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Limited edition on colored vinyl.

We've always done things our own way and without any outside pressure,” says Paul Isherwood of The Soundcarriers. “Making music like this keeps things fresh, you always lose something and gain something as you go along but I think of it as just another chapter.”

There have been many chapters in the life of the band to date and each one is defined by the singular approach and style of the group. Since forming in 2007 the band - comprised of Isherwood, Adam Cann, Dorian Conway and Leonore Wheatley - have released three albums that position them as a distinct and unique force in British music. Eschewing fads and trends that come and go, they have instead focused on honing their own sonic world that glides between woozy psychedelia, immersive grooves, subtle pop and rich, enveloping soundscapes. They’ve consistently moved at their own pace and on their own terms and on their fourth album, Wilds, they return after seven years since their last. “The sessions started in a cottage in the wilds so there's a literal meaning,” Isherwood says of the title. “But figuratively we've pretty much been in the wild for the last few years as far as a lot of people are concerned.”

The recording was staggered over a few different locations, from cottages to primary schools, before finishing in an art gallery. “The beauty of recording in non-studio studios is you have the time for the unexpected to happen,” says Isherwood. “Which is really what keeps you coming back for more.” As a result of the timeframe of the album, it’s one that has changed and grown a lot over the years. “The record has been through a lot of stages,” says Isherwood. “It's almost been circular. We started off wanting to do an album of more shorter, concise tracks and then sort of sidestepped into some more spacey ambient ideas so in a way the album is kind of a synthesis of the two phases, overall carrying on with many of the themes and influences of the first three but with a more focused approach.”

The opening ‘Waves’ leaps out the gate with an infectious hook kissed by a touch of French pop before leaping into a devilishly catchy chorus and into a mini prog-like flute breakdown. It sets the tone for an album that is rich in adventure and unpredictability that manages to balance experimentation with accessibility. ‘At The Time’ is almost unrelenting in its grinding charge, managing to create a groove that cracks and pulses at the same time, ‘Wilds’ is a gorgeously floating piece of music that skips along with strutting bass as Wheatley’s vocals merge melody with texture magically. The closing ‘Happens Too Soon gently stirs to life with an almost pastoral folk air to it, as it slowly builds into swirling psych pop rich in texture before reaching a rousing crescendo. “I feel this album sums up a lot of our influences,” says Isherwood. “There’s a strong folk influence in the sense of the actual songwriting but musically we wanted to create songs that were like those rare oddities you find on a bizarre charity shop record. A collection of "one offs" capturing a moment rather than trying to make a hit song.”

This sense of it being an album of unique songs is clearly apparent throughout but it also maintains a natural flow and cohesion. This is something that stems from the band’s approach to songwriting for the record. “A lot of the tracks started with a feel or groove,” says Isherwood. “Then building it into a more concise arranged piece. We were conscious that we didn't want the recording to sound too over-polished so although a lot of the tracks were quite painstaking in how they evolved we wanted the actual recording to be quite raw and not be reliant on cutting things up or overly editing things. We wanted it to sound natural rather than perfect.”

7" Black Vinyl in Fold-out Concertina Sleeve, 500 copies only. 'Gumball', their first release on RaRaRok (Wulu, The Goa Express) was self-produced, mixed by Dilip Harris (King Krule, Mount Kimbie). It's a song that conveys the tension and impossibility of communication and language, even when attempting to connect with those closest to us. Despite this, and however much the track itself bristles with an unmistakable air of friction, the listener gets the strong sense that there has not been a love lost, but rather one renegotiated, even expanded. Speaking about 'Gumball', Teeth Machine said: "'Gumball' is about the impossibility of talking.

Assassins did what many bands do: they grabbed a moment out of the air and slammed it onto tape machines and hard drives with relentlessness, cunning, and an attitude.

It was in Chicago, mid 2000’s, and though there was energy in the music scene, it wasn’t coalescing into anything you could use as a heading in the musical encyclopedia. Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Bloodshot, Tortoise, Andrew Bird, 90 Day Men – amazing labels and bands, but discrete and siloed and separated by boundaries that weren’t very real.

In the midst of that complicated morass, Assassins generated a collection of songs that became the album YOU Will Changed US. And it did.

There was confidence built into the fabric of the project: 5 members, 2 singers, massive synced video walls and samples streaming from laptops swirling in three dimensions around the stage. They could go from subtle atmospheric moments to a gargantuan wall of sound instantly. It was hard to do- months in cold practice rooms troubleshooting sections of songs or reworking synthesizer patches put the band through a self-imposed boot camp. And it brought them together as a sort of hive-mind focused on one thing: that these songs could connect. They could cut through the noise and share a state of mind with other human beings.

And it worked. Those early shows were mind bending. It was fun, loud, drunken, and rewarding- that time together, before the record deal, before the tragic let down of being traded and gobbled up by the major label system. The years after that got more difficult, more complicated, more human.

Leading us here: the musical journey of the Assassins has ended. With the up-coming release of their second and final album THE Year That Never Came, we finally get to hear, and feel, the final statements of their inspiring chemistry.

In July of 2021, founding member, songwriter and singer Joe Cassidy unexpectedly passed away. THE Year That Never Came is the culmination and end point of a collaboration that started in the early 2000’s with a chance meeting and excited conversation with Aaron Miller at a gig in Chicago. Quickly joined by David Golitko on keyboards, Merritt Lear on vocals and guitar, and Alex Kemp on bass.

It was Miller who saw Joe Cassidy’s song writing in a new context. Cassidy had been known for his beautiful, post- pop inflected Butterfly Child, a thoughtful, regal project where Joe’s emotions could soar. Miller saw a different context for that voice- not dreamy, but immediate, not just hopeful, but demanding. He took Joe’s open hand and suggested that it could be a fist, raised in the air, with a crowd of other people doing the same.

At the time of his death legendary composer and songwriter Jimmy Webb (who wrote such hits as ‘Wichita Lineman and MacArthur Park) said Joe ‘was a creative and generous producer but, more importantly, he was a creative and generous friend.’

With the release of THE Year That Never Came, this band, this relentless creative force, has to finally relent. No one in the band could see a future Assassins that doesn’t include Cassidy. So in one last act of will, for the love of their friend, they did the rigorous work of finishing the songs that they had started together for the second album.

Assassin’s obsession with the notion of time, from YOU Will Changed US to THE Year That Never Came, flows from the most natural question we all have to ask ourselves: what do I do now? Because: how we react today to life’s unpredictability - that is the tomorrow we build for ourselves.

Honus Honus (aka Ryan Kattner) has devoted his career to exploring the uncertainty between life's extremes, beauty, and ugliness, order and chaos. The songs on Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between, Man Man's first album in over six years and their Sub Pop debut, are as intimate, soulful, and timeless as they are audaciously inventive and daring, resulting in his best Man Man album to date. The 17-track effort, featuring "Cloud Nein," "Future Peg," "On the Mend" "Sheela," and "Animal Attraction," was produced by Cyrus Ghahremani, mixed by S. Husky Höskulds (Norah Jones, Tom Waits, Mike Patton, Solomon Burke, Bettye LaVette, Allen Toussaint), and mastered by Dave Cooley (Blood Orange, M83, DIIV, Paramore, Snail Mail, clipping). Dream Hunting...also includes guest vocals from Steady Holiday's Dre Babinski on "Future Peg" and "If Only," and Rebecca Black (singer of the viral pop hit, "Friday") on "On The Mend" and "Lonely Beuys." The album follows the release of "Beached" and "Witch," Man Man's contributions to Vol. 4 of the Sub Pop Singles Club in 2019. At the end of 2015, Man Man went on an unexpected hiatus, and thus began a period of creative reinvention for Honus Honus. He worked in music supervision and on scores (The Exorcist, Superdeluxe, Do You Want to See a Dead Body?). He acted in the indie film Woe ("I played a park ranger, a nice guy in a sad movie."), So It Goes, a short musical film with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and starred in the award-winning tour documentary Use Your Delusion. He also developed an animated series, wrote film scripts, a graphic novel, a neo-noir TV pilot, and briefly penned a music column for The Talkhouse all while continuing to work on new music, such as an unreleased kids' record, another Mister Heavenly album, a self-released Honus Honus record, and a conceptual art/noise project Mega Naturals. In the midst of this surreal exile from Man Man, Honus began piecing together what would become Dream Hunting in the Valley of the In-Between. He recruited longtime-collaborator Cyrus Ghahremani to help him produce. Written in a friend's LA guesthouse that had "an old upright piano, a thrift store lamp, and nothing else," it was an arduous, three-and-a-half-year process, "I had chord progressions that looked like chicken scratch and lyrics on pieces of paper stuck all over the walls. It looked like I was about to break the big case, catch the killer," he says, laughing. "There was a lot of self-doubt, fighting the urge to throw in the towel. It wasn't fun but it definitely forced the best album of my career out of me. Sometimes you just gotta tear it all down to rebuild things the right way. Trust the process."

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2022.

With no touring in 2020, and possibly this year, Woods decided to take a deep dive into their archives and put together the first volume of their much discussed archival series, Reflections. Featuring rare and unreleased recordings from 2009 - 2013, including a ghost town desert jam off the side of the highway, their first live performance in Big Sur, the first recorded version of “Bend Beyond” and some shelved diamonds in the rough that were finished up during quarantine. Their hope is that it plays like a “lost record” from an extremely strange and fruitful period in Woods history.

Fredrik Saroea is best known as the frontman of Norway's bizarre, global pisco punk sensation – Datarock. After years touring the world with alternative bangers such as "Fa-Fa-Fa" he now presents an entirely different side to his songwriting: As Covid-19 shut down live music, Saroea started recording in their label YAP Records' studio –yap HQ in Bergen (Norway) – with Datarock drummer Øyvind Solheim helping out engineering & co-producing. The 12 songs jammed in on the 28 minute long album was also mixed by Solheim & Saroea at YAP HQ, and then shipped to UK's legend Mike Marsh (Björk, Massive Attack, Oasis, Datarock) for mastering. The solo album Rona Diaries was inspired by everything from post-rock (like The Sea and Cake) via hard-core (like Fugazi), noise-rock (like U.S. Maple), space-rock (like Flying Saucer Attack), art-rock (like Blonde Redhead) to Morrissey's indie-classics, Sun Kil Moon's lyrical songwriting, John Martyn's etheric "Small Hours" and Scott Walker's ballads. The Release concert took place on May 28th 2021 with an internationally streamed concert in Norway's stately Grieg Hall – famous for the most iconic true Norwegian black metal recordings. Here, Saroea was backed by award-winning string quartet Bit20 Ensemble (Martin Shultz on violin, Liene Klava on viola, Agnese Rugevica on cello, Johannes Wik on harp with arrangements by Bjørn Morten Christophersen), merging his contemplative indie rock with the exquisite air of a chamber orchestra. Thus, the tracks from Rona Diaries were premiered to an unsuspecting public who were more familiar with his former band’s rhythmic brand of dance music. Featured in "Best Of" lists from Rolling Stone to NME and headlining festivals from Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds, Saroea's band Datarock impacted music scenes worldwide while also infiltrating both the videogame market with inclusion in Fifa and Sims and the commercial environ with ads for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Coca Cola. While their singles including the smash "Fa-Fa-Fa" cemented them as dance sensations, Saroea moonlighted as a restaurateur by opening world famous and Michelin-rated restaurants Lysverket and Hoggorm in Norway. Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Grieg Hall, Bergen includes chamber versions of the Rona Diaries tracks plus two exclusive tracks. It was recorded by Kings of Convenience' sound engineer – André Luciano Trebbi – and mixed in Los Angeles by the two-time Grammy® winner Mark Rankin (Adele, Weezer, Florence and the Machine, Harry Styles) and mastered by Mike Marsh in the UK. The album artwork was created by renowned artist Magnus Voll Mathiassen who worked on Rihanna’s Unapologetic and 2021’s Oscars.

Zaius Tapes opens 2023 with a reissue that few if any would have predicted. The Hams’ legendary and elusive sole release was promoted — as an exclusive — through Systematic via the backdoor in the summer of 1987 amidst the distributor’s fog of bankruptcy. The Hams’ label, Down And Out, was equally mysterious, having previously released one LP (Prominent Disturbance) and one cassette (The Turks) to little or no fanfare. Since none of the Systematic sales staff at the time have any memory of carrying these titles, the shroud of speculation only enhances their existence. The Hams 12" did receive a hale and hearty endorsement in the pages of Forced Exposure at the time, comparing them to (surprise!) The Smashchords. Accurate enough, let’s face it, there wasn’t a whole lot out there for this to stick to. However, there was no real way to get the thing. Adorned in a plain white disco sleeve, presumably the few that got out into the wild before the Chapter 11 axe came down were as in-store play copies. No one has an idea about how many were originally pressed, either. All of this helping to build its quiddity among collectors. The Smashchords comparison notwithstanding, The Hams 12" is every bit as much of an anomaly. Literally two dudes on guitar and drum, jamming. No vocals, just heart. It could have easily come out on SST in its waning, Byzantine era, sounding like Painted Willie collapsing into a black hole of Turkish barbarism. Or yourself, evaporating into the abyss of any Montrose album, shattered on Tuinals, struggling to redefine life itself. Basically: not for everyone. But with only 200 pressed, Zaius Tapes have that covered.

With "Fear Is a Cruel Master", Ruby THE Hatchet deliver exactly the brain-frying, catchy yet full of raw energy thriller-album that the American trailblazers acclaimed predecessor "Planetary Space Child" (2017) promised it to be. Five long years have passed since the New Jersey psych-rock squad dropped their last album, but the wait is finally over. Ruby THE Hatchet have reached a new peak of writing music as a collective that was hard won through sacrifices and an iron will to get better and to reach a new level each time. The album title, "Fear Is a Cruel Master", duly epitomizes the mood of the lockdown period in which it was written. Accustomed to working together as a group, singer Jillian Taylor, guitarist Johnny Scarps, drummer Owen Stewart, bassist Lake Muir, and organist Sean Hur were forced to spend more time apart than they normally would. "I read a lot during the pandemic, when I came across the phrase 'fear is a cruel master'," Taylor explains. “At the time, you could see the fear and how it was holding people back. The title resonates with being in the music community, because it was shaky for everyone – from bands to booking agents to venues. Fear was in the air.” Recorded at New Future in Jersey with Paul Ritchie from THE Parlor MOB, "Fear Is a Cruel Master" wasn't as meticulously mapped out as Ruby's previous albums. The band purposely left space for spontaneity and magic moments. Ultimately, the main theme of "Fear Is a Cruel Master" is self-reflection. Although these songs were forged in the crucible of world-stopping pestilence, they come with a timeless quality that transcends the moment of their creation. Everything that makes Ruby THE Hatchet such an outstanding and wildly loved act even among their peers is there – ranging from those sultry, honey-smoked vocals, via lush yet crisp guitars, to the spirit of rock 'n roll organ heroics. "Fear Is a Cruel Master" is definitely an album written after a decade of being in a band and looking back without regret at all the things done or not done. It is a testimony to that journey, as we now embark to follow the band's equally impressive and massive sonic wake.

Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 release limited to 500 copies. Record Store Day exclusive's 'Aphelion Vol.1' and 'Aphelion Vol.2' bring together a selection of rare remixes from the Rocket Recordings back catalogue - all but one track are being released on vinyl for the first time. The LP's bring together tracks by Rocket favourites like Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, Sex Swing, Gnoomes, Bonnacons of Doom and many more.

Tracklisting: 01. GUM Takes Tooth - NO Walls, NO AIR (broken English Club Remix) 02. Bonnacons OF Doom - Esus (JD Twitch Optimo Remix) 03. /josefin Ohrn + THE Liberation - Rainbow Lollipop (cherrystones Remix) 04. Petbrick - Roadkill Ruby (spooky J / Nihiloxia Remix) 05. Mamuthones - Symphony FOR THE Devil (giant Swan Remix) 06. J.ZUNZ - Four Women AND Darkness (jamie Paton Dub) 07. Ooba Tercu - Kqasan (negra Branca Remix)

A searing, brooding collection documenting the recorded output of one of Montreal's most shadowy, notorious, captivating underground art-rock ensembles of the mid-90s (and the first band to be released on renowned indie label Constellation). In the words of one music writer of the era: "Like Slint and Big Black meeting for a Joy Division reunion." Charting Sofa's febrile evolution through the sonic palettes of North American post-hardcore and slowcore admixed with early UK post-punk, goth and dark lounge, Source Crossfire rounds up the quartet's 1997 album Grey (originally released on CD only) along with selections from two prior self-released cassettes. Record #1 reimagines Grey, newly sequenced to create distinct loud/fast and soft/slow vinyl sides. Record #2 mirrors this, with four tracks of intense pitch-black material on Side One and three early examples of Sofa's sombre balladry on Side Two, culled from the band's 1995 cassette material. Source Crossfire aptly names the unique mix of genres and influences distilled in Sofa's cauldron - a treat for fans from the era and for anyone interested in the fertile crosscurrents of UK + US post-punk, post-hardcore, slowcore, goth and art rock that spawned such a diverse slate of unsung bands with distinct energies, personalities, and hybrid sonic identities across so many local scenes in the 1990s. Newly remastered from the original stereo mixdowns by Jace Lasek, Harris Newman and Sofa guitarist Ian llavsky (also known as Constellation co-founder and ex-Silver Mt Zion member). 2x180gLP pressed at Optimal Germany with gatefold jacket, printed inners, and two 12"x24" art posters, all featuring the photography of acclaimed visual artist (and former Sofa vocalist) Brad Todd.

Brand new recordings and remixes from DEVO's Gerald V. Casale on a LIMITED (200 total) clear cassette. This EP features an eye-popping sleeve by acclaimed woodcut artist Tomo77. Release to be supported with a great video from collaborator Davy Force. This marks Casale's first cassette release since the 1980s exclusive DEVO cassettes. This is the cassette component of the official RSD Black Friday vinyl release.DEVO's Gerald V. Casale follows last year's solo release of the song and video "I'm Gonna Pay U Back" with a new single and forthcoming video, "The Invisible Man." Once again, Gerald worked with Josh Freese (Guns N' Roses, A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, Weezer) and Steve Bartek (Oingo Boingo). As with his groundbreaking collaboration with Davy Force on last year's acclaimed video for "I'm Gonna Pay U Back," Gerald again teams up with Davy for "The Invisible Man" video. The release also features cover artwork by acclaimed woodcut artist Tomo77.

We may be cursed to be in the midst a global pandemic, buffeted by all of its stresses and pain. But everyone knows that art provides succour, that music is the most reliable balm. And for many there is further significant comfort to be drawn from the knowledge that Paul Weller is in the midst of an unbelievably prolific purple patch. Paul Weller will not let us down when we need him most.

On May 14th, Paul Weller releases his 16th solo album since his self-titled debut in 1992, his fourth in as many years and his second in just under twelve months following June 2020’s magnificent, chart-topping On Sunset. It’s not hyperbole to state that this new album, titled Fat Pop (Volume 1), is among his most compelling collections, bar none, including all of his era-defining work in the 1970s and ‘80s with The Jam and The Style Council. It’s an absolute scorcher.

When lockdown was declared in March 2020, Paul Weller decided immediately that he wanted something to focus on, since it seemed unlikely he’d be able to tour On Sunset as planned that summer.

“I had lots of ideas stored up on my phone,” he explains down that same handset, speaking from outside his London home, “and at least this gave me an opportunity to develop them.” So he started to record songs on his own, doing just vocals, piano and guitar, then sending those sound files to his core band members such as drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar and various other instruments, and bassist Andy Crofts for them to add their parts. “It was a bit weird not being together, but at least it kept the wheels rolling. I’d have gone potty otherwise.”

The band reconvened at Weller’s Black Barn studio in Surrey during the summer when restrictions were lifted to finish the work, with several of the songs being cut live. By this stage, the shape of the album was clear to all. Weller wanted to deliver an album of singles, twelve short, distinct blasts, each strong enough that they could stand alone if so desired.

“That was a conscious decision,” he confirms. “I even thought about putting every song out as a single first then gathering them all on an album, but that wasn’t practical at the moment. They all have that strength and immediacy, I think, and they’re all short, three minutes or so maximum.”

Producer Jan ‘Stan’ Kybert was so taken with the concept that he half-jokingly suggested that the album be called Greatest Hits. “I quite liked the idea and every song does stand up as a single, I think,” chuckles Weller, “but no, we couldn’t do that really.”

Instead, he plumped for Fat Pop (Volume 1). “I thought we’d add Volume 1 to it just to keep my options open in the future for a second volume!” The title track, a tight, heavy blast of ultra-modern funk, is itself the conceptual key to the whole album. “It’s a celebration of music and what it’s given us all. No matter what situation you are in, and we’re in one now, music doesn’t let you down, does it?”

As ever, Weller’s sonic masterplan was to avoid whatever had recently preceded it. “After [2018’s] True Meanings I thought I wouldn’t have any acoustic guitars for a little while, so I’ve largely avoided those with On Sunset and with Fat Pop,” he says. “But more than anything I wanted something vibey, something we could play live.” He laughs ruefully at the irony of that. “God knows when that will be, bearing in mind where we are with the virus. But in the imaginary gig in my mind I can see us playing all of the songs on Fat Pop live, along with the songs from On Sunset, blending them with some of the old favourites too. What a great set that would be.”

Live is where he imagines On Sunset and Fat Pop (Volume 1) working in tandem, because they don’t act as companion piece albums otherwise. “On Sunset was quite lavish in places, whereas with this one I wanted to limit it in some ways, make the production less expansive.”

Beyond that desire to keep it frill-free and tight, sonically Fat Pop (Volume 1) is a diverse selection of sounds. No one style dominates. There’s the synth-heavy, future-wave strut of Cosmic Fringes, the stately balladeering of Still Glides The Stream, Testify’s moving-on-up soul, and the kind of dramatic three minute pop symphonies on Failed, True and Shades of Blue with which Paul Weller has hooked in generation after generation of devotee.

More than sonic plans, though, Weller set himself the same task as he does before any recording. “Whenever I make an album I’m always just trying to at least match what’s gone before because each time I think the bar’s been raised. If all goes to plan, sometimes I manage to go over that bar too.”

Sometimes he does, sometimes he really does.

Fat Pop (Volume 1), the story behind each song:

Cosmic Fringes

A dramatic entrance to Fat Pop (Volume 1). Cosmic Fringes pairs a minimal, pumping electro swing with a deadpan vocal that detonates an unspecified poseur and blowhard. “I’m a sleeping giant, waiting to awake/I stumble to the fridge/then back to bed”.

“It’s not about anyone in particular,” suggests Weller, “but I suppose it could be about a keyboard warrior, someone who is constantly brainstorming ideas but never gets around to doing them. Someone talking the talk, but never doing anything.”

“When I first did the demo it was quite punky, a bit like The Stooges. It doesn’t sound anything like that now because then I had the idea of stripping it all back to just the drums and bass, putting those synths on it. It’s got a bit of motoric feel to it and a little bit glam rock too, I think.”

True

A song with all the attributes of the greatest Paul Weller numbers: fire in its belly, questing lyrics, boss horns, flashes of guitar fury and a yearning melody you awake humming daily. It’s also a tremendous vocal, shared between Paul and Lia Metcalfe, the young Liverpudlian singer with The Mysterines.

“I really like her band and I really like her singing,” he says. “It makes a massive difference that we sang it live, in the same room. She’s got a really powerful voice and I wanted to write something for us to sing together, so I did. Then I just sent the phone demo to Lia and two weeks later we cut it. That was one of the last things we did for the album, in around September”.

Fat Pop

That brilliant, heavy bassline? “I did that. When we recorded it I was actually thinking about Cypress Hill, doing something that sounds like a DJ Muggs production. It’s got a bit of that. It’s my favourite song on the album, I think, about all the times music’s been there for me.”

Shades of Blue

A classic three-minute English pop kitchen sink drama, written by Paul Weller and his daughter Leah, who joins him on vocals. “Leah wrote the chorus for it and helped me finish it up. I wrote the verses. Reminds me of a suburban drama, a play.”

Glad Times

Sweeping, wistful, sparkling in shades of blue, Glad Times’ winning melancholia has been in the back of Weller’s mind for a while. “I wrote this with Tom (Doyle) and Ant (Brown). They usually send me a backing track and we work on it from there. It’s been around for a while, nearly made it onto On Sunset but didn’t quite fit. I really liked it, though, so I’m really glad it made it on to this album instead.”

Cobweb / Connections

Pastoral introspections, featuring a lovely acoustic solo by PW and a string score by Hannah Peel. “I think the song is saying that the more you can be yourself and be happy with yourself, the more you change into something better. It’s not just good for you, it’s good for everyone else as well. ‘Save yourself and save everyone around you too.’ It’s from observation but I suppose it’s about me too.”

Testify

Superfly strutting, cut live in the studio with Andy Fairweather Low adding distinctive vocals and Jacko Peake on fine flute and saxophone. When allowed out of the house, it’ll be a future live favourite.

“We had actually done it live two or three years ago,” says Weller, “but while I loved the groove I never really got a grip on the song. Then I did this charity gig in Guildford, one of the last things I’ve done probably, some Stax songs with Andy Fairweather Low. Our voices sound so good together and he’s such a lovely fellow, so I sent him the backing track. As soon as lockdown was lifted he came down to the studio for the afternoon. We cut it live and that was it.”

That Pleasure

In amongst those soulful strings there is some barely contained rage in Weller’s voice as he sings ‘Lose your hypocrisy.’ “I suppose it’s my reaction to the whole Black Lives Matter movement,” he explains. “You’re always on tender ground writing about that, but, regardless of my colour, any human being should be disturbed. You should be appalled and disgusted and shocked by those images of George Floyd being killed in the street. It has to stop. It’s a question for everyone.”

Failed

‘All the things I never get/and all the things I never meant/and all the things that make no fucking sense…I’ve failed.’

“Yes, I’m asking myself the question,” admits Weller, a man who has never been afraid of self-reflection in his songwriting. “It’s an angry song because I wrote it right after a massive row with my wife. But I like it. It’s honest. It’s not how I feel all the time, but it is how I feel some of the time. I’m just talking about me as a man. We all measure success in different ways.”

It’s also one of his favourite songs on the album, a stand-out.

Moving Canvas

A chunky, percussive groove, with the feel of Traffic but updated for the here-and-now.

“It’s going to be great live that one. I wrote it about Iggy Pop. I hope he likes it if he ever gets to hear it. It’s my tribute to him, even though it doesn’t sound anything like him. Aside from all the great records he’s made, as a performer he’s high art. It’s all about the Igster.”

In Better Times

A plaintive plea with some beautiful sax and guitar breaks. “Cold in your eyes, don’t you know you break my heart in two”.

“It’s me talking to a young person who is going through something, addiction or mental health pressure, or whatever, and just saying it’ll be alright. Just get through this bit and there’ll be better times to come, you’ll look back and you’ll see it differently.”

Still Glides The Stream

A stately collaboration between Weller and long-time guitar foil Steve Cradock.

“I had the chords and possibly the melody, which I sent to Cradock. And he sent me back a poem and I edited that, then we sent it back and forth by phone. Lockdown songwriting. I just liked the poem. In my mind, I was thinking about our road sweeper who’s a lovely fellow. I started thinking that there’s so many people in this country who form the infrastructure of it and without whom we’d be fucked. But they’re looked down upon, not really noticed. So I was imagining their story. I did find out that there’s a book of the same name (by Flora Thompson) and Cradock said he had seen it in a shop, so that’s where the title comes from. I just liked the poetry of it. Steve’s a very soulful fella.”

Black Friday Record Store Day 2022 Reissue. Color: Orange. Limitation: 1500.

Trailer Bride's 1996 self-titled record is a long-lost relic of the blooming Chapel Hill, North Carolina music scene of the '90s. Superchunk, Polvo, Archers of Loaf and other indie rock darlings were leading the town's indie rock movement while Southern Culture on the Skids were pushing the alt-country genre forward. Then comes Trailer Bride who combined both of those worlds with a gothic, lo-fi sound that centers around Melissa Swingle's atmospheric vocals and cryptic lyrics. Swingle started Trailer Bride following the demise of her band Pussy Teeth and would later go on to form the indie rock duo The Moaners with Laura King (Bat Fangs, Speed Stick), but the dark, southern sound that defines Trailer Bride's debut record provides a mystifying listening experience a quarter-century later. No Depression said it best in their 1997 review: "They're impossible to describe, but whatever you wanna call it, they sound really good." The album is available for the first time ever on vinyl for Record Store Day Black Friday 2022. This 25th anniversary edition is pressed on cloudy orange vinyl and remastered for vinyl. Limited to 1,500 copies worldwide.

Since first forming in 2014, New York trio THICK have triumphed at turning the harshest truths into wildly exhilarating punk songs. On their second album Happy Now, vocalist/guitarist Nikki Sisti, vocalist/bassist Kate Black, and vocalist/drummer Shari Page deliver their most complex and confessional work yet, exploring everything from self-sabotage and insecurity to victim-blaming and destructive relationships. Raw, irreverent, and brutally honest, Happy Now ultimately offers both joyful catharsis and much-needed instruction for living well in turbulent times. The follow-up to 5 Years Behind (a 2020 release praised by Under the Rader as a "dazzling debut album...laced with anger, humor, killer guitar riffs, and soaring punk melodies"), Happy Now finds THICK working again with producer Joel Hamilton (Iggy Pop, Juiceboxxx) and recording at Studio G Brooklyn. In a profound evolution of their previous work, the 11-track album encompasses sharper arrangements and stickier hooks and a more explosive energy-an effect often achieved through the sheer force of their three voices singing in unstoppable unison.

Disturbios, Rocio And Matt Verta-Ray Have Animated The Bones Of The Perfect Electro Dream Punk Golem.Disturbios Was Formed By The Art Rock And Roll Power Duo Rocio And Matt Verta-Ray To Try To Quench Their Insatiable Thirst For All Things Analog, Electronic, Minimalist, Dada And Electrifying. Rocio, Who Comes From The Worlds Of Film And Philosophy, Cut Her Teeth Playing Farfisa Organ In Spanish Surf Bands, Completing The Buzzing Short Circuit Between Primordial Ibero-Arab Melodies And Twanging, Sizzling Jimmy Smith Riffs By-Way-Of The Ventures And Marcel Proust. Her Haunting Intimate Singing Style Sneaks Into The Brain Just Behind The Pre-Frontal Cortex, Calling Up Inarticulate Memories From Generations Still Untouched By Shame Or Convention. Matt Has Been Slinging Six String Hash In Such Groundbreaking Outfits As Madder Rose, Speedball Baby And Heavy Trash, Riding The Underground Zeitgeist Like An Electrobilly Monorail Since The New York '80s. Haunting, Jagged Riffs Channeled Directly From A Deep Vein Of Sun Records And Link Wray, Slice The Music Open To Reveal One Part Backwoods Canadian Savant, One Part Jaded Big City Huckster, All Folded Into A Techno Nightclub Nightmare. Now With Disturbios, Rocio And Matt Verta-Ray Have Animated The Bones Of The Perfect Electro Dream Punk Golem, Making Her Dance In The Eerie Light Of Overheated Radio Tubes, Glowing Absinthe And Crackling Meat On The Fire. Disturbios Will Take The Listener On A Wild Ride Into The Greasy Depths Of The Human Psyche That Will Leave Her Breathless, Exhilarated And Dying To Blast The Record Out Into The Air Again, Again And Once Again!Black Vinyl Version, Full Color Insert. Incudes Mp3 Download Code.

Musician and sound/video installation artist Steve Batespresents a solo ambient/noise album ofmelodic smear, radiostatic blur, panoramic noise clouds and dissolving tones. Made primarilyunder the self-imposed 'limitation' of a Casio SK-1, this is his first entirely solo full-length albumin almost a decade. All The Things That Happen showcases the more deliberate, intensive, noise-clustered side of Bates' wide-ranging sonic sensibilities and practices. An isolation record (like so many), itcombines an ineffable melancholy with claustrophobictension and simmering political rage.Powerfully composed from layers of glistening distortion-drenched melody, pulsing and droningoscillation, bursts of blown-out chords, sweeps of static and sheets of crackling hiss, Bates hasmade an impressively dynamic, ardent and iridescent noise album of real depth and underlyingdevastation."This was supposed to be an ambient record; quiet, minimal and sad. These tracks all startedoff that way but I kept reaching for more texture and noise. Somehow the noisier the record got,the less sad it was also. I was listening to, and loving, a lot of music by Andrew Chalk and I hadfinished a year-long run of listening to Eno's 1 and 4. I preferOn LandtoMusic for Airportsalthough I love both.On Landjust has a darkness and uncertainty that appeals to me. Addingmore noise also got me excited about ways this material could be played live even though italso felt like that could never happen again.In 2022, I opened for Godspeed You! BlackEmperor in Saskatoon to give it a try and waspleasantly pleased to hear it all live and loud."A fixture of Winnipeg's burgeoning punk and social justice community in the 80s-90s, Batesplayed in hardcore and indie rock bands (Pull My Daisy, Bulletproof Nothing) prior to foundingthe Send + Receivefestival in 1998. A crucial development in putting Winnipeg on the map foravant music and sound art, Bates helmed Send + Receive for seven years, then moved toTiohti:áke/Montréal, became Sound Coordinator at Hexagram (Concordia...

Tons is an italian band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. "Musineè Doom Session Volume 1" was their debut album out in June 2012 on Heavy Psych Sounds. Now the label and the band decided to release a very special 10th anniversary reissue with new cover, remastered tracks and Colored Vinyl.

Tons is an italian band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. "Musineè Doom Session Volume 1" was their debut album out in June 2012 on Heavy Psych Sounds. Now the label and the band decided to release a very special 10th anniversary reissue with new cover, remastered tracks and Colored Vinyl.

TEETHGRINDER from the Netherlands have always looked in disbelief at what mankind is doing to itself and the planet it lives on. Disgust, revulsion, suffering and despair - it’s emotions like these that serve as the creative driving force behind the songwriting of the band from Zwolle. The quartet packs all its rage and aggression into songs that reflect exactly that. The aptly titled “Dystopia” third album develops uncomfortably, radically and musically destructive. And it does so in a different yet agile, always threatening way. In view of song titles like ,Birthed Into Suffering’, ,Disgrace’, ,Blood Ritual’, ,Our Failing Species’ or ,Worthless’ it can’t be any other way. At the end of their third album, the group around former members of DrDoom and Greyline, active since 2013, draws a resigned conclusion with ,As I Believe The World To Be, So It Is’ and the title track ,Dystopia’. As on the two predecessors “Misanthropy” (2015) and “Nihilism” (2016) - both also on LIFEFORCE RECORDS - TEETHGRINDER rely on a sound base between grindcore and death metal. Elements from crust, hardcore and black metal round out the stylistic spectrum of the Dutchmen. On the third album, one thing stands in the foreground: the Dutchmen consistently rely on relentless attacks and a gloomy extreme sound that makes its listeners restless and frightened. How could it be otherwise in view of the threatening scenery of a “Dystopia”! And even when TEETHGRINDER slow down the tempo, their tracks sound bitter and disillusioned.

Classic Double Black Vinyl, DL card. The Nightingales' last original full-length for two decades stands as the final masterpiece postpunk album released before the C86 era. Back on vinyl for the first time in over 3 decades, the reissue is updated to include the whole of the 1985's 7" single "It's A Cracker" and "What A Carry On" 12" EP, plus a clutch of rare tracks never before released on vinyl and a bit of history from Robert Lloyd. Despondently anti-Thatcher and with an air of hopelessness, In The Good Old Country Way has the sense that time was allowed for experimentation and reflection during its creation. Expectations were high as The Nightingales released their sole Vindaloo album and possibly the most underrated album of the postpunk era. The opening number is heavy on the hoedown, not unlike records their pals The Mekons would release around the same time - a rootsy underlayment to songs of wit, energy and observation, adaptable both to lengthy groove-based observation and high-octane rants alike. Maria Smith's violin weaves in and out of songs, while the rhythm section of Pete Jenner (bass) and Ron Collins (drums) hold what might have been a disjointed mess, but it's multi-instrumentalist / arranger Pete Byrchmore who shares the spotlight with Lloyd. "It's A Cracker" stuns, not stylistically dissimilar to their recent records for the first ninety seconds, though featuring a bridge hinting at new developments in their sound which could be heard on the next Nightingales release, 'What A Carry On'. A sublime record, it features the powerful title track in two version, one of the band's best songs, "Comfort And Joy", and the tenderly alienating "First My Job". "Lloyd's cracked it. A fucking good album." Mark E. Smith, The Fall.

Norseman Jørgen Dretvik (from Trondheim, Norway) unleashes his new album. "Psykomagi" is a ritualistic healing art where one uses symbolic actions to release emotional and psychological blockages. The songs on the album are created through a deep dive into the psyche, going into the darkest corners in my mind where it hurts the most. I'm trying to transform the black Holes into a creative, uplifting and liberating force through the usage of words and sounds. The lyrics Are documenting the process while the music is trying to move the emotions from chaos to clarity and balance. "Psykomagi" is first and foremost my own personal and internal revolution but in my experience, sharing something deeply personal one can also reach something universal.

Denver psych-rock outfit Eldren return this fall with sophomore LP Miss Information Aged, an impressionistic tour-de-force of proggy neo-romanticism nearly three years in the making. Daring to toe the unraveling line between fact and fiction, between social and media, Eldren confront the past, present, and future with Miss Information Aged officially dropping September 21st via Needlejuice Records.

In the midst of an endless touring schedule in support of their 2015 debut Welcome to Deathville — one that saw them share the stage with notable acts such as Cold War Kids, The Black Angels, Imagine Dragons, Dr. Dog, Dan Deacon, Gomez, Ween, and OK GO — Eldren suffered a severe and unexpected tragedy with the passing of their original bassist, Steve Holloway, at age 25. In spite of the terrible loss, the band persevered through adversity and continued to explore new musical directions. The result was a new body of songs that reflected both personal and musical growth.

Dtil117vc - Recycled black vinyl The Ninth Wave's upcoming second album Heavy Like A Headache arrives off the back of a sold-out UK tour toward the end of 2021 and Scottish Album Of The Year nominations for their Faris Badwan (The Horrors)-produced EP 'Happy Days!' and their critically acclaimed 2019 debut full-length Infancy. Produced by the band themselves and mixed by Max Heyes (Massive Attack, Doves, Primal Scream), Heavy Like A Headache explores feelings of grief, anxiety, anger and loneliness, and represents the 4-piece's most triumphant and diverse body of work to date. Celebrating honesty and real life, The Ninth Wave want their listeners to find comfort in their music. They want their fans to feel safe; to be confident in who they are, and to know they're not alone. The band will play three album celebration shows in Manchester, London and Glasgow around album release. Recent singles have received multiple spins from Radio 1's Jack Saunders, 6 Music and an addition in NME's A-list, coverage in key publications such as Wonderland, The Line of Best Fit, DIY and more. 'What Makes You a Man' will be featured in the upcoming series of Netflix's Umbrella Academy. Their releases have seen countless editorial support from Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Amazon Music, including Spotify's New Music Friday, The Indie List, The Other List, All New Rock, Melomania and Scotify playlist additions.

Limited Edition for Record Store Day 2022.

We may be cursed to be in the midst a global pandemic, buffeted by all of its stresses and pain. But everyone knows that art provides succour, that music is the most reliable balm. And for many there is further significant comfort to be drawn from the knowledge that Paul Weller is in the midst of an unbelievably prolific purple patch. Paul Weller will not let us down when we need him most.

On May 14th, Paul Weller releases his 16th solo album since his self-titled debut in 1992, his fourth in as many years and his second in just under twelve months following June 2020’s magnificent, chart-topping On Sunset. It’s not hyperbole to state that this new album, titled Fat Pop (Volume 1), is among his most compelling collections, bar none, including all of his era-defining work in the 1970s and ‘80s with The Jam and The Style Council. It’s an absolute scorcher.

When lockdown was declared in March 2020, Paul Weller decided immediately that he wanted something to focus on, since it seemed unlikely he’d be able to tour On Sunset as planned that summer.

“I had lots of ideas stored up on my phone,” he explains down that same handset, speaking from outside his London home, “and at least this gave me an opportunity to develop them.” So he started to record songs on his own, doing just vocals, piano and guitar, then sending those sound files to his core band members such as drummer Ben Gordelier, Steve Cradock on guitar and various other instruments, and bassist Andy Crofts for them to add their parts. “It was a bit weird not being together, but at least it kept the wheels rolling. I’d have gone potty otherwise.”

The band reconvened at Weller’s Black Barn studio in Surrey during the summer when restrictions were lifted to finish the work, with several of the songs being cut live. By this stage, the shape of the album was clear to all. Weller wanted to deliver an album of singles, twelve short, distinct blasts, each strong enough that they could stand alone if so desired.

“That was a conscious decision,” he confirms. “I even thought about putting every song out as a single first then gathering them all on an album, but that wasn’t practical at the moment. They all have that strength and immediacy, I think, and they’re all short, three minutes or so maximum.”

Producer Jan ‘Stan’ Kybert was so taken with the concept that he half-jokingly suggested that the album be called Greatest Hits. “I quite liked the idea and every song does stand up as a single, I think,” chuckles Weller, “but no, we couldn’t do that really.”

Instead, he plumped for Fat Pop (Volume 1). “I thought we’d add Volume 1 to it just to keep my options open in the future for a second volume!” The title track, a tight, heavy blast of ultra-modern funk, is itself the conceptual key to the whole album. “It’s a celebration of music and what it’s given us all. No matter what situation you are in, and we’re in one now, music doesn’t let you down, does it?”

As ever, Weller’s sonic masterplan was to avoid whatever had recently preceded it. “After [2018’s] True Meanings I thought I wouldn’t have any acoustic guitars for a little while, so I’ve largely avoided those with On Sunset and with Fat Pop,” he says. “But more than anything I wanted something vibey, something we could play live.” He laughs ruefully at the irony of that. “God knows when that will be, bearing in mind where we are with the virus. But in the imaginary gig in my mind I can see us playing all of the songs on Fat Pop live, along with the songs from On Sunset, blending them with some of the old favourites too. What a great set that would be.”

Live is where he imagines On Sunset and Fat Pop (Volume 1) working in tandem, because they don’t act as companion piece albums otherwise. “On Sunset was quite lavish in places, whereas with this one I wanted to limit it in some ways, make the production less expansive.”

Beyond that desire to keep it frill-free and tight, sonically Fat Pop (Volume 1) is a diverse selection of sounds. No one style dominates. There’s the synth-heavy, future-wave strut of Cosmic Fringes, the stately balladeering of Still Glides The Stream, Testify’s moving-on-up soul, and the kind of dramatic three minute pop symphonies on Failed, True and Shades of Blue with which Paul Weller has hooked in generation after generation of devotee.

More than sonic plans, though, Weller set himself the same task as he does before any recording. “Whenever I make an album I’m always just trying to at least match what’s gone before because each time I think the bar’s been raised. If all goes to plan, sometimes I manage to go over that bar too.”

Sometimes he does, sometimes he really does.

Fat Pop (Volume 1), the story behind each song:

Cosmic Fringes

A dramatic entrance to Fat Pop (Volume 1). Cosmic Fringes pairs a minimal, pumping electro swing with a deadpan vocal that detonates an unspecified poseur and blowhard. “I’m a sleeping giant, waiting to awake/I stumble to the fridge/then back to bed”.

“It’s not about anyone in particular,” suggests Weller, “but I suppose it could be about a keyboard warrior, someone who is constantly brainstorming ideas but never gets around to doing them. Someone talking the talk, but never doing anything.”

“When I first did the demo it was quite punky, a bit like The Stooges. It doesn’t sound anything like that now because then I had the idea of stripping it all back to just the drums and bass, putting those synths on it. It’s got a bit of motoric feel to it and a little bit glam rock too, I think.”

True

A song with all the attributes of the greatest Paul Weller numbers: fire in its belly, questing lyrics, boss horns, flashes of guitar fury and a yearning melody you awake humming daily. It’s also a tremendous vocal, shared between Paul and Lia Metcalfe, the young Liverpudlian singer with The Mysterines.

“I really like her band and I really like her singing,” he says. “It makes a massive difference that we sang it live, in the same room. She’s got a really powerful voice and I wanted to write something for us to sing together, so I did. Then I just sent the phone demo to Lia and two weeks later we cut it. That was one of the last things we did for the album, in around September”.

Fat Pop

That brilliant, heavy bassline? “I did that. When we recorded it I was actually thinking about Cypress Hill, doing something that sounds like a DJ Muggs production. It’s got a bit of that. It’s my favourite song on the album, I think, about all the times music’s been there for me.”

Shades of Blue

A classic three-minute English pop kitchen sink drama, written by Paul Weller and his daughter Leah, who joins him on vocals. “Leah wrote the chorus for it and helped me finish it up. I wrote the verses. Reminds me of a suburban drama, a play.”

Glad Times

Sweeping, wistful, sparkling in shades of blue, Glad Times’ winning melancholia has been in the back of Weller’s mind for a while. “I wrote this with Tom (Doyle) and Ant (Brown). They usually send me a backing track and we work on it from there. It’s been around for a while, nearly made it onto On Sunset but didn’t quite fit. I really liked it, though, so I’m really glad it made it on to this album instead.”

Cobweb / Connections

Pastoral introspections, featuring a lovely acoustic solo by PW and a string score by Hannah Peel. “I think the song is saying that the more you can be yourself and be happy with yourself, the more you change into something better. It’s not just good for you, it’s good for everyone else as well. ‘Save yourself and save everyone around you too.’ It’s from observation but I suppose it’s about me too.”

Testify

Superfly strutting, cut live in the studio with Andy Fairweather Low adding distinctive vocals and Jacko Peake on fine flute and saxophone. When allowed out of the house, it’ll be a future live favourite.

“We had actually done it live two or three years ago,” says Weller, “but while I loved the groove I never really got a grip on the song. Then I did this charity gig in Guildford, one of the last things I’ve done probably, some Stax songs with Andy Fairweather Low. Our voices sound so good together and he’s such a lovely fellow, so I sent him the backing track. As soon as lockdown was lifted he came down to the studio for the afternoon. We cut it live and that was it.”

That Pleasure

In amongst those soulful strings there is some barely contained rage in Weller’s voice as he sings ‘Lose your hypocrisy.’ “I suppose it’s my reaction to the whole Black Lives Matter movement,” he explains. “You’re always on tender ground writing about that, but, regardless of my colour, any human being should be disturbed. You should be appalled and disgusted and shocked by those images of George Floyd being killed in the street. It has to stop. It’s a question for everyone.”

Failed

‘All the things I never get/and all the things I never meant/and all the things that make no fucking sense…I’ve failed.’

“Yes, I’m asking myself the question,” admits Weller, a man who has never been afraid of self-reflection in his songwriting. “It’s an angry song because I wrote it right after a massive row with my wife. But I like it. It’s honest. It’s not how I feel all the time, but it is how I feel some of the time. I’m just talking about me as a man. We all measure success in different ways.”

It’s also one of his favourite songs on the album, a stand-out.

Moving Canvas

A chunky, percussive groove, with the feel of Traffic but updated for the here-and-now.

“It’s going to be great live that one. I wrote it about Iggy Pop. I hope he likes it if he ever gets to hear it. It’s my tribute to him, even though it doesn’t sound anything like him. Aside from all the great records he’s made, as a performer he’s high art. It’s all about the Igster.”

In Better Times

A plaintive plea with some beautiful sax and guitar breaks. “Cold in your eyes, don’t you know you break my heart in two”.

“It’s me talking to a young person who is going through something, addiction or mental health pressure, or whatever, and just saying it’ll be alright. Just get through this bit and there’ll be better times to come, you’ll look back and you’ll see it differently.”

Still Glides The Stream

A stately collaboration between Weller and long-time guitar foil Steve Cradock.

“I had the chords and possibly the melody, which I sent to Cradock. And he sent me back a poem and I edited that, then we sent it back and forth by phone. Lockdown songwriting. I just liked the poem. In my mind, I was thinking about our road sweeper who’s a lovely fellow. I started thinking that there’s so many people in this country who form the infrastructure of it and without whom we’d be fucked. But they’re looked down upon, not really noticed. So I was imagining their story. I did find out that there’s a book of the same name (by Flora Thompson) and Cradock said he had seen it in a shop, so that’s where the title comes from. I just liked the poetry of it. Steve’s a very soulful fella.”

Record Store Day 2021 Drop 2 release limited to 500 copies. Record Store Day exclusive's 'Aphelion Vol.1' and 'Aphelion Vol.2' bring together a selection of rare remixes from the Rocket Recordings back catalogue - all but one track are being released on vinyl for the first time. The LP's bring together tracks by Rocket favourites like Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation, Sex Swing, Gnoomes, Bonnacons of Doom and many more.

Tracklisting: 01. GUM Takes Tooth - NO Walls, NO AIR (broken English Club Remix) 02. Bonnacons OF Doom - Esus (JD Twitch Optimo Remix) 03. /josefin Ohrn + THE Liberation - Rainbow Lollipop (cherrystones Remix) 04. Petbrick - Roadkill Ruby (spooky J / Nihiloxia Remix) 05. Mamuthones - Symphony FOR THE Devil (giant Swan Remix) 06. J.ZUNZ - Four Women AND Darkness (jamie Paton Dub) 07. Ooba Tercu - Kqasan (negra Branca Remix)

Golgotha is the sixth studio album by Bleeding Eyes. After Gammy (©2014 Go Down Records) the band embarked on a different stylistic and compositional path. Starting from long and substantial jams, the five-piece band extrapolated and deepened 7 tracks lasting almost 50 minutes. The influences are getting darker. Black on black. The esoteric doom mixed with the tipically sludgy attitude, give to their personal existential ordeal a picture in which Simone Tesser’s lyrics fit perfectly. Golgotha’s topics tell about saints and unbelievers, the latter ones in constant conflict with life and death. This new interpretation, that also takes inspiration from the heretic gospels of the apocalypse (first 2 tracks), represents the steady and never ending spiritual detachment, that our capitalist society has lived in for several decades. With mocking irony and lots of sarcasm a post-dogmatic dark way is proposed by the band to deal with the ordeal of everyday life. The studio recording process lasted several months and was handled by Jason Nealy and Marco Dussin (guitarist and bassist respectively). Drums and rhythm guitars were recorded at the music club Benicio Live Gigs, located in the suggestive woods of the Montello hill in Italy. While the final steps, mixing and mastering took place at BadRum studio in Asolo, Italy. Golgotha has a really deep and dense meaning for the band and the graphic part plays an important role too; that’s why the Bleeding Eyes has chosen the Lorenzo Ferraro’s photography. The album artwork consists in pictures taken right after the passage of the devastating storm Vaia, that heavily damaged the band’s hometown surroundings. The desolation post Vaia matches perfectly with Golgotha’s magmatic darkness. The event proved our disarming weakness in front of an untamed force of nature, that can unleash destroying powers yet unknown. The album title itself is therefore -calvario- the combination of a natural imagery that reveals the misery of the precarious human condition.

The fourth album by Sault scored 97/100 at Metacritic and is the most beloved album at HHVs Supreme 100 of 2020 list, chosen by 150 journalists, musicians, label makers and record collectors. Currently repressed and soon back in stock.

Optimal pressing.
The fourth album by Sault scored 97/100 at Metacritic and is the most beloved album at HHVs Supreme 100 of 2020 list, chosen by 150 journalists, musicians, label makers and record collectors.

Sault - Untitled (Rise), released in September 2020, is the follow-up to Untitled (Black Is) and serves as a companion piece to that earlier album. While Untitled (Black Is) focuses on themes of Black identity, struggle, and resilience in the face of systemic racism, Untitled (Rise) takes a more hopeful and celebratory approach. It explores empowerment, joy, and community, offering a sense of uplift and liberation alongside the weightier topics of social justice.

Untitled (Rise) retains the genre-blurring approach that defines Sault’s music, blending soul, funk, Afrobeat, gospel, R&B, and dance rhythms. However, the tone of Rise is generally more upbeat and celebratory compared to the heavier, introspective nature of Black Is. The album captures the feeling of dancing through adversity and finding joy despite the struggle. Its rhythms are infectious, and many tracks are designed to feel anthemic, with powerful group vocals and chants reinforcing themes of collective strength.

Lyrically, Untitled (Rise) touches on similar themes to Black Is, such as Black empowerment, pride, and resistance, but it emphasizes victory and triumph. The album feels like a call to action, but also a celebration of perseverance, healing, and unity.

Key Tracks:
"Strong" – A powerful and uplifting anthem about resilience and overcoming adversity. It features a driving rhythm and empowering lyrics, with group vocals that evoke a sense of unity and strength.
"Fearless" – A rhythmic, upbeat track with Afrobeat-inspired grooves, it’s a call to reject fear and embrace courage, a recurring theme in the album.
"I Just Want to Dance" – One of the standout tracks, this song blends disco-funk elements with a carefree energy, symbolizing the need for joy and release even amidst struggles.
"Free" – A slower, more reflective song that underscores the desire for freedom—both personal and societal. It’s soulful and deeply emotional, with heartfelt vocals.
"Rise" – The title track serves as a rallying cry, encouraging listeners to rise above oppression and celebrate their identity and power. The song's infectious rhythm and group chants amplify the message of empowerment.
Tone and Emotional Arc: Where Black Is may have felt heavy with its focus on the injustices faced by Black people, Rise balances that with a more optimistic and celebratory tone. It conveys a message that while the fight for justice continues, there is always room for joy, self-love, and communal solidarity. The album often feels like a soundtrack to liberation, pairing its socio-political themes with music that’s meant to inspire movement, whether literally on the dance floor or metaphorically in terms of social action.

The flow of the album is dynamic, shifting between more meditative moments and high-energy, danceable tracks. The rhythmic pulse is a constant thread, grounding the album in African and diasporic traditions, while the vocal arrangements often feel like modern spirituals or chants for a collective uprising.

The production, likely spearheaded by Inflo, is tight and minimalist, yet rich in texture. Sault’s signature use of layered vocals, often with group harmonies and chants, continues to play a central role in Rise, contributing to the communal, uplifting feel of the album. As always, Sault’s members remain largely anonymous, though Cleo Sol and Kid Sister are thought to have contributed vocally to the project.

Untitled (Rise) was met with widespread critical acclaim, much like its predecessor. Reviewers praised the album for its optimism and energy, viewing it as a necessary counterpart to Black Is. While Black Is was seen as an urgent protest album, Rise was lauded for its focus on joy, hope, and empowerment, making it feel like a musical celebration of survival and thriving.

The duality of these two albums—Black Is and Rise—allows Sault to capture a full spectrum of the Black experience, from pain and protest to resilience and celebration. Together, they form a powerful artistic statement on the complexities of identity and struggle.

Just under a year after their acclaimed self-titled debut, dreampop duo deary release a brand new six-track EP – Aurelia – via Sonic Cathedral on November 1.

It includes the singles ‘The Moth’, ‘Selene’ and ‘The Drift’ and features Slowdive drummer Simon Scott playing on three songs. It will be available on three different vinyl variants, a CD with three bonus tracks and digitally.

It’s a stunning record, which displays a new-found maturity in terms of production as well as musically and lyrically. The band – singer Rebecca ‘Dottie’ Cockram and guitarist/producer Ben Easton – have had to grow up in public since the release of their debut single at the start of 2023, supporting legends such as Slowdive and Cranes and TikTok sensations like Wisp along the way.

An aurelian is a rare old term for a lepidopterist – someone who studies and collects moths – derived from the Latin aurelia, meaning chrysalis. The perfect title for an EP which is based around the theme of metamorphosis and change.

“It leans on the natural world, the human body, the earth and sky as well as human emotion,” says Ben of how the EP represents physical and metaphysical growth. “Change can be daunting but equally exciting, which is something we’ve come to learn.”

“While writing the EP, I found a letter I had written to myself when I was 22,” adds Dottie. “I was fresh out of university and had moved back in with my parents as Covid was in full force. I was uninspired and lost and reaching out to my future self for some hope. It was a physical representation of what can happen in a few years; how much can change and how you never know what’s coming next.

“I found it interesting that – at the age of 26 – here I was looking back to my younger self for hope or just some comfort in the fact that things will and do move on. It was important to me to bring both of these versions of myself into the new songs.”

“Personally, I had noticed a change in myself; a new level of social anxiety, a strange disassociation to things that once brought me joy as well as negative repetitions in my daily life,” reveals Ben. “I began the year sober which allowed me to finish the writing process as a letter of care to my own mental health. There are motifs throughout the EP – for example the riffs in ‘The Moth’ and ‘The Drift’ being reminiscent of each other – which are like musical reflections of these repeated cycles.”

It’s musically where the change deary have undergone is most obvious. ‘The Moth’ mixes howling guitars atop a strident breakbeat making it more Curve than Cocteaus; ‘Selene’ is a slow-building wall of noise; ‘The Drift’ combines a perfect pop melody with an incredible sense of urgency. These three singles are balanced by the brief but beautiful ‘Where You Are’ which leads into the Portishead-style trip-hop of ‘Dream Of Me’. The title track has been a staple of their live sets for about a year as ‘Can’t Sleep Tonight’, but its mix of The Cure circa Disintegration and Mezzanine Massive Attack has grown and evolved so much that they renamed it ‘Aurelia’ as the embodiment of the change they have been through.

“We’ve allowed deary to naturally grow over the past year, we didn’t want to force it to take a certain shape or sound,” explains Dottie of the duo’s slow and steady approach. “A lot of the last EP was written by sending ideas back and forth over WhatsApp, but this time we were able to sit in the same room and I think that really shows. We know each other a lot better now as we have experienced this journey together and that benefits the writing process as we are more open with each other and can be vulnerable.”

“Aurelia definitely feels a lot more collaborative, more personal and more fully realised than the first EP,” concludes Ben. “It feels like a real document of what has been a very important time in both of our lives. Ironically, the band has changed and matured even more since the recording, so we’re both excited to document the next stage.”

10 Year Anniversary LP Edition! Out of print for nearly a decade, we are proud to announce the much-demanded new vinyl edition of this legendary collaboration. Black or coloured LP in full-colour sleeve with printed inner sleeve. "Recoiled" is a rambunctious alchemy, of magikal COIL sensibilities and hi-tech home circa 90's mixing technique, all fused in the cave-like early studios of Danny Hyde / Peter Christopherson.These were the unrestrained PRE- BIG studio- mix downs, of four songs which long time Coil admirer / collaborator Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) requested Coil to remix. Reznor sent over the original multi-tracks and DATs to Hyde / Christopherson, who independently mixed versions and then met to synch both creations, molding them into these master versions. ”Recoiled” includes a fuller, more opulent version of the track 'Closer', which eventually made it onto the opening credits to the movie "SE7EN". These 5 lengthy compositions are pre-Ableton / laptop generation type priest song creations, with the use of baby alarms and numerous wires to create bespoke effects. These legendary tracks were always rumoured to exist and, only the due diligence of a dedicated NIN forum who hunted them down, are released/unleashed for your listening pleasure. 4 of the tracks were released on the download-only "Uncoiled". A bonus, previously unheard track from the same sessions closes the album. Jhonn Balance is also manifest on this gilded constellation. Beautifully remastered.A dizzying reworking of the NIN classic by the late and legendary Industrial duo (The Times)Beautiful, the stuff of legend (5/5, Deaf Sparrow). The music here is so thrilling... a pure and inspired collaboration (8/10, Louder Than War) A curious electronica that tends towards the lysergic, the downbeat and the perverse (Fact Mag) As time capsules go it's pretty darned effective (The Line Of Best Fit) A1. Gave Up (Open My Eyes) (5:28)A2. Closer (Unrecalled) (7:41)A3. The Downward Spiral (A Gilded Sickness) (7:59)B1. Eraser (Reduction) 8:45B2. Eraser (Baby Alarm Remix) (8:54)

Upupayāma is the musical persona of Alessio Ferrari, an Italian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who lives in a small mountain village above the city of Parma. Upupayāma’s music is rooted strongly in Eastern and Western folk traditions, an approach that Ferrari blends with his own modern sensibilities and style. In addition to playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, Ferrari himself also incorporates a number of other instruments into his sound, including sitar, erhu, flute, and a variety of percussion instruments. Artist: Upupayama Title: THE Golden Pond Labels: Cardinal Fuzz (Europe), Centripetal Force (usa), Release Date: 25th November 22 For Ferrari, Upupayāma's 2020 debut was all about the journey. The album served a series of musical vignettes that visited and weaved its way through a succession magical settings. The Golden Pond, conversely, is all about location. Inspired by his frequent visits to a small lake near his mountain home, Ferrari intentionally focused on the details of the place he inhabited, a practice he decided would translate well with his approach to writing music. This is something Ferrari feels is best exemplified with the album's opening companion pieces, "Cuckoos from the House of Golden Tin" and "Entering the Time of Wilderness." The Golden Pond also continues Ferrari's practice of using "invented language" in his lyrics. Ferrari wants his voice to be heard as if it were an additional instrument, a tool that does not convey specific messages. His goal is to allow the listener to assign personal meaning to the music. He says, "I want my incorporating invented language is a way of breaking down the barriers that are sometimes created by language, by having to define something at all costs. Ferrari adds, "I think one of my unconscious dreams is not to have to define any[1]thing, but just to be carried away by our feelings." Earlier this year Ferrari put together a group of musicians to help him deliver his live vision of Upupayāma. They made their debut in Rome in May, and they will play a couple of shows in advance of the album being released. Both dates will be in October, one in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland and the other in Esslingen, Germany. Plans to tour throughout Eu[1]rope in the spring of 2023 are currently in the works via El Borracho Booking. The Golden Pond will be Upupayāma's second album with Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz, the first being the well-received self-titled debut in 2021, which is being repressed to coincide with the release of The Golden Pond in November.

Group Listening"s brilliant first album, Clarinet & Piano: Selected Works, Vol.1, was a haunting, meditative and lovingly considered selection box of musical reworkings. It featured rearranged tracks by the likes of Arthur Russell, Brian Eno and Robert Wyatt. But it was also much more than that. In making this record of reimagined musical works, Stephen Black [Clarinet] and Paul Jones [Piano] were two musicians doing what all music fans do: comparing favourite tracks, turning each piece over for new meaning and developing a musical understanding of each other in the process.

Woven together from home studio recordings that span two decades, and with some notable guest appearances including; The Bug, Douglas Leal of Deafkids, Wayne Adams of Petbrick, Dave French of Yob and Sanford Parker, this final part of the Harvestman Triptych seeks once again for a lost world, with the voice of poet Ezra Pound extolling the virtues of "gather[ing] from the air a live tradition".
Cloudy Clear plus Black Galaxy effect vinyl in dub style jacket. Limited and Non-Returnable.
At its heart, music has always been a questioning of inheritance – a dialogue with predecessors and forebears, the forging of one’s own perspective in relation to what has come before, and for some, a plunge into the boundless realms between. For Steve Von Till, that process has always taken on an added dimension to become the most sacred of tasks. Whether through the apocalyptic uprising of Neurosis, the sonic deconstructions of their sister project, Tribes of Neurot, the invocatory intimacy of his eponymous solo albums or his instrumental psychedelic reveries in the guise of Harvestman, that dialogue has never just been with musical influences, but with what underpins them: the primordial, elemental forces now banished to the peripheries of our contemporary consciousness, yet still broadcasting a signal for all who will listen.

Drawn to the megaliths, ruins and ancient sites mapped out along the British and European mainland’s geographical and psychic landscapes, the folklore and apocrypha forever resurfacing as portals from a rational world, Triptych is a meditation forged from traces and residues, and an hallucinatory recollection of artists who have tapped into that enduring otherworldliness embedded within us all. It’s a dream diary narrating a passage through Summer Isle where Flying Saucer Attack are wafting out of a window, a distant Fairport Convention are being remixed by dub master Adrian Sherwood, celestial scanners Tangerine Dream are trying to drown out Bert Jansch and Hawkwind are playing Steeleye Span covers, all prised out of time yet bound to its singularity.

"Herne's Oak" provides seismic bass waves that physically halt the track in its steps - giant footfalls as Herne's antlers themselves are dragged along a corridor. Another curious and mysterious piece of British folklore brought to life by Harvestman.

If Triptych is a multi- and extra-sensory experience, it extends to the remarkable glyph-style artwork of Henry Hablak, a map of correspondences from a long-forgotten ancient and advanced civilization. As with Triptych itself, it’s an echo from another time, an act of binding, a guide to be endlessly reinterpreted, and a signpost to the sacred that might not indicate where to look, but how.

Cover art is by Henry Hablak, who also designed the art for Part One and Part Two.

Part Three will be coming on October 17th's Hunter Moon.Part One was released on the Pink Moon on 23rd April and Part Two was released on 21st July's Buck Moon.

10 Year Anniversary LP Edition! Out of print for nearly a decade, we are proud to announce the much-demanded new vinyl edition of this legendary collaboration. Black or coloured LP in full-colour sleeve with printed inner sleeve. "Recoiled" is a rambunctious alchemy, of magikal COIL sensibilities and hi-tech home circa 90's mixing technique, all fused in the cave-like early studios of Danny Hyde / Peter Christopherson.These were the unrestrained PRE- BIG studio- mix downs, of four songs which long time Coil admirer / collaborator Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) requested Coil to remix. Reznor sent over the original multi-tracks and DATs to Hyde / Christopherson, who independently mixed versions and then met to synch both creations, molding them into these master versions. ”Recoiled” includes a fuller, more opulent version of the track 'Closer', which eventually made it onto the opening credits to the movie "SE7EN". These 5 lengthy compositions are pre-Ableton / laptop generation type priest song creations, with the use of baby alarms and numerous wires to create bespoke effects. These legendary tracks were always rumoured to exist and, only the due diligence of a dedicated NIN forum who hunted them down, are released/unleashed for your listening pleasure. 4 of the tracks were released on the download-only "Uncoiled". A bonus, previously unheard track from the same sessions closes the album. Jhonn Balance is also manifest on this gilded constellation. Beautifully remastered.A dizzying reworking of the NIN classic by the late and legendary Industrial duo (The Times)Beautiful, the stuff of legend (5/5, Deaf Sparrow). The music here is so thrilling... a pure and inspired collaboration (8/10, Louder Than War) A curious electronica that tends towards the lysergic, the downbeat and the perverse (Fact Mag) As time capsules go it's pretty darned effective (The Line Of Best Fit) A1. Gave Up (Open My Eyes) (5:28)A2. Closer (Unrecalled) (7:41)A3. The Downward Spiral (A Gilded Sickness) (7:59)B1. Eraser (Reduction) 8:45B2. Eraser (Baby Alarm Remix) (8:54)

RSD First, Limitation: 1500

Hard to believe that this multi-platinum record—boasting the #1 Modern Rock single “Good”—has only seen a release on vinyl previously via an extremely limited run for Pledge Music (remember them?). Just like that edition, we’re going gatefold with our 2 x LP Real Gone reissue for RSD Black Friday. Originally self-released by Better Than Ezra in 1993 and re-released by Elektra in 1995, Deluxe provides a ticket back to that beloved jangle-pop, college radio sound. Also features the alternative hit singles “In the Blood” and “Rosealia.” Reissued on Grape Vinyl with the full support of the band...limited to 2000 copies worldwide!

Lasting two seconds short of 72 minutes, Ágætis byrjun was a seismic shift from their previous record, Von: more melody, drama and tone, more accessible and anthemic. Twenty-one years after its release, it hasn’t remotely dated, lacking any relationship to grunge, industrial, ambient, pop or any other genre — not even Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mogwai, points of comparison that cropped up in reviews. Perhaps the album’s unique DNA is simply Iceland’s environment, the community, the people. This, after all, was not a band, just music. Or just, perhaps, a force of nature. And like the aftermath of a hurricane, the landscape out there is very rarely the same again.