Dream pop, shoegaze, Queer country rock, shades of Jazz and synthesiser meditations. I mean, it’s all very us.

I know we have a lot of favourite bands, but Swedish dream poppers The Radio Dept are absolutely in that conversation every time and we are delighted that XL have repressed their iconic Lesser Matters album. For a band who aren’t a household name (although they should be), listening to this one for the first time will feel familiar as their impact and influence bled into dozens and dozens of albums that followed in the years after it debuted in 2003. Driving lifts and so much euphoria but always with such sadness just under the surface. They really mastered that low lying sadness. It is just a brilliant debut and they are a brilliant band. If you haven’t already got a copy - it might be 21 years old now - this is going to be the album that you fall in love with this week. Essential.
Wharf Cat records have gone into the top level shoegaze vaults for a reissue (well, as they point out, “Reissue” is slightly misleading as it was never actually issued on vinyl in the United States!) with a fresh 2024 pressing of Drop Nineteens 1992 beauty, Delaware. The Boston band were very much the American outliers in the - predominantly British - ‘gaze scene, but they definitely had their own dark hues going on. This 2024 remaster really swims, great stuff. An interesting note - the original Delaware artwork featured a photo of a girl with a gun in her left hand. This 2024 edition has the girl is holding a small bouquet of flowers. On release, the band announced that a portion of proceeds from the reissue will go to Artists for Action to Prevent Gun Violence. We like that.

+ Limited Yellow vinyl.

A right corker on Numero today, with I Just Want To Talk To You, Queer country rock from south of the Mason-Dixon line via Charles Brown. Good grief! Great songs but it’s his voice, so full of lamentation and his intonation is really enthralling. This collection gathers Brown’s solo and band work from 1976-’82, and Jon Freeman’s accompanying essay dissects the origin story of this private press pioneer. This is getting played a lot.

+ Available on ‘Sleepy Creek’ Silver colour vinyl.

Blue Note present two essential 2024 editions under their Tone Poet series this week.

Originally recorded in August 1969, Medina is a really gorgeous set from vibes-man, Bobby Hutcherson. A great band and just such a beautiful flow.

Then, recorded a year earlier, Taru is a collection from trumpeter Lee Morgan. Also with a killer band and finding experimentations out of Bop.

+ Both albums are in stereo. Produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI and packaged in a deluxe tip-on jacket.

Lastly, not one, but two essential Suzanne Ciani performances this week on Finders Keepers, with her 1975 Buchla Concerts and 1974’s Buchla Concert At Galeria Bonino New York. The NYC LP is the first Buchla synthesiser performance by revolutionary composer, a previously unheard vinyl pressing. She is such an amazing artist, the music is so organically evolving without ever sounding aimless. She creates worlds. Honestly, we can’t even count how many times we’ve floated off to these beautiful sonics. Essential listening.