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Glasgow based Seated Records return with more 1980s Scottish Post-Punk / New Wave material. In this 8-track mini compilation the label introduces the work of Stirling band 22 Beaches, offering a deep dive into music recorded between 1980-1984 - the majority of which has never seen the light of day! 22 Beaches formed in Stirling in the late 1970s as an evolution of the short lived group ‘Alone at Last’ - drummer Fred Parson’s and guitarist Stephen Hunter being the two who spanned the divide. Out of the six members of 22 Beaches, many were school friends, and the rest naturally fell together. The band toured extensively and played at a truly diverse set of venues across the UK: from a local swimming pool boiler room, to small nightclubs and university parties, to several fundraisers for the miners strike. Maybe most notably of all, drummer Fred Parsons described playing at what he calls “the Grangemouth International”, organised by local promoter Brian Guthrie and which featured an all-star lineup of 22 Beaches, The Exploited and the first incarnation of The Cocteau Twins. A coach was hired to ship the audience to Grangemouth from Stirling, the cost of which was included in the ticket. The gig then paused halfway through for a 'help yourself' buffet. Young promoters take heed. This is how it's done! Over the course of the 80s the band released music on three different, and now sought after, various artists compilation cassettes. “What Day Is It?” and “Sadie When She Died” were released on a compilation of local Stirling artists 'The A.N.K.L.E File'. The track from which the current record takes its namesake - “Dust” - was initially released on a compilation-tape for the fanzine 'Another Spark'. And ‘‘Zoo” (also featured on this record) was first released on Glasgow label Pleasantly Surprised via compilation, 'An Hour Of Eloquent Sounds', where 22 Beaches rubbed shoulders with early music from Scottish names Primal Scream, Cocteau Twins, The Wake and Sunset Gun. Unfortunately, 22 Beaches never met the same level of commercial success as these others and decided to retire the project in 1984 - leaving their recordings and demos to gather dust (hehe)…until now! This compilation, “Dust: recordings 1980-1984” follows the band's journey and the changes in their sound over the years. It moves from the raw, punk energy of early DIY recordings through to the A Certain Ratio style Balearica of their later pieces. The record's opener and title track “Dust” is perhaps the most shining example of the latter. Characterised by the plenitude of sonic space in the mix, “Dust” has an almost dub sensibility that is communicated through centrality of Parsons’ drums, McChord’s percussion, and Fildes’ Bass while the harmonising vocals of Sharkey and McGregor chant over the top to give the track its distinctive psychedelic edge. This is an atmosphere only exacerbated by the lofi quality of the recording which sits the vocals in the same aural realm as much 1960s psych-folk. On “Cartoon Boy”, the band strips things down further. A droning bass line persists through the tape fuzz and is accompanied by the sounds of a sole looping guitar chord sequence and McGregor and Sharkey’s vocals - respectively and carefully dancing around one another before harmonising in the most beautiful way. The result is a haunting and abstract Marine Girls style heartbreaker. ‘That Girl’ again delivers a dub adjacent rhythm section similar to that of “Dust”. However, on this instance crisp guitar chords, a distant, phased organ and blue-eyed soul vocal delivery, produce a track that could easily have been a lost Orange Juice recording from their sessions with Dennis Bovel. On “Somebody Got It Wrong” and “One Of Us” the band employ a more macro approach where a jangling guitar with an almost highlife-influenced tone, vocal ad-libs and syncopated percussion give the music a Talking Heads-esque swagger. Taken together these tracks illustrate a clear trajectory in the band's sound, moving from from the high energy no-wave quality of early recordings towards a more dub influenced, and stripped-back sound - a sonic trajectory followed by so many bands of the time, not least those emerging from the diaspora of Manchester’s Factory Records. On “Breathing’’ we hear the beginning of this transition, with the strong influence of the oddball NYC disco styles of Was (Not Was) and ZE records. All of this is meshed together with the residual punk rock energy of 1980s UK. This combination is employed to excellent effect with the addition of the distinctly Scottish (and what the band confirmed to me to be spontaneous) vocal delivery of: “Do you love me? Do you want me?” “Aye!” “Do you love me? Do you need me?” “Naw!”. On the record’s closing tracks, “Zoo” and “Talent Show”, we hear early examples of the band’s work, playing with their rawest all-in-one-take live energy where Hunter’s spiralling guitar riffs and McGregor's distorted vocal exclamations lead the charge. The band recalls that these initial-forays did not always translate so well into multitrack recording and overdubbing: “the deconstruction took away some of the band's natural feel”. On “Talent Show” the record ends with Sharkey delivering an almost unintelligible spoken word section over the top of the track, making for one final, disorientating, almost manic slice of post-punk. These tracks from 1980-1984 chart the progress of a unique contribution to the world of Scottish Post-Punk and New Wave, encapsulating not only the musical trajectory of 22 Beaches but also echoing the broader sonic landscape of 1980s UK, a testament to the adaptability and creativity of the UK’s underground music of the time.

Solid green coloured heavyweight 180 gram audiophile vinyl double LP reissue with the new 2019 artwork layout. Re-mastered by John Rivers at Woodbine Street Studio especially for vinyl release.Does The Cosmic Shepherd Dream Of Electric Tapirs? is not only a question deserving of an answer, but also the title of Acid Mother Temples first ever release on Space Age Recordings. As a Japanese soul collective, Acid Mothers Temple and The Melting Paraiso UFO are something of an enigma to the western world, and most likely to eastern ears too. Their music can be described as acid-rock, experimental, psychedelic or a whole host of genres dependent on the listeners' mood. Having been out of stock for some time, the long anticipated repress of this wild offering from AMT, comes as double solid green vinyl with the seductive, uncensored artwork of the original sleeve. Limited to 500 copies ww.

White VInyl.

Animal, Surrender! is Peter Kerlin (sunwatchers and Chris Forsyth & Solar Motel Band) and drummer ROB Smith (GREY/Smith, Rhyton, Pigeons, D. Charles Spear). Kerlin leads the duo through a set of bass-driven compositions and interpretations, incorporating spare electronics through a post-rock/weird-folk trance with intricate and sometimes blasted interplay between the rhythm section. The project’s title refers to the ambiguous creatureliness of the human animal: How in trying to kill the animal within we eradicated all wildness on the planet; How in our never-ending evasion of any discomfort we guaranteed the destruction of all that sustains us. It's about other things too, like falling outs among friends and how even if it's the end it's not the end.

180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
GATEFOLD SLEEVE FEATURING THE ORIGINAL ARTWORK
INCLUDES AN INSERT
THEIR 2009 STUDIO ALBUM INCLUDING THE SINGLES “GALLOWS”,
“STORM TO PASS” AND “LONELY”

LIMITED EDITION OF 1500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON
GOLD COLOURED VINYL

Sealed copy with seam split!

Ben Seretan has an album that he’s only ever referred to as his “insane Italy record," but it’s called Allora — an expressive Venetian catchall that translates to "at that time." It’s a fitting banner over a record indelibly tied to the circumstances of its capturing: it’s summer 2019, and Ben and his band (bassist Nico Hedley and drummer Dan Knishkowy) go through with a planned tour to Italy amidst their vivid grief over the recent passing of a close friend. The band flies overseas, the tour falls apart. The band responds by leaning into the country's rose-colored revelry – sweating in the Mediterranean heat, smoking cigarettes on trains, biting into bacchanalian fruit. Instead of playing shows, they head to a stone farmhouse in the hills above Venice with legendary psych-rocker and producer Matt Bordin and burn Allora to tape in three days.

Three days. The furor of this record makes that fact seem appropriate, but the grace notes that fill its corners make it feel impossible. The utter chaos this record exudes is there for a reason. Its borderless color is unsurprising if you know Ben Seretan’s catalog — there's a 24-hour drone record, his weekly project of writing over a thousand words and publishing an accompanying track (My Big Break), and a set of improvisational piano duets with the white-noise roar of Appalachian nature (Cicada Waves). Drop a needle into the middle of any of it and you'll be disarmed. The same goes for Allora, jagged as it may be on its face — but follow the coarse, winding path of any track and you'll be met with the same springs of hymnlike tenderness. Over and again Ben and his band march arm in arm from tearful elegy to dancefloor eulogy — neither cancels the other.

Unisong is like a second chapter in Bergur's troubadour/trobairitz research (after Around the Songster's Commune, 2022) and an exploration into/practicing of Bergur's own poetic and melodic ability. It's a beautiful experiment in unifying and synthesizing something of a conceptual nature with something autobiographical. Let's call it bare, easy-feeling, domestic pop. 'Bare' naked -- and as in not-too-much-production. 'Easy-feeling' because that's how it feels. 'Domestic' a la John Lennon, Watching the Wheels, and as in home and living a life. 'Pop' because it is; because it's for everyone. It's about travelling, longing, searching, finding -- love.

Furthermore, Billy Mahonie now have their own label, Whistling Sam Projects, an almost sold-out London launch show at The Lexington on May 4th, and they are confirmed to play Portals Festival Saturday May 25th in East London. After nearly quarter of a century, Billy Mahonie are very much back.

Formed in the first wave of British post-rock alongside the likes of Mogwai in the late 90s, John Peel favourites Billy Mahonie are set to return with the first new music from their original line-up in some twenty-four years. Whilst their debut album ‘The Big Dig’, released in 1999 on Too Pure Records, is considered a classic of the post rock genre, Billy Mahonie always crafted their intricate music with memorable hooks and melodies and performed it with energy and gusto. Theirs was not an aimless, meandering sound, instead the songs and attitude were rooted in punk rock, and still are. Billy Mahonie put the rock into post-rock.

Set for release this coming May 24th via Whistling Sam Projects, ‘Field Of Heads’ sees the band returning with their classic original line-up of Gavin Baker (guitar), Howard Monk (drums), Hywell Dinsdale (bass and guitar) and Kevin Penney (bass and guitar). Whilst this line-up has been semi active for a few years, no new material came to fruition. After their last gig in 2017, however, the band decided it was time to get back

into the studio, but with two members living abroad new challenges were faced, but ideas were shared, old ones were resurrected and finally in October of 2019, Billy Mahonie were back in the studio.

Recorded over two long weekends on either side of the Covid 19 lockdowns, the band tracked at The Church studios, owned by their former collaborator and front of house engineer Paul Epworth, with senior engineer Luke Pickering at the controls, allowing ‘Field Of Heads’ to quickly take shape.

New single ‘Kaiju’ gives the music world the first taste of ‘Field Of Heads’ and right from the off, it’s classic Billy Mahonie. Immediately bursting into life with the energy and melody that is so unique to their sound, Howard’s driving drums thrust the music ahead as the guitars and synths weave their way around them. Intricate and shifting, but never at the expense of a tune that sticks in your head.

“This one came from a chord progression myself and Gav first tried out jamming in 2010,” explains drummer Howard. “Needless to say, when Hywell and Kev got their hands on it, it became something no-one ever envisaged. Kev's great title is, of course, the Japanese name for the subgenre of monster-based science fiction. A frenetic riff opens the song and for a counter guitar part only two options remain, play in the minimal gaps or find an overarching theme. We chose both. Kaiju films influence the additional Synths, echoes of those early Japanese movie themes. Some people we have played this to in advance have suggested this track is one we should lead with, as it is kind of where we left off. We agree. It rocks pretty hard. And is a bit funky too. What’s not to like?!”

Furthermore, Billy Mahonie now have their own label, Whistling Sam Projects, set up for global distribution through SRD, an almost sold-out London launch show at The Lexington on May 4th, and they are confirmed to play Portals Festival Saturday May 25th in East London. After nearly quarter of a century, Billy Mahonie are very much back.

Released on the band’s own Golden Chariot Records label comes this lovingly rendered reissue of ‘The Decline of British Sea Power’, the band’s debut album, originally released in June 2003 to huge critical acclaim and available now on Colored Vinyl for the first time.

Over the course of their 5 studio LPs and three award winning film soundtracks, British Sea Power have become a true British institution: Top 10, Mercury nominated LP, 3 UK silver discs and renowned for their astonishing live shows in unique and unlikely locations – National History Museum, Great Wall of China, Cutty Sark, Cern Hadron Collider, Chelsea Flower show, down a Cornish mine, up in the hills in the highest pub in England, Jodrell Bank and at the John Betjeman centenary with Nick Cave, Barry Humphries, Ronnie Corbet and Prince Charles – as well as hundreds of more traditional sell out tours and festivals around the world.

Children Of Finland Fighting In Norway aka C.O.F.F.I.N is an Australian punk band who have accepted the mental of their nation’s long legacy of greasy-haired, outback-scrounging, garage rock rumblers, blowing out eardrums and amps one stage at a time, while chiseling their name below those of Radio Birdman and The Hard-Ons in petrol station bathroom stalls across New South Wales and beyond. C.O.F.F.I.N’s brought their sweaty, slug-trailed tunes and cracked cavalcade on the road in the UK / EU last year, while on tour with Amyl and the Sniffers. This latest self-titled album from C.O.F.F.I.N’s is their fourth LP overall and retains a lot of the attitude from their previous releases. It unleashes a raging rip of rock fury that blazes like a wildfire, kept alive and deadly by the bellow-like thump and growl of drummer and vocalist Ben Portnoy whirlwind conjuring percussion and libido-pumping leads and grooves of the band’s three guitarists, Abijah Rado, Arthur Flanders, and Aaron Moss.

Colored vinyl with etched d-side.