We got a feeling that this’ll go down as one of those classic weeks. Lots to discover, lots to fall for.

Songs For Lost Travellers is the collaborative debut from South London rapper Confucius MC and producer and multi-instrumentalist Bastien Keb and it really is special stuff. Released on Shabaka Hutchings’ Native Rebel Recordings, it has the haziest vibe, a sort of half-awake float through twinkling folk plucks and jazz spirituals. Although sedate in tone, Confucius MC is so commanding and the way Keb’s production wraps around him is so imaginative. A really rare treasure, this one is absolutely lush. Record of the Week.

As the hype sticker elucidates, Cowards is the third album from English rock quartet Squid. Man, we are hyped to have them back. Inspired by the titular Cowards’ evil, murder and occult, it is a tense and dark iteration of the band, but it might be their most enthralling. The production is just amazing, it’s so dense and knotty but you can hear every timbre, whisper and yelp. Really assured stuff, a proper banger.

+ Available on exclusive Clear colour vinyl.

Sharon Van Etten releases the self-titled debut this week from her Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory group. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, it’s quite a bold step into classic dream pop space and other big 80s moods. Her voice is so distinct that there is a familiarity to it all, but sonically it's very different to anything else with her voice on prior and that's pretty exciting. Not short of a hook either, this one really is an album to spend time with

+ Available as an exclusive “Awareness Edition” with a laptop sticker.
+ Order the album before the end of Saturday to go into a draw to win a really killer box set prize. More info.

Enter Now Brightness is the third studio LP from esteemed New Zealand songwriter Nadia Reid. We are long-time fans (from her gorgeous Preservation LP on Basin Rock, our first Dinked collaboration on the psychedelic Out Of My Province and even having her play in town as part of Sea Change) so it was a total no-brainer to work with her and Chrysalis on a custom Dinked Edition. Enter Now Brightness is so stately, her voice sounds quite magnificent.

+ Available as a limited Dinked Edition.

Chicago-based record label Trouble In Mind welcomes back Chicago trio FACS with the all new Wish Defence, and it is bloody good! Full of angular riffs and cavernous sounds, it really does create a deeply dark energy.

Wish Defense was the last album engineered by Steve Albini. Two days were recorded at Electrical Audio in early May of 2024 before Steve’s untimely passing, with renowned engineer and friend Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the session 24 hours later, tracking the last bits of vocals and overdubs. Longtime collaborator John Congleton mixed the album as Albini would have; in Electrical Audio’s A room, off the tape, using Albini’s notes about the session.

+ Available on exclusive White colour vinyl.

Glutton For Punishment is the second release and full debut album from Jojo Orme’s Heartworms. Released on Speedy Wunderground and produced by SW main-man Dan Carey, this really is a dark one too, full of goth noir and industrial clatters. In the best possible way, she has taken the post-punk gnarl of her impressive debut and brought new energy and imagination. It is not straightforward at all, there is a lot going on. Really great stuff.

+ Available on an exclusive Black & White split vinyl pressing.

Partisan release U R HERE, the eagerly-anticipated debut LP from HONESTY and it is another of the week’s brilliantly produced albums. It is deliciously murky, with contemporary electronic music tones, dream pop aesthetics, shoegaze, ambience and other inventive timbres whirling around. Flows as an album, get ready to get lost.

+ Available on exclusive Clear vinyl.

Also this week; Berlin’s Moses Yoofee Trio release the excellent MYT on Nils Frahm’s LEITER label. Cardiff-based five-piece Midding deliver Nowhere Near Today on Tough Love and it is a reverb-smashed banger. Rotterdam four-piece Rats on Rafts return to Fire Records with the dark and dreamy Deep Below. Dead Stars is the second LP from North East noisys, Pit Pony. They get the euphoria pumping for sure!

So, lastly for this week’s new releases, we have Superbowl Kenny and the physical release of Kendrick Lamar’s superb GNX album. His sixth studio set was surprise-released back in late November and we have been very much looking forward to this physical press since. We have both Black and Dodger Blue colour vinyl, neither will last very long as a little FYI.

Some excellent reissues to discuss over the coming days too, including; Vashti Bunyan, Wilco, Her Space Holiday, Desire, Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Reece and The Original Sound of Mali… TWO!