House News

Mute celebrates the 25th Anniversary Edition of Looper’s debut 1999 album, Up A Tree, featuring never-before-released songs.

LOOPER Stuart and Karn David, originally recorded for the Sub Pop label in 1999, this anniversary edition include remixes, reworks, new sleeve notes and alternative artwork, and is out on transparent green vinyl (accompanied by a Flexi Disc), double CD, and digitally

Up A Tree was completed while Stuart was still working with Belle & Sebastian (the band he co-founded in 1995) and brought Looper instant acclaim (including an 8.1 review in Pitchfork, who credited the album with originating a new genre they dubbed Folk-Hop). It reached #21 on the UK Independent Album chart, and #79 on the Scottish Albums Chart, and brought in fans such as Ben Folds who recently called Up A Tree “… a gift of a record”.

The anniversary edition also features alternative artwork designed by Karn and includes new sleeve notes by Sub Pop’s Jenny Hayo, who recounts working with Looper on their first records and first US tour, alongside words from Stuart’s sister Karla Black, who takes us back to Glasgow School of Art in 1998, reminiscing about the first Looper show.

The vinyl edition of Up A Tree comes with a Flexi Disc of ‘Brilliant Paper’, an unreleased track by Looper and Sue Tompkins (Life Without Buildings) and the double CD includes a remix by Pulp (credited as The Chocolate layers).

Sometimes taking a break is the only way to reignite a passion. Unable to keep away from music, South London’s ME REX began life in 2018 in the home of songwriter Myles McCabe experimenting with shouty, electronic bedroom pop. Touring the culmination of six EPs across the UK and Europe - in 2020 the band have securely found their feet. Joined by Phoebe Cross (Happy Accidents/Cheerbleederz), Rich Mandell (Happy Accidents) and Kathryn Woods (Fresh/Cheerbleederz), ME REX feels more like a collective idea rather than following an established formula: taking inspiration from the instantly definable electronics and acoustics of WHY?, the rhythms of Joanna Newsom and lyrical prowess of Los Campesinos. The result is a collection of songs that is coloured in shades of melancholy and happiness in equal parts. Armed with delicate threads of vocal layering on their ‘Woolly Mammoth’ EP that convey feelings of calm while constructing luscious swathes of reverberated guitar and keys on single ‘Rites’; the bands approach to their songwriting craft is intelligently articulated to produce a sound that reads as a mixture of ideas rather than the archaic single and album structures. Having immersed himself in music from a young age, McCabe saw early success with previous bands but quickly found a disillusionment with the music industry, frustrated by the idea of being in a band while personally battling an addiction to alcohol and mental health issues. “I reached kind of a critical point with my mental health around the time I got sober and in the following months. I wasn’t really able to write or make music. I became quite disillusioned with the idea of being in a band and making music within the music industry and in 2012 the band gradually fell apart.” Says McCabe. “After a couple of years I decided I wanted to work as a solo act, there were a lot of advantages to this, logistically and interpersonally things were a lot easier. I found it much easier to tour alone and enjoyed the autonomy, I began touring around the UK and Europe. In 2017 I joined Fresh and began to see that it actually was possible to organise practice, writing and touring in a way that wasn’t soul destroying.” Now, graduated from producing songs at home to recording their upcoming ‘Stegosaurus’ and ‘Triceratops’ EPs at Resident Studios in North London with Rich Mandell behind the mixing desk; ME REX has spent the past few months exploring their musical concepts - shaping material that touches on themes of friendship, forgiveness, joy, dinosaurs and mental health wrapped in sombre melodies that could easily find a home on the big screen as they do behind closed doors. poignant yet beautiful all at once.

Morcheeba has sold over 10 million albums and toured the world the last two decades. They mix trip hop, rock, folk rock and downtempo, and have produced nine studio albums since 1995. Two of which reached the UK top ten.

Morcheeba's The Antidote is a special one. It is the album which features Daisy Martey on vocals, who replaced Skye Edwards. Martey´s psychedelic influences were added to Morcheeba´s standard mix of soul, hip hop, country, and electronics. In addition, The Antidote was recorded live altogether and features furthermore “Wonders Never Cease” and “Everybody Loves A Loser”.

The Antidote is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl and includes an insert with lyrics.

When Bambi and Cole Browning started writing the songs that would be become Reptaliens’ 2017 debut LP, FM-2030, they had no intention of starting a band. Focusing at first on creating music and art on a purely personal level, the project soon took off when the duo brought on Julian Kowalski (guitar) and Tyler Verigin (drums) to form a live band. The fourpiece swiftly delved into songwriting inspired by sci-fi art and literature, cult mentalities, and deep connections. The result is the band’s self-defined genre of “dreamwave,” which connected musical influences ranging from Gary Wilson-inspired jazzy lounge music, the warmth of Broadcast’s recording production, to Todd Rundgren’s outer space synth sounds.

After touring throughout most of 2017 and 2018 with STRFKR, Cults, and Of Montreal, the band returned home and went straight into renowned Portland studio Jackpot to record their sophomore LP, VALIS. Titled after the 1981 Philip K. Dick novel, VALIS is a cohesive collection of songs unified in sound and structure and supported by recurring lyrical themes, consistent with Reptaliens’ sound: 80’s analog synthesizers, tape delay echos, and a dreamy blend of guitar lines which ebb and flow throughout Bambi’s melodies. Tracks like “Shuggie 2” and “Sunrise, Sunset” are phantasmagoric, breezy and minimal, resulting in an intimate and personal atmosphere in which the listener can ruminate. Yet, the dynamism of VALIS comes from a balance between the band’s more introspective tracks with kinetic synth pop songs such as “Echo Park” and “Give Me Your Love” and and the upbeat guitar driven tracks “Venetian Blinds” and “Baby Come Home”.

With FM-2030, Reptaliens divulged tales from an etic: outsiders perspective of cult kidnappings, alien abductions, and sci-fi speculations towards potential future realities. In VALIS, the lense is turned inwards and, through the looking glass, the 12 tracks provides an emic glimpse towards the feelings and situations of the subjective experience.

Spacebomb House Band announce their debut physical release Known About Town: Library Music Compendium One will be available in the UK and Europe for the first time beginning 2 August. Spacebomb House Band is comprised of Trey Pollard, Matthew E. White, Pinson Chanselle, and Cameron Ralston. Collectively, they are the musicians, arrangers, and producers behind artists like Natalie Prass, The Waterboys, Slow Club, Foxygen, Matthew E. White, Nadia Reid, Bedouine and many more, known for the sold-out Spacebomb Revue show at London’s Barbican theatre, as well as in-store master classes under their own name.
Known About Town is released on soda bottle clear vinyl. The music?
Instrumental, interstitial music, & spiritual sounds recorded at the Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia. It’s good for a party. It’s good to run to. It’s good to drink cocktails with. It’s just good, good music.

Cosmic Elements' first ever vinyl release is a 10 track album of chillhop, LoFi, old school and funky hip hop beats from Thylacinus & Da Funksta entitled 'A New Beginning'.

For fans of chilled downtempo beats in the style of Pete Rock, MF Doom’s Special Herbs series, Mushroom Jazz and LTJ Bukem’s Cookin Records imprint ‘A New Beginning’ was greatly influenced by these legendary artists and imprints, with none other than Mark Farina, the main man behind Mushroom Jazz, providing the artwork for the record sleeve and centre labels.

From the lush sunshine vibes of 'A New Beginning' with it's dreamy strings and infectious guitar lick, to the thought provoking keys of 'The Times We Had' through to the funky RnB influenced bass heavy 'Ready For The New Day', the album is a journey through all things chill.

Both prolific producers and label owners in their own right under various aliases, expect to see much more from Thylacinus & Da Funksta both individually and as a duo.