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Originally released in 1996 as a limited fan-club pressing for Rockathon, Guided By Voices' Tonics And Twisted Chasers has always existed as an anomaly in Robert Pollard's vast discography. In many ways, the album serves as the tail of a creative comet that in just two years included the "classic line-up" trilogy of Bee Thousand, Alien Lanes, Under the Bushes, Under the Stars and countless singles that crammed endless hooks in their grooves. In the intervening space, Tonics And Twisted Chasers has taken on a mythic status. It's arguably Pollard's strangest, gnarliest, most enlightened record and also the fans first chance to see the stitches that bind his galaxy of songs. It's like peering at the caliber inside a watch, responsible for making the whole enterprise tick. This nineteen-song collaboration with guitarist Tobin Sprout could be interpreted as spontaneous sketches, late-night improvisations, ideas that blossomed later in the timeline ("Knock 'Em Flying" and "Key Losers"), but as with anything in Pollard's orbit, its intention is clear when heard as a cohesive whole. The Pollard tenet that "less is more" is on full display here. The songs rarely creep past ninety seconds and coalesce much like Pollard's collage-styled visual art. Arena anthems in miniature ("158 Years of Beautiful Sex") bash up against eerie piano laments ("Universal Nurse Finger") without any time to breathe, acoustic lullabies that sound like a Midwestern summer's twilight ("Look It's Baseball") segue into monochromatic post-rock ("Maxwell Jump"). The euphoric joy and obtuse melancholy in Pollard's voice is so palpable on the album's standout, "Dayton, Ohio - 19 Something & 5" (which has since become a live staple), that it's impossible to find a more autobiographical yarn in his catalog. The album's closest analog is 1993's Vampire On Titus, as it contains that album's prickly, dark and shimmering obfuscation that only reveals its beauty after repeated listens. Tonics And Twisted Chasers maintains the lore because the melodies are so strong. Using a primitive drum machine, Radio Shack effects, minimal instrumentation and the DIY spirit that guided them in the first place, Pollard and Sprout construct a masterpiece of pop that could only come from a basement in north Dayton, Ohio. Anyone in that hallowed era who happened upon it, kept it as a secret.

This live compilation attempts to replicate the seamless, infinite loop of the original Nonagon Infinity album.

Svart Records proudly present the vinyl reissue of Grave Pleasures’ modern classic album Motherblood

There are still those rare bands out there in the world that have a unique ability to combine macabre, mystifying rock with a more pop-oriented flare, a la early Bowie or early The Cure. Grave Pleasures are such a band that is equally suited for playing on a stadium stage, or in some Lynchian nightmare. It’s that duality and electrifying contradiction that makes their music so exhilarating.

Lead guitarist Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) steps up to write the majority of the songs together with British-born outcast Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, ex- Beastmilk/DHG/Code). His screaming telecaster and unique interplay of discord and harmony has become a trademark of the band’s sound. Together with guitarist Aleksi Kiiskilä (ex - Kohu 63), their strings shimmer, hammer and howl out a web of sound which is distinctly Grave Pleasures. Fleshed out by the hypnotic signature rhythms of Valtteri Arino (ex- Beastmilk) on bass and Rainer Tuomikanto frenetically pounding the funeral drums (Ajattara, ex- Shining Swe), this group of well-established punks have started to reach up to their zenith on their sordid testament Motherblood.

Motherblood was recorded at Orgone Studios in the UK with Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost) in March 2017 and originally released by Century Media on the same year. The studio was suitably situated on the site of an old WW2 coding bunker and brought with it the isolation of the bleak British countryside. The setting helped give the album an intense and smiling urgency that picks up where 80s UK bands such as Magazine, The Wire and Echo And The Bunnymen left off, but never stopping long enough to look back too much into the past. Featuring guest vocals from David Tibet from Current 93, the band sets the tone for their inspirations, from the esoteric underground of England’s hidden reverse to Manchester’s sound of misery. With their own metallic raw tone clashed with pop hooks, Motherblood is a furiously passionate and contemporary record, which re-defines post-punk as a “war-cry for the eternally doomed.”

They have been described as "A post-punk wet dream," or perhaps more honestly as "bat-shit lunatics," and their music is in a funereal world of its own. Motherblood is a truly danceable, pop-feast of raw, banging pleasure – in all its primitive, gothic tribalism. Dance-floor death rock that brings with it an uncanny sense of inspired song craft that made Bowie’s Berlin era sound so fresh and revolutionary, Killing Joke’s tribal anthems so desperately ominous and dark throbbing melancholy of Depeche Mode’s atmospheric pop so damn sexy. Just about every part of this record bleeds menace, or emanates nuclear fumes. It’s unsafe territory which in turn makes it thrilling, sexy and most dangerously of all, catchy.

Moon Mirror, Nada Surf’s new record, has everything fans love and expect from them. Bittersweet anthems that begin quiet but explode into soaring harmonies? Check. Songs that are play-on-repeat heart punches? Check. Songs that are poetic and thought-provoking while also being absolute belt-at-the-top-of-your-voice-with-the-windows-down masterpieces? Check. It’s all here. For the past 30 years, Nada Surf has had the same core lineup: Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. Moon Mirror, their first for New West Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino. Moon Mirror is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up

Als Cope das erste Mal vor knapp 10 Jahren veröffentlicht wurde, erklärte Manchester Orchestra das dies ihre „ungeschminkte Heavy-Rock-Platte“ sei. Und damit sollten sie recht behalten, während die Band sich mehr und mehr ihren eigenen Sphärischen Sound schuf, bleibt Cope das lauteste & härteste Album ihres Schaffens. Zur Feier dieses 10-jährigen Jubiläums spielte Manchester Orchestra die Platte einmal komplett in dem kleinen Club in The Earl in Atlanta durch - das Ergebnis findet sich auf diesem Live Album.

This live compilation attempts to replicate the seamless, infinite loop of the original Nonagon Infinity album.

The first few months of 2024 has seen IST IST’s growing popularity expand further. Now a full-time band, they played to over 8,000 people across the UK and Europe including a first visit to Scandinavia and the sell-out signs going up at multiple German and Dutch shows including the 1,100 capacity Doornroosje in Nijmegen. ‘Light A Bigger Fire’ will be the follow-up to ‘Protagonists’, which reached number 41 in the Official Album Chart on release in March 2023 as well as securing them their third set of top ten positions in the vinyl, independent and physical charts as well as the number one download in the week of release.

To experience Justin R. Cruz Gallego's pulverizing Sub Pop debut is to get burned down to ashes and burst forth, born anew. Grim Iconic...(Sadistic Mantra), the Tacoma-based artist's second album, is driven by opposing forces: noisy abstractions and tightly structured beats, anguish and dissolution at the outside world and empowerment within, apathy and catharsis. Grim Iconic...(Sadistic Mantra) weds scouring electronics to hooky songs and Gallego's powerful drumming in a way that feels visceral and new. It's his most personal statement to date, at once playful and intent, driven and combustible, total fucking chaos mixed into glints of broken-glass beauty. Born in Tucson, Arizona, Gallego experienced culture shock as a child after relocating to the frigid climes of the Pacific Northwest. He found solace in the Seattle punk scene centered around Iron Lung Records and has since remained a fixture in the underground community. "I see this record as first and foremost a musical statement," Gallego says. "I grew up in punk and DIY subcultures, but before that I had Latin music playing in the background through my childhood and every phase of adolescence. It was surprisingly natural to incorporate. I realized I wanted to go deeper into these rhythms. I wanted to make a record that felt as experimental as much as it felt from the perspective of a Latino. When I got a glimmer of that possibility, it felt exciting." Lead single "Dogear" is a face-melting party starter that sounds like someone forced Talking Heads and Rudimentary Peni to share a practice space. "I wanted a song that felt playful in the way it attempted to be dissonant without taking itself too seriously," Gallego says. "Cholla Beat" is even more ambitious, an anthemic mix of WAR and Wire led by unruly synthesizers spiraling down a labyrinth of production. Gallego's influences for the album are vast, ranging from British documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis to electric Miles Davis to audio miscreants like Demdike Stare and Oneohtrix Point Never. But it's Gallego's assured sonic vision that resounds the loudest. And, while J.R.C.G. is a solo project, conceived and executed primarily in Gallego's home studio, he found strength in opening the project to others, starting with Seth Manchester as co-producer. Manchester's penchant for bone-rattling frequencies, as seen in his production work with The Body, Battles, and Mdou Moctar, made him a natural fit for Gallego. Together, they retained the intimacy of Gallego's home recordings while taking advantage of the hi-fi stylings of his Machines With Magnets Studio in Rhode Island. The closing song, "World i," offers a glimpse into the live experience of Grim Iconic...(Sadistic Mantra), with upwards of seven band members blasting off. The album features a fascinating mix of supporting players, many of whom cycle through J.R.C.G.'s live lineup: Morgan Henderson (The Blood Brothers, Fleet Foxes), Jason Clackley (Dreamdecay, The Exquisites), Jon Scheid (Dreamdecay, U Sco), Erica Miller (Casual Hex, Big Bite), Veronica Dye (Terminator) Phil Cleary (U Sco), and Alex Gaziano (Dreamdecay, Kidcrash, Science Amplification). Taken as a whole, G.I.S.M. is a whirlwind of sound, pummeling, and cleansing. It's a sweaty, thrilling aural adventure and, like a great basement show, it'll leave you breathless, exhausted, and wanting to repeat it all over again. As any good mantra should.

The treasured Japanese soft rock album produced by Haruomi Hosono is finally reissued in analog LP format! The only album "Aiiro no Kisetsu" (The Season of The Color of Love) (original release date: July 1975) by the group "Kaze Chorus Dan" (Wind Chorus Group) from the Yamaha Popular Song Contest is reissued on analog vinyl. Haruomi Hosono participated fully as producer, lyricist, composer, arranger, and player. The beautiful chorus work of mixed voices, the tight performance by the Tin Pan Alley family, and the Western taste and groove that is like A&M are the best kept soft-rock treasures.

Presenting 3+5, the long-awaited eighth album from Tokyo-based noise-rockers Melt-Banana on their own A-Zap label!

The album showcases the duo’s visionary musical approach and extraordinary abilities as performers: Yasuko Onuki’s giddy, hyperactive vocalizing and Ichiro Agata’s glitchy, cyberpunk guitar, delivered at dizzying speed, bathed in aggressive electronic sounds. Their aesthetic approach is exultantly experimental, fusing diverse genres imbued with chaotic energy. As on their previous works, the music on 3+5 is unpredictable, always filled with surprises and excitement.

3+5 synthesizes elements of a variety of extreme musics, hyper-pop, classic punk, vintage metal, and noise. It partakes of Japanese culture overall, especially the subcultures of gaming, anime and underground music.

Melt-Banana seek to offer possibilities to musicians who won’t start a band if they can’t find a drummer, young women afraid to express themselves in their own unfiltered and unique voices, bedroom musicians and egg punks seeking to blend electronic noise with live instrumentation. 3+5 provides a fresh experience and perhaps inspiration for all.

While Melt-Banana hasn’t explicitly explained the meaning behind the album’s title, 3+5, prime numbers symbolize mathematical integrity and independence, which could represent the band’s uniqueness and freedom. Why “3+5” and not “1 + 7”? One is left to ponder.

Horse Jumper of Love thrive on patient and pummeling songs.Since 2013, the Boston trio of singer-guitarist Dimitri Giannopoulos,bassist John Margaris, and drummer James Doran haveslowly stretched the fringes of indie rock across five full-lengthLPs. Their music unwinds with gutting emotional intensity thanksto Giannopoulos' impressionistic lyrics and how the arrangementsviolently lurch from delicate to bludgeoning. Disaster Trick, theband's new album out August 16 via Run For Cover, is their mostdirect and uncompromising LP yet. Its 11 songs tackle self-destructivenessand healing with jolting lucidity.Where the band's last LP 2023's Heartbreak Rules excelled withquiet, bare-bones songwriting, Disaster Trick cranks up the volumeand boasts some of the most expansive arrangements of theband's catalog. Recorded at Asheville, North Carolina's Drop ofSun Studios with producer Alex Farrar, the recordings soar withsearing guitars and a thunderous rhythm section. "I tried the quietthing on the last album and I realized there's definitely two parts ofme: I like really heavy music, and I like really gentle music," saysGiannopoulos. "The two albums I was listening to the most, whilewe were in the studio were the Leonard Cohen's Songs From aRoom and Hum's Downward is Heavenward."Disaster Trick is a dark record but it's never dour. There's a glimmerof hope and humor throughout these 11 songs, written with thegrace that only time and growing up can bring. As he sings on"Death Spiral," "I know it sounds dramatic / But I must describe /The way that it felt." There's catharsis when it's needed most. "Thisalbum is a reflection on destructive behavior from a lens of moreclarity," says Giannopoulos. "A lot of the songs came out of thispoint where things in my life were going well but I couldn't accept it.I was being a brat. Disaster Trick is me cleaning up my act a bit andreflecting on it."

Drummer Kinichi Motegi, currently with the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, curated a selection of tracks for this album based on the concept of "Kuchu (Aerial)" and "Uchu (Universe)," featuring music from two labels in 2005. The album has been highly requested by Fishmans fans for an analog version and is available as a limited edition on clear sky blue 2LP.

“I want it to feel like you’re right there in the room with us.” And in 10 songs and 40 minutes, Wunderhorse capture the raw power and energy that has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts of recent years. With rugged hooks, unfiltered noise, and fierce melodic sensitivity, Midas rips up the script of traditional second albums and establishes the band as an endlessly addictive and rousing generational talent. In late 2022, the release of their debut album Cub saw singles ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ dominate radio airwaves. Landmark performances filling Glastonbury’s Woodsies Tent (fka John Peel Stage) and selling out London’s Kentish Town Forum months in advance followed tours with Pixies and Fontaines D.C. and stadium appearances with Sam Fender, signalling the band’s arrival as one of the most prominent and exciting new guitar acts in the UK. With Grammy Award-winning producer Craig Silvey (The Rolling Stones, The National, Florence + The Machine) on board for their sophomore record, the band looked to do something different. Their goal – in the very same studio that Nirvana put In Utero to tape and PJ Harvey recorded the Mercury Prize-nominated Rid of Me – was to push themselves outside of their comfort zones. “There’s absolutely no faking on this record,” ends Slater, “it's not supposed to be perfect; it’s supposed to be a snapshot, even if it is a bit of an ugly portrait. That's how it was then, and that's how you're gonna see it.” And it sounds like you’re right there in the room with them.

Debut standalone VHF album by the Elkhorn duo of Drew Gardner and Jesse Sheppard, a tight set of six studio recordings in a variety of moods and featuring a lot of new sound textures. Elkhorn’s prolific stream of releases since 2016 has highlighted their mastery of sprawling long-form, acoustic-driven hypno-jams, with an emphasis on live performance (including on their collaboration with Pelt’s Mike Gangloff on the Shackamaxon Concert album). The Red Valley is a more layered and composed-sounding set, with the duo overdubbing extensively on top of their own dual guitars. Leading off the LP, “Crystal Hummingbird” features one of their signature minor-modal vamps, with layers of fuzz bass, zither, and frame drum providing weight and psychedelic density. “Gray Salt Trail” continues the vibe, with thick fuzz vibraphone supplementing the cinematic palate, leading into the spare side-closer “Black Wind Of Kayenta,” where Sheppard plays electric 12-string and Gardner solos on acoustic guitar.

Side two starts with “Road to Chaco Canyon,” a brooding duet that builds momentum with Gardner’s insistent frame drum cadence, dropping down into the quiet string pool of “Inside Spider Rock” (featuring Fern Knight’s Jesse Sparhawk on gloriously swirling lever harp) and the graceful finale “Jackrabbit Hops.”

Drummer Kinichi Motegi, currently with the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, curated a selection of tracks for this album based on the concept of "Kuchu (Aerial)" and "Uchu (Universe)," featuring music from two labels in 2005. The album has been highly requested by Fishmans fans for an analog version and is available as a limited edition on clear sky blue 2LP.

Moon Mirror, Nada Surf’s new record, has everything fans love and expect from them. Bittersweet anthems that begin quiet but explode into soaring harmonies? Check. Songs that are play-on-repeat heart punches? Check. Songs that are poetic and thought-provoking while also being absolute belt-at-the-top-of-your-voice-with-the-windows-down masterpieces? Check. It’s all here. For the past 30 years, Nada Surf has had the same core lineup: Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. Moon Mirror, their first for New West Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino. Moon Mirror is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up

Moon Mirror, Nada Surf’s new record, has everything fans love and expect from them. Bittersweet anthems that begin quiet but explode into soaring harmonies? Check. Songs that are play-on-repeat heart punches? Check. Songs that are poetic and thought-provoking while also being absolute belt-at-the-top-of-your-voice-with-the-windows-down masterpieces? Check. It’s all here. For the past 30 years, Nada Surf has had the same core lineup: Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca, and Ira Elliot. Moon Mirror, their first for New West Records, was produced by the band and Ian Laughton at Rockfield Studios in Wales. For the recording, Matthew, Daniel, and Ira were joined by their friend and longtime keyboard player Louie Lino. Moon Mirror is a thrilling and moving leap forward for Nada Surf. The songs on the album are true to the human experience—as meaningful and mysterious and sometimes absurd as it is. There’s love, yes, but also grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. These are not the songs of a band in their 20s. There is hard-won wisdom here, and hard-won belief in possibility—the kind that comes from falling down and getting back up

Svart Records proudly present the vinyl reissue of Grave Pleasures’ modern classic album Motherblood

There are still those rare bands out there in the world that have a unique ability to combine macabre, mystifying rock with a more pop-oriented flare, a la early Bowie or early The Cure. Grave Pleasures are such a band that is equally suited for playing on a stadium stage, or in some Lynchian nightmare. It’s that duality and electrifying contradiction that makes their music so exhilarating.

Lead guitarist Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) steps up to write the majority of the songs together with British-born outcast Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, ex- Beastmilk/DHG/Code). His screaming telecaster and unique interplay of discord and harmony has become a trademark of the band’s sound. Together with guitarist Aleksi Kiiskilä (ex - Kohu 63), their strings shimmer, hammer and howl out a web of sound which is distinctly Grave Pleasures. Fleshed out by the hypnotic signature rhythms of Valtteri Arino (ex- Beastmilk) on bass and Rainer Tuomikanto frenetically pounding the funeral drums (Ajattara, ex- Shining Swe), this group of well-established punks have started to reach up to their zenith on their sordid testament Motherblood.

Motherblood was recorded at Orgone Studios in the UK with Jaime Gomez Arellano (Ghost, Ulver, Paradise Lost) in March 2017 and originally released by Century Media on the same year. The studio was suitably situated on the site of an old WW2 coding bunker and brought with it the isolation of the bleak British countryside. The setting helped give the album an intense and smiling urgency that picks up where 80s UK bands such as Magazine, The Wire and Echo And The Bunnymen left off, but never stopping long enough to look back too much into the past. Featuring guest vocals from David Tibet from Current 93, the band sets the tone for their inspirations, from the esoteric underground of England’s hidden reverse to Manchester’s sound of misery. With their own metallic raw tone clashed with pop hooks, Motherblood is a furiously passionate and contemporary record, which re-defines post-punk as a “war-cry for the eternally doomed.”

They have been described as "A post-punk wet dream," or perhaps more honestly as "bat-shit lunatics," and their music is in a funereal world of its own. Motherblood is a truly danceable, pop-feast of raw, banging pleasure – in all its primitive, gothic tribalism. Dance-floor death rock that brings with it an uncanny sense of inspired song craft that made Bowie’s Berlin era sound so fresh and revolutionary, Killing Joke’s tribal anthems so desperately ominous and dark throbbing melancholy of Depeche Mode’s atmospheric pop so damn sexy. Just about every part of this record bleeds menace, or emanates nuclear fumes. It’s unsafe territory which in turn makes it thrilling, sexy and most dangerously of all, catchy.

The first few months of 2024 has seen IST IST’s growing popularity expand further. Now a full-time band, they played to over 8,000 people across the UK and Europe including a first visit to Scandinavia and the sell-out signs going up at multiple German and Dutch shows including the 1,100 capacity Doornroosje in Nijmegen. ‘Light A Bigger Fire’ will be the follow-up to ‘Protagonists’, which reached number 41 in the Official Album Chart on release in March 2023 as well as securing them their third set of top ten positions in the vinyl, independent and physical charts as well as the number one download in the week of release.

Als Cope das erste Mal vor knapp 10 Jahren veröffentlicht wurde, erklärte Manchester Orchestra das dies ihre „ungeschminkte Heavy-Rock-Platte“ sei. Und damit sollten sie recht behalten, während die Band sich mehr und mehr ihren eigenen Sphärischen Sound schuf, bleibt Cope das lauteste & härteste Album ihres Schaffens. Zur Feier dieses 10-jährigen Jubiläums spielte Manchester Orchestra die Platte einmal komplett in dem kleinen Club in The Earl in Atlanta durch - das Ergebnis findet sich auf diesem Live Album.

The latest full-length from Kishi Bashi, Kantos is a work of exquisite duality: aparty album about the possible end of humanity as we know it, at turns deeplyunsettling and sublimely joyful. In a sonic departure from the symphonic folkof his critically lauded 2019 LP Omoiyari_a career-defining body of work bornfrom his intensive meditation on the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americansduring World War II_the Seattle-born singer/songwriter/producer's fifthstudio album encompasses everything from Brazilian jazz and '70s funk toorchestral rock and city pop (a Japanese genre that peaked in the mid-'80s).Informed by an equally kaleidoscopic mix of inspirations_the cult-classic sci-finovel series Hyperion Cantos, the writings of 18th century enlightenmentphilosopher Immanuel Kant, a revelatory trip to ancient ruins on the island ofCrete_Kantos ultimately serves as an unbridled exaltation of the human spiritand all its wild complexities.During the earliest stages of creating songs for the album, Ishibashi's mainintent was to return to his highly eclectic musical roots, in part by tapping intohis jazz background and by delving into the dance-rock-leaning sensibilities hepreviously embraced as co-founder of Brooklyn-bred indie band Jupiter One.But not too long into the songwriting process, he stumbled upon anAI-equipped website capable of composing catchy song hooks based on aprompt_a turn of events that quickly catalyzed the existential inquiry at theheart of Kantos.Although his ruminations on AI, transhumanism, and humanity's troubled fateindelibly guided the making of Kantos, Ishibashi nonetheless views the albumas "less of a warning about this kind of hubris but more a celebration of thevery characteristics that make us human: desire, passion, empathy, and love.""If there's anything I want people to come away with when they hear thisrecord, it's a feeling of excitement about the possibilities of human-createdart," he says. "Even as we're learning more about al...

You could call Wishy's story a lucky one. After prior monikers anditerations, Wishy was born as a kaleidoscope of alternativemusic's semi-recent history, with traces of shoegaze, grunge andpower-pop swirling together. On Triple Seven, Indiana songwritersKevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites' musical synergy provesitself to be a rare one-the kind that sounds like someone strikinggold. Part sly wink and part warm gratitude, it's only fitting theirmuch anticipated full length debut is titled Triple Seven, whereWishy's penchant for indelible hooks is couched equally inpillowy atmospherics and scathing distortion.By day Krauter works as a music teacher, giving drum and guitarlessons to students, while Pitchkites is a seamstress by tradeand often makes embroidered merch for the band. Coming up ina scene defined by hardcore and emo, Krauter and Pitchkitesinstead found themselves writing melodies in their heads whiledriving to work, pulling music from the air and arriving at a blearier,more ethereal interpretation of Midwest expanse. Initially, theirmusic oscillated between hazy dream-pop and heavier alt-rock.The subject of their songs create a loose web of vignettes andsnapshots, capturing Krauter and Pitchkites in a whirlwindcouple of years _ exiting the pandemic, embarking on an embryonicproject, making sense of their musical pasts while forging amusical future alongside one another, each of them on a journeyof self-acceptance and self-understanding. Sometimesgorgeous, sometimes festering, and always cathartic, TripleSeven is a vibrant and exhilarating document of self-discoverywith the scope and heft of the bygone big-budget rock albumsthat inspired it.

Over a catalog of six albums, Native Harrow have produced a discography of “rich, engrossing records” and “instant classics” while single-mindedly following their own artistic code, acquiescing only to the exigence of the song: each song its own world with its own rules. Formed a decade ago, Native Harrow spent their first five or six years crisscrossing the United States and Canada on numerous tours, averaging more than 150 concerts per year in 47 states and 4 provinces, on the back of two self-released albums, Ghost (2015) and Sorores (2017). In 2019, they released Happier Now, partnering with London alt-country stalwarts Loose Records. The record garnered glowing reviews, with Rough Trade selecting it for its album of the month, writing “Beautifully soaring... rolling grooves ground languid and dreamy clearwater shimmers of sound.” The critical acclaim and Americana chart success of the album prompted three back-to-back UK tours in 2019 and early 2020, ultimately leading to a three-year stint living and touring in the UK and Europe. In this time, Native Harrow released two more critically acclaimed records with Loose; Closeness (2020) and Old Kind of Magic (2022), playing for audiences ranging from rock clubs in Norway and Sweden to opera halls in Portugal, and every stop in-between, as well as performing at festivals such as BST Hyde Park (supporting the Eagles and Robert Plant & Alison Kraus), Greenman Festival, Black Deer Festival, The Great Escape, Celtic Connections, Moseley Folk Festival, Sxsw, and many more. Following the eruption of its title track, Side A of “Divided Kind” transitions nimbly through hazy tremolo-laden dusty canyons, past an intimate soulful love letter, and towards a moody anthem of devotion buoyed by propulsive grooves, before ultimately settling on a gentle bird’s-eye-view of love and transcendence. Side B opens with the debut single, “Goin’ Nowhere” a soul transmission over incendiary bass and undulating layers of guiro, congas, tambourines, shakers, and handclaps that sidesteps into moments of infinite dial-toned burnished, Rhodes-propelled soul-jazz and self-assured blues rock à gogo before ending in a spectral folk reading on celestial meditation. “Divided Kind” was produced and recorded by the pair, in their home studio surrounded by the vintage acoustic and electric guitars, dusty semi-functional amplifiers, and out-of-date Rhodes, B3, piano, and assorted percussion they’ve grown accustomed to. Chicago-based Alex Hall was again drafted to add drums and to mix, and Philadelphia drummer and engineer Joshua Friedman mastered the record. London-based musician Joe Harvey-Whyte added the pedal steel to “Borrowing Time”, with all other voices and instruments being performed by Tuel and Harms. “Divided Kind” is available everywhere September 13 on Different Time Records.

"Indonesian rock trio Voice Of Baceprot (vob) have had to weather many challenges after they decided to carve a career in music. With the lack of music-related facilities in their village of Singajaya in Garut, West Java, they had to practically build their own modest practice studio. And they could only get a gig in the nearest city of Garut, three-and-a-half hours away. They had to face more significant adversities, namely the stigmas and unsolicited suggestions regarding religion and decency directed at them.

"You must remember that we come from a village where many see women as inferior to men. After completing high school, we did not have a lot of options. It was either work at home or for a relative at a convenience store. Or marry someone our parents choose," vocalist/guitarist Marsya recalls. It is a mindset that has survived from one generation to the other, even to this day. Hence, garnering support from even their family members became an uphill battle. ""No wonder only the three of us managed to come this far when you consider that VOB started with 15 members in 2014!"" drummer Sitti exclaims.

With all the setbacks that have come from all directions for an extended period, it is no surprise that they have played a massive part in developing VOB's character as a band and as individuals. Rather than dampening their spirits, however, they have moulded the trio to become stronger. "We have become rocks now. Hardened, rigid, and stiff due to all the doctrines in our minds. But through music and our friendship, we became fully aware that they must be cut through and broken regardless," Marsya explains. And from the trials and tribulations that they have had to suffer, VOB chose to name their debut album “Retas”. In Bahasa Indonesia, ""retas"" is ""a body of igneous rocks that breaks through by cutting through other rocks"". It epitomises how the band see themselves: igneous rocks, the end product of the socio-economic challenges that have shaped them into who they are now. ""Retas"" is a collection of songs that embody their solid determination to break free and carve out their path as a band, as musicians, and as independent women. With Ntrl guitarist Coki Bollemeyer at the helm as producer for the newer songs on the album, “Retas” comprises nine tracks, including album focus track “Age Oriented”, fan-favourite “What’s the Holy (Nobel) Today?”, “The Enemy of Earth is You”, instrumental track “Kawani”, and four previous singles that they have released since 2018, including their breakthrough single “School Revolution” and the smash hit “God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music”. ""We really enjoyed making this album, thanks in no small part to Coki. His support and appreciation towards the hard work we put into the process have made a huge difference. It gave us the energy and confidence to give our very best,"" Marsya acknowledges. Most of the songs have roots since VOB were still in middle school, each immaculately capturing their emotional responses to the variety of experiences they have gone through, transcribed and transformed into a combination of lyrics and melodies feeding off of raw energy and passion. Focus track ""Age Oriented"" is a protest song aimed towards age restriction that they once had to endure because they were playing rock music at such a young age. The piece lays bare their anger as tight and heavy riffs roar atop Sitti's groovy thumping beats and Widi's dexterous basslines. “More often than not, we were told it was ‘inappropriate and too soon’ and we ‘did not have enough experience’. There is a partiality towards age being the main benchmark to determine the merit of one’s artistic work. It meant the young must wait until they reach a certain age deemed worthy of independence to show their true potential,” Marsya remarks. The role of vocal director Irvan Natadiningrat has also become more significant in developing VOB's trademark sound. Take What's the Holy (Nobel) Today?"" for example. Irvan suggested the inclusion of the dramatic marching chant in the song. This powerful addition could make it the anti-war anthem for the modern generation. "The Enemy of Earth is You"" addresses the negative impacts of climate change. Never in their wildest dreams would they expect massive natural disasters to affect their village. Were they simply a show of might by nature's customary dynamics? Or are we, as human beings, to blame for our greed, ignorance, and narcissism? Writing instrumental “Kawani” felt fresh and intriguing for VOB. They had a unique opportunity to express their enthusiasm for Sundanese music, which they likewise hold in high regard. "In Sundanese, 'Kawani' means courage. This song represents the bravery with which we girls have refused to be treated as something ‘sweet and beautiful’. We are greater than that. That courage is reflected in the rhythms' dynamic quality. We may appear to be serene and unruffled, yet we can abruptly change into something else that is challenging to control,” according to Sitti.

Formed in Bristol, 4-piece LICE have become one of UK experimental rock"s most inventive and ambitious outliers. Their second album Third Time At The Beach - a three-part epic exploring our struggle to better understand the world around us - arrives via AD 93. Darting between minimalism, rock, techno and more, it sends us hurtling us through time and space: featuring a cast of astronauts, cavemen and dinosaurs.

Simple Reality cements the short lived legacy of Coventry DIY group Skeet.

Emerging from a scene of first-generation punks and 2 Tone kids, Skeet was instigated by Gary and Nigel Meffen in 1981, fusing tightrope instrumentals with a Roland CR-8000 under the glow of projected visuals. After a cassette of their debut performance found its way to Kay Booth who worked at Inferno Records, the unsuspecting frontwoman took the liberty of adding her own vocals. Instantly embraced as a permanent member, Booth’s shy delivery and open-diary expressions of social alienation and romantic rejection hovered over the brothers’ scratchy guitar and agitated bass.

Playing as few as 10 shows, their unnerving minimalism was recorded in a suburban home studio, borrowing a reel-to-reel from Toby Lyons (The Colourfield) and a mixer from Jerry Dammers (The Specials). Record labels gestured interest until one day they were no more - no arguments, no official split, just a silent parting of the ways and three people taking journeys in different directions. Unheard and unloved in the vaults for nearly four decades, 'Brief Call' finally resurfaced via the Coventry Music Museum compendium Alternative Sounds Volume 1, followed by a micro pressing of the full suite on Chris Long’s Almost Unknown imprint in 2023.

Simple Reality now offers a definitive snapshot of these must-hear neurotic post-punks. Mastered by Skeet fanatic Mikey Young, newly discovered instrumental multitracks are restored alongside a live recording of their final stand. Performed atop of a trailer in a pub beer garden, the release-worthy desk tape adds three new tracks and a more energised swing at ‘Left On the Shelf’s apathetic techno-pop.

RIYL: Fire Engines, 23 Skidoo, A Certain Ratio, Young Marble Giants, pel mel

An all-encompassing aural assault, a force as unstoppable and fiercely alive as the tide. The post-rock powerhouse known as And So I Watch You From Afar have returned with their 7th studio album, ‘Megafauna’. A tribute to the two places the collective call home, their beloved Portrush on the Irish North Coast and the beating heart that is Belfast; ‘ Megafauna’ is headstrong exploration and heartfelt appreciation with all the intuition, intimacy and humour of four firm friends approaching their 20th year as a band and a nod to the Irish roots that simultaneously ground & propel them forward. Like so many other bands and creatives throughout the pandemic, ASIWYFA found themselves suddenly stationary, with any plans outside of their immediate vicinity put on indefinite hold. However, where this might have seen other acts falter, ASIWYFA took comfort in their communal bond and, as soon as they were able, began writing a record that quickly became a love letter to the communities they call home. “‘Megafauna’ is essentially a distilled moniker for our peers,” says guitarist Rory Friers, “all of the friends and characters that we’ve grown up with who’ve made us and our homes what they are today. Lockdown was an intensely introspective and reflective process, which put the comfort of community at the forefront of our minds. ”The intent behind ‘Megafauna’ is clear from the outset. Two guitars, bass and drums all recorded in a week erupt into effervescent life in an endorphin rush of collaboration and togetherness after the physical and psychological wilderness of isolation. Lead single ‘Do Mór’ is a preposterously playful collision of light-hearted guitar hooks, effortless jazz syncopation and the triumphant return of ASIWYFA’s inimitable wall-of-sound distortion, whilst opening track ‘North Coast Megafauna’ serves as an anthem for the whole album and perhaps for a band reinvigorated too; proudly wearing the joyously jarring confrontation of their sound on their sleeves. ‘Megafauna’ is the band’s first new music since 2022’s critically-acclaimed ‘Jettison’, an ambitious multi-media ensemble piece packed full of experimentation and collaboration. Jokingly referring to ‘Jettison’ as the band’s “mature record”, guitarist Niall Kennedy frames the writing of ‘Megafauna’ around the band’s long-running mantra of ‘DO THE SCARY THING’ which sees them constantly hurtling towards newness, towards progress, evolution and the unknown. Whilst the new record is ASIWYFA taking on a more familiar, traditional form; in this post-’Jettison’, post-pandemic world ‘Megafauna’ is a deafening and defiant statement of intent from the band’s propulsive core - a clarion call for the communities that shape them, a resplendent celebration of togetherness over separation. 1. North Coast Megafauna2. Do Mór3. Gallery of Honour4. Mother Belfast (Part 1)5. Mother Belfast (Part 2)6. Years Ago7. Any Joy8. Button Days9. Me and Dunbar

Dutch septet Personal Trainer churn out songs that sound like all your favorite indie rock luminaries jam-packed into big-beaming pop psalms. Off the back of their self-released debut LP Big Love Blanket (2022), the band return this year with Still Willing, released this August via Bella Union.

The band's formative years were marked by a revolving door of plucky scenesters, with Willem Smit – the band’s conductor and cheerleader – as its affable pivot figure. But now with shows at festivals such as Sxsw (us), Best Kept Secret (nl), End of the Road Festival (uk), Great Escape (uk) and Wilderness (uk) under their belt, the band nascent state-of-flux has cemented into a steady seven-piece renowned for their rousing and unpredictable live shows.

This live compilation attempts to replicate the seamless, infinite loop of the original Nonagon Infinity album.

Award-winning UK based genre-blending roots singer songwriter Elles Bailey returns with her stunning new album "Beneath The Neon Glow". The album, Elles" fourth studio album, comes out on Cooking Vinyl Records."Beneath The Neon Glow" sees Elles intertwine British roots, Americana and blues across ten powerfully, uplifting tracks. Produced by Dan Weller (Enter Shikari) and recorded with Elles" exceptional and trusted live band, the album is an exploration of love"s myriad forms. Through lyrically vulnerable and brutally honest songwriting, Elles delves into the depths of heartbreak, the resilience of friendship, and the enduring power of love that spans a lifetime. From the fleeting moments to the love that withstands the test of time, she fearlessly navigates through the spectrum of human emotion, offering listeners an intimate glimpse into her journey.

Hailing from the northern Thai city of Nakhon Sawan, the shoegaze/post-hardcore band "Telever" was formed in 2018. After releasing their debut EP "Have A Good Health," they garnered attention for their unique musical style, blending heavy, beautiful shoegaze sounds with powerful hardcore elements. They gained fans beyond the confines of their genre, earning spots as support acts for world-renowned bands like Fiddlehead and Turnover.

After approximately five years since their formation, their debut album "Inside the Game" has finally been released. It encapsulates the intensity and chill of Telever's music, where genres intersect.

The album kicks off with "Whole," featuring heavy guitar sounds reminiscent of DIIV's "Deceiver," perfectly blended with Tae's vocals, creating a flawless shoegaze experience. "Today" swiftly transitions into the post-hardcore scene, with emotional shouts and vocals amidst shoegaze guitar sounds, serving as an introduction to Telever's sound.

"Ghost," the third track, not only embraces traditional shoegaze approaches but also delivers heated guitar sounds reminiscent of emo. Even with heavy sounds, the title track "Inside the Game" successfully incorporates influences from 2000s emo and punk, giving it a pop sensibility.

In "Always," the eighth track, they showcase a dream-pop-infused shoegaze style from a slightly different angle. From Asia to the world, "Goodbye" closes the album with a continuous display of fresh shoegaze sounds. Telever is poised to garner global attention with this album.