New stuff sounding gloriously new and some excellent reissues in the mix too. Who you gonna call?
Hello, Friends.
Record of the Week is Marika Hackman's Any Human Friend. Brilliantly human, it's a very open record with lots of directness and it is full of sexuality. The tone is all glimmering pop bangers, some quite maudlin, some explosive in their hooks, but all of it with a dark energy that really grabs you. Produced with high wizard David Wrench, there is a tautness to the album that is both tantalising and addictive. Really good this.
+ Available on Limited edition marbled pink vinyl
Burial and The Bug return together as Flame 2 with a new two track 12". Dive and Rain are both epics, huge in different ways with massive cinematics, huge reverbs and pulsating beats. The collaberation brings out such a lot in each artist, sure hope we see more of them soon.
We only have a handful, last batch online.... now!
Irish songwriter Fionn Regan returns with his new LP Cala today. Very pretty this.
London four-piece instrumental space/surf/psych band Japanese Television release their second EP 'II' via Tip Top Recordings. Epic, cavernous reverbs and some brilliant Motorik beats. Love this.
BABii's brilliant debut album HiiDE has landed on CD! We know a load of you are waiting on this.
Call off the search, the world's best band name competition has been won... welcoming Spike Fuck. Another band popping out of the new Melbourne scene, The Smackwave EP is really great, brutally honest and full of woozy refashioned synth wave and post punk. She's a fascinating character, a full album is in the works we understand.
Hailing from Southend, minimal synth punk duo Warm Boys release their debut self-titled album. Super limited cassette edition, minimal synth punk with a pretty glorious Roxy Music cover.
Also today we have new releases from Sam Fender and Slipknot (individually, not as an unlikely duo). Both are available on limited indie shop colour vinyl pressings.
Thirty years on from its original release, The Wedding Present have re-recorded Tommy, their collection of singles and radio sessions. The band felt – during a 'Tommy' 30th anniversary concert tour – that the songs had grown and evolved. Enter a more confident vocalist, an altogether growlier guitar, a bigger sound. The urgency of a 25 year old Gedge is replaced with a charming vocalist with years of experience.
"The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the 'Rock 'n' Roll' era. You may dispute this but I'm right and you're wrong!" - John Peel.
+ Indie version LP is pressed on blue coloured vinyl and is pretty limited, don't hang about.
In celebration of the 35th anniversary of Ghostbusters, Sony Classical have reissued Elmer Bernstein's original score from the film, including the iconic main theme as well as previously unreleased tracks. Not only this, but it is delivered here on a limited Clear & Slime Green Splat Vinyl double LP set... looks superb.
Krunk reissue some gems from the Sigur Rós vaults this week with 22° Lunar Haloand Variations On Darkness getting new pressings following on from debuts on Record Store Day. Both have new artwork that is reversed in colour and printed in special ink.
Bonobo's debut LP Animal Magic gets it's first ever (we think) vinyl pressing with a limited edition yellow double vinyl edition on Tru Thoughts.
Often regarded as Japan's first modern, mainstream female troubadour singer-songwriter, Sachiko Kanenobu created an enduring legacy with Misora, a timeless classic of intricate finger-picking, gently soaring melodies, and rustic Laurel Canyon vibes.
