It’s not our fault that everyone chose October 4th to release a banger… but they did, so you’re just gonna have to listen to them all.

Are you ready for twenty-five good reasons to visit the record shop this Friday?

NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD is the eighth studio LP from Canadian post-rock icons, Godspeed You! Black Emperor. I mean, hardly surprising, but this is not easy going. It also isn’t necessarily as dark as they have ever been, not the most white knuckle euphoric, but that is what has always been so enthralling: the emotional response they create through music. Stock landed early this week, we’ve listened maybe three or four times now; there is elation, there is sadness and there is also a lot of space in between. Clearly referencing the heavy civilian losses experienced in Gaza, it is poignant and it is depressing, but it is important and it is also very, very good.
Cutouts is the new LP from trio The Smile, their second studio LP of 2024 and further proof that they’ve arrived as their own entity rather than the “X from X” labels. Recorded during the same sessions as Wall Of Eyes, it moves around a lot throughout the LP, but Thom Yorke’s voice is really great, Tom Skinner’s propulsion is really inventive and Jonny Greenwood makes a whole set of sounds that are really not much like anything else.

+ Available on limited White colour vinyl.

Our Record of the Week is just a total trip. The New Sound is the debut solo LP from Geordie Greep, 33.3% of Black Midi and a proper free spirit. Black Midi burnt incredibly bright over their three studio albums and that is now some history to hold onto. For the next chapter, Greep hasn’t just taken up the mantle, he has created something new and genuinely fearless. If you don’t like it, it’s fine, just admire it for what it is: a genuinely outlying album of creative expression. It is frenetic, incendiary and utterly breakneck. Incorporating over thirty session musicians, it’s actually very focused. Not one second is wasted, it is actually quite stunning. And bonkers.

+ Available on a limited pressing with alternative artwork.
Emmett Kelly, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney and Jim White joined forces as The Hard Quartet and their eponymous debut LP is released this week on Matador. I tell you what - and knowing that you all love it when we fly off the handle and make wild claims - but we have not fallen so madly about an album in yonks! Sweet balladeering, crunching riffs, a world of pig skin rumbles and many other idiosyncrasies. Guys, the results on this wonderful record are even better than we had expected. Just wild.

+ Available on double Coke Bottle Clear colour vinyl.

Northern Virginia guitar composer Yasmin Williams is quite probably the most inventive stringed player out there right now. Acadia, her debut for the iconic Nonesuch label is just sublime, nine original and mostly instrumental tracks showing her dexterity, skill and wonderful imagination across a whole host of instruments. Just lush. She is absolutely the real deal and this is great.

Dan Snaith returns this week as Caribou with Honey on City Slang and it is really good fun. Back deep into the club world, the beats are round, bouncy and everything else around them changes shape constantly for a wholly kaleidoscopic affair. Another of the late-late Summer’s absolute bangers.

+ Available on limited and exclusive Yellow vinyl.

And Then There Was… marks the return of Charlie Manning’s Chubby and The Gang. Besides a few moments of melancholic piano lamenting on Cocaine Sunday, this is hard, rowdy and a bit romantic. Had this on first thing today and it felt like it lasted about 6 minutes. Your musical iteration of an espresso.

+ Available on exclusive Quad Black + Ruby Red colour vinyl.

Memorial Waterslides is the full debut from duo Memorials. We went wild for Verity Susman and Matthew Simms (previously of Electrelane and Wire) as soon as we heard them, and this LP keeps their avant-garde sonics bubbling but also focuses them into a really hypnotic and driving wooze. Another of this ludicrously full week’s golden moments.

+ Available on Pink colour vinyl.
Planet Pearl is French-American duo Pearl & The Oysters’ second album for Stones Throw. Such lush vintage tones, with a classic jazz-pop sway and disco patterns too. It is really hard not to bob about to… so don’t fight it.

+ Available on exclusive 'Space Warp' colour vinyl.

Title of the week without a doubt is 8th Cumming, the eagerly anticipated full debut from Manhattan four-piece cumgirl8. A warping and futuristic take on post-punk, with so many great textures and rhythms going on. It’s jacked up and provocative, but it really does have a lot of musical smarts too. Enjoying this a lot.

+ Available on limited Neon Green colour vinyl.

‘Leon’ is the fourth album from the Grammy Award-winning Leon Bridges and he sounds amazing. He has such a soul to his vocals and the long held notes especially show off what a fine quality his voice has. Down tempo without losing momentum.

+ Available on limited and exclusive S'mores colour vinyl.

Formula OneDa is the bangin’ debut LP on Heavenly from OneDa. Her dexterous wordplay is ferocious (and funny) and the production whirls in hip-hop and bass culture music alongside tinges of afrobeats that lean into her Nigerian heritage. So self-assured, a great listen.

+ Available on limited Red colour vinyl.

Mighty Vertebrate is the International Anthem debut from Adelaide-born bassist, composer, and SML quintet member, Anna Butterss. It really floats, such delicious tones and the basslines are - unsurprisingly - really enthralling.

+ Available on limited ‘Fossilized Chartreuse’ Green colour vinyl.

Also this week; PRUDE is the loud and euphoric new LP from Albany rock band Drug Church. Inspired by Laurie Anderson’s Amelia Earhart concept album, Public Service Broadcasting return with an Amelia Earhart concept album this week called The Last Flight. Golden Triangle is the hard and dark new LP on God Unknown Records from Sex Swing. Such menacing music. Also with hardness and darkness in abundance is Pharmakon and the all new Maggot Mass on Sacred Bones. Primal stuff. Afrobeat virtuoso Seun Kuti (yeah, Fela was his dad!) combines with Egypt 80 for Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head). Some really lush lightness to the swirling afrobeats. Jason Isbell and his 400 Unit release the second volume of their Live from the Ryman. Italian musician, producer and composer Alessandro Cortini returns on Mute with NATI INFINITI and it is seriously grand stuff. Got totally lost in the waves of this one, plus the mirror board sleeve is wildly impressive too. San Franciscan swooners Cindy release the all new Swan Lake EP on Tough Love. 40 Watt Sun - great neighbours of ours - release the scorched and winding Little Weight. We actually have a signed test pressing to give away to one of you lucky folks who sticks in an order.
Lastly this week; Got a Story to Tell is the second studio LP from San Diego soul trio Thee Sacred Souls and it really is sublime stuff. Recorded and produced by Gabriel Roth at Penrose Recorders, in Daptone’s Riverside, CA studio, it has such a smooth sound, but managed never to sound over-produced or stuffy. It has such a sweet-soul sound, A rich falsetto, the best reverbs and such smart use of new funk tones and strings. So legit, a proper banger and if all is sensible in the world, these guys will be huge.

+ Available on limited Magenta colour vinyl.

Makin’ hay whilst the sun shines. What a week. Come shopping!