Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Metronomy mark their signing to Ninja Tune with a new single that comes not long after their Posse EP Volume 1, a collection of tunes all made in collaboration with up-and-coming artists like Biig Piig, Spill Tab, Sorry, Brian Nasty and Folly Group. This one is another collaboration, this time with Pam Amsterdam. 'Nice Town' deals with the lead singer's own battles such as "internal versus the external or, intangible versus the tangible." It is a delightfully snappy dance-pop ditty with great and tight synth sequences, old-school rap vocals and nice broken early electro beats. Metronomy and Alain Ogue add their own remixes to a great label debut.

Review: Electronic duo Pale Blue releases their highly anticipated second album 'Maria' on Crosstown Rebels. With eight captivating tracks, the long-player takes listeners on an immersive electronic journey. Mike Simonetti (Italians Do It Better) and Elizabeth Wight (Silver Hands) formed the outfit in 2015, gaining acclaim with their debut album. It showcases Wight's personal experiences and thoughts through her lyrics, accompanied by techno-infused melodies that lean towards rock influences. From dreamlike melodies to haunting productions, the album seamlessly blends electronica with pop touches.

Review: Formed in 2011 and led by the whimsical penmanship of Philip Sutton (Comet Gain), Pale Light are a criminally overlooked, often slept on indie/folk-pop gem that released a pair of cracking albums in the early 2010s. Often forgotten, however, are the slew of smaller singles (including a self-released 7", CDEP and two digital EPs, as well as a split 7" with Lake Ruth and a coveted spot in Slumberland's 30th anniversary 7" series) which have now all been compiled by the lovely folks over at Jigsaw Records onto one definitive collection of underappreciated beauty. While Sutton keeps busy with his Love, Burns. solo project (also signed to Jigsaw), the label's evident excitement at helping to distribute the songsmiths' expansive catalogue has also led to the muted confirmation that a new Pale Light mini-LP is currently in the works, positioning Waverly Place as the ideal form of prep material.

Review: Pale Saints' breakthrough album, In Ribbons, turns 30 years old this year and so the label that first put it out is looking back with this superb new anniversary edition. The album was a key driver in the shoegaze scene and became much loved for its ethereal sound. That has aged well here with bittersweet pop in tracks like 'Thread Of Light' as Meriel Barham's vocal delivery reaches through time and still hits the mark today. Musically the record blends bruising riffs and dreamy atmospherics and has been freshly remastered for this special commemorative CD edition which should appeal to fans old and new.

Review: Fabiana Palladino's long-awaited debut album brings plenty of smooth and high gloss sound back to the fore. Following the end of a significant relationship, Palladino uses the album to delve into themes of love, loneliness, and relationship norms and in the process crafts a ten-track album that superbly blends r&b, soul, pop, and disco influences from the 80s and 90s with a contemporary twist. Self-produced and featuring collaborations with notable musicians like Jai Paul, Pino Palladino, Rocco Palladino, Steve Ferrone, and Rob Moose, the album is a classy journey through shapeshifting sonics and intimate introspection, marking a significant milestone in Palladino's musical journey.

Review: Misha Panfilov is an Estonian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, based in Funchal, Portugal and Atlantico is a stunning showcase of his work on the Miraaz label. He mixes up psych, prog rock, jazz horns and international rhythms right from the opening moments of the dramatic 'Verticle.' Things take a more wistful folk bent on the jaunt that is 'Alegria Em Movimento' with more expansive jazz stylings taking over on 'Caleidoscopio'. This one comes on heavyweight vinyl and with an insert, plus great artwork, so is a real treasure.

Review: God bless XL Recordings. The UK label has been at the forefront of boundary pushing music since its inception, and almost 35 years remains a seal of quality. A constant source of inspiring surprises and new sonic experiences. The kind of organisation that will take a punt on British polymath Jai Paul's demo album, which, by all accounts, is pretty hard to describe, let alone define. More so, the type of team that would, eight years earlier, support and release one of the artist's earliest songs, 'BTSTU'. Coming full circle, that tune closes this collection of stuff produced around the same time, all of which was going to form the debut album, Bait Ones. One low-quality CD-R of the work stolen and then leaked online later, and the artist stepped away from music until the end of the last decade, when this "perfectly imperfect" LP was finally allowed to see the light of day. A lo fi, glitchy, trippy, granular, sexy sound that owes as much to hip hop, pop and r&b as experimental noise, ambient dub, and electronic soul.

Review: Give Way has all the hallmarks of a collector's item. Originally intended to be given away for free with copies of Pear Jam's 1998 documentary, Single Video Theory, neither label nor band cleared the promotion and so it all went down the drain, with 50,000 copies destroyed a day before the flick hit in one of those How Much Money Did They Have? kind of moments.
25 years on and fans can finally see what they've been missing out on. The record itself is a snapshot of a date at Melbourne Park in Australia, a stop off on the Yield Tour, cutting down the original 25 track show to a shorter playlist, ensuring it can fit on the release. In terms of standards, this gives a strong nod to a peak period in the legacy of this US grunge rock behemoth, and should appease even the most demanding fans.

Review: Almost two full decades into their curious career, slacker-psych experimentalists The Pheromoans have never been ones to shy away from the esoteric or mundane. Led by the droll, deadpan delivery and unique world view of primary songwriter Russell Walker, LP number 13 sees the collective lean ever further into topical malaise whilst honing their fuzzed out, post-college-rock jangles into their most digestible and direct form yet. With the title Wyrd Psearch, Walker takes direct aim "at the ubiquity of people claiming things are eerie or weird/wyrd in the present cultural milieu", while the word-search artwork is intended to highlight our cultures' obsessive search for meaning in an increasingly illogical world. Twinkling no wave riffs, glistening synth lines and muted requests to loved ones requesting their presence on a trip to town to reup on prescription meds.

Review: You don't have to spend long looking at the cover art for Plantoid's Terrapath to have a stab at guessing what the record is all about. The oil painting-style image is at once retro and futuristic, invoking thoughts of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds and John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids, among other classic science fiction works. We couldn't ask for a more apt visualisation of the record itself. Terms like 'prog rock jazz' may not be particularly flattering today, but here Plantoid prove there's plenty of life left in the (sub) genre yet, especially when you throw funk, soul, and subtle hints of downbeat into the mix. Terrapath is at times fragile and gentile, in other moments rowdy and brash, and it never, ever feels like it could do with seven or eight minutes shaving off a track. A wonderfully conceived collection you'll be coming back to again, and again.

Review: Georgian pioneer George Dzodzuashvili has been away for eight years but now makes a triumphant if not overdue return as Post Industrial Boys. The record on Casa Voyager finds him tapping into his most personal work yet as he opens up a whole new musical universe that is packed with memories of yesteryear. Even though you didn't experience them, they feel so real here as they are bought to life by Dzodzuashvili with his slow motion dub grooves and wispy melodies. The spoken word snippets and whispered poems all conjure up rich feelings that warm you to your core and help you forget the grown up world around you.

Review: Pregoblin II marks another thrilling chapter in Pregoblin's sonic odyssey and again serves to highlight their genre-defying prowess. With this release, the duo continues to push on and blend elements of indie rock, psychedelia, and electronica into something wholly new that ranges from infectious hooks to experimental textures. Each track is a mini adventure that allows you to lose yourself in its hypnotic worlds. Pregoblin's distinctive blend of introspective lyricism and eclectic instrumentation shines through as always to cement their status as one of the most innovative acts in contemporary music.

Review: Popular post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd's 2003 album Life On Display - their second full length - has somehow never before been pressed to vinyl, until now. The record was produced by John Kurzweg and managed to achieve Gold status with several singles going on to become hits such as 'Away From Me,' 'Spin You Around,' and 'Heel Over Head.' This reissue features a four page booklet with lyrics and listening to is an immediate ticket back to the turn of the millennium when baggy jeans, over-gelled hair, wallet chains and Etnies were all the rage.

Review: Dark Entries joins forces with Papi Juice Records for No Jack Swing, a new and fantastic solo electronic debut from Oakland-based Brontez Purnell. The Southern-raised musician centres his queerness and Blackness in his work, most notably his Gravy Train and Younger Lovers projects as well as with award-winning books 100 Boyfriends and Since I Laid My Burden Down. Here he focuses on the amen-break of the 808 and on that foundation uses a collage of found sound materials to build a vibe. Bedroom instrumentals, poems from boys in France and childhood gospel tapes are all drawn upon to make for a lived-up, autobiographical sound produced by Nightfeelings.