Loud and messy, maximal and grandiose, striking, eerie and plenty of other stereo directions.

Guys, we are back on the wagon! We’re using that right, right?

We do love the end of year period and reflecting on the year’s finest, wildest and weirdest releases, but there is a real freshness to bringing you all a new week of new music on a cold and bright January afternoon. Welcome to 2025, it is going to sound fantastic!

Who Let The Dogs Out is the much-hyped debut LP from Brighton based noise-punk duo Lambrini Girls and it is absolutely furious. The tracklisting tells a tale (titles to include; Big Dick Energy, Filthy Rich Nepo Baby, Cuntology 101 and ​​Nothing Tastes As Good As It Feels), but to assume this is idly-naughty is a big mistake, as their writing is actually their biggest victory. Smart, poignant and brilliantly observed songs with a breakneck delivery.

+ Available on 'Gay Smurf Dick’ Blue colour vinyl.

Franz Ferdinand return this week and they have gone for the pop jugular! The Human Fear, their sixth LP, swaggers around between angular and maximal pop grandiose, with dense production and Alex Kapranos sounding fantastic up front. 

+ Available on Exclusive White colour vinyl.

Hardly surprising, but the latest release on the Basin Rock label is a bit special! Bridget Hayden is a Todmorden-based neighbour of the label and her Cold Blows The Rain album (with her The Apparitions band) genuinely finds new space in old music. These reinterpreted traditional folk songs are full of sedate paces and eerie shadows, but the way the drones change the mood is really superb. Her voice is also really enthralling right in the middle of the mix. A very wintery album; striking and stark, but not without optimism.

Landing somewhere between rock and roll, blues and Americana, Early James’ Medium Raw is another of this week’s really strong records. Produced by Dan Auerbach (Black Keys), this is raw indeed, but full of gnarled authenticity rather than wailing preacherman cosplay aesthetics. Sonically it is just fantastic, so much rattle-and-hum and his voice is really dynamic; between a soft croon and more of a yelp.

Full Moon is the vibrant new LP from South African musician Moonchild Sanelly. Club ready beats and plenty of genre bending, her voice is also super strong with a breathless flow. Big big booty got us going.

+ Available on Signed Glow in the Dark colour vinyl.

Lastly today, an absolute RIPPER on Soul Jazz with Cosmic Seeds from Melbourne-based Brown Spirits. We got snuck this one late last year and the muscular trio (bass, drums, shared guitar/keyboards) have created a hard, driving and swirled-up mess of psych and kraut motoriks. If you had told us that Conny Plank had recorded this in 1973 on some weird tape machine, we’d have no reason to question it; a proper trip! A fantastic way to end this first new release week and start this excellent new year. Record of the Week!

Now, because we’re very very cool, we are going to celebrate this stonker by giving one of you lucky folks a very limited 7” test pressing with both parts of Faultlines. Just order Cosmic Seeds between now and Sunday night and we’ll pick a lucky winner at random.

Guys, it’s good to be back!