XL Recordings Vinyl, CD & Tape 168 Items

Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.” Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses in on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago. “Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.” The album features Washington’s daughter—who wrote the melody to “Asha The First” during some of her first experimentations on the piano—as well as a host of collaborators new and old. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington further enlisted lifelong friends and collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJ Battlecat and more. The album also features “The Garden Path,” a song Washington performed for the first time ever, making his late-night television debut, on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

Limited to 250 copies for the German market!

One of the most hotly-anticipated debut records in recent years, I Hear You will be released on 7th June 2024 via XL Recordings. The ten track album is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist, who’s uniquely revered as both an underground icon and global sensation, sticking by her own unwavering vision to become one of the most in-demand electronic music artists and DJs in the world.

Limited to 500 copies on clear vinyl in occasion of HHV's 20th birthday.

20 years HHV: our team has selected an album from each of these years that is particularly relevant and precious to us. On a monthly basis we release exclusive and limited pressings of these records in collaboration with some of our favorite labels.

In Rainbows, as a title, implies a sense of comfort and delightfulness. Symbolically, rainbows are more likely to be associated with kittens and warm blankets than the grim and glum circumstances Radiohead is known for soundtracking. There's a slight, if expected, twist at play. The band is more than familiar with the unpleasant moods associated with colors like red, green, and blue -- all of which, of course, are colors within a rainbow -- all of which are present, and even mentioned, during the album. On a couple levels, then, In Rainbows is not any less fitting as a Radiohead album title than "Myxomatosis" is as a Radiohead song title. Despite references to "going off the rails," hitting "the bottom," getting "picked over by the worms," being "dead from the neck up," and feeling "trapped" (twice), along with Radiohead Wordplay Deluxe Home Edition pieces like "comatose" and "nightmare" -- in the same song! double score! -- the one aspect of the album that becomes increasingly perceptible with each listen is how romantic it feels, albeit in the way that one might find the bioport scenes in David Cronenberg's eXistenZ to be extremely hot and somewhat unsettling. Surprisingly, some of the album's lyrics are even more personal/universal and straightforward than anything on The Eraser, the album made by Thom Yorke and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich. "I'm an animal trapped in your hot car," from "All I Need," has to be one of the saddest, most open-hearted metaphors used to express unrequited love. "House of Cards" begins with "I don't want to be your friend/I just want to be your lover/No matter how it ends/No matter how it starts," and the one with the worms includes "I'd be crazy not to follow/Follow where you lead/Your eyes/They turn me." This effective weaving of disparate elements -- lyrical expressions commonly associated with the band, mixed in with ones suited for everyday love ballads -- goes for the music as well. The album is very song-oriented, with each track constantly moving forward and developing, yet there are abstract electronic layers and studio-as-instrument elements to prevent it from sounding like a regression. In Rainbows will hopefully be remembered as Radiohead's most stimulating synthesis of accessible songs and abstract sounds, rather than their first pick-your-price download. - allmusic.com

Featuring Remastered OK COMPUTER, B-Sides and Three Never Before Released Tracks: “I Promise,” “Lift,” “Man Of War” .

Rescued from defunct formats, prised from dark cupboards and brought to light after two decades in cold storage… OKNOTOK will be issued on June 23rd through XL Recordings, coinciding (roughly) with the original 1997 release date(s) of Radiohead’s landmark third album OK COMPUTER.

OKNOTOK features the original OK COMPUTER twelve track album, eight B-sides, and the Radiohead completist’s dream: “I Promise,” “Lift,” and “Man Of War.” The original studio recordings of these three previously unreleased and long sought after OK COMPUTER era tracks finally receive their first official issue on OKNOTOK.

All material on OKNOTOK is newly remastered from the original analogue tapes.

OK COMPUTER was originally released on various dates ranging from May to July 1997. Produced by the band and Nigel Godrich, the album features the singles “Paranoid Android,” “Karma Police,” “Lucky” and “No Surprises,” and is widely cited as one of the greatest works of Radiohead’s--or any artist’s—catalogue. OK COMPUTER was the first Radiohead record to reach #1 in the UK and to be nominated for the Album of the Year GRAMMY. In 2015, The National Recording Registry selected OK COMPUTER to be preserved in the Library of Congress as a recording that has proven “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Washington calls Fearless Movement his dance album. “It’s not literal,” Washington says. “Dance is movement and expression, and in a way it’s the same thing as music—expressing your spirit through your body. That’s what this album is pushing.” Dance as an embodied form of expression signals a shift in focus for Washington. Where previous albums dealt with cosmic ideas and existential concepts, Fearless Movement focuses in on the everyday, an exploration of life on earth. This change in scope is due in large part to the birth of Washington’s first child a few years ago. “Being a father means the horizon of your life all of a sudden shows up,” says Washington. “My mortality became more apparent to me, but also my immortality—realizing that my daughter is going to live on and see things that I’m never going to see. I had to become comfortable with this, and that affected the music that I was making.” The album features Washington’s daughter—who wrote the melody to “Asha The First” during some of her first experimentations on the piano—as well as a host of collaborators new and old. André 3000 appears on flute, George Clinton lends his voice, as do BJ The Chicago Kid, Inglewood rapper D-Smoke and Taj and Ras Austin of Coast Contra, the twin sons of West Coast legend Ras Kass. Washington further enlisted lifelong friends and collaborators Thundercat, Terrace Martin, Patrice Quinn, Brandon Coleman, DJ Battlecat and more. The album also features “The Garden Path,” a song Washington performed for the first time ever, making his late-night television debut, on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

One of the most hotly-anticipated debut records in recent years, I Hear You will be released on 7th June 2024 via XL Recordings. The ten track album is the culmination of years of work for the Korean-born artist, who’s uniquely revered as both an underground icon and global sensation, sticking by her own unwavering vision to become one of the most in-demand electronic music artists and DJs in the world.

Sampha announces "lahai", his highly anticipated second album, which will be released on Young on 20 October. Named after his paternal grandfather's name, which is also Sampha's middle name, the music on "lahai" flows between the awe of life and the magic of mundane existence, describing the chaos experienced when facing the cycle of life and the afterlife. On the 14 tracks, Sampha has called together close friends and colleagues - including fantastic artists such as Yaeji, Léa Sen, Sheila Maurice Grey (Kokoroko), Ibeyi, Morgan Simpson (Black Midi), Yussef Dayes, Laura Groves and Kwake Bass. Unlike its predecessor "Process", "lahai" is a more collaborative album. The latest single "Only", accompanied by a music video by Dexter Navy in collaboration with Sampha and following on from the advance track "Spirit 2.0", features an extremely vibrant Sampha singing melodically over a fragmented hip-hop beat with co-production by Spanish musician El Guincho. In June, Sampha returned to the stage for the first time in five years for his Satellite Business residencies in London and New York. The unique setup, with Sampha and his band performing in the middle of the room, gave fans intimate access to the improvised performance of new, unreleased music and alternative arrangements from Sampha's catalogue that left audiences "spellbound" (Pitchfork). This autumn, Sampha will take a larger version of the Satellite Business live show on tour. It kicks off with several nights in London at St Johns at Hackney Church in October, before returning to North America to perform in major cities: Los Angeles, Toronto, New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Atlanta. In early December, he returns to Europe and plays in Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. Like its creator, "lahai" refuses to be pigeonholed. The new album is a mixture of jazz, soul, rap, dance, jungle and West African music, with which Sampha raises his production and vocal ambitions to a new level. A gifted singer , songwriter and producer, it is no wonder that artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Stormzy, Travis Scott and earlier Drake, Solange, Frank Ocean, Beyoncé, Lil Wayne and Alicia Keys have sought him out for his inimitable voice as well as his contributions to the songwriting and production of their music. His previous creative partnerships include fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner, the Shy Light zine with Durimel (who also shot the Lahai artwork), his Process film with director Kahlil Joseph, and most recently, a collaboration with Jonny Lu, with whom Sampha designed the artwork for his Lahai album and new logo. If "Process", Sampha's 2017 Mercury Prize-winning debut album, showed an artist searching for and eventually finding his own place in the world, "lahai" is an exercise in the radical acceptance and joy of life and the beauty of the journey to get here. Welcome to Sampha's next musical chapter: Lahai.

Using the textured soundscapes of The Bends as a launching pad, Radiohead delivered another startlingly accomplished set of modern guitar rock with OK Computer. The anthemic guitar heroics present on Pablo Honey and even The Bends are nowhere to be heard here. Radiohead have stripped away many of the obvious elements of guitar rock, creating music that is subtle and textured yet still has the feeling of rock & roll. Even at its most adventurous -- such as the complex, multi-segmented "Paranoid Android" -- the band is tight, melodic, and muscular, and Thom Yorke's voice effortlessly shifts from a sweet falsetto to vicious snarls. It's a thoroughly astonishing demonstration of musical virtuosity and becomes even more impressive with repeated listens, which reveal subtleties like electronica rhythms, eerie keyboards, odd time signatures, and complex syncopations. Yet all of this would simply be showmanship if the songs weren't strong in themselves, and OK Computer is filled with moody masterpieces, from the shimmering "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and the sighing "Karma Police" to the gothic crawl of "Exit Music (For a Film)." OK Computer is the album that establishes Radiohead as one of the most inventive and rewarding guitar rock bands of the '90s. - allmusic.com

Joy O’s ‘Flight FM has ruthlessly conquered dancefloors all over the world since it was released digitally earlier this year. Now on 10” vinyl with the wobbly bass anthem ‘Shiloh’s Revenge’ on the b-side.

Highly anticipated would be an understatement; since their inception Overmono have purposefully cultivated a fanbase that heralds them as one of the UK’s most original contemporary live electronic acts. A run of ground-breaking club EPs between 2020 and 2022 built momentum and culminated in their breakthrough club single, ‘So U Kno’, which encapsulated the hearts of clubbers and went on to become a bonafide phenomenon as dancefloors re-opened; featuring in end of year lists published by Resident Advisor, Pitchfork, DJ Mag and Mixmag. Since then, Overmono have been named ‘Best Live Act’ at the prestigious DJ Mag Best of British Awards, taken their custom audio-visual live show to the most credible festivals across the globe, including Glastonbury, Movement Festival, Dekmantel and to sold-out crowds in London, LA and NYC as part of their debut headline tour last year. And, they have produced innovative releases including their instalment of their ‘Fabric Presents’ DJ mix series and collaborations with the likes of Joy Orbison.

Now, Overmono return to present their most ambitious release to date. Across the twelve-track project, Overmono journey through a powerful distillation of their musical career so far; incorporating “So U Kno” alongside new music that propels them beyond the dancefloor. “Good Lies” remoulds and interweaves captivating vocal cuts into a series of multi-genre electronic sounds that flits effortlessly between euphoria and melancholy.

Pablo Honey in no way was adequate preparation for its epic, sprawling follow-up, The Bends. Building from the sweeping, three-guitar attack that punctuated the best moments of Pablo Honey, Radiohead create a grand and forceful sound that nevertheless resonates with anguish and despair -- it's cerebral anthemic rock. Occasionally, the album displays its influences, whether it's U2, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., or the Pixies, but Radiohead turn clichés inside out, making each song sound bracingly fresh. Thom Yorke's tortured lyrics give the album a melancholy undercurrent, as does the surging, textured music. But what makes The Bends so remarkable is that it marries such ambitious, and often challenging, instrumental soundscapes to songs that are at their cores hauntingly melodic and accessible. It makes the record compelling upon first listen, but it reveals new details with each listen, and soon it becomes apparent that with The Bends, Radiohead have reinvented anthemic rock. - allmusic.com

Debut of this mysterious London band. Jungle are based around a core musical duo of lifelong friends known simply as ‘J’ and ‘T’, who expand to a thrilling seven piece live, and make mesmeric, kaleidoscopic modern soul that’s unmistakably born in the UK but has true global appeal. The album was recorded between the band’s own home studio in Shepherds Bush, London and the XL Recordings studio in nearby Ladbroke Grove.

After appearing on Kanye’s “Saint Pablo,” Frank Ocean’s Endless, and Solange’s A Seat at the Table in 2016 Sampha, one of the most demanded voices in today's R&B, releases his debut in 2017.

Everybody's favorite new band debuts their seminal self-titled album. What an amazing amalgam of 80s Wave, Postmodern Folk, syncopated R&B madness and UK Bass culture. One of those rare albums that virtually nobody has anything to complain about.

The Avalanches' Downbeat milestone back in print!

The album finds the Haitian born, Montreal raised producer delivering on the promise of his early self-released EPs and remixes.

Since the age of fourteen, when he first began to DJ and when his brother introduced him to music production software, his output has been relentless. He explains, “after he showed me the basics, from that day on I couldn’t stop making beats,” pumping out a handful of tracks per day for the next couple of years.

Having released singles like ‘Drive Me Crazy‘ with Vic Mensa and ‘Leave Me Alone‘ with Shay Lia, Kaytranada has since cemented his reputation and his sound; an undeniable swing of the drums comparable to Dilla’s, a signature soulful touch in the melodies, and a healthy dose of funky bass lines.

99.9% features guest turns from Anderson .Paak, Vic Mensa, Little Dragon, Syd, Craig David, Goldlink, Alunageorge, BADBADNOTGOOD and many more.

Today, the Toronto-born-and-raised singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Day Wilson announces her highly-anticipated sophomore album Cyan Blue out May 3rd via Stone Woman Music / XL Recordings Along with the announcement of her new album comes the release of first single, "I Don"t Love You", a stark and devastatingly beautiful confessional, highlighting Wilson"s immaculate production skills and chill inducing vocals laid atop smooth groove piano chords and soft drums. The track also arrives with a visual directed by Dani Aphrodite featuring layered low fi footage of the artist and producer performing at home, living every day life and having moments of solitude in her car, a theme that comes up throughout the album. Cyan Blue finds Wilson crafting a smoothly woven cyan tapestry of her eternal influences; thumping gospel piano, warm soul basslines, atmospheric electronics, and penetrating R&B melodies. Yet, it possesses a sense of vastness that rings in a new era for Wilson, one in which she"s embracing collaboration and newfound creative openness tinged with wistfulness and yearning and a reflection on youthful innocence. "I want to look through the unjaded eyes of my younger self again," Wilson explains of making Cyan Blue. "Before there wasn"t as much baggage, before so much life was lived. But I also wish that my younger self could see where I am now. It would be nice to be able to impart some of the wisdom and clarity that I have now onto her." Working with producers like Leon Thomas (sza, Ariana Grande, Post Malone), and Jack Rochon (HE.R, Daniel Caesar), Cyan Blue demonstrates Wilson"s sonic expertise while also showcasing the next evolution of her time-bending songwriting. Through 13 hypnotizing tracks, she continues to use music as a vessel for unpacking relationships, which in turn allows her to meet and understand herself in life-spanning, panoramic focus. But, on Cyan Blue, she challenged herself to kick her perfectionist tendencies. "Before, I was extremely intentional about creating music with a strong foundation, a bed of artistic integrity," Wilson reflects. "But that was a bit stifling, like, "Let me just make a great piece of art that will stand the test of time, no pressure." Now, I think I"m getting out of this frozen state of needing everything to be perfect. I"m more interested in capturing feelings in the moment as they happen and leaving them in that moment." While this is only her second album, Wilson"s influence in music has made a major mainstream impact. Wilson broke out in 2016 with her critically acclaimed EP, CDW, followed by 2018"s Stone Woman and made her debut studio album an official coming out moment in 2021 with the critically acclaimed, self-released Alpha. Over the past decade, she"s been sampled by Drake, John Mayer, and James Blake, while Patti Smith has recently praised and covered Wilson"s 2016 breakout single "Work." Additionally, she"s collaborated with artists like Kaytranada, Badbadnotgood, and SG Lewis, demonstrating that there"s no sound Wilson can"t adapt to and sprinkle her cyan-colored magic over.