Pop & Rock News

Produced by John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr.), Instigator is Kevin Devine's ninth full-length album and comes on the heels of a busy few years: In addition to recording two albums with Bad Books (the indie-rock supergroup he formed with members of Manchester Orchestra), he released the Kickstarter-funded double-album collection Bubblegum and Bulldozer in 2013 along with the wildly ambitious 2015 Devinyl Splits 7' series with the likes of Brand New's Jesse Lacey, Perfect Pussy's Meredith Graves and Nada Surf's Matthew Caws. Devine is a master storyteller, and he imbues Instigator - from the biting power-pop of "Both Ways" to the angular "Guard Your Gates" & gorgeously finger-picked No One Says You Have To' - with intricate details and often-uncomfortable truths. Their meanings are personal, but their themes are universal. It's a skill that makes both his albums and his live show so alluring: Even when Devine's writing about the world at large, he's pointing a mirror back at himself. When Devine's past lives meet his present-day self on the career-defining I Was Alive Back Then,' the beautiful duality of his art takes center stage: Life is never all peril or perfection, a country ripped apart by war and social injustice or the joy of holding your child for the first time. The extremes might be easier to define, but it's in the middle where life really happens.

Inuit artist Tanya Tagaq won the Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album in 2014, for Animism. Those who thought she had then made her definitive artistic statement are in for a surprise. Also in for a shock are those who thought international success, playing to major festivals and packed houses all over the world, would lead to a mellower sound, or a more laid back approach.
Tagaq follows up Animism with Retribution, an even more musically aggressive, more aggressively political, more challenging, more spine tingling, more powerful masterpiece. This album is a cohesive, whole statement. Why sugarcoat it This album is about rape. Rape of women, rape of the land, rape of children, despoiling of traditional lands without consent. Hence the chilling cover version of Nirvana's song "Rape Me."

On September 23rd Whistlejacket release a limited edition vinyl album which brings together their two digital EP releases thus far, 'Oh Brother' and 'What I Ate On Sunday', in one giant tsunami of neo-grunge fuzzrock tsound. The release coincides with live dates in Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands with a headline show at The Lexington in London Town to polish things off on September 19th.
If alt.radio smashes like 'Stay-N' and 'Holiday' indicated a shimmering, low-slung face-off between Teenage Fanclub and Sonic Youth then the four-song 'Oh Brother' EP - which was released on September 2nd - fittingly saw the quintet growing up, adding groovy motorik undercurrents and trashy wig-outs to their already pretty darned tempestuous indierock template with tracks like 'Oh Brother' and 'Hotter Than Heaven', as you can hear here: It makes sense, too: over the past year Whistlejacket have shared stages with the frenetically cosmic likes of Diiv, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Yuck and Bully and stealthily worked the London underground scene with shows for Moth Club, Bad Vibrations, Club Fandango and John Kennedy's X-posure as well as their own admirable DIY promoting endeavours.

Cancer are a duo consisting of Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild and Kristian Finne Kristensen. Nikolaj is also known as the lead singer of electronic band When Saints Go Machine and Kristian from his americana-inspired solo-career as Chorus Grant.
Cancer's forthcoming debut album (entitled Totem) follows the successful 2014-EP Ragazzi that quickly sold out its 500-unit vinyl run and gained the band a substantial fan-base in their home country Denmark while reaching key media internationally including a healthy Hypem popular chart placement,
spot plays at BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music, the playlists at Amazing Radio and DR P6 Beat as well as online features from The Fader, DIY, Noisey, Pigeons & Planes and many more.
The name Cancer comes from personal experience. It comes from the disease, of course,' says Nikolaj. It's the greatest tragedy of my life, losing one of my parents to cancer.' As Nikolaj was going through this traumatic event he met Kristian and the two started making music. He continues: I started thinking about this vacuum that occurs when someone is ill, or someone dies, where everyone is able to speak and people are so open.
There's also a lot of beauty in all of this'. Kristian continues: Our songs are not specifically about dark matters concerning the disease, but also the light and the love and the beauty of relationships between people. Friends, family...all of this!'

After locking themselves in studio for the month of March, the group's time and spirit lead to the collection of songs that make up TERRAFORM.  Roberts explains, Terraforming is the concept of going to another planet and making it viable and livable for humans. But in a sense, for this record it can be seen as planting the seeds for that sort of renewal in your own life - that regardless of how much you have broken the parts of your life along the way, there is always a chance to start over.' TERRAFORM is the sixth full-length album release since 2015's COUNTING THE DAYS EP and 2014's album LO-FANTASY. Roberts believes the key to the band's longevity is their steadfast enthusiasm to stick to their artistic guns and consistently work to make a better album each time.  Roberts emphasizes, I think the challenge for our band is to still deliver the music with a sense of spontaneity, a sense of urgency and I think that when we go into a new record, we sort of loosen the grips of other people's expectations and our own expectations.' The lead single If You Want It' is already a chart-climbing success currently in the top 5 at Alternative radio and counting.  The tune captures what Sam Roberts Band does best, creative instrumental melodies and memorable lyrics that allow their listeners to interpret their own meanings from the songs.  And in Sam's own words: "It's about a trip to Hell... And hopefully back...' The acclaimed Montreal based five-piece band includes Sam Roberts (lead vocals, guitar), Dave Nugent (guitar), Eric Fares (keyboard, guitar), Josh Trager (drums), and James Hall (bass). 

The Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Veronica Falls, The Bats, Ultimate Painting, Toy. Proper Ornaments is the project of James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Veronica Falls) and Max Oscarnold (Toy, Pink Flames). Debut LP 'Wooden Head' (FortunaPop 2014) perfected the unique slant of their previous work. James and Max started out writing the follow-up in January 2015. On 'Foxhole' they've sliced away a whole stratum of their sound, removing some distortion and lowering the frequency of plectrum strokes to allow more nuanced, piano-led ideas to emerge. The title isn't a reference to Television's jaunty proto-punk record but seems to be more of a dark, protective interior, a head space sketched out on 'Jeremy's Song'. While their particularly recognisable production style (a bright, frozen counterpoint to the airless mixes one encounters more often) remains, three things stand out as likely reasons for the shift in mood. By the time they got around to recording again in James' bedroom in Finsbury Park that Summer, the instability around the recording of 'Wooden Head' (and the five years before) had slid into a deep and seething acrimony. Second, they both bought pianos. Third, when the band, with Daniel Nellis and Bobby Syme joining on bass and drums went to record at Tin Room in Hackney in June, the pinch wheel on the 8 track machine was broken and somehow no one noticed. All but one recording, 'The Frozen Stare,' was hopelessly warped, so they went and did it all again from scratch back at James'. We ended up doing the whole thing there as the atmosphere suited the direction of the foxhole and we were more comfortable working on it in our own time,' says James. That's why the record has a laid back, conversational, not imposing or anxious feel in my opinion. If 'Always There' was the most melodically fluid but dimly lit point of the first record, there are another half album of songs here at least that are as strikingly gorgeous and unsettling. 'Memories,' 'Just a Dream,' 'The Frozen Stare' and 'When We Were Young' are in this mould, as is the icy, slightly devastated goodbye that closes the record 'The Devils,' filled out with piano reminiscent of Big Star's 'Third' or Lou Reed's 'Berlin' and cracked double bass. What was in evidence in two of their earliest songs - 'You Still' and 'Are You Going Blind' - an understated, poetic play of moral sensitivity against a callous distance, of warmth and hostility, has reached its most sustained expression yet and gives their pop moments of a haunted love song quality along the lines of Del Shannon, Lesley Gore or Roy Orbison. 'Bridge by a Tunnel' and 'I Know You Know', on the other hand, share in the breezily abstracted character of 2014 single 'Magazine,' the later laying a sardonic (non)apology - 'I know you know, things could've been different/but they're not' over careful daubs of slide guitar. 'Cremated' is also guitar-lead, and reaches an early apogee of morbid oblivion baiting, while '1969' is a really perfectly recorded grand sweep of sound that recalls Serge Gainsbourg and 'Harvest'-era Neil Young. Proper Ornaments hold the attraction of seeming to not try very hard at all and achieve something outstanding nonetheless.

The Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Veronica Falls, The Bats, Ultimate Painting, Toy. Proper Ornaments is the project of James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Veronica Falls) and Max Oscarnold (Toy, Pink Flames). Debut LP 'Wooden Head' (FortunaPop 2014) perfected the unique slant of their previous work. James and Max started out writing the follow-up in January 2015. On 'Foxhole' they've sliced away a whole stratum of their sound, removing some distortion and lowering the frequency of plectrum strokes to allow more nuanced, piano-led ideas to emerge. The title isn't a reference to Television's jaunty proto-punk record but seems to be more of a dark, protective interior, a head space sketched out on 'Jeremy's Song'. While their particularly recognisable production style (a bright, frozen counterpoint to the airless mixes one encounters more often) remains, three things stand out as likely reasons for the shift in mood. By the time they got around to recording again in James' bedroom in Finsbury Park that Summer, the instability around the recording of 'Wooden Head' (and the five years before) had slid into a deep and seething acrimony. Second, they both bought pianos. Third, when the band, with Daniel Nellis and Bobby Syme joining on bass and drums went to record at Tin Room in Hackney in June, the pinch wheel on the 8 track machine was broken and somehow no one noticed. All but one recording, 'The Frozen Stare,' was hopelessly warped, so they went and did it all again from scratch back at James'. We ended up doing the whole thing there as the atmosphere suited the direction of the foxhole and we were more comfortable working on it in our own time,' says James. That's why the record has a laid back, conversational, not imposing or anxious feel in my opinion. If 'Always There' was the most melodically fluid but dimly lit point of the first record, there are another half album of songs here at least that are as strikingly gorgeous and unsettling. 'Memories,' 'Just a Dream,' 'The Frozen Stare' and 'When We Were Young' are in this mould, as is the icy, slightly devastated goodbye that closes the record 'The Devils,' filled out with piano reminiscent of Big Star's 'Third' or Lou Reed's 'Berlin' and cracked double bass. What was in evidence in two of their earliest songs - 'You Still' and 'Are You Going Blind' - an understated, poetic play of moral sensitivity against a callous distance, of warmth and hostility, has reached its most sustained expression yet and gives their pop moments of a haunted love song quality along the lines of Del Shannon, Lesley Gore or Roy Orbison. 'Bridge by a Tunnel' and 'I Know You Know', on the other hand, share in the breezily abstracted character of 2014 single 'Magazine,' the later laying a sardonic (non)apology - 'I know you know, things could've been different/but they're not' over careful daubs of slide guitar. 'Cremated' is also guitar-lead, and reaches an early apogee of morbid oblivion baiting, while '1969' is a really perfectly recorded grand sweep of sound that recalls Serge Gainsbourg and 'Harvest'-era Neil Young. Proper Ornaments hold the attraction of seeming to not try very hard at all and achieve something outstanding nonetheless.

New Jersey indie-rock pioneers The Feelies are celebrating their 40th anniversary with the release of 'In Between', their first album of all new material in over 6 years.

Whilst working the post Velvet Underground moves they're so famous for, In Between brings interesting new ideas into the mix.

The twin-guitar attack of songwriters and founders Glenn Mercer and Bill Million is still at the core of the group's infectious sound, paired with the driving rhythmic team of drummer Stan Demeski and percussionist Dave Weckerman, with Brenda Sauter's bass guitar proving a rock solid foundation.

'On the new record we did a lot of it at my house in my home studio with extra equipment, explains Mercer. 'It's the same room where we rehearsed. We've been here since we reformed and a little bit prior to taking the hiatus in the 90's. So it's a room we're really familiar with and feel comfortable in. We also did some recording at an engineer's studio, so it was all done very low key. We refer to it as 'off the clock' when you're not paying an hourly rate, so in that sense it was a lot more relaxed. I don't think anyone would notice a drastic change in the sound or the vibe of the record. I think it sounds a lot more relaxed and laid back.'

'I think all of our albums reflect a certain degree of reaction to the work that we previously did and In Between is no exception,' continues Bill Million. 'We liked the sounds and the feel of the demos for this album and we thought it would be difficult to capture that in a recording studio. So that was our starting point and it evolved in a much more relaxed way that loaned itself to more creative interplay. Time wasn't a component. If you let it, music can take on a life of its own and we wanted to allow the songs to develop with that idea in mind.'

Formed in Haledon NJ in 1976, The Feelies have now released six albums - including their critically acclaimed and influential debut Crazy Rhythms, as well as playing concerts with The Patti Smith Group, REM, and Bob Dylan as well as touring with Lou Reed.

In 2008, The Feelies re-united after a 17 year hiatus to open for long time admirers Sonic Youth at Battery Park and then resurrected their tradition of playing low key gigs at strategic intervals throughout the year rather than doing lengthy tours. They signed with Bar/None the same year, who re-issued The Good Earth and Crazy Rhythms. Here Before was released in 2011 and marked The Feelies first studio album in nearly two decades. In Between continues The Feelies story and is out 24th February on Bar None.

Two brothers from the outskirts of London. Model Man set about on a journey of enlightenment through minimalism. Dissecting the piano, replacing its parts with nuts and bolts and turning conventional instrument into something unpredictable and unique. They say Before releasing anything we were lucky enough to play and record with some great artists such as Damon Albarn and Squarepusher on various projects. They taight us things about minimalizing our toolset and using space to create new textures in our arrangements'
They have enjoyed the support of the likes of Gold Panda. For fans of Nils Frahm, Four Tet, Caribou etc

In the brooding reverberations of a music scene that has since become virtual folklore, Alice In Chains left a beer-soaked stage as glam-metal merchants Diamond Lie, returning two years later in 1989 with a Columbia contract on the strength of their demo tape. Alice In Chains will always be synonymous with the 'grunge' scene and while they were pioneers of the genre alongside fellow Seattle noise grinders Nirvana, they are equally valued as a tour-de-force in metal.
Their California shows at La Reina, Sheraton and the Westminster Forum in September 1990 define their celebratory status as Seattle grunge icons, but also reveal the band's raw, inner sanctum. Considered by many fans to be one of their finest concerts, the La Reina show is a significant reminder of the band's embryonic fire and depth. Promoting their debut album Facelift and on the cusp of a new musical phenomenon, this is the legendary Alice In Chains.
Live On Vinyl proudly presents the entire original KPFK 90.7 FM broadcast of Alice In Chains live at La Reina, Sheraton on 15th September 1990. Professionally re-mastered original broadcast with background liners and rare archival photos.

Invisible Boy is a project fronted by Chris Bierden, bassist for Polica and vital contributor to many Minneapolis-based projects. Bierden has been preforming solo shows under the moniker Invisible Boy for the last 10 years.

The name is taken from the title of a song by Vampire Hands, a beloved psych/punk band in which Bierden was a founding member. This is the first Invisible Boy effort at arranging the material into fully formed songs.

Invisible Boy is about life, death, and a child's relationship to the cosmos. The music is meant to find empathy in a world that is often cold and indifferent.

When making this album, Chris applied the expert fort-building skills of his youth. A makeshift vocal booth was assembled out of three large orange floral couch cushions, two standing vertical upon chairs and one resting over top to create a pillowy square frame with sheets and blankets draped across the back. It stood only 4 feet tall, forcing Bieden to kneel while he cooed into an old East German microphone. Though not entirely structurally sound, it provided adequate insulation to absorb the reflections of his voice that would have otherwise bounced off of the low ceiling and walls of the basement in which he recorded.

Bierden has spent the last five years touring the world as the bass player and back-up vocalist for Poliça. He recorded bass and vocals on the last two Har Mar Superstar records, and developed other projects of note such as Heavy Deeds, Pony Trash, and Bones & Beeker.

LP comes with download code and printed inner sleeve.

Invisible Boy is a project fronted by Chris Bierden, bassist for Polica and vital contributor to many Minneapolis-based projects. Bierden has been preforming solo shows under the moniker Invisible Boy for the last 10 years.

The name is taken from the title of a song by Vampire Hands, a beloved psych/punk band in which Bierden was a founding member. This is the first Invisible Boy effort at arranging the material into fully formed songs.

Invisible Boy is about life, death, and a child's relationship to the cosmos. The music is meant to find empathy in a world that is often cold and indifferent.

When making this album, Chris applied the expert fort-building skills of his youth. A makeshift vocal booth was assembled out of three large orange floral couch cushions, two standing vertical upon chairs and one resting over top to create a pillowy square frame with sheets and blankets draped across the back. It stood only 4 feet tall, forcing Bieden to kneel while he cooed into an old East German microphone. Though not entirely structurally sound, it provided adequate insulation to absorb the reflections of his voice that would have otherwise bounced off of the low ceiling and walls of the basement in which he recorded.

Bierden has spent the last five years touring the world as the bass player and back-up vocalist for Poliça. He recorded bass and vocals on the last two Har Mar Superstar records, and developed other projects of note such as Heavy Deeds, Pony Trash, and Bones & Beeker.

Originally released in 1992, PENG! is the second full-length album by sonic experimentalists Stereolab, it showcases an eclectic variety of styles, from experimental pop to Krautrock to lounge. Sometimes jam-packed with thundering keyboards and driving drums, at other times ethereal, airy and light, PENG! captures this thinking man's band at the early stages of its prolific career. Emulating aspects of the Velvet Underground's rhythms as well as the Moog-happy keyboard euphonies of the early 1970s, Stereolab's far left-of-center pop vision has always been something of a love-'em-or-hate-'em proposition. Longtime fans familiar with the band's later work will find interest in this early recording--it includes the moody, cafe-styled "K-Stars" sung fetchingly in French by Leatitia Sadier

2LP Gatefold + DL. Trupa Trupa play rock, come from Poland and consist of four musicians in a guitars-bass-drums-keyboard-vocals line-up. Their third and latest album, Headache, was released in 2015 on Blue Tapes And X-Ray Records on CD and cassette. A pretty traditional way of doing things, some would say, for a young group from a country that few consider for its rock culture. The story of Headache would perhaps have ended there if a certain Sasha Frere-Jones, one of today's most prominent and influential critics, hadn't written in the Los Angeles Times that "one of the best rock bands doing business now is from Gdansk, Poland." This is the story of a record that proves that sometimes the best things come from where we least expect them and just impose themselves as self-evident. And the quality of this album is indeed self-evident. The fact that it will still be being played in 10 years is self-evident too as is the conviction that here we are dealing with a major record. Trupa Trupa synthesizes what is best in the genre since the early 90s, from Pavement to Slint.

7"

A wonderful 7" from Luca Nieri released at the same time as his new mini album 'Luca Nieri'. The 7" contains one new album track (B Side - Milk and Honey) ans one track from his debut album 'Music From The Dark Branches' (A Side - Hummingbird).

An air of restless individuality has surrounded almost every step in the hermitic history of Wonderfulsound's The Monks Kitchen (Luca Nieri's full band project) and their most industrious and versatile member, illustrator, tattooist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Luca Nieri is no exception.

A humble duo of songs fittingly recorded entirely at home, with Nieri playing every instrument. The soundscape exists in a cosmos, textured and beautifully melancholy.

An air of restless individuality has surrounded almost every step in the hermitic history of Wonderfulsound's The Monks Kitchen (Luca Nieri's full band project) and their most industrious and versatile member, illustrator, tattooist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Luca Nieri is no exception.

This, his second solo album, is a humble collection of songs fittingly recorded entirely at home, with Nieri playing every instrument. The soundscape exists in a cosmos, textured and beautifully melancholy, switching effortlessly from self-penned Morricone-esque instrumentals to folk standards, with songs by Jackson C Frank and The Pentangle.

A 7" single containing new album track 'Milk and Honey' plus previous album track 'Hummingbird' will be released at the same time as the album.

In a previous life, La Féline was a trio. Three voices joined as one on a handful of EPs with diverse influences, trying to find their place between musical genres, languages, and experiences, guided by Ariane's writing and the luminous vocals of singer and guitarist Agnès Gayraud. Then came 'Adieu l'enfance' in 2014, the first album for which Agnès alone carried the feline fur, and made her mark. A unique voice emerged from the album, giving free reign to obsessions that had had only been hinted at previously. As cathartic as its title implies and entirely sung in French, 'Adieu l'enfance' was also a rebirth with hypnotic new wave sounds, urban climates and introspective lyrics, a place into which the outside world would sometimes crash, in an explosion of broken glass. While creating her second album, 'Triomphe', La Féline started a new fascinating metamorphosis. Guided by Dionysus, the god of ecstasy (while the minimal synthpop of 'Adieu l'enfance' had more Apollonian hints), Agnès started by imagining herself as a ruthless warrior or Miyazaki-like wildling. 'Senga', the first single passes on the flame: in mirror-calm waters, Agnès the feline becomes Senga who talks to wolves, Senga who climbs the trees and knows the secrets of the forest. As total and ambitious album, 'Triomphe' is like a place where La Féline transforms the forest into a refuge, the sea into a primordial swamp from which to emerge reborn, and projects herself into a city of Tokyo where nature has re-claimed its rights. In this place we talk of renaissances ('Samsara', 'Le Plongeur' — pulled down to the depths by the sound of an octobass), meet Greek gods and spirit animals ('Senga'), question the place of man in the community ('Le Royaume', 'Comité rouge')

Recorded in Auckland in 1984, these archival tracks capture seminal New Zealand band This Kind Of Punishment's unique alchemy of poignant melody and four-track claustrophobia. The previously unreleased Radio Silence' offers an astringent, phantasmagoric comment on - and perhaps retreat from - the contemporaneous NZ scene. Reaching An End' (from legendary compilation Killing Capitalism With Kindness) is a classic in the mold later perfected on Peter Jefferies' solo output: unadorned piano blanketed by rich, wistful vocals, plucked strings and muffled drum beat. Less, after all, can be so much more. Cover photography by Chris Knox.

'Convenanza' is the sound of Andrew Weatherall looking back at the clutter of a life thoroughly lived and realising it's too late to tidy it up in any meaningful way. It would be marvellous to throw out lines about the artist exploring the periphery of his musical vision or redrawing the boundary between confrontational electronica and a fondness for a decent melody. That would however indicate some kind of preconceived plan or, failing that, a musical objective which shaped the record. Even serendipity would suggest a more organised approach to the album than was actually the case. Many years of listening to music with a unique ear has resulted in the disordered cabinet of highlights, touchstones, revelations and half recalled good times that make up being Lord Sabre.
Frankfurt Advice's post funk punk rhythm takes a deep breath but soldiers on when the disquieting sound of the trumpet playing in the next room intrudes and remains firmly in control despite momentarily stumbling over an unruly guitar. The Confidence Man's self-assured top line collapses in on itself and the loosened beats enjoy a gentle unrestrained boogie atop the solid bassline before the vocal's final hymnic retreat.
The upside of Weatherall's promiscuous attitude to music is the sheer joy when it all comes into focus on We Count Our Sins... The trumpet returns but this time it's the soaring sprit of the song which strains against a deeply anchored bassline. The message of abandonment in the verse is thwarted by the obstinate optimism of the key refrain and there's a sense of resolution as the song ends and melds into the blissful Thirteenth Night.
That Andrew has grasped random thoughts, memories and life markers then assembled them so they become such a satisfying musical voyage is a testament to a mind that can draw pictures in the air but still has trouble finding the on-off button on his laptop.
Vinyl version limited to 1000 copies only

The xx today announce details of their highly anticipated third album. Titled I See You, the ten song album will be released on 13th January 2017 via Young Turks. I See You is the follow up to The xx's two previous albums - xx and Coexist - which have sold over 3 million copies between them, winning a host of accolades along the way.
I See You marks a new era for the London trio of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith, both sonically and in terms of process. For while xx and Coexist were both made in relative isolation in London, I See You was recorded between March 2014 and August 2016 in New York, Marfa TX, Reykjavik, Los Angeles and London, and is characterised by a more outward-looking, open and expansive approach. Produced by Jamie Smith and Rodaidh McDonald, I See You is The xx at their boldest yet, performing with more clarity and ambition than ever before.
I See You will be available on CD and LP, with each physical format featuring a debossed mirri board sleeve.
Two vinyl versions of the album, with full product descriptions as follows:
- Standard Vinyl: 10 tracks, in a debossed mirror board sleeve with a download + CD copy of the album
- Deluxe Box Set: Silver mirri board debossed box containing the album on 180g heavyweight vinyl, with an extra 12' including 3 bonus tracks, album CD, enhanced CD featuring a live video of bonus track 'Brave For You (Marfa Demo)' and 3 exclusive prints by Alasdair McLellan.

Recently unearthed Peter Gordon & David Van Tieghem collaboration from 1978, featuring vocals from special guest Kathy Acker (author of post-modern classic Blood & Guts In High School).The artwork features two original, newly-created drawings by Laurie Anderson.
Foom is proud to present, from the archives of Peter Gordon, two recently unearthed, newly-restored and unreleased recordings:Fresh on the heels of Peter Gordon's recent album with Tim Burgess, the legendary New York composer and producer has unearthed two gems from his archive: his first ever sessions with his Love of Life Orchestra partner, and fellow Arthur Russell collaborator, David Van Tieghem, dating from 1978.Peter Gordon and David Van Tieghem's first record - Love of Life Orchestra's Extended Niceties - provided a fresh perspective on dance music when it was first released in 1979. More recently, it has had an ongoing presence on playlists around the world, influencing artists such as LCD Soundsystem, Blood Orange and others.

No Need To Argue' is the sophmore effort by Irish group The Cranberries that was originally released in 1994. Propelled by the hit song Zombie' about the Irish conflict, the album was a worldwide smash and helped make the band one of the biggest of the 90s. With a more mature approach to songs and subject matter the album features many highlights including "Ode To My Family", "Yeats' Grave" and "Ridiculous Thoughts" with a more lively rock sound than their much mellower debut album. Turquoise vinyl in a gatefold cover with printed inner sleeve that includes the lyrics.

Limited edition of 1,000 copies on 180 gram turquoise vinyl.

To coincide with the 20th Anniversary of their number one debut 1977, Ash have announced the release of a live album called Live On Mars: London Astoria 1997. Recorded over the band's record breaking five night run at the London Astoria from the 28th February to the 4th March. The album includes their hit singles 'Girl From Mars', 'Goldfinger' and 'Kung Fu', as well as a covers of Abba's 'Does Your Mother Know' and Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You'.

The set captures the raw energy of the band on their homecoming celebration to wrap up the epic year of touring for 1977, which was released the previous year.

The album will be released as a limited edition numbered and coloured vinyl, CD and download via the band's website, the live shows and select retailers.

The band said "The Ashtoria Five Night Stand was one of the most memorable run of shows for us. It really was the icing on the cake of a manic year since 1977 was released. We'd achieved a number one album followed by a world tour that came close to breaking us. These shows allowed us to look back and celebrate with everyone involved. And it was one hell of an aftershow!" 

These five nights at The Astoria, from February 28th to March 4th 1997, sound and feel like a party. An exuberant, irresistible celebration of a band who, transcending the faddishness of concurrent Britpop, succeeded on that rarest of commodities: raw talent.' - Ian Fortnam, Classic Roc

To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of 1977 the band announced a special run of shows where the album will be played in its entirety. Ash will kick-off the tour with an extensive US tour, followed by shows in the Ireland, mainland Europe and the UK.

To coincide with the 20th Anniversary of their number one debut 1977, Ash have announced the release of a live album called Live On Mars: London Astoria 1997. Recorded over the band's record breaking five night run at the London Astoria from the 28th February to the 4th March. The album includes their hit singles 'Girl From Mars', 'Goldfinger' and 'Kung Fu', as well as a covers of Abba's 'Does Your Mother Know' and Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You'.

The set captures the raw energy of the band on their homecoming celebration to wrap up the epic year of touring for 1977, which was released the previous year.

The album will be released as a limited edition numbered and coloured vinyl, CD and download via the band's website, the live shows and select retailers.

The band said "The Ashtoria Five Night Stand was one of the most memorable run of shows for us. It really was the icing on the cake of a manic year since 1977 was released. We'd achieved a number one album followed by a world tour that came close to breaking us. These shows allowed us to look back and celebrate with everyone involved. And it was one hell of an aftershow!" 

These five nights at The Astoria, from February 28th to March 4th 1997, sound and feel like a party. An exuberant, irresistible celebration of a band who, transcending the faddishness of concurrent Britpop, succeeded on that rarest of commodities: raw talent.' - Ian Fortnam, Classic Roc

To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of 1977 the band announced a special run of shows where the album will be played in its entirety. Ash will kick-off the tour with an extensive US tour, followed by shows in the Ireland, mainland Europe and the UK.

Career spanning release compiled and assembled by BABES IN TOYLAND. Redeux compiles tracks from four key releases in the BABES IN TOYLAND discography, Spanking Machine from 1990, To Mother from 1991, Fontanelle from 1992 and Nemisisters from 1995. All of which have been out of print for many years in their own right. increasingly hard to find and highly sought after. Redeux is the first band assembled compilation ever available.
BABES IN TOYLAND were an integral part of the 1990's "alternate rock" scene and now back for another round. Highly influential and inspirational back then and now. "Amazing, life-changing.

I'd never heard anything like them and haven't heard anything since like them" - Kathleen Hanna.

Career spanning release compiled and assembled by BABES IN TOYLAND. Redeux compiles tracks from four key releases in the BABES IN TOYLAND discography, Spanking Machine from 1990, To Mother from 1991, Fontanelle from 1992 and Nemisisters from 1995. All of which have been out of print for many years in their own right. increasingly hard to find and highly sought after. Redeux is the first band assembled compilation ever available.
BABES IN TOYLAND were an integral part of the 1990's "alternate rock" scene and now back for another round. Highly influential and inspirational back then and now. "Amazing, life-changing.

I'd never heard anything like them and haven't heard anything since like them" - Kathleen Hanna.

So. The cat is well and truly out of the bag now.
Asylums album Killer Brain Waves' out Check.
Said album has been BBC 6Music's album of the day Check.
Seven tracks from said album supported by BBC Radio 1 Check.
Critical acclaim, great reviews, high profile gigs Check, check, and check.

Aaaaaaaand...... relax. No Alright then. Because when Asylums aren't playing, recording, or running Cool Thing Records, they're at their day jobs. Rumour has it they sleep occasionally too. And not being the types to rest on their laurels, Asylums are back with a brand new previously unreleased track Alternative Occupations'. Taking brief holidays from the aforementioned dayjobs, Alternative Occupations' was written and recorded in the Summer after the post-album release frenzy, and in the aftermath of Brexit. It ruminates on harsh education and health service cuts, post-Brexit Britain, and the running battle of grafting at creative efforts vs. grafting to keep afloat.

And there's more... Asylums aren't alone. They've now been able to make good on their promise of using Cool Thing Records as a platform for underground regional talent. Appearing alongside Alternative Occupations' on a lovely limited 12' slab of white vinyl are three bands, who like Asylums, all graft at the day jobs and work in their own creative communities.

The short, sharp, shock of Petty Phase picks up where X Ray Spex and The Slits left off, riot girls antidote to the millennial ennui, all buzzsaw guitars and screeching group vocals. Thrasher skate culture collides with the edge and tenacity of early Dischord records, in the shape of Steve Lamacq favourites The Horse Heads, emerging from the same fresh and exciting Chelmo uprising scene as Freak, and Ratboy. And last but never least, BAIT leave you with a bloody nose but you'll see the funny side, as the static hum of an itching brain broods and snarls over visceral post-punk riffs and battering hypnotic rhythms.

Another Cool Thing.

South London's Phobophobes release latest single on clear 7" vinyl, with matt laminated sleeve and paper disco sleeve.
Features guest appearance from Will Self, reading 'The Ground Is Friend To All' a poem by George Bedford Russell.

HMLTD have been playing around London this summer, galvanising packs of glitter-clad followers and bewildered randoms with visceral and outlandish performances that inject London's DIY venues with the fey air of David Lynch's Club Silencio.

Debut double A side Stained / Is This What You Wanted proves that this thrilling sense of danger and unpredictability doesn't have to be seen to be felt. Moving with possessed purpose between the savage, hypnotic, learned and Avant garde - there is no sitting on the fence on this most confounding of new acts.

"A great degree of magnitude under its airs of sheer playfulness" LAETITIA SADIER (Stereolab)

LP comes with Download Card inside and is reverse board outer sleeve, printed inner sleeve and 180g vinyl.

Features an adaption of 'Let's Move To The Country' - Smog
'The Drifters' is the debut album from London based French duo ZOOEY (Matthieu Beck and Marie Merlet) that takes the listener on a trip between idleness and daydream. A classy collection of eleven electronic retro futuristic pop songs, underpinned by drum machines and synth arpeggios that meld fluently with flutes, pianos and percussion, creating a laid back yet evocative noir cinematic listening experience.Recorded in their London home studio, 'The Drifters' mixes the many influences and experiences of both musicians. Marie loves experimental pop and Sixties soul, she has been a long time collaborator of Laetitia Sadier in Monade and has just released her first solo album as Iko Chérie on Elefant Records. Matthieu was at the core of disco pop Parisian band Adam Kesher and is now involved in the London based indie group Oslo House as well as curating the ambient music podcast Love In The Afternoon. He's also the mystery French voice on the opening track of this years NZCA/Lines album.
The album invites the listener to action ('Realise Realise'), questions our relationship to the world ('A Good Night Sleep'), celebrates freedom and escape ('Time To Get Alone') but also acknowledges the difficulty of changing ('Marcher La Nuit'). Two instrumental tracks and one cover are at the heart of the record: 'Jóia' and 'Joya' are balearic soundtracks directly inspired by library music records. 'The Country Song' is an adaptation of 'Let's Move To The Country' by singer- songwriter Bill Callahan.Mixed mainly by producer Charlie Alex March (NZCA/Lines and Veronica Falls) and their long time friend Emmanuel Mario (Astrobal, Julien Gasc). 'The Drifters' will be released on the WONDERFULSOUND label, whose chief Miles Copeland recalls how they first met:"Many years ago Matthieu and Marie cheerfully came up to me after a gig I was playing in south London with my band The Superimposers. They had emailed me out of the blue one year earlier with a remix of one of our songs. They did it without stems and without our permission and I loved it! So I released it. When they moved from Bordeaux to London we built up a true friendship, so when I heard their album 'The Drifters' I knew it had to come out on Wonderfulsound."

"A great degree of magnitude under its airs of sheer playfulness" LAETITIA SADIER (Stereolab)

LP comes with Download Card inside and is reverse board outer sleeve, printed inner sleeve and 180g vinyl.

Features an adaption of 'Let's Move To The Country' - Smog
'The Drifters' is the debut album from London based French duo ZOOEY (Matthieu Beck and Marie Merlet) that takes the listener on a trip between idleness and daydream. A classy collection of eleven electronic retro futuristic pop songs, underpinned by drum machines and synth arpeggios that meld fluently with flutes, pianos and percussion, creating a laid back yet evocative noir cinematic listening experience.Recorded in their London home studio, 'The Drifters' mixes the many influences and experiences of both musicians. Marie loves experimental pop and Sixties soul, she has been a long time collaborator of Laetitia Sadier in Monade and has just released her first solo album as Iko Chérie on Elefant Records. Matthieu was at the core of disco pop Parisian band Adam Kesher and is now involved in the London based indie group Oslo House as well as curating the ambient music podcast Love In The Afternoon. He's also the mystery French voice on the opening track of this years NZCA/Lines album.
The album invites the listener to action ('Realise Realise'), questions our relationship to the world ('A Good Night Sleep'), celebrates freedom and escape ('Time To Get Alone') but also acknowledges the difficulty of changing ('Marcher La Nuit'). Two instrumental tracks and one cover are at the heart of the record: 'Jóia' and 'Joya' are balearic soundtracks directly inspired by library music records. 'The Country Song' is an adaptation of 'Let's Move To The Country' by singer- songwriter Bill Callahan.Mixed mainly by producer Charlie Alex March (NZCA/Lines and Veronica Falls) and their long time friend Emmanuel Mario (Astrobal, Julien Gasc). 'The Drifters' will be released on the WONDERFULSOUND label, whose chief Miles Copeland recalls how they first met:"Many years ago Matthieu and Marie cheerfully came up to me after a gig I was playing in south London with my band The Superimposers. They had emailed me out of the blue one year earlier with a remix of one of our songs. They did it without stems and without our permission and I loved it! So I released it. When they moved from Bordeaux to London we built up a true friendship, so when I heard their album 'The Drifters' I knew it had to come out on Wonderfulsound."

Not much introduction is needed here as far as band goes. Mainstays of the 1990's alternative rock / grunge movement. Now back in action after a long hiatus. Originally released in June 1991 as a limited edition single on Insipid Vinyl and subsequently sold out pretty much within the month on the back of gaining lauded U.K mag NME's single of the week and repeated spins by John Peel on the BBC (fun fact: he actually even reached out to request a copy of the record before it was released!) among other media traction.These are the original versions of both songs that were later redone on the Fontanelle album. These are also the last recordings to feature the original line up of Kat Bjelland, Lori Barbero and Michelle Leon.

Fronted by guitar virtuoso and YouTube star Rob Chapman - the internet guitar phenomenon whose channel dedicated to lessons, demonstrations and general guitar nerdery has over 445k subscribers - Dorje are a hard rock four piece fuelled by massive hooks and technical mastery. The line up of muso stars is completed with Dave Hollingworth (Bass), Ben Minal (Drums) and Rabea Massaad (Guitar) who also have a large YouTube following, with the band collectively receiving over 4 Million views per month.
Taking influence from blues, jazz, metal and everything in between, comparisons could be made to Audio Slave, Karnivool, Tool or even Queens of the Stone Age, but with a distinctly modern twist. Solid yet subtly complex drums and big bass grooves lay the foundation for the low-tuned blues inspired riff-wizardry that weave a tight web to support the huge hook-laden vocals. And of course, the occasional face-melting solo.

Hailing from Leeds, FEHM are a three piece making pissed off post punk influenced by the likes of The Sound, The Birthday Party, Flux of Pink Indians and Honey Bane.

Due for release 25th November 2016 on cream coloured 12', Circadian Life is their debut EP and takes the form of twenty one minutes of wailing guitars, driving drums and the ever-brooding dulcet tones of Paul Riddle. According to the band the EP as a whole tells a story from start to finish, it's about seeing the changes that occur in people around you and how we separate over time. More importantly, the EP reflects the monotony of everyday life and peoples' struggle to achieve what they really want.'

The EP was recorded, mixed and mastered with Matt Peel at the Nave recording studio in Leeds in June 2016 and its distinctive artwork was shot by the band's Amy Fishlock.