Indie/Alternative charts

Review: The Wedding Present's Watusi, often overshadowed by its predecessors, emerges as a hidden gem in their discography. Initially released amidst the frenzy of their Hit Parade singles, it suffered from being ahead of its time"a blend of pop hooks and Seattle underground influences that defied easy categorisation". Yet, as fans who witnessed them revisiting it at their Brighton event recently will atest, 'Watusi' feels remarkably contemporary, its hypnotic melodies and nuanced instrumentation resonating with a neo-drone edge. While it may have been a hard sell in its era, the current lineup breathes new life into its subtle intelligence, unveiling its true brilliance. Overlooked but not forgotten, Watusi finally gets its due recognition as a key release from The Wedding Present, reaffirming its place in their storied career alongside Sea Monsters, George Best and the Hit Parade singles.

Review: Wilco's first studio album in three years, "Sky Blue Sky" has been perhaps the most ardently awaited release of 2007. Eager fans had taken to shouting out pleas for information to bandleader Jeff Tweedy during his recent solo acoustic tour, and the web chatter has been virtually deafening. On "Sky Blue Sky" Tweedy's lyrics deal forthrightly with romantic separation and reconciliation, their bittersweet quality giving way, as the album progresses, to a more uplifting, redemptive mood. Tweedy quite literally banishes the darkness on the penultimate track, the inspiring, gospel-tinged "What Light".

Review: A musical polymath like no other, the late Arthur Russell turned his hand to a bewildering variety of different musical styles, from avant-garde torch songs to pounding disco, yet all imbued with his otherworldly songwriting skill and richly emotional voice. This posthumous compilation, however, collects together the more oddly accessible material that he created, in largely acoustic and country styles. The cowboy hat on the sleeve may be strangely appropriate here, but more than this, the blend of plaintive melancholy and freewheeling charm can only leave the listener wondering how Arthur Russell managed to avoid mainstream success in his all-too-brief career. A strange and beguiling transmission from a unique talent.

Review: Tame Impala's breakthrough album 'Lonerism' celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special edition reissue. Through tracks like 'Elephant', 'Feels Like We Only Go Backwards' and 'Endors Toi', the album is known for introducing psychedelia to a new generation of hungry music fans in the early 2010s, and features Kevin Parker's distinctive falsetto vocals and intricate guitarwork throughout. The reissue here includes various bonuses, demos and "assorted sketches", casting renewed light on an important record for both the music-loving public, and an Aussie band/project destined for stardom.

Review: The Flaming Lips' 2002 album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots is being reissued as 6CD and 5LP 20th anniversary box sets - with both featuring demos, B-sides, radio sessions and more. Containing a godlike 100 or so tracks on it, it includes lost rarities like 'Psychedelic Hypnotist Daydream (Demo)' and 'The Deterioration Of The Fight Or Flight Response" (B-side Fight Test UK CD 1)' and Flaming Lips fans surely have their work cut out for them. A must for all obsessive collectors of the UK psychers' work, hoping to salvage their most obscure sonic trips - the ones that never came back.

Review: "NINE INCH NAILS' GROUNDBREAKING DEBUT ALBUM
REMASTERED AND RE-RELEASED

Fans can now revisit the conception of Nine Inch Nails. Trent Reznor's Null Corporation has teamed with UMe/The Bicycle Music Company to release Pretty Hate Machine: 2010 Remaster on November 22, 2010. After completing the score for David Fincher's The Social Network, Reznor oversaw the digital remastering of Pretty Hate Machine from the newly unearthed original tapes with engineer Tom Baker (whose NIN credits include The Downward Spiral, Broken, The Fragile, With Teeth and Ghosts). This remastered version includes an eleventh track, a cover of Queen's ''Get Down Make Love,'' originally the B-side to the ''Sin'' single and produced by Al Jourgensen. Rob Sheridan, NIN's longtime art director, has also re-imagined the packaging of Pretty Hate Machine under Reznor's supervision.

As a young musician in Cleveland, Ohio, Reznor took a job at a local recording studio and employed unused studio time to develop his own material. The nascent album was later recorded with his favorite producers including Flood/Mark Ellis (U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey), John Fryer (Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil), Adrian Sherwood (Ministry, Cabaret Voltaire) and Keith LeBlanc (Tackhead). The result was the first Nine Inch Nails album, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. All songs were written, arranged, programmed and performed by Reznor. The album featured the breakthrough singles ''Sin,'' ''Down In It'' and ''Head Like A Hole,'' and ultimately sold over 3 million copies, reaching Triple Platinum sales status. In the wake of the album's initial underground success, NIN soon developed a reputation as one of the best live acts in rock and joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991. NIN have since sold more than 18 million albums, collected Grammy® Awards and headlined arenas, amphitheaters and festivals worldwide.

The Bicycle Music Company acquired the rights to Pretty Hate Machine from a division of Prudential Securities in the spring of 2010. It was Bicycle's intention from the onset to enable Reznor to regain some control of this lost piece of NIN's legacy, resulting in this artist approved 2010 reissue of one of music's most groundbreaking and influential albums.

Reznor is currently working on new music as a member of the group How To Destroy Angels, continuing his Nine Inch Nails efforts and composing for future film score projects.

TRACK LISTING:
1. Head Like A Hole
2. Terrible Lie
3. Down In It
4. Sanctified
5. Something I Can Never Have
6. Kinda I Want To
7. Sin
8. That's What I Get
9. The Only Time
10. Ringfinger
11. Get Down Make Love"

Review: The Smashing Pumpkins' transformation from melodic alt-rock deities to synth-driven electronic boppers is complete. Well, almost. The titular single certainly fits that easy narrative, laser beam chords and string refrains bursting from behind a track that bounces with a light disco punk energy. In truth, of course, there has always been far more to Bill Corgan et al than the alternative rock tag often implies, and even right back to their formative years the crew were toying with expectations.

2018's Rick Rubin-produced Shine And Oh So Bright... album may have emphasised their rock roots, but now we're given their creative juices in full flow on their poppiest outing yet, partly inspired by the roster of seminal Chicago label Wax Trax!, the US home to Underworld and The KLF among others. Needless to say, though, the Pumpkins make it sound like they've lived here all along; testament to their unwavering dedication to trying new ideas and knack at pulling them off.

Review: Tame Impala'a Slow Rush album is certainly deserving of this special deluxe treatment which packages the record in an "off lid" artwork box on double red vinyl. The artwork is new for this one and as well as the original tracks there are two new remix 12" featuring 'One More Year (NTS Extended Version)' and 'Patience (Maurice Fulton Remix)' as well as the original version of 'Patience' and Four Tet's take on 'Is It True' plus 'Breathe Deeper (Lil Yachty Remix)' and others. As well as all the music this version includes a deluxe booklet and the Slow Rush 2050 Calendar.

Review: With a history dating back to 1912, at various points being used for different purposes including an ice rink and ballroom, San Francisco's The Fillmore - which began hosting bands properly as far back as the mid-1950s - is the kind of venue any act would love (or kill?) to play. Skip forward almost 50 years and My Morning Jacket understandably made the decision to record not just this album, but also a film, while performing two nights at the address in question. Okonokos is the end result, a powerhouse LP that really showcases the inherent strength of the Louisville, Kentucky outfit. Never straying too far from a kind of stadium take on country rock, but also refusing not to recognise the subtly psychedelic nature of those genres.

Review: Here comes a special double vinyl box set edition of Beach House's latest album, Once Twice Melody, which was the first one the band themselves have ever produced in its entirety. It was recorded in three different locations - Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, United Studio in Los Angeles, and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. The band used a real and full live string ensemble for the first time, too, and David Campbell took care of arrangements. It is a double album that features 18 songs presented in four chapters that take in many different sound and structures centred around acoustic guitar, some around drums, and some around electronics.

Review: This bumper collection of 12" singles features nine replicas of the singles from the original campaign around the Screamadelica album. It is now 30 years old and stands proud as one of the finest moments in the emergent acid hose scene, not in small part thanks to the late great and legendary producer Andrew Weatherall. The box set comes with prints by the album original cover artist Paul Cannell and some previous unheard mixes (and accompanying instrumental) of 'Shine Like Stars' by the aforementioned Lord Sabre as well as plenty of other great versions by fellow Boy's Own man Terry Farley and others.