Pop & Rock News

To Kill A King have today released their new single 'Spiritual Dark Age' and announced a headline tour for January 2018. Described by singer Ralph Pelleymounter as "a bit of comfort for the long dark night of the soul," 'Spiritual Dark Age' is To Kill A King at their irrepressible best. Marrying memorable, thought-provoking lyrics with dynamic production and outrageously catchy hooks, 'Spiritual Dark Age' grabs from the off and never lets up. 'Spiritual Dark Age' and recent single ''The Good Old Days' will feature on the To Kill A King's third album due early 2018.

The band's twelve-date UK tour starts at Sheffield Plug on January 11th and will culminate at Islington Assembly Hall on January 27th. "We are so excited to get back on the road and play for you all, it's been too long since we've seen a lot of these parts,' says Ralph. Roll on 2018!"

Earlier this year To Kill A King played three consecutive London headline dates (at The Borderline, Oslo, and Omeara), and this week they return to their DIY roots with a European 'Living Room Tour', which starts in Belgium on Thursday.

After releasing two acclaimed albums, 2013's 'Cannibals With Cutlery' and 2015's self-titled follow-up 'To Kill A King', and touring incessantly since 2010, To Kill a King took a well deserved break in 2016, Ralph using the time to write with Rag'n' Bone Man and Zibra, while keyboardist Ben Jackson produced albums for Childcare and Little White Things.

To Kill A King: Ralph Pelleymounter (vocals, guitar), James Ball (bass), Ben Jackson (keyboards), Grant McNeill (guitar), and Josh Taffel (drums)

Felt, The Wake, Orange Juice, The Pastels, Feelies, Belle and Sebastian, Rat Columns. David West is a musical artist from Western Australia based in New York City. He's been active in the shifting sands of underground pop for over a decade. Not dissimilar to the main character in Star Wars, his musical career began in a backwater desert village, in this case, Perth, before he migrated to more glittering metropolises like San Francisco and Melbourne, and finally landing in his current home of New York. He presently plays in the contemporary outfits Rat Columns, Rank/Xerox and Liberation. In the past he has participated in such groups as Lace Curtain, Burning Sensation and Total Control. DW began releasing eponymous platters in 2015 with the Night People/Happy Endin' full-length cassette Drop Out Of Collage. This was followed in 2016 by the Peace Or Love LP which featured the radio semi-hit 'Dream On Dreamer'. DW's move into the "own-name" category of artists came as his other bands began to develop defined identities. He felt that recording under his own name would be an excellent umbrella for both roving experimentation and a more frivolous, post-modern style of pop music that would not fit in the frameworks of his other projects. Also, after crafting band names for over a decade, it was just time. Cherry On Willow is DW's audio pop vision for 2017. It differs from the last two DW releases by introducing a more collaborative framework, creating the backing group Teardrops - an open ensemble of friends and collaborators, including Bob Jones of Eaters, Louis Hooper of Rat Columns, Mikey Young of Total Control and Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Raven Mahon of Grass Widow, dynamite drummer Griffin Harrison and other supremely talented individuals from the past and future. The recordings were quite live and spontaneous, hoping to catch some of the magic involved in speed and improvisation, harvesting creative sparks from his musical colleagues and himself. The album was recorded in various places in the latter half of 2016 - by DW in his practice space in New York City, in a rental rehearsal room in Glasgow, and a garage studio in Guildford, Western Australia, where Rat Columns' recent LP Candle Power was also recorded. Cherry On Willow was recorded quickly and with a 'first thought best thought' philosophy, to capture an old-school pop feeling, with rough edges intact, human movements tracked and uncut. Swiping liberally from various strains of underground pop, glam, rock'n'roll, synth-pop and disco.

Remixes from Ruede hagelstein & Amin Fallaha, Scuba, Julien Bracht and Tom (Alt-J) Hymn to the Night is the debut album from rising electronic post-punk duo, Lea Porcelain. The album was writt en and recorded over a two year period in Berlin's FUNKHAUS, a broadcasti ng house created under Soviet supervision that now houses the world's biggest recording studio. We are proud of what we have made and we have learned a lot through the process,' recall the band. The spectrum of the album is extremely wide.

Every song works together, playing with very different moods. We would describe it as atmospheric, cinemati c and melancholic'. Including the singles, 'Bones', 'Out Is In', and 'Warsaw Street' The song is rich in vibrant synthesizers and gentle vocals laced with percussion as lively as a marching band, creati ng a track as quixoti c as a lucid dream. - Stereogum

Ominous motorik kraut rumblings and the thudding electronic trickery of prime era Underworld. - Godisinthetvzine

Music-wise, we're thinking of smooshing together Joy Division with Echo & The Bunnymen (sure) coupled with the modern-downbeatness of The XX. So everything dressed in black basically. Brilliant stuff . - Killing Moon

An electronic duo from Frankfurt, Lea Porcelain have a dark, twisted yet oddly enti cing sound. - Clash Magazine

Friendship Fever is working closely with Jason Lytle of Grandaddy to give this seminal album the deluxe treatment it deserves. It will include the beautifully re-mastered original album intact, as well as an extra LP featuring unreleased demos from 1997 that include sketches of songs that became legendary Grandaddy tracks, like Bjork ELO Xanadu and the Birth of Chartsengrafs' and the fan-favorite For The Dishwasher.' Grandaddy was meticulous about documenting their early years and has also provided folders of raw original artwork elements for Under the Western Freeway, candid photographs, original flyer artwork, tour logs, doodles, and much more. New liner notes will be written by Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals. Our hope is that this release serves as an unparalleled time-capsule of this seminal Central-Valley California masterpiece. Ahead of its time, sitting peacefully alone in the universe.

LIMITED REPRESS ON WHITE VINYL WITH BONUS 7' (500 COPIES)

"The Wave Pictures are conjure up some of the most gleeful, magnificent pop in town." The Guardian
"Their confessionals drip with a yearning for something more than the humdrum. Its so grimy and intimate you can smell the cigarettes and red wine on Tattersall's breath." MetroProducing seductively shabby love songs, with unsurpassed dexterity and an authenticity born out of obscurity, The Wave Pictures released their debut album Instant Coffee Baby in 2009. With lead singer David Tattersall and bassplayer Franic Rozycki growing up in Wymeswold near Loughborough, the roots of The Wave Pictures lie far from the scene centric commerciality of the prevailing mainstream. Instant Coffee Baby is an album so lyrically of its time it should be placed in the Blue Peter time capsule, and yet it's production is timeless, it's touchstones myriad and the performances little short of virtuoso.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE
- INCLUDES 4 PAGE BOOKLET
- 10TH ANNIVERSARY
- INCLUDING THE HITS GIRLFRIEND' AND WHEN YOU'RE GONE'
- FIRST TIME ON VINYL!
- LIMITED EDITION OF 2500 NUMBERED COPIES ON PINK VINYL WORLDWIDE

The Best Damn Thing is the third studio album by Avril Lavigne, originally released in 2007. The album represents a musical departure from her earlier studio album Under My Skin (MOVLP1772) which incorporates more elements of post-grunge music.

The Best Damn Thing is seen by critics as Lavigne's most commercial album and was noted as her first effort to feature a wide range of producers for the studio album, including Matt Beckley, Rob Cavallo, Dr. Luke and Lavigne herself. The album received positive reviews from music critics, many praising her transition from grungy alternative rock music to more pop-punk music, with it being catchy and very radio-friendly.

The album debuted at number one in charts from the US, Austria, Canada, United Kingdom and many other countries. The album became one of the best-selling albums of 2007.

Four singles were released from the album. Its lead single Girlfriend' peaked at number one on the in the Billboard Hot 100. The single also reached number one in twelve other countries across the world including Australia, Canada and Japan, making it one of the best-selling singles of 2007 worldwide. Other singles, When You're Gone', Hot' and The Best Damn Thing' were successful around the globe.

2017 marks the 10th Anniversary of The Best Damn Thing. The album is now available on vinyl for the first time. This first, limited edition run is pressed on 180 gram solid pink vinyl.

Only 2,500 copies are available.

Terry's second seven inch with three new songs exploring themes of patriarchy in politics, mass consumption versus lifestyle choices and the dating scene.
'8 Girls' is a pop nugget that references female politicians including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop, controversial leader of the One Nation party Pauline Hanson and Senators Penny Wong and Jacqui Lambie, who on the cover looks to be dressed as a sumo wrestler.
Divide Terry into four and you get Al Montfort (UV Race, Total Control, Dick Diver), Amy Hill (Constant Mongrel, School Of Radiant Living), Xanthe Waite (Mick Harvey Band) and Zephyr Pavey (Eastlink, Total Control, Russell Street Bombings).
Originally released on a short run by Aarght records in Australia, this version on transparent vinyl housed in a reverse board sleeve, limited to 400 copies!

Flat Worms belt-sanded everyone with their 7-inch on Volar, and Castle Face is proud as new papas to present their debut album. The band continues their ride on a buzz-saw wave of feedback-tipped riffs into the middle distance, the smog-choked sunset receding in the rearview, with a thousand-yard dead pan stare surgically pinned to a high octane set of boredom-energized punk pistons. This is an ear-ringing missive from the end of the cul-de-sac, a mirage wavering above a mid-sized American suburb at dusk, with the constellations bleached black by the sprawl. A little Wipers, a little Wire, and a lot of late-capitalist era anxious energy—Flat Worms scratch the itch quite nicely.

Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, live on Tampa Bay's WYNF 'Radio Clash' program on April 26th 1992. Before signing a national record deal, Marilyn Manson cultivated a strong regional following in Florida. This LP features material from a broadcast on Tampa's WYNF on April 26, 1992, more than two years before the release of their first album. Included are earlier versions of songs from 1994's Portrait of an American Family, as well as a few that wouldn't make it onto that or their subsequent records.

Following last year's interim track, the 25 minute opus 'Blackened Cities', Melanie De Biasio makes her return with news of a brand new album 'Lilies'. Classically trained and revered in her native Belgium De Biasio uncovered fans in the shape of Gilles Peterson - who heralded De Biasio as one of the most exciting artists in the jazz world and Radiohead's Phillip Selway with the release of her second album, 2014's 'No Deal'. Earlier this year also saw the Eels remix of 'I Feel You', featured in the trailer for Ridley Scott's 'Alien: Covenant', lifted from 'No Deal' - it once again cements the ever- growing and widespread regard from her peers.
The nine-track 'Lilies' continues to enthral, from openers 'Your Freedom Is The End Of Me', with its immersive narrative underpinned by piano. An up- tempo, entrancing collection of tracks that ventures to stimulate both lyrically and musically whilst enticing the listener into an expressive and atmospheric environment.
LP format includes a copy of the album on CD

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- INCLUDES 4 PAGE BOOKLET
- 15TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
- INCLUDING THE HITS COMPLICATED' AND SK8ER BOI'
- FIRST TIME ON VINYL!


Let Go is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, originally released in 2002. The album was credited as the biggest pop debut of 2002, and was certified 6× Platinum. She became the youngest female solo artist to have a number-one album in the UK.

As of 2013, Let Go had sold over 20 million copies worldwide, becoming Lavigne's highest-selling album to date. According to Billboard magazine, the album was the number 21 top-selling album of the decade. A Rolling Stone readers' poll named Let Go as the fourth best album of the 2000s.

The album is considered as one of the albums that changed the pop punk music scene, because it helped to bring pop punk music into the mainstream, contributing to the rise of female fronted pop punk bands and female-driven punk-influenced pop music.

2017 marks the 15th anniversary of Let Go. To celebrate this, the album is released on vinyl for the first time. This first, limited edition run is pressed on 180 gram solid white vinyl. Only 3.000 copies are available.

With The Object Isn't There UK guitar player and producer Jack Allett has made a deeply personal masterpiece based around cyclical guitar parts and electronic percussion. Playing like a half remembered fever dream with an aesthetic that is ragged, hypnotic and spacey, its two side-long pieces touch on minimalism, kraut-infused dub and euphoric dance floor optimism. As comfortable being played after Manuel Göttschings E2-E4 as right before a Terekke lo-fi house anthem, it is laced with the melancholy of an early morning post-rave comedown. Yet for all the references and name-checking, it's a record that is hard to compare to anything else, past or present.



BIOGRAPHY



Jack Allett works as a producer in London and has been active for many years as an experimental guitar player, releasing a solo record on Blackest Rainbow and collaborating with UK avant-guitar player Cam Deas. The Object Isn't There was written, recorded, and mixed in Camberwell and Camden, London, UK. 2012-2016.



INFO



This record is about - insofar as instrumental music need be about anything - hallucinations. The title The Object Isn't There serves as a concise definition, derived from the quote 'An hallucination is a strictly sensational form of consciousness, as good and true a sensation as if there were a real object there. The object happens to be not there, that is all.' (William James, The Principles Of Psychology, 1890)



Having experienced constant tinnitus - a form of auditory hallucination - for the last 13 years, Jack has long questioned the distinction of something experienced as being either there or not-there. Even if, strictly speaking, an hallucination is something that's not there, if the reality of how it affects day-to-day existence is undeniable then to any extent that matters, it is there. But The Object Isn't There is no tale of woe, nor simply a response to this one condition, and tinnitus need not be considered only as distressing or distracting. Allett sees it merely as one example of many things in life that cross this uncertain terrain:



There are obvious parallels here with the notion of active listening. There is room for emotion too, particularly the kind of overwhelming, -all-consuming emotion that, once it fades, is hard to believe was actually how you felt. Essentially the music here is concerned with being overwhelmed by a sensation, never really being sure to what extent you are conjuring it up yourself, to what extent it exists independently of you, but ultimately deciding that it doesn't much matter; the sensation itself was undeniable.

— Jack Allett

A swirling haze with a plenitude of sounds bobbing to it's surface it's a heartfelt

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE
- INCLUDING 4 PAGE BOOKLET WITH LYRICS
- INCLUDES GALAXIE', SKINNED' AND NEW LIFE'
- RANKED NUMBER 357 IN ROCK HARD MAGAZINE'S BOOK OF 'THE 500 GREATEST ROCK & METAL ALBUMS OF ALL TIME'
- LIMITED EDITION OF 1500 NUMBERED COPIES ON YELLOW VINYL

Soup is the second studio album by American rock band Blind Melon, released eight weeks before vocalist Shannon Hoon's fatal drug overdose.

The album proved to be a challenging, gripping record that is just as strong and perhaps even more rewarding than their debut album.

2 X 4' is about Hoon's experience at a drug detox, Galaxie' is about Hoon's experience with his car, a 1964 Ford Galaxie and Skinned' is about serial killer Ed Gein.

The producer of the album, Andy Wallace, is seen on the cover, sipping soup.

In 2005, Soup was ranked number 357 in Rock Hard magazine's book of 'The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time'.

This album is now available as a limited edition of 1500 numbered copies on yellow vinyl. The records are housed in a deluxe gatefold jacket with the original 4 page Menu' booklet.

All the songs on the album were recorded at High Sea Studios by Jacques Du Plessis and Adrian Erasmus, described by the band as the 6th and 7th members of SHORTSTRAW. Musically, the collecton as an album expresses the diferent types of music all the members are into, not being dictated by any sound or genre each month, the band wrote about whatever they were feeling at the tme and what they thought sounded good.
Lyrically there was defnitely a theme, and that theme was basically 2016-2017! Each month, as we wrote the songs, I'd just be singing about what I was going through at the tme. A struggling relatonship, a break up and the subsequent reforming of said relatonship, along with the death of my frst dog. It's actually a prety personal album.' says Alastair Thomas.
Commitng to releasing a new song and music video every month is all about stcking to tmelines otherwise they would have lost all momentum, says SHORTSTRAW. While writng the songs each month, some came more easily than others. A few of them came from old ideas reimagined: Ignorance is Bliss was born out of idea of Alastair that is almost 10 years old, whereas Our Simple Minds and The Less We're Together came about in less than an hour.'
Compared to their previous albums, THOSE MEDDLING KIDS feel more free and bold, the songs are all vastly diferent and diverse and in some cases, they change tempos and even in the case of Rich Richards, are three diferent songs in one. The band cared less about what people may have expected, and were more content to do what they think is great and excitng.
They tried something new on almost every song and played with tme signatures, genres, producton elements and collaboratons.
The result: THOSE MEDDLING KIDS, a music collectve.

First ever vinyl reissue of the fifth album by the Turkish legend.

Hasret', based on poems by Nazim Hikmet, was originally released in 1980, while Cem was living in Germany. A good example of Anatolian Pop / Rock, featuring great songs & production (lots of analogue synths) and the incredible, powerful voice of Cem.

- 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
- GATEFOLD SLEEVE
- INCLUDES 4 PAGE BOOKLET
- INCLUDING THE HITS MY HAPPY ENDING' AND DON'T TELL ME'
- FIRST TIME ON VINYL!

Under My Skin is the second studio album by Avril Lavigne,
released in 2004. The album debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 albums chart and has sold over 14 million copies worldwide

The sound of Under My Skin is a bit more aggressive, darker and heavier than her previous album Let Go (MOVLP1771) and was well received by fans and critics.

The album contains 4 successful hit singles, Don't Tell Me', My Happy Ending', Nobody's Home' and He Wasn't'.

"Jam Room" is the second in a series of three Clutch picture disc releases in 2017.

This is the fourth full-length album by Clutch, originally released in 1999. More than any of their other missives prior to this, "Jam Room" exemplifies Clutch's vector into uncharted terrain, both musically and lyrically!

Live At The Googolplex is the first in a series of three Clutch picture disc releases in 2017!

Recorded in Chicago, IL (tracks 1-4, 12 & 13), Montreal, Quebec (tracks 5, 6, 10 & 11), Kansas City, KS (tracks 7-9) and Columbus, OH (tracks 14 & 15)

Recorded on the tour dates of February 19 & 21, March 1 & 2 in 2002 on the System Of A Down US tour.

"Pitchfork & Lost Needles" is the third and final in a series of three Clutch picture disc releases in 2017.

This is an essential piece of the Clutch canon combining the early EP's "Pitchfork" and "Passive Restraints" with additional demo tracks from "Transnational Speedway League" and "Robot Hive/Exodus".

After the phenomenal reaction to his solo track 'Wall of Glass' and the emotional scenes that accompanied his first solo shows, Liam Gallagher can now announce that his eagerly anticipated debut album 'As You Were' will be released on October 6th on Warner Bros. Records.

I didn't want to be reinventing anything or going off on a space jazz odyssey,' says Liam. It's the Lennon 'Cold Turkey' vibe, The Stones, the classics. But done my way, now.'

The album's cover features an iconic new portrait of Liam which was taken by the influential photographer, fashion designer and creative director Hedi Slimane.

Widely considered to be one of the best albums of the 90s, 1992's Automatic For The People features R.E.M.'s iconic hit singles Nightswimming,' Man on the Moon' and Everybody Hurts.'

Commemorating the album's 25th Anniversary, this remastered Deluxe edition boxset features previously unreleased material, including 20 never-before-heard demos, and the previously unreleased tracks Mike's Pop Song' and Devil Rides Backwards.' A Blu-ray disc offers the full album (with bonus track Photograph' featuring Natalie Merchant) mixed in Dolby Atmos, plus a high-resolution master of the album, music videos, and the original 1992 EPK. Also included is Live At The 40 Watt Club 11/19/92 - a live set performed in R.E.M.'s hometown of Athens, GA.

The Death Of A King already highlighted by NME as 'the best album of their career', this record (which was recorded in Thailand) takes the band in a more experimental, psychedelic direction

Low in High School is Morrissey's first studio album since 2014 and was recorded at La Fabrique Studios in France and in Rome at Ennio Morricone's Forum Studios. The record is produced by Joe Chiccarelli (who has worked with Frank Zappa, The Strokes, Beck and The White Stripes to name a few). Morrissey's talent for combining political statements and beautiful melodies is more prevalent than ever on Low in High-School, capturing the zeitgeist of an ever-changing world