A great mix of tones, timbres and techniques this week and plenty of welcome returns.
We start this week with Touch, the first album in nearly a decade from Chicago post-rock pioneers Tortoise. As they are spread across the States these days, the album was recorded and assembled piecemeal over the last few years, and the density that they have woven together here is pretty inspiring. Dark and mysterious like a soundtrack, it is full of such small details and textures, with absolute abandon to the notion of one or some genres. We played it in the shop early last weekend and have been finding more and more on repeat plays all week. A belter.
So how about this then. Love Chant is the first album of new material in almost twenty years from The Lemonheads. The album is such a great evolution of the band, a contemporary reimagining of the loose and often messy grunge sounds, with Evan Dando’s baritone right in the front of the mix. It is gorgeously melodic, with plenty of growling riffs and off-kilter moments to keep it moving forward. Sweetly nostalgic and full of intimacy, it feels like you’re getting more of Dando than ever before.
+ Available on limited White colour vinyl.
October’s Record of the Month is We Were Just Here, the anthemic and panoramic new LP from Dundalk five-piece Just Mustard. Dreamy, disorienting, and rich in ecstatic immediacy, it’s a remarkable step forward for one of Ireland’s most singular bands.
Read a little more here about the album and also Record of the Month club.
+ Available on exclusive Purple colour vinyl.
It was a trip to work with the band on a Dinked Edition (spoiler, it sold out super quick!) which is one of two released this week alongside East London sextet Home Counties and their new Humdrum LP. Recorded with Al Doyle of LCD Soundsystem last Autumn, it lunges between razor-sharp pop and a more menacing type of synth.
+ Available as a limited Dinked Edition.
German musician Christian Schoppik returns under the name Läuten der Seele this week with a new LP on the esteemed World of Echo and it is really gorgeous. Unterhaltungen mit Larven und Überresten is a stunning collage of surreal loops and samples, hypnotic repetitions, dream-like fragments of orchestration and chorals, whispers and reverbs. Spiritually transcendent floats one minute, ominous field recordings the next, this is one hell of a listening experience. Very highly recommended. 
Australian drummer extraordinaire Jim White releases his second solo LP - Inner Day - this week on Drag City. It covers new territory with Jim as lyricist and vocalist, including a bubbling vocal duet with Zoh Amba. Full of wild rhythms, it’s been a treat to get lost in.
Describe is the second album from Hannah Jadagu for Sub Pop, a bold step into pop dynamics. The fuzzing guitars of her debut are swapped out for glowing synths and soft electronics, some real nice ebb and flow.
+ Pressed on Pink Bio-Vinyl.
Also this week; The Liverpool-based Circa Waves return with Death & Love. Nick Mulvey releases the second part of his Dark Harvest project. Jesca Hoop has reworked her acclaimed 2017 album, Memories Are Now, into the live and unplugged new Selective Memory. Pretty and hypnotic. Following the global cinematic release of Björk: Cornucopia, the visionary live experience receives its first-ever physical release. Pretty lush.
Lastly this week, the inimitable Blonde Redhead revisit their (excellent) recent Sit Down for Dinner LP with The Shadow of the Guest, a new set of newly expanded versions of Before, Rest of Her Life and Via Savona with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The limited edition release also features a mariachi-inspired take on For the Damaged Coda and a collection of ambient ASMR tracks crafted by Kazu. We love this band.
