like its creator, "lahai" refuses to be pigeonholed. The new album is a mixture of jazz, soul, rap, dance, jungle and West African music, with which Sampha raises his production and vocal ambitions to a new level. A gifted singer , songwriter and producer, it is no wonder that artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy, Travis Scott and earlier Drake, Solange, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Lil Wayne and Alicia Keys have sought him out for his inimitable voice as well as his contributions to the songwriting and production of their music. His previous creative partnerships include fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, the Shy Light zine with Durimel (who also shot the Lahai artwork), his Process film with director Kahlil Joseph, and most recently, a collaboration with Jonny Lu, with whom Sampha designed the artwork for his Lahai album and new logo. If "Process", Sampha's 2017 Mercury Prize-winning debut album, showed an artist searching for and eventually finding his own place in the world, "lahai" is an exercise in the radical acceptance and joy of life and the beauty of the journey to get here. Welcome to Sampha's next musical chapter: Lahai.

This might be the flavor of the month right now but it's really something different and dope, so jump on the hype and enjoy!

10 tracks

After appearing on Kanye’s “Saint Pablo,” Frank Ocean’s Endless, and Solange’s A Seat at the Table in 2016 Sampha, one of the most demanded voices in today's R&B, releases his debut in 2017.

The album finds the Haitian born, Montreal raised producer delivering on the promise of his early self-released EPs and remixes.

Since the age of fourteen, when he first began to DJ and when his brother introduced him to music production software, his output has been relentless. He explains, “after he showed me the basics, from that day on I couldn’t stop making beats,” pumping out a handful of tracks per day for the next couple of years.

Having released singles like ‘Drive Me Crazy‘ with Vic Mensa and ‘Leave Me Alone‘ with Shay Lia, Kaytranada has since cemented his reputation and his sound; an undeniable swing of the drums comparable to Dilla’s, a signature soulful touch in the melodies, and a healthy dose of funky bass lines.

99.9% features guest turns from Anderson .Paak, Vic Mensa, Little Dragon, Syd, Craig David, Goldlink, Alunageorge, BADBADNOTGOOD and many more.

In 1995, schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson started a band which they named after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (Swedish for The Radio Department).In 2001, the Radio Dept. sent recordings to music magazine Sonic, receiving a positive review and being featured on the free CD sampler that came with the magazine. Labrador Records heard them on the disc and signed them to their label. The band"s debut album Lesser Matters (2003) was well received by the music press, scoring 10 out of 10 in the NME. NME would rank Lesser Matters ninth on their list of the 50 best albums of 2004. The album received an 84/100 (Universal acclaim) on Metacritic from a total of five reviews.

Always best selling Adele is back with a new set of heartfelt anthems.

Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous -- such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" -- the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that establishes Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s. - allmusic.com

Pablo Honey in no way was adequate preparation for its epic, sprawling follow-up, The Bends. Building from the sweeping, three-guitar attack that punctuated the best moments of Pablo Honey, Radiohead create a grand and forceful sound that nevertheless resonates with anguish and despair -- it's cerebral anthemic rock. Occasionally, the album displays its influences, whether it's U2, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., or the Pixies, but Radiohead turn clichés inside out, making each song sound bracingly fresh. Thom Yorke's tortured lyrics give the album a melancholy undercurrent, as does the surging, textured music. But what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock. - allmusic.com

Radiohead's debut album, Pablo Honey, is a promising collection that blends U2's anthemic rock with long, atmospheric instrumental passages and an enthralling triple-guitar attack that is alternately gentle and bracingly noisy. The group has difficulty writing a set of songs that are as compelling as their sound, but when they do hit the mark -- such as on "Anyone Can Play Guitar," "Blow Out," and the self-loathing breakthrough single "Creep" -- the band achieves a rare power that is both visceral and intelligent. - allmusic.com

After all those cloudy video-previews, we have the new album for 2010! StepInGil!

Limited to 250 copies for the German market!

One of the most hotly-anticipated debut records in recent years, I Hear You will be released on 7th June 2024 via XL Recordings. The ten track album is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist, who’s uniquely revered as both an underground icon and global sensation, sticking by her own unwavering vision to become one of the most in-demand electronic music artists and DJs in the world.

The Avalanches' Downbeat milestone back in print!

Radiohead's admittedly assumed dilemma: how to push things forward using just the right amounts of the old and the older in order to please both sides of the divide? Taking advantage of their longest running time to date, enough space is provided to quench the thirsts of resolute Bends devotees without losing the adventurous drive or experimentation that eventually got the group into hot water with many of those same listeners. Guitars churn and chime and sound like guitars more often than not; drums are more likely to be played by a human; and discernible verses are more frequently trailed by discernible choruses. So, whether or not the group is to be considered "back," there is a certain return to relatively traditional songcraft. Had the opening "2 + 2 = 5" and "Sit Down. Stand Up." been made two years before, each song's slowly swelling intensity would have plateaued a couple minutes in, functioning as mood pieces without any release; instead, each boils over into its own cathartic tantrum. The spook-filled "Sail to the Moon," one of several songs featuring prominent piano, rivals "Street Spirit" and hovers compellingly without much sense of force carrying it along. Somewhat ironically, minus a handful of the more conventionally structured songs, the album would be almost as fractured, remote, and challenging as Amnesiac. "Backdrifts" and "The Gloaming" feature nervous electronic backdrops, while the emaciated "We Suck Young Blood" is a laggard processional that, save for one outburst, shuffles along uneasily. At nearly an hour in length, this album doesn't unleash the terse blow delivered by its two predecessors. However, despite the fact that it seems more like a bunch of songs on a disc rather than a singular body, its impact is substantial. Regardless of all the debates surrounding the group, Radiohead have entered a second decade of record-making with a surplus of momentum. - allmusic.com