Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Portishead's limited edition 10" vinyl release showcases live renditions of 'Sour Times' and 'Roads', capturing the band's signature trip-hop essence. Recorded in 1998 at The Warfield in San Francisco and Norway's Quart Festival, the tracks highlight Beth Gibbons' haunting vocals and the group's atmospheric instrumentation. The minimalist red sleeve with debossed cover adds a tactile dimension, making it a must-have for collectors and fans seeking a tangible connection to Portishead's live artistry.

Review: DFA Records prime mysterious new Brighton signees Proper Monday Number with a sure start, flicking the proverbial Rube Goldberg machine into gear with a banging remix of their otherwise unreleased debut track 'High Horse'. Here, of course, it's LCD Soundsystem / DFA's very own James Murphy at the remix controls, together with resident DFA DJ and "decent human" Matt Cash. Toolroom dance moods extend over a lusciously simple seven minutes, bringing home FM stabs and LinnDrum faceslaps aplenty. And the lyrics: "stop what you're doing now... you ain't got no crown! get off your high horse! turn this ship around!" In our day and age, we need more anti-stagnation, ego-teardown anthems like this, so we welcome the sentiment by the masked duo.

Review: Dream pop loving indie rockers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announced their reformation last year, having previously called it a day at the end of 2019. While we wait for new music, former label Slumberland Records - the imprint that first pushed the New York combo into the international spotlight - has offered up this slender retrospective focusing on the band's formative years at the tail end of the noughties. Atmospheric, with a uniformly 'big' (if lo-fi) sound (they loved reverb back then), the collected cuts sound like they were recorded at the turn of the nineties rather than at the end of the noughties. Highlights are plentiful though, with our picks including jangly anthem 'Side Ponytail', the brilliantly titled 'Kurt Cobain's Cargidan' and the effortlessly upbeat and life-affirming swell of 'Higher Than The Stars'.

Review: This noise pop group's impeccable debut album is being re-released as part of its 15th anniversary celebrations. The Kip Berman-led band burst out of the 00s Brooklyn indie scene and onto global cult success when it was released thanks to their idiosyncratic style and nods to the likes of pre-Creation My Bloody Valentine, The Pastels and Black Tambourine. The record shows an aesthete's ear for producing stylish guitar tones and drum sounds as they conjure a dreamy, atmospheric wall of sound, which strikes the right balance between shoegaze and jangle pop. With music as taut, melodic and viscerally enveloping as this, it's no wonder Berman's life changed irrevocably after its release. Rarely do debut albums gain this level of acclaim and honouring it with an anniversary edition and tour is the righteous thing to do.

Review: Suave timing for this release as The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, who had been roughly five years disbanded, are back out on the road in 2025 touring Europe. The Brooklyn band, who are fronted by founder Kip Berman, are best known for their 2009 self-titled debut and a lot of their other best songs were scattered. To condense the companion material from that era into one place gives listeners the opportunity to further understand what a richly creative time it was for the indie group. Of the highlights, here 'Kurt Cobain's Cardigan' from their 'Higher Up The Stairs' EP is a snappy number up there with the very best of jangle pop greats. And 'Say No To Love', which was available on 7", is surely going to be a staple in their upcoming live shows and what better way to refamiliarise with it than having it on rotation here next to some belters.

Review: Up there with other shoegaze trailblazers like Lush, My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive, Pale Saints set the bar for dreamy, eerie and atmospheric guitar music and have influenced countless bands sketching out similar sounds since. This third album of theirs, which is now getting the full re-release treatment after being long out of print, saw them achieve new pop heights. The three-minute banger 'Angel (Will You Be My)' and 'Under Your Nose' are particularly strong in this regard, with singer Meriel Barham sounding like she laid the foundation for what The Orielles would go on to become. Elsewhere, 'Henry' - a more than ten-minute epic - shows a more harrowing, dark side of theirs with slow and tuned down tones leaning more towards sludge metal. Pale Saints' ability to express themselves so diversely puts them up there as hallowed forefathers of shoegaze who will never lose relevance.

Review: This expanded edition of Pale Saints' third and final album Slow Buildings is a real doozy for fans of the English alt-rock and shoegaze outfit. The original is a long-out-of-print classic that has been sympathetically remastered here after originally arriving back in 1994. The album captures their transition into more open, melodic territory while retaining the dense guitar textures and experimental spirit of their earlier work. Meriel Barham's vocals shine as caller as always, particularly on standout single 'Fine Friend,' which was adapted from Persian Rugs' 1981 track. This two-disc reissue includes the Fine Friend EP and a curated trove of unreleased demos and tracks that make it an essential addition for completists.

Review: Dark Entries welcomes back the Brussels brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly for this superb collection of B-sides and unreleased tracks. Formed in 1981, Parade Ground pioneered a more emotional take on their homeland's signature electronic body music sound by blending drum machines icy synths and guitars with Jean-Marc's powerful vocals. The Hidden Side spans 1982 to 1989 and explores their cold, dark aesthetic from menacing coldwave tracks to danceable cuts like 'Hollywood (The Sexiest Fish') to magically melancholic freakouts like 'Looking Through Keyholes'.

Review: Parade Ground is the Belgian duo of brothers Jean-Marc and Pierre Pauly and they formed this project in 1981 as a way of blending post-punk, coldwave and electronic body music. The Golden Years compiles their influential singles and rare tracks from 1982-1988 and it's a great window into their world of sleek synths, skeletal guitars and expressive, evocative vocals. Collaborating with Front 242's Daniel B. and Patrick Codenys, Parade Ground released seminal works like Moan On The Sly and Man In A Trance and later they worked with Wire's Colin Newman on Dual Perspective. This remastered album includes a press kit with lyrics and photos which chronicle their lasting impact on Belgian electronic music.

Review: Ultra-vintage reissued psych-pop from Parsley Sound, whose self-titled debut for Mo Wax was one of the label's most prized releases, and yet ended up massively inflated in price due to early sellouts and low pressing numbers. The duo / band made up of Danny Sargassa and Preston Mead are deft emulators of full-band sonics, producing the illusion of a wider ensemble; Parsley Sounds followed the early EPs 'Ease Yourself And Glide' and 'Twilight Mushrooms', but was comparatively much softer on the ears, charming the listener with its herbal pan flutes, downtempo era string segments, and not-too-heavy 70s throwback haunto-pysch cult propulsions. Clearly an early influence of now colossal cognates of the sound like Caribou and Four Tet, Parsley Sounds is essential heads' listening for those who wish to lead a certain uncanny, chintzy still life, yet who also know something of the restless beauty of said life. A5er 'Ocean House' is the expansive ballad that proves this, finding a lo-fi yet cavernous vocal opportunity in an otherwise claustrophobic cranny of sound.

Review: Celebrating its 30th anniversary this Record Store Day, 'Original Soundtracks 1' is a bold, imaginative collaboration between British ambient pioneer Brian Eno and Irish band U2 under the moniker Passengers. Blurring the line between ambient experimentation and cinematic storytelling, the album features 15 tracks that were all conceived as soundtracks for fictional films. Highlights include the haunting 'Miss Sarajevo' with Luciano Pavarotti and contributions from Howie B and Holi and this remastered anniversary edition comes on recycled black vinyl. An adventurous 1995 release that stands up now as an atmospheric, genre-blurring work and a rare and inspired detour in U2's discography.

Review: There's many eras of Pearl Jam where you may have been fortunate enough to see them perform live. But if you were given the opportunity to time travel, we suspect that 1992 will have been top of the list. The grunge icons had just released their most successful and arguably best album to-date - Ten. With it came 'Jeremy', 'Even Flow' and 'Black'. Three of the greatest songs of the 90s. All three are played here on this live album, as is their epic cover of Neil Young's 'Rockin' In the Free World', which has gone on to remain a staple in their live sets for years to come. Eddie Vedder and co. were at their absolute peak commercially and creatively and hearing them on this audiophile format live leaves us understanding why they were such a phenomenon.

Review: This double pack brings together the original, pre-reformation Pixies' last two albums from the early 90s with Bossanova from 1990 marking a distinct shift in the band's sound, Black Francis pursuing a more 'space age heavy metal' direction, a vision he had long desired. The album is imbued with haunting melodies like in 'Ana' and 'Velouria' and contains some of Francis' best lyrical work, dealing in unsettling concepts and a dreamlike atmosphere that's unlike anything they'd done before. Following closely in 1991, Trompe le Monde continues this exploration, both musically and thematically, with its most famous moment 'Planet of Sound' seemingly joining the dots between punk and metal. The title track, which translates to 'Fool the World', sets the tone for an album that adds more avant-garde touches to their alternative rock. While maintaining the Pixies' signature style on 'Alec Eiffel' and the impossibly funky but still lead heavy 'U Mass' - the only track containing the c-word that even sneaked onto a Desert Island Discs playlist thanks to one Jimmy Carr - it still pushes the boundaries even further with more experimental elements. A comprehensive experience of this fascinating and often underrated period in the Pixies' career.

Review: First released in 1992 on CD only, this comprehensive compilation of The Pogues' mid-career set of highlights is not your usual career retrospective. Rather than emphasising their most obvious tunes, this record specifically concerned the period 1984-1990, in which time the Anglo-Irish folk, rock and pop band delivered their enduring cover of Rolling Stones' 'Honky Tonk Woman', as well as such prime-cut originals as 'Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah', 'The Sunny Side Of The Street', 'Dark Streets Of London' and more. Now released on limited edition green vinyl for the first time ever, you vinyl preferrers too may sing and swing with this most raucous of cross-Channel belligerent bands, notably zooming back largely to the period before their drunken Christmas smash 'Fairytale Of New York' came to be.

Review: Returning just one year on from 2023's Zig (with what many initially presumed to be titled Zag), Moriah Pereira, better known as Poppy, delivers her sixth full-length LP Negative Spaces. Fresh off of appearances on both the new Bad Omens and Knocked Loose albums, with the latter marking her most unhinged vocal performance to date, this latest work seeks to strike a balance between her established digi-metal-pop formula and more outsider experimentations in both regards to heavier delivery and more complex electronica. Produced by former Bring Me The Horizon producer/keyboardist/programming wizard Jordan Fish, the not-so-strange bedfellows compliment each other majorly with Fish's ear for the sonic coalescence of metallic and industrial soundscapes within glistening pop structures providing an ample playground for Poppy to stretch her vocal cadences and multi-faceted character dynamics to enthralling new heights. This limited indie exclusive pressing arrives on a trifold pink & white split-coloured vinyl.

Review: Following only one year after 2023's critically acclaimed Zig, avant-pop-metal genre-denier Poppy (real name Moriah Pereira) returns with a direct successor which many fans initially and understandably presumed to be titled Zag. Having featured on albums by both the accessible pop-leaning Virgina based metalcore outfit Bad Omens and the far more vicious Kentucky metallic hardcore greats in the making Knocked Loose (which featured her most caustic vocals to date) in the past year, Negative Spaces attempts to eschew the more stripped-down restraint of 2021's Justin Meldal-Johnsen-produced Flux with a total sensory overload of digi-pop chaos. Working with producer Jordan Fish who recently departed from his intrinsic role within Bring Me The Horizon, the duo have seemingly intertwined approaches, dynamics and abilities to complement each other's tastes and carve out soundscapes that equally and simultaneously prioritise pop song structures, industrial harshness and hyperpop maximalism, yet all united under the mercurial presence of Poppy's multi-faceted characteristic cadences.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


Prefab Sprout's Jordan: The Comeback stands as their most ambitious work, now reissued on stunning translucent blue and red vinyl. This expansive double LP, produced by Thomas Dolby, is divided into four thematic movements, blending pop, samba, and Steely Dan-esque sophistication. Tracks like 'Wild Horses', 'We Let the Stars Go', and 'Looking for Atlantis' showcase Paddy McAloon's mastery of both melody and lyrical depth. The album explores wide-ranging themesifrom the myth of Elvis Presley's resurrection to the complexities of love, heartbreak, and spiritual redemption. The Elvis suite is a highlight, filled with symbolic references to his life and legacy. Ending on a redemptive note with 'Doo Wop in Harlem', Jordan takes listeners on a journey through McAloon's introspective world. This vibrant reissue only enhances its legendary status.

Review: The Coventry-based 'Crash' hitmakers' produced some spectacular singles with their post-comeback EP in 2011 and around the release of their two albums for Elefant Records - Echoes and Rhymes and Spin-O-Rama. This compilation album brings together the best of those. alongside other more scattered tracks and unreleased material. Standouts include an esoteric, electronica reworking of 'Purifying Tone' - which evokes Grumbling Fur - and 'Sweet Sister Sorrow' (Symphonic Dream Version). The latter is a more acoustic and introspective offering than the original take, but the hooks land just as hard. Few indie pop bands in the world will ever come close to the level The Primitives are at. A class act with wall-to-wall bangers at every turn.

Review: Thom Yorke and Mark Pritchard revive the collaboration first aired on the latter's 2016 album Unde The Sun, this time across a full album reportedly four years in the (top secret) making. It's a compelling synthesis of Yorke's atmospheric melancholy and Pritchard's textured production. It expores a range of moods, from the uneasy tension of 'A Fake In A Faker's World' to the hypnotic rhythms of 'Back In The Game', while the eerie, spectral qualities of 'This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice' reveal the pair's ability to intertwine experimental soundscapes with a visceral emotional pull. Standout moments include 'Gangsters,' where Pritchard's intricately layered beats mesh with Yorke's haunting vocal delivery, and 'Wandering Genie,' which closes the journey with a strange sense of release. The music takes unexpected turns, not just as a statement of collaboration, but as a reflection of two artists playing with the unknown, pulling their sonic worlds into unexplored spaces. Each track is a feather in the cap of their combined ingenuity, with Yorke's vocal vulnerability and Pritchard's production wizardry in full synergy.

Review: Since Radiohead went on hiatus a few years back, Thom Yorke has thrown himself into all sorts of solo and collaborative projects. His latest sees him join forces with Sydney-based British electronic music stalwart Mark Pritchard for an album that expands on their previous collaboration (the superb 'Beautiful People' from Pritchard's 2018 album Under The Sun). It's a breathtakingly brilliant concoction all told, with the pair conjuring ethereal, oddball and immersive songs in which Yorke's distinctive vocals - sometimes delivered as you'd expect, other times layered-up, mutilated or utilised as textures - rise above backing tracks made with unusual synths and drum machines, and variously indebted to ambient, IDM, ghostly electronica, lo-fi beat-scapes and the gripping intensity of horror soundtracks. A modern electronic classic in the making.

Review: Begun in earnest during the COVID-19 pandemic, after the former had remixed the latter's new Radiohead material, Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke exchanged much of the for their new record Tall Tales remotely. Forerun by new single 'Back In The Game' then 'This Conversation Is Missing Your Voice', the album takes shape as a surreal mythopoesis, warping back in time to 2020's plague, where the former track's hyperreal music video (dir. by Jonathan Zawada) sees a rooftop figure defenestrating art itself amid grotesque figures bearing the worst of a mutant contortionist slice-of-life. Yorke has said that the album was crucial to him, describing the music-making process as "mental."

Review: Puma Blue, the project of South-London-born, Atlanta-based Jacob Allen, moves in a starkly different direction with this latest release. Stripping away the layered trip-hop, jazz, and electronica influences of previous works, he now focuses on a more direct and vulnerable form of songwriting. With just his guitar and voice, Allen crafts an album that feels intimate, raw, and deeply personal. Each track is a careful balance of simplicity and complexity. On 'Tapestry', the narrative unfolds like a dense, aching reflection, while 'Hotel Room' captures a moment of quiet melancholy with an almost confessional tone. In contrast, 'In the Absence of You' is stark in its honesty, delivering a minimalist sentiment that resonates with painful clarity. The absence of the full band setup places the weight of emotion solely on Allen's shoulders, allowing his vocal delivery and guitar work to shine. The result is a profoundly affecting listen, one that's less about expansive sound and more about the intimate space between notes, where every breath and pause feels significant. It's a deeply personal exploration of solitude and longing, executed with haunting simplicity.

Review: Hailing from The Gret White North's Toronto, PUP (Pathetic Use of Potential) are your favourite current punk band's favourite current punk band. Originally formed in 2010, the past decade and a half has seen the group deliver one consistent album of bangers after the next, with their new fifth full-length Who Will Look After The Dogs? arriving three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand, proving that prior titular statement to be mistaken information. Expanding their sonics as far as their musical palettes, the LP showcases the debaucherous yet earnest Canadian troubadours pulling simultaneously from both more radio-centric college rock as well as more intense hardcore this time around, while modern punk legend (and once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin) Jeff Rosenstock makes a standout appearance on the latest single 'Get Dumber'. Gritty, melodic, and sincere, all within the same breath (or verse), it's a tough year for any punk band to compete whenever PUP rear their grimy head.

Review: Toronto's PUP are your favourite modern punk band's favourite modern punk band. Over the past decade, they've delivered one consistent album of bangers after the next, and now they return three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand to prove that title as mistaken information. Who Will Look After The Dogs? serves as the fifth full-length from the debaucherous yet heartfelt Canadians, stretching their sonics as far as their palettes, pulling from both more radio-centric college rock and simultaneously much heavier hardcore this time around, while once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin and nowadays punk rock troubadour legend Jeff Rosenstock makes an appearance on latest single 'Get Dumber'. Not so much the "Pathetic Use of Potential" that PUP still claim to be.

Review: This 3LP set commemorates 25 years of South Park, recorded live at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Featuring creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, alongside Primus and Ween, the album includes the most memorable songs from the show, a special highlight among which is the guest appearance by Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, who perform 'Closer To The Heart' with Primus and Matt Stone. The set is pressed on black vinyl, capturing a landmark celebration of the show's legacy.