Pop & Rock News

It is impossible to talk about modern psychedelic music without mentioning Ripley Johnson. As bandleader of Wooden Shjips and half of Moon Duo, Johnson has continually charted new cosmic paths that expand on the language of the genre. With Rose City Band, Johnson's songwriting and beautiful guitar lines take center stage. While his vocal treatment would be recognizable to any Wooden Shjips fan, the sparseness of the instrumentation lays bare the beauty of his writing. Shimmering guitar lines are free to shine, buoyed by driving rhythms. New to the mix are arrangements and instruments drawn directly from classic country, resulting in songs with more than a hint of twang. Buoyant and joyous, Summerlong is a captivating listen that leaves the listener yearning for more. The record is an ode to freedom, born of a musician stepping out of all routines and whose own liberation is communicated so completely in his music. Summerlong is a record that, taken in its entirety, is an emphatic statement on the songwriting power of Ripley Johnson. Johnson's joy in every aspect of this album is delightfully infectious. Rose City Band started purely as a recording project, with Johnson's role mostly obscured for the self-titled debut album. Released with no promotion, in the style of private press records, it was a liberating, a focus on music without any expectations. With a chuckle, Johnson elaborates, "I always would threaten to my friends that I'm gonna start a country rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour. I love being able to tour and travel, but I also like the idea of having a local band ... more of a social music experience." Freedom from expectation and obligation gave Johnson the space to experiment. The introduction of lap steel, mandolin, and jaw harp enhance Johnson's lean guitar work with radiant overtones, placing Summerlong more overtly within the country tradition than its predecessor. Work on the album began at Johnson's home studio in Portland during the summer, but, interrupted by touring, was not be finished until winter. The dark isolation of winter and the pining for summer's easier days can be felt in the album's few quieter moments. Summerlong was mixed by John McEntire (Stereolab, Broken Social Scene, Tortoise) at his newly minted Portland Soma Studios and mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering, also based in Portland. The aptly named Summerlong, born of Johnson's own fondness for the season, delivers an emotional lift-an expression akin to the joy of getting out there on a warm day, be it gathering for a BBQ, hopping onto a bike, leaping into a swimming hole, or simply reading in a park.

It is impossible to talk about modern psychedelic music without mentioning Ripley Johnson. As bandleader of Wooden Shjips and half of Moon Duo, Johnson has continually charted new cosmic paths that expand on the language of the genre. With Rose City Band, Johnson's songwriting and beautiful guitar lines take center stage. While his vocal treatment would be recognizable to any Wooden Shjips fan, the sparseness of the instrumentation lays bare the beauty of his writing. Shimmering guitar lines are free to shine, buoyed by driving rhythms. New to the mix are arrangements and instruments drawn directly from classic country, resulting in songs with more than a hint of twang. Buoyant and joyous, Summerlong is a captivating listen that leaves the listener yearning for more. The record is an ode to freedom, born of a musician stepping out of all routines and whose own liberation is communicated so completely in his music. Summerlong is a record that, taken in its entirety, is an emphatic statement on the songwriting power of Ripley Johnson. Johnson's joy in every aspect of this album is delightfully infectious. Rose City Band started purely as a recording project, with Johnson's role mostly obscured for the self-titled debut album. Released with no promotion, in the style of private press records, it was a liberating, a focus on music without any expectations. With a chuckle, Johnson elaborates, "I always would threaten to my friends that I'm gonna start a country rock band so I can retire and just play down at the pub every Thursday night during happy hour. I love being able to tour and travel, but I also like the idea of having a local band ... more of a social music experience." Freedom from expectation and obligation gave Johnson the space to experiment. The introduction of lap steel, mandolin, and jaw harp enhance Johnson's lean guitar work with radiant overtones, placing Summerlong more overtly within the country tradition than its predecessor. Work on the album began at Johnson's home studio in Portland during the summer, but, interrupted by touring, was not be finished until winter. The dark isolation of winter and the pining for summer's easier days can be felt in the album's few quieter moments. Summerlong was mixed by John McEntire (Stereolab, Broken Social Scene, Tortoise) at his newly minted Portland Soma Studios and mastered by Amy Dragon at Telegraph Mastering, also based in Portland. The aptly named Summerlong, born of Johnson's own fondness for the season, delivers an emotional lift-an expression akin to the joy of getting out there on a warm day, be it gathering for a BBQ, hopping onto a bike, leaping into a swimming hole, or simply reading in a park.

A unique body of work from one of the UK’s most exciting new bands featuring new single Fatboy Slim, fan favourite All Your Friends, 2 other stunning singles and a set of interludes from the studio.

The bands unique brand of guitar-led indie has seen them become the hottest ticket in their native Scotland with 3000 tickets gone in 6 seconds in Edinburgh, and over 7,000 tickets sold for their almost entirely sold out forthcoming UK tour

Ultraísta is the project of Joey Waronker (Beck/REM), Nigel Godrich (Radiohead/Thom Yorke) and Laura Bettinson (FEMME/lau.ra), initially founded in 2008 on a mutual love of Afrobeat, electronic and dance music, visual art and tequila. Releasing their self-titled debut in 2012, swiftly followed a year later by a remixes project, ‘Ultraísta (Remixes)’, ‘Sister’ is the band's second studio album. Late in 2019, Partisan Records digitally reissued the first and second album for the first time as ‘Ultraista (Deluxe)’. ‘Sister’ is the band’s first album for the label. “Precise drumming, buzzing synths and chilly vocal lines set off in separate directions, producing some cool-sounding disconnects” - The Guardian

LP in single pocket gatefold jacket with printed inner sleeve and digital download card.

Demon Records presents Bros ‘Gold’ featuring the bands greatest hits, on 180g heavyweight gold colour LP. Bros are one of the biggest bands from the 1980s, consisting of twin brothers Matt and Luke Goss with bandmate Craig Logan. They were England's biggest heartthrobs scoring eight consecutive top ten hits and in 1989 they won a Brit Award for Best New Artist. In 2019 Bros became a surprise hit with an unintentionally funny BBC 4 documentary. This lead to a Bros fan revival UK tour and BAFTA nomination for the documentary. This single LP features 12 tracks of the groups biggest hits including ‘When Will I Be Famous?’ (UK 2) and ‘I Owe You Nothing’ (UK1), ‘Drop The Boy’ (UK 2), ‘Cat Among The Pigeons’ (UK 2), ‘I Quit’ (UK 4), ‘Too Much’ (UK 2), ‘Sister’ (UK 14), ‘Chocolate Box’ (UK 9)

British shoegazing/alternative rock band Chapterhouse released two albums during their existence, Whirlpool (1991) and Blood Music (1993). Their debut album is a fantastic example of shoegaze at its best. The wall of sound approach is built around dance music structures and they’re creating some heavy grooves. Whirlpool spent 3 weeks in the UK Album chart in 1991, peaking at number 23. This classic is definitely set in the nineties but has stood the test of time.

Available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on blue & silver marbled vinyl

Noel says of the single: "It was written in Abbey Road last November on the same day I wrote ‘Black Star Dancing’. It’s that good, it sounds like it took 5.4 people to come up with it. It’s already a live standard and we haven’t even played it yet.”

The upcoming EP features new songs plus a remix of the title track and will be available digitally and on limited edition vinyl formats.

Following the release of Puppy's critically acclaimed debut album, The Goat, the band decided to record in Hackney's (largely analogue) Holy Mountain Studios, around the corner from the rehearsal space where they first started making music together, to create their third EP "iii".

Musicians Jock, Will & Billy instead approached iii as a stand-alone six-tracker (plus two interludes), tackling material conceived for purpose - songs that waste no time in getting to the point, recorded quickly and essentially live to capture chemistry, spirit plus a more frayed and brutal set of sonics.

Released on single sleeve trans green LP.

Slovenska Televiza Are A Two-piece Act Based In Valladolid And Barcelona. They Produce Music That Is Hard To Define With Simple Comparisons Or Oblique Generalisations, But Perhaps An Amalgam Of Minimal Synth And Coldwave Would Best Express Their 'sound'. With That In Mind, There Is Also A Melancholy Underpinning This Release, Perhaps It's The Haunting Vocals Of Lunademayo, Or The Heavily Reverb Laden Soundscapes Of Wladyslaw Trejo's Analogue Synths. You'll Have To Wait Patiently To Find Out....

Slovenska Televiza

Slovenska Televiza Is A Minimal Electronics Duo Based In Valladolid And Barcelona. Wladyslaw Trejo And Lunademayo Stays Close To Coldwave Then Expands To Avant-garde And Experimental Approaches, Reaching A Proposal As Strange As It Is Fascinating.

It Must Be Said That Slovenska Televiza Is Not Only Limited To The Musical Arena, Its Commitment Extends To Other Artistic Facets As Already Shown With Their Very Special Debut, A Performative Action Implemented In Latvia, Where They Traveled To Leave Behind The Entire Output In Several Locations.

Stockholm, Sweden based HOLY aka Hannes Ferm is back with his third record Ryder, a massive step forward for the young artist. After 2018’s hugely ambitious three-years-in-the-making glam-psych odyssey All These Worlds Are Yours which was released to acclaim from the likes of Consequence of Sound, Bandcamp Daily, Prog Magazine, The Line of Best Fit and more, Ferm decided to take a step in the opposite direction. Teaming up with producer Jacob Haage (El Perro Del Mar) for Ryder, Ferm’s delivered an intimate synth pop record melding experimentation with conventional pop songwriting and again showcasing his ear for melodies, breaking new ground while still staying true to playfulness and immediacy that’s been HOLY’s signature from the start.

Acclaimed London-based sonic explorer Seb Rochford unleashes a startling new band and debut album. The frontier where doom rhythms rub against haunted saxophone atmospherics. A 4-time Mercury Prize nominee (Polar Bear, Sons of Kemet, Basquiat Strings)
Pulled by Magnets is Seb’s most sublime and provocative musical statement to date. There’s the glittering list of collaborations that includes Patti Smith, Brian Eno and David Byrne, the trailblazing (post-) jazz strangeness of Polar Bear, the drumming and producing for Sons of Kemet, of which he was a founding member, the film soundtrack work (on Chris Morris’s latest, among others) and, as we move into the new decade, there’s ... well, what is this exactly? How many Seb Rochford's are there? From the off, it sounds unlike anything the Scots-born, London-based, desert-loving drummer of Anglo-Indian and English/Irish heritage has done before. Gone are the quizzical, music-hall-at-the-end-of-the-world stylings of Polar Bear, to be replaced by a soundtrack of the mind that is, by turns, sublime, stately and provocative.
Forget type, genre or influence: this is the start of a brand-new trip by one of the most questing musicians at work anywhere. But let’s take refuge in facts for a moment: Rose Golden Doorwayswas recorded in The Old Church in Stoke Newington, London and features, in addition to Rochford, Polar Bear comrade Pete Wareham on saxophone and Neil Charles (Zed-U, Empirical)on bass guitar. Even with the help of the church, you’ll wonder how the three of them managed to make the sound they do, especially when you learn that the album is a series of live takes, with no added studio woo.

The second LP by Belarussian trio Molchat Doma, Etazhi, meaning “Floors”, was first released in 2018 on Berlin-based Detriti Records. It became a viral hit, garnering over one million views on YouTube and becoming a legitimate phenomenon on Bandcamp. The band may fly under the radar in their native Belarus, but they’ve reached huge audiences across Europe and beyond. Six separate vinyl pressings of the album have sold out in quick succession, and Sacred Bones Records is now thrilled to bring the record back in print for good. Molchat Doma (translated as “Houses Are Silent”), founded in 2017 in Minsk, Belarus, stands at the intersection of post-punk, new-wave and synth-pop. Dark yet danceable, and with a heavy dose of goth ethos, their music is reminiscent of the masters that predate them, but make no mistake: Molchat Doma creates a sound and meaning that is immediately recognizable as all their own
.
The band is comprised of Egor Shkutko, who sings the Russian lyrics in his deep monotone, Roman Komogortsev on guitar, synths, and drum machine, and Pavel Kozlov on bass and synth

‘The Main Thing’, out on Domino, delivers the band’s most inspired and self-aware set of songs to date, created over the course of a year at upstate New York’s Marcata Sound. Following his work on 2011’s Days, engineer Kevin McMahon returns as producer and, for the first
time ever, Real Estate have brought in outside instrumentalists and special guests like Sylvan Esso, whose vocalist Amelia Meath features on ‘Paper Cup’.Across the album’s 13 interrogative tracks - as full of depth, strangeness, and contradictions as they are lifting hooks - the band balances existential, environmental and political anxieties with fatherly sentiments, self-satirizing lyrics, forever-lively guitar lines and shimmering strings. Double LP with printed inner sleeves in gatefold cover plus digital download card.

Sound Of Yell release their second album, ‘Leapling’, on Chemikal Underground. The title refers to a person born on 29 February. ‘Leapling’ is the follow up to the 2014 debut ‘Brocken Spectre’. The vinyl format comes with a digital download code. An acoustic compendium of fingerstyle guitar, idiosyncratic strings and woodwind and free-spirited percussion, ‘Leapling’ is a humble yet masterful collection of instrumentals and songs written and produced by Stevie Jones. Jones, whose balance of the deliberate and the spontaneous has become a signature developed through countless collaborations - including Bill Wells and Aidan Moffat, Alasdair Roberts, Emma Pollock and Arab Strap - the groundbreaking quartet El Hombre Trajeado (alongside guitarist RM Hubbert) and stints composing music and sound design for Scotland’s leading theatre companies. On ‘Leapling’ the Glasgow native marshals most of the impressive cast with whom he made the debut, including Alex Neilson of Alex Rex and formerly
Trembling Bells on drums, artist Vikki Morton (AMOR, Muscles Of Joy, Rev Magnetic), Alasdair Roberts, Aby Vulliamy and Stevie Jackson of Belle and Sebastian. Jones himself contributes acoustic guitar, double bass, chimes, percussion and piano.

Originally released in 1990 on Paperhouse, this is their classic debut album and it really catches that pop indie sound that flooded everyone's headphones in the early '90s. More raw sounding than their later releases, A Catholic Education doesn't really fit neatly into any category being the perfect marriage of the better aspects of britpop and the swirling dreamy guitars and melancholy pop melodies of the Big Star tradition.

This album is an amalgamation of TEENAGE FANCLUB's currently out of print B-sides, rarities and also includes universally loved "Everything Flows" from their debut album A Catholic Education. Teenage Fanclub's sugary indie sound is delivered with a forthright rock approach you'd expect from Big Star or Dinosaur Jr. Celebrating a career spanning two decades this collection highlights lost gems making them available once again in a lovingly packaged LP. Featuring "Speeder" (a B-Side on "Everything Flows" and "Everybody's Fool") and none other than DON FLEMING at the helm for production duties on "Weedbreak" (B-Side from their very first single "God Know It's True"). Complete with covers of Neil Young and Beat Happening to name a few, this album is perfect for a sunny afternoon with some time to kill.

Grammy-nominated The Secret Sisters’ new album ‘Saturn Return’, produced by Brandi Carlile, Tim Hanseroth and Phil Hanseroth. “As we age, we face obstacles that are beyond our control. Some forces are internal: insecurity, anxiety, fear. Some are external: the loss of loved ones, an unjust system and the fragility of time. Yet the mark of maturity is how you respond when you realize you’re not in control. Where do you find your resilience? “This album is a reflection of us coming to terms with how to find our power in the face of an unfair world. These songs lead listeners past ‘where happy man searches, to a place only mad women know.’ We question our purpose, our relationships, our faith. Trading the fears of our youth for the dread that rages within us as mature women. “With ‘Saturn Return’, our hope is that women can feel less alone in their journey through the modern world. We need each other more than we ever have; the less competition and the more inclusiveness and understanding, the better. We are southern women in the 21st century, convicted by our beliefs.” - The Secret Sisters

Following their critically acclaimed collaboration with John Grant on last year’s Creep Show project, Wrangler announce their new album, ‘A Situation’, released via Bella Union. When Wrangler first formed they had a very simple modus operandi. The clue was in their name. Ben ‘Benge’ Edwards (The Maths), Stephen ‘Mal’ Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire) and Phil Winter (Tuung) would get together with a very select kit list of careworn analogue synthesisers and vintage digital sequencers. Their task? To wrangle new music from the ancient equipment. These self-imposed restrictions helped produced two classic long players: ‘LA Spark’ (2014) and ‘White Glue’ (2016). However, the times have changed and so have Wrangler. The coming decade, which looks set to be dubbed the Terrible Twenties, may be the last time that bands actually get to release albums. Ecological collapse, climate crisis, food shortages and the disintegration of the fabric of society will mean that the slow devolution of the music industry isn’t even one of the main things that musicians (or anyone else) should be worrying about, so the trio have thrown everything into their third (but hopefully not their last) album. The result - ‘A Situation’ - is simultaneously their bleakest and funkiest release to date. This collection of warm, reverberant, amped up tracks, that land somewhere between future music, synth pop, industrial dance, classic techno and rigid electro, captures the ambiguities of the group perfectly. Just as they use the ageing outmoded equipment that other people once chose to throw away in order to make tomorrow’s music, they are the paranoid group who (just about) dare to hope that things still might turn out OK. They cast a doleful eye across the hellscape of 2019 and state, if the end is truly nigh, then it’s never been more important to celebrate the little time we have left. And if a revolution to save ourselves is possible then we’re all in need of a revolutionary party, with a revolutionary soundtrack to match.

Double LP pressed on 140g vinyl with digital download code.

Happyness' third LP comes after a hiatus of almost three years for the band. Core members Jonny Allan and Ash Kenazi describe the record as ‘both a break-up and a coming out album’, it having been spawned from a period of turmoil and the subsequent major shifts in the lives and outlooks of the band; most visibly, drummer Ash Cooper's emergence from a supporting role into a fearless drag queen to co-front the project with singer Allan. Floatr sits in tone somewhere between the ragged euphoria of Weird Little Birthday and the lush balladry of Write In, and with a fresh injection of characteristically mad, artfully self-aware lyrical turns (first single “Vegetable” references Chumbawumba, drag queen Jujubee, vaping and Scientology’s E-meter auditing process all in the space of less than 4 minutes) - it seems the band may be entering their most thrilling era yet. Happyness, to the runway.

Happyness' third LP comes after a hiatus of almost three years for the band. Core members Jonny Allan and Ash Kenazi describe the record as ‘both a break-up and a coming out album’, it having been spawned from a period of turmoil and the subsequent major shifts in the lives and outlooks of the band; most visibly, drummer Ash Cooper's emergence from a supporting role into a fearless drag queen to co-front the project with singer Allan. Floatr sits in tone somewhere between the ragged euphoria of Weird Little Birthday and the lush balladry of Write In, and with a fresh injection of characteristically mad, artfully self-aware lyrical turns (first single “Vegetable” references Chumbawumba, drag queen Jujubee, vaping and Scientology’s E-meter auditing process all in the space of less than 4 minutes) - it seems the band may be entering their most thrilling era yet. Happyness, to the runway.

Stone Temple Pilots embark upon a new sonic adventure with PERDIDA, the band’s first-ever acoustic album. It features 10 deeply personal songs that weave introspective lyrics together with unexpected instruments to take listeners on an emotional and musical journey through letting go and starting over.

PERDIDA, the band’s eighth studio album, features guitarist Dean DeLeo, bassist Robert DeLeo, drummer Eric Kretz and vocalist Jeff Gutt, who joined Stone Temple Pilots in 2017. The band produced the album and recorded the majority of it earlier this year at Kretz’s Bomb Shelter Studio.

“Fare Thee Well” – the first single and first track on the album – establishes the wistful tone on PERDIDA right away with its acoustic guitar introduction and opening line: “Fare thee well, so long/I hate to say goodbye to you.”

With their new song ‘All Things Go’ Mighty Oaks announce their third album, set for release in 2020. The first single of the new longplayer bridges the gap between their last acoustic EP and the new chapter in their band history. A history that the Berlin based indie-folk trio comprised of Ian Hooper (US), Claudio Donzelli (Italy) and Craig Saunders (UK) began over ten years ago in a living room in the German capital and that has lead to two records (2014: Howl, 2017: Dreamers), hundreds of gigs across the world, and shared stages with the likes of Kings of Leon, The Lumineers and Chvrches.

Madison McFerrin is an independent singer-songwriter based in Brooklyn, NY. In December of 2016, she quietly introduced her soulful take on a cappella to the world when she self-released Finding Foundations: Vol. I. After one listen, tastemaking DJ, Gilles Peterson, snatched up her standout track, “No Time to Lose,” for his Brownswood Bubblers compilation.

In February of 2018, she gave her listeners more of her distinctive sound when she self-released Finding Foundations: Vol. II.

Following her SXSW 2018 debut, Madison performed at Pitchfork’s Rising Artist showcase at Northside Fest, OctFest, Paris Avant Garde showcase and inaugural Midwinter Event at the Art Institute of Chicago. Along with these noteworthy performances, Madison has also dazzled European crowds with her onewoman show of looping hypnotic harmonies live from London to Poland.

This year, Madison plans to build upon this momentum by pairing her timeless voice with modern production on her new EP, You + I, which quickly had its lead single “TRY” rack up 580K+ views in her debut COLORS session.

Glass Beach’s debut album the first glass beach album is the first album from glass beach. That’s a good place to start, but the album’s plain & descriptive title does little to explain exactly what goes on in the hour-long adventure contained therein.

The first glass beach album was initially self-released by the band in Spring 2019, but it’s roots date back to as early as 2015 - songwriter & band leader j mclendon started demoing songs for the album when they first moved to Los Angeles & spent three years polishing those first demos into these songs with bassist Jonas Newhouse & drummer William White. On their Bandcamp page, the band describes their sound as the accumulation of jazz, new wave, synth music, and emo distorted through the lens of punk.

The songs that make up the first glass beach album are ambitious, theatrical and chaotic. Abandoning genre limitations makes glass beach’s talent for songwriting all the more apparent - mathy guitar leads, catchy drum grooves and the constant interplay of horns, synths, and even the intermittent theremin set the perfect scene for j’s stunning vocal performance, which can shift from a charming falsetto to the lead of a sing-a-long in an instant.

“‘yours truly.’ is about my personal pursuit of happiness,” says Super Whatevr lead vocalist Skyler McKee. “I am singing to myself, like hey Sky, you literally pushed out bad relationships and are slowly forgetting the past trauma, why are you still not happy? I learned that there is more to emotional growth than just cutting off toxic people, it takes healing those wounds in order to be genuinely glad.” “I used to have to say I was happy,” admits McKee. “But now I actually am.” It’s taken the Orange County-based songwriter a long time to get to this place. When his parents’ marriage unravelled, the cascading effects permeated virtually every piece of McKee’s psyche, resulting in one of the darkest periods of his life. At times, the personal and spiritual growth ultimately found on Super Whatevr’s sophomore album ‘don’t you wanna be glad?’ seemed completely out of reach. Produced by Courtney Ballard (Good Charlotte, Waterparks), the 12-song album follows the band’s 2017 ‘Good Luck’ EP and 2018’s ‘Never Nothing’ in both in time and theme. Composed as a linear narrative tracing McKee’s path from unrest to inner peace, ‘don’t you wanna be glad?’ calls back lyrical elements from Super Whatevr's previous albums to create as cohesive and deeply personal record as the duo - McKee and drummer Chase Vernon - have ever made. “This album is about the pursuit of joy,” McKee adds. “I had to spend time deconstructing what it is that makes me glad.” For fans of Waterparks, AJR, Twenty One Pilots.

Shopping return with their new album ‘All Or Nothing’, a record that speaks about commitment, leaps of faith and tests of courage. “A lot has happened in our personal lives since we last recorded and we knew this album was going to reflect that exciting and scary feeling that comes with change, heartbreak and personal evolution,” the band explain. Since their last record the band are now spread across the globe with Billy in LA and Andrew and Rachel in Glasgow and the songs were written in a two-week intensive period while they were all
together. Taking a bold leap towards pop with their most vibrant and punchy production to date, mixed and produced by Nick Sylvester. For fans of ESG, Bodega, Priests, Squid, Public Practice, Sacred Paws, Sault, Dry Cleaning. LP in gatefold sleeve.

‘The Big Exercise’, the second album by Dutch band The Homesick - and their first for Sub Pop - finds the group keenly second-guessing their core chemistry as a live unit, imbuing their angular post-punk workouts with baroque elements such as piano, acoustic guitar, percussion and even clarinet.
“It’s the opposite of trying to translate recorded music to the stage,” guitarist Elias Elgersma comments. “We were already playing these songs live for quite some time, so for this album, we wanted to unlock the potential of these songs further in the studio.”
Opening track ‘What’s In Store’ was in part inspired by bassist Jaap Van der Velde’s unprompted deep dive into the world of national anthems, making his own attempt to conjure a similarly timeless melody. The song seamlessly bleeds into the chivalrous prance of ‘Children’s Day’ and the fragmented ‘Pawing’, righteously encouraging Erik Woudwijk’s nimble, cerebral drumming to become the band’s driving force. The headstrong wanderlust of ‘The Big Exercise’ is fitting, given The Homesick’s exodus as a small-town Dutch band ready to trot the world.
Contrary to the quest for belonging, roots and provenance found on their debut album ‘Youth Hunt’, the band’s creative trajectory is now dictated by a sense of otherness and imagination. The sharp contrasts are ever-present; the music’s new sonorous depth is underpinned by wry meditations on family ties, alternate realities and commonplace encounters.
As the band’s chief lyricists, Elgersma and Van der Velde deliberately keep each other in the dark, allowing the syntax of words and music to entangle in surprising - sometimes delightfully absurd - ways. ‘I Celebrate My Fantasy’, for example, summons a mirage of creeping pianos, sylvan clarinet flourishes and cartoonish sprawls with mock-paranoia, as Elgersma documents a macabre vision he had during a mild case of sleep paralysis.
The Homesick have made a record impregnated with impressions that still fit neatly under the pop umbrella. The album title’s nod to Scott Walker - “the big exercise” is a phrase pulled from a passage in Walker’s biography ‘Deep Shade of Blue’ - isn’t an aberration either: straddling pop sonority and the cacophonous fringes is something well worth aspiring.
LP in die-cut custom dust sleeve with digital download code.

Hamerkop is a pair of Baltimore-based sound nerds: Annabel Alpers, the composer, singer and instrumentalist formerly of New Zealand’s Bachelorette and; Adam Cooke, a Baltimorean drummer/audio engineer with credits that include Beach House, Wye Oak and Future Islands. Together, they have created a song-cycle that contrasts the often-mundane (yet often satisfying) everyday world with that of the idealized, longed-for fantasy, to find the spaces in between these things, the place where we all feel good about our existence. Hamerkop’s debut, ‘Remote’, started as an exploration of the sonic beauty in Alpers’ collection of field recordings from her homeland and travels around the world. Looped and sampled, they became a set of instrumental sounds of their own and when played live in a multiplespeaker, surround-sound experience, their effect was transporting. The finished album blends these expansive sounds in choral layers of synths and vocals, with a kaleidoscopic, almost psychedelic quality, all of it anchored by Cooke’s Kraut-minimal drumming.
‘Remote’ is a natural progression from the criminally-underrated Bachelorette catalogue - seeking catharsis through the contextualizing of personal texts into lush songscapes, using the chill of synth-pop to mask the fallible human soul hidden behind it. Far away from her native New Zealand with a new life and family in America, Annabel strove to find elements of her old identity in new environs, building songs out of sonic scraps from remote places, as if she were sewing a blanket in which to wrap them all. As she puts it, “Home for me is in two places, and it’s been causing a lot of creative tension because I wish I could be in both places at once.” The songs of ‘Remote’ find depth and dimension via a rich tapestry of voices, found sounds and classic pop melodies, as constant synapse triggering from unexpected angles and algorithms reveals, by chance and design, a magical inner life scored by birds and babies, church bells and bonfires. Genre-defying, yet familiar, Hamerkop translates the topography that stretches out between us into a musical language that celebrates our shared places.
The sound of Hamerkop is multi-layered, changing as it revolves. It’s
the sound made by two people but it could be all of us.

'Is It You, Is It Me', Dustbowl Revival's 5th full length album over a span of 12 years, reveals the band moving in an exciting new direction. Instead of Dixieland jazz and Depression-era folk songs serving as musical mile markers, this new collection mines an energizing vein of soul, funk and roots-infused rock.

“A monument to the endless possibilities afforded by an improvisational spirit, but more importantly it highlights Yoshimi and
her band’s tireless and ever-evolving voice.” - Pitchfork “In the seemingly impenetrable, fantastic murkiness of Japanese experimental psych pop, more often than not, Yoshimi has been a beacon.” - FADER (cover story) OOIOO is a name that should be familiar to anyone who’s waded into the world of rock - and so should their leader YoshimiO’s. Percussionist and founding member for the Boredoms and Saicobab and a longtime collaborator of Kim Gordon (of Sonic Youth), Susie Ibarra and Robert Lowe, among others. It’s no surprise that each OOIOO record has been as energizing and enthralling as the last, which might be the most consistent thing about their eight records - each focus on and offer listeners something new. ‘Nijimusi’ was mainly recorded using a conventional rock ensemble of two guitars, bass and drums but often feels more than that, the phrasing and rhythms becoming something new slowly and then all at once. It’s rock but hard to pin down exactly; psychedelic, shimmering distortion, shouts and tight instrumentation giving way to a controlled burn of instrumental breakdowns. Founded in 1995, OOIOO continue to wow. After six years without releasing new music internationally they’ve created a new album that goes back to the roots of being a four-piece band. OOIOO’s members came together as musicians who move freely between the audible and inaudible, rhythm and non-rhythm, noise and silence. ‘Nijimusi’ can be considered music but it is also a work of art that stimulates the sense of touch and smell, while being atmospheric and ethereal at the same time. Pressed on crystal clear vinyl in deluxe gatefold package designed by Qotaroo using artwork by Ooido Syoujou. Also available on CD and black vinyl. LP formats include digital download code.

Love. Connection. Community. Understanding. Most of us experience these aspects through the prism of family and friends. Not everybody can turn those feelings into song, however. Especially not with the beauty and sensitivity of Pennsylvania trio the innocence mission, fronted by Karen Peris and husband Don. Following their Bella Union album debut ‘Sun On The Square’, which won the band some of their best-ever reviews, they have made another exquisite and touching album, ‘See You Tomorrow’. A record steeped in awe and wonder, intense longing, sadness and joy; a rich sequence of songs that attempt to describe the essence of what makes us human. Sufjan Stevens, who covered the innocence mission’s classic ‘Lakes Of Canada’, once called their music “moving and profound. What is so remarkable about Karen Peris’ lyrics is the economy of words, concrete nouns which come to life with melodies that dance around the scale like sea creatures.” The band recorded ‘See You Tomorrow’ in the Peris’ basement (and the dining room where the piano sits). Karen wrote and sang ten of the album’s eleven songs and plays guitars, piano, pump organ, accordion, electric bass, melodica, mellotron and an old prototype strings sampler keyboard. Don contributes guitars, drums, vocal harmonies and one lead vocal on his song ‘Mary Margaret In Mid-Air’. Fellow founder member Mike Bitts adds upright bass to four songs including ‘On Your Side’.
LP is pressed on orange vinyl and includes digital download code.

A deeply textural, atmospheric and immersive sounding record. Alice Boman’s fragile yet engulfing ethereal vocals create a vortex that listeners are sucked in by. A world where ambient, dream pop and folk merge into a unique new form. Produced by Fabian Prynn (EX:RE, Ghostpoet, Dan Croll) and Patrik Berger (Robyn, Charlie XCX, Icona Pop and Santigold). LP pressed on sun yellow vinyl with printed inner sleeve. Praise for Alice: “Swedish songwriter Alice Boman is a ghostly, whispered presence... which starts as an elegy and ends with solace” - The New York Times; “Recalls the delicate intimacy of Perfume Genius” - The Guardian; “A subtle, nuanced balance between enthralling dream pop and stark confessional” - Clash; “Sublime, heartbreaking” - Gorilla Vs Bear; “Mixes ethereal folk twinges with
unabashed pop glory” - The Line Of Best Fit. Alice toured the EU and US at the beginning of 2019 with sold out shows in Stockholm, Brussels, Copenhagen, Gothenburg and London (two sold out shows at St Pancras Old Church). February / March 2020 EU headline tour
planned.

The fifth and final studio album by the Police, Synchronicity was released in June 1983, and was the band’s most successful release. Despite its pop-oriented and experimental than either Ghost in the Machine or Zenyatta Mondatta, Synchronicity made the Police global superstars, generating no less than five classic hit singles. – Every Breath You Take (featuring a seductive, rolling beat masking its malice) King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger, and Synchronicity II. The album’s title and much of the material for the songs were inspired by Arthur Koestler’s The Roots of Coincidence. At the 1984 Grammy Awards the album was nominated for a total of five awards including Album of the Year releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

Originally released in October 1981, the fourth studio album by The Police was no. 1 in the UK album chart and a multi-platinum best seller. It features three hit singles – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Invisible Sun and Spirits in the Material World. Their jazz influences became more pronounced, but the album had a very strong, sophisticated pop appeal, in the song-writing talents of Sting. Highlights also include the vicious jazz-rocker Demolition Man (later covered by Grace Jones) the frantic Rehumanize Yourself, and a pair of album-closing ballads – Secret Journey and Darkness, releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

The third Police album, from 1980, again reaching no. 1 UK album chart and featuring two classic hit singles – the moving (and controversial) Don’t Stand So Close to Me (about of an older teacher’s relationship with one of his students) and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. Also features their second Grammy-winning instrumental Behind My Camel, and other fan favourites – Shadows in the Rain, Canary in a Coalmine and Man in a Suitcase. Regarded as one of the finest rock albums of all time releasing on black heavyweight vinyl with original LP packaging.

UPSIDE DOWN SMILE WAS RECORDED AND PRODUCED BY EWA JUSTKA AND BY SELF-DESIGNED, SELF-MADE, SELFSELFSELF, ODD LOOKING SLIGHTLY DYSFUNCTIONAL SYNTHESISERS AND BY A TRANCE PURPLE KILLER ROLAND JP8080 AND BY HIS BROTHER VIRUS AND SOME OTHER ROLAND BROTHERS NO SISTERS INCLUDED DURING THE TIME WHEN EWA JUSTKA WHO CURRENTLY LIVES IN GLASGOW, GOVANHILL, ALLISON STREET, WHERE RECENTLY HER PASSPORT WAS STOLEN DUE TO THE BURGLARY, WHERE SHE LIVES IN JOY, ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES THE FLOOR GETS WET DUE TO THE LEAKING WINDOWS AND SOMETIMES ONE CAN FIND DEAD PIGEONS LAYING ON THE STAIRCASE BUT IT'S NICE AND COSY AND EWA JUSTKA HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL PERSON IN THE DEEP DARK TRANSISTOR LADDER CIRCUITS LIVES SINCE SHE IS STUDYING PHD AT EDINBURGH COLLEGE OF ART WHERE SHE THINKS A LOT ABOUT IMITATION IN SYNTHESISER DESIGN AND FILTERS AND VCOS AND FORMANTS AND ACID AND HARDCORE MUSIC AND TWIN T FILTERS AND OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS AND SHE TURNS KNOBS AND THINKS AND THE UPSIDE DOWN SMILE ALBUM WAS MADE IN THE DEPTH OF THOSE THOUGHTS QUITE OFTEN SAD THOUGHTS UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS A BIT OF A CYNICAL SMILE BUT AN HONEST SMILE CYNICAL BUT HONEST UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS A SMILE THROUGH TEARS BUT TEARS OF JOY SCOTTISH JOY UPSIDE DOWN SMILE IS UPSIDE DOWN ACID ONE COULD SAY UPSIDE DOWN SMILE COULD BE INTERPRETED AS A SAD SMILE BUT IT IS A SMILE IN THE END OF THE DAY

Wildly acclaimed Brooklyn songwriter Joan As
Police Woman returns with her new album ‘Cover
Two’.
 This is Joan’s second album reinterpreting songs
by other artists and, once again, the choices are
unpredictable and intriguing.
 “A voice so wondrous and moving that it makes
everyone else’s seem ordinary and mundane” -
The Guardian
 “Beautiful” - Q
 “Joan As Police Woman is one of the 21st
Century’s best musicians” - The Economist
 Gatefold CD with fold out booklet. Red vinyl with
digital download card.

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 InBetween’, 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 In The Valley Of The In-Between’ 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.
 CD in digipack with poster insert.
 Double LP in gatefold jacket with custom dust sleeves
and etching on side D and digital download coupon.
 Cassette in three-panel J-card in clear case