Review: The fantastic James Taylor Quartet delivers a punk-infused track with a powerhouse chorus here that channels the energy of Taylor's time with The Prisoners when supporting The Ramones during their 1986 UK tour. Of that time he has said The Ramones were "incredible-watching their three-hour sets every night at 21 had a huge impact on me. It took until I was 60 to find a way to act on that inspiration." Though The James Taylor Quartet has always had a punky rock 'n' roll vibe in their live shows, this feels fresh and like a new discovery, despite the influence always being present on some level.
Review: The legendary James Taylor Quartet will soon return with a much anticipated new full length but before that they offer a glimpse not what to expect from it with new single 'Hung Up On You.' Taylor himself has explained that 'Hung Up On You' was left over from a writing session from his other band The Prisoners and that it was "interesting to see how my JTQ guys, usually funk players, took to this approach." It channels the gritty punk and new wave essence of Medway to deliver a fast-paced rock'n'roll anthem that passionately rants about an enduring, unreciprocated love.
Review: 1984 was a big year for a lot of reasons - including the wall of sound unleashed by The Jesus & Mary Chain with 'Upside Down'. The Scottish alternative rock set delivered their first single in November that year, marking the arrival of a decade-spanning tour de force of the guitar world. Packing a Syd Barrett cover on the B-side, 'Vegetable Man' (its chorus to be confused with the line, "festival man", not matter how much it sounds like those are the words), the track and its accompaniment on the flip would sell 50,0000 copies and become Creation Records first major success story. It also set the tone for one of the most inimitable back catalogues in rock & roll history. But these are other tales for other times.
Review: A Window & A Mirror offers a deep dive into the evolution of Joan of Arc, capturing the band's early phase through Tim Kinsella's personal archives. This 132-page hardbound book, unearthed from Kinsella's grandmother's basement, features his journals, photos, and essays written in real time as the band's albums came together. It also includes the rare "Red Blue Yellow" 7", a significant artifact from a pivotal moment when Joan of Arc emerged from the ashes of Kinsella's previous band, Cap'n'Jazz. The collection provides access to the "Joan of Archive," a digital trove of over 200 demo tapes, live recordings, and musical experiments. This archive meticulously catalogs the band's development, showcasing their dedication to reinvention and collaboration with radical artists from Chicago's underground music scene. A Window & A Mirror reveals the band's journey of shape-shifting creativity, highlighting how each contributor influenced Joan of Arc's direction. It's an essential collection for fans, offering a comprehensive look at the band's intricate and evolving soundscape, ensuring that their legacy of innovative music-making is preserved and celebrated.
Review: Joy Division's iconic track Love Will Tear Us Apart' gets a special treatment with this limited edition 12" LP on glow-in-the-dark vinyl. The 12" remix of the song offers a new perspective on the classic, allowing listeners to experience its haunting beauty in a fresh light. This release is idea for fans and collectors alike, offering a unique and memorable way to enjoy one of post-punk's most enduring and influential songs. What else us there to say? Get a beautiful looking copy of one of alternative music's most important song ever.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Joe Goddard - "Neptunes" (8:28)
Joe Goddard - "Rapid Fire" (feat Laima) (6:33)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - "Around You" (3:02)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - "Around You" (Joe Goddard remix) (3:35)
Joe Goddard - "Rapid Fire" (Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith remix) (3:55)
Review: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Joe Goddard, two luminaries of electronic music, have united to create Neptunes, a celestial collaboration that defies genre boundaries. This EP is a sonic journey through a vast, ethereal soundscape, where intricate synth work, pulsating rhythms, and haunting melodies converge to create a truly immersive experience. The title track, 'Neptunes', is a mesmerizing exploration of the namesake planet. Smith's modular wizardry conjures up a cosmic soundscape, while Goddard's rhythmic prowess provides a driving force. The result is a track that is both hypnotic and invigorating. Throughout the EP, Smith and Goddard showcase their individual talents while seamlessly blending them into a cohesive whole. Smith's ability to extract haunting melodies from her modular synthesisers is matched only by Goddard's knack for crafting infectious grooves. Together, they create a sonic tapestry that is as beautiful as it is complex. A testament to the power of collaboration and a record that rewards repeated listens, revealing new layers of depth and complexity with each play.
Review: If any album comes close to the beauty of Crosby, Stills & Nash in 2025 it's this. It's difficult to imagine anyone else nailing melodic, acoustic guitar-oriented music that treads in gospel, blues and pastoral psychedelia better than this supergroup. Could Bernard Butler be on his way to another Mercury Prize nomination with this? They've got a strong case for it. The band itself is something a little different and formed by popular demand. Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub) Bernard Butler (Suede) and James Grant (Love and Money) originally got together for one occasion, at Saint Luke's in Glasgow in 2022 for Celtic Connections, but the power of them together was so great they've been talked into putting an album out. They've gone about it in quite a pragmatic way, with each member labelling which songs theirs, as opposed to all trying to write the same song at the same time. Makes sense really.
Review: Florence and the Machine's chart-topping Mercury Prize-nominated debut album Lungs turned the London group led by Florence Welch into global superstars. Just months prior to its release in summer 2009 they were still on ones to watch tours playing first on behind the likes of White Lies and Friendly Fires. But that was all to change with their Island Records release Lungs. The album produced by a slew of cool producers, including James Ford and Paul Epworth, gave the world 'Kiss With A Fist', 'Dog Days Are Over' and - the biggest of all - 'You've Got The Love'. It will have been a huge investment for the label, but it's paid off and then some, going six-times-platinum in the U.K. Given it's shaped the life of the band, it's a record that they are keen on revisiting and the latest feature on it is this symphony version. This new release is the group's triumphant performance of the album in full at the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Orchestra conducted by Grammy-winning Jules Buckley. This is bucket list stuff for any musician and indicative of the fact that Florence is one of the most enduring artists to have formed in the U.K. this century.
Review: Recorded in 1975 after the disintegration of The Stooges and eventually released, albeit in altered form, in 1977, the album saw Iggy recording his vocal contributions at weekends, on leave from the mental institution at which he was recovering from heroin addiction. With the addition of pianos, acoustic guitars and saxophones to the musical palate it's a different beast from the raw power - and Raw Power - of the Stooges, a bridge between his garage rock roots and the classier pop offerings he'd soon become known for. A fascinating document, regardless, it's well worth a listen.
Providence (US Television Broadcast 28th April 1991)
Jack Frost Blues (CD2: Snow Job)
Aviatrix
Running From The Body
Shakedown
You Don't Know
Weightless & Wild
Pony Express
Cousin/Angel
Little Song
Empire
Angela Carter
Haze
Dry Dock
On Persuasion (bonus track)
Bad For You (bonus track)
Providence (CD3: live & radio Performances)
Didn't Know Where I Was
Civil War Lament
Ramble
The Wrong Road
Bye Bye Pride
Thought That I Was Over You
Every Hour God Sends
Number Eleven
Everything Takes Forever
Thought That I Was Over You
Didn't Know Where I Was
Providence
Civil War Lament
Review: Any aspiring rocker worth their salt in Australia is likely familiar with Steve Kilbey from his work being the lead singer of 'Under The Milky Way' hitmakers The Church. Here he combines with The Go-Between' Grant McLennan to make the great supergroup Jack Frost. The collection includes a remastering and reissue of their two studio albums: The Snow Job (1995) and the self-titled debut (1991) - plus bonus material. It's stacked with classics, but 'Birdowner', which evokes Morrison Hotel-era Jim Morrion, is a huge standout. As is Civil War Lament', but for different reasons: this goes into acoustic psych-folk territory, leaning towards some Pink Floyd styles. Elsewhere, 'Trapeze Boy' conveys memories of listening to Comet Gain, who may well have been influenced by the underrated, masterful Jack Frost.
Review: A remastering and reissue of the Jack Frost recordings, a collaboration between two acclaimed Australian songwriters: Grand McLennan from The Go-Betweens and Steve Kilbey, the lead singer and bassist in The Church. The Church are well-known for their hit 'Under The Milky Way', which made the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Included in this set is their two studio albums: The Snow Job (1995) has never been on vinyl before and the self-titled debut (1991) has been out of print for more than 20 years. There's also bonus material tucked in. This release comes as The Go-Betweens have been enjoying a renaissance recently, thanks to a successful reissue campaign, and The Church have been touring. Despite this being a side project, there's no sense it's an afterthought as the pair clearly thrived in each other's company and wrote melodic, wistful and affecting songs of the highest order. Noel Gallagher would likely have been proud to write the reverb-y love song 'Thought I Was Over You' and 'Every Hour God Sends' is up there with Echo & The Bunnymen's best stuff. Meanwhile, 'Ramble' has a stark arpeggio-laden beauty to it, building from its sparse beginning into something more textured and darkly atmospheric. There's an embarrassment of riches to delve into here and it cements the pair's reputation for being among Australia's greatest ever songwriters.
Review: Sydney-to-Vancouver dance debonair Jack J presents Blue Desert, his second album for Mood Hut. Friends of the label will know J's sound - warming house musical pumps come deep future Balearics - and yet on Blue Desert, we hear the sound tempered by a newfound indie vocal performance by J himself, and that's not to mention its expansive tracklist-trajectory, which, when followed in full, details a head-hung but still hopeful tale of rue and recompense. Of the highlights, opener 'Wrong Again' opts for the true-blue choice of a DX7 organ blearily blent with an open chorded jangle guitar and a sequencer-gated trance line, as J muses on taking a past life too seriously; 'Down The Line' brings impressive Oort clouds of reverse reverb and desert new wave; and 'My Other Mind' even echoes Squeeze, as J continues to lyricise over misunderstandings and perspectival shifts on life. Sight of the dance is not lost, however; 'Pink Shoes (part III)' ends things on a gushing iso-stab, rendering the beach disco in clear-as-day clarity, just over the dunes, at the foreshore's end.
You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want) (4:54)
Go For It (4:18)
Loisaida (5:27)
Happy Ending (3:39)
Be My Number Two (4:28)
Heart Of Ice (6:50)
Review: A reissue on nice double vinyl for the sixth album from 'sophisti-pop' pioneer Jackson, fusing jazz, funk and soul elements with a post-punk spikiness and a very British outlook, pointing the way forward for the likes of the Style Council and a host of other 80s acts. It first surfaced in 1984 and although it's the first digitally recorded album he made, it's typified sonically by Jackson and producer David Kershenbaum's move to reject the sterile, dead acoustics of modern studios in favour of the Manhattan Masonic Hall, previously mainly used for classicx recording. The jazzy solos, sparkly sax and snazzy chorus of 'You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)' - with just a hint of Afrobeat groove to it too - are probably best known here, but all nine songs number among the Staffordshire-born musician's smartest output.
Review: From his beginnings as the bassist in John Lydon's post-Pistols band PiL, to collaborations with The Orb and Sinead O'Connor, Wobble is a musician deeply steeped in dub and experimental soundscapes. Crafted in a bedroom studio - as the name would suggest - it blends dub fusion, ethereal wave and global beat into a mystical and introspective journey. Tracks like 'City' show a spectral dub-pop aesthetic, while 'Fading' leans into kosmische abstraction with an ethnic flair. 'Long Long Way' brings an atmospheric mood, contrasting with the minimal, haunting dub of 'Sense Of History' and the organ-driven dirge of 'Hill In Korea'. The industrial textures of 'Journey To Death' add a stark, musique-concrete edge, while the Middle Eastern influences of 'Invaders Of The Heart' create a hypnotic stroll through uncharted sonic terrain. The album crescendos with the hallucinogenic 'Desert Song'. A daring, sombre work that defies easy classification - but demands repeated listening.
Review: Experience the white knuckle energy of the band's early U.S. tour at the legendary punk club, with a mix of tracks from their 1977 debut In the City and their second album - also released '77 - This Is the Modern World. Technically named the Rathskiller, the Boston venue was nicknamed The Rat and built a reputation as a basement dive bar that has hosted acts that have gone on to be the biggest names in rock. The Jam are a case in point and on red hot form here with the Paul Weller-led band thrashing through the likes of 'Carnaby Street', 'In The City' and 'All Around The World' in an unpolished, ramshackle and intimate way that the studio albums can't conjure.
Review: It's been a pity to witness Jane's Addiction's onstage bust-up in 2024 just because they're one of the best American rock bands ever and we wish they'd settle their differences. But let's rewind to a more settled chapter in their existence. Formed in 1985, they were the hottest band in Los Angeles at that time and they bucked the trend by releasing a live album as their debut album. Originally released via the indie label Triple X in 1987, it was recorded at Roxy Theatre, with overdubs added at a studio later. Many of the songs on here would end up re-recorded once the band landed their major record deal. But there's a charm and magic to hearing things a little less polished and tapping into a band on the cusp of greatness. Standouts include the melodic classic 'Jane Says' and the Van Halen-esque lead guitar epic 'Pigs In Zen'. Both were later re-recorded and released on their acclaimed Nothing's Shocking album. Meanwhile, their cover of the Stones' 'Sympathy For The Devil' (re-titled 'Sympathy') shows off the band's penchant for Zeppelin-esque wig-outs and is an indicator of the sheer voodoo power that Dave Navarrow (guitar) and Perry Farrell (vocals) conjured on stage together. If only they can work things out soon.
Review: Michelle Zauner's music is lovely as ever on this, her fourth Japanese Breakfast album. Again, it's a thing of exciting beauty and big emotions, soft sounds and melancholic melodies. Harmonies that wrap us in thoughts of pure romance and falling head over heels, these sepia hued images cast from the memory bank of treasured moments made painful, then reflective and warming, by the passing of time. Clearly part of the loved and lost club, Zauner's songs almost feel effortless in their ability to invoke such tangible and raw feelings without really insisting on themselves. This is thoughtfulness with a capital T, set against a meandering backdrop of soft rock, indie balladry, and swooning string pop. As complex as it is easy to fathom - the unmistakable work of a human artist.
Review: Produced by Grammy winner Blake Mills, For Melancholy Brunettes sees Michelle Zauner move away from the bright energy of Jubilee to explore darker, more introspective themes. The album delves into the complex emotional landscape of melancholy, capturing the bittersweetness of desire and "the perilous pursuit of one's dreams." Reflecting on her transformative rise, which includes the success of Jubilee and Crying in H Mart, Zauner contemplates the dangers of longing and the consequences of unchecked ambition. The album's narrative unfolds through themes of temptation, regret and reflection and though that sounds heavy it culminates in a hopeful listen.
Review: Japanese Breakfast's fourth album is the first that they've recorded in a proper studio. They traded their usual makeshift spaces for the holy grail of recording studios: Sound City in Los Angeles. That's where Nirvana's Nevermind was recorded and Dave Grohl spotlighted in a major documentary. To make the most of the space they hired Perfume Genius, Laura Marling and Fiona Apple producer Blake Mills and together they've crafted a stunning album that, as the title indicates, takes the listener on a more melancholic journey than ever before. 'Orlando In Love' marries the strum of an acoustic guitar with stately string sections and it feels vulnerable yet hopeful. Meanwhile, 'Mega Circuit' works around a vocal melody that wouldn't be amiss in a Katy J Pearson song. In terms of the mix, it's an ambitious and sonically colourful affair with plenty to hold onto and keep the listener discovering new elements upon each listen.
Review: Trans artist Jasmine.4.t's debut album comes off the back of three remarkable singles released to the world in 2024, all of which are included on this debut released on Phoebe Bridgers' label 'Saddest Factory records'. An album of intimate stories produced by Boy Genius captures the issues Jasmine (Cruickshank) found herself dealing with on her arrival in Manchester following life in her Bristol surroundings became a struggle after her coming out in 2021. The LP is full of soft vocals, soothing guitars and intimate yet celebratory lyrics also features The Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, who add some joyous backing vocals to these sweet sometimes dreamlike, beautiful songs. Last year's single 'Elephant' is a powerful and honest song written during the early stages of the singer's transition that was embraced by many listeners proclaiming it one of the best releases of the year. Now the album has arrived it's expected even more people will come to the same conclusion - expect to see a few more songs from this album making the 'best of' lists once 2025 comes to an end.
Put Love Into Your Heart (feat Adam Evald & Jimi Tenor)
The Sound Of Love (feat Hard Ton)
Love Myself But I Can't Make It Love
Footsteps (feat Alina Royz)
In The Countryside (feat Lena Tronina)
I Can Make My Happiest Life (feat Celebrine & Mutafrukt)
Vacation Song
Reka (feat Moral Kiosk)
Blue Plastic Bag In The Sea Of Green (feat Mutafrukt)
Wasted (feat Mutafrukt)
Before Music Dies (feat Hard Ton & Mutafrukt)
Absent Ascent (feat Lovvlovver)
Sleeping With TV On
Over The Rainbow (feat Celebrine)
Shorespotting (feat Adam Evald)
Lovers (feat Kito Jempere Band - End Credits)
Review: Saint Petersberg-based Kito Jempere has a strong reputation among dance music fans and critics for his ability to deliver incredible house music at an exceptional work rate. But he's also incredible at producing less 4x4, dance floor oriented stuff. Like Part Time Chaos Part Time Calmness, the latest addition to his more experimental-downtempo-cinematic oeuvre. Describing this collection as the score to the "movie I've never made but have the soundtrack for", PTCPTC is a beautiful trip into the unknown, bringing together emotional folk, flamenco-jazz, 1980s Balearic and synth wave seemingly inspired by life in coastal locales. It's ambient, it's new age, it's electronic and yet somehow live and organic and none of the above. Ultimately, it's dense with bold ideas and deceptively complex business you'll find it hard to escape from.
Review: The Jesus Lizard's return with Rack marks a significant moment for fans of post-hardcore. Their first album since 1998's Blue, this release is a testament to their enduring influence and sound. 'Hide & Seek,' the lead single, is a vibrant track that showcases the band's signature style, with David Yow's vocals leading the charge. The album as a whole feels fresh yet familiar, with nods to their past but a clear focus on new directions. Recorded with producer Paul Allen, the band sounds as tight and energetic as ever, showcasing their remarkable chemistry. Overall, Rack is a welcome return from a band that has left an indelible mark on the post-hardcore genre.
Review: Grunge heroes The Jesus Lizard return after 26 years with Rack, a raw and intense experience reminiscent of their early 90s work with Steve Albini with plenty of the chaotic energy and tight musicianship that defined the band's legacy. The lead track, 'Hide and Seek,' is a rampaging opener filled with hooks that showcase the band's ability to merge aggressive rock with catchy elements. Other tracks, like 'Moto(R)' and 'Lord Godiva,' blend humor and grit, while 'What If?' and 'Armistice Day' explore moodier, more introspective territories. The album maintains a polished yet raw sound, balancing sophistication with pure, punk-rock mayhem. David Yow's vocals remain as unhinged as ever, supported by Duane Denison's piercing guitar riffs, David Wm. Sims' powerful bass lines, and Mac McNeilly's thunderous drumming.
Review: The Jesus Lizard's first new music in 26 years,' Hide & Seek', is out now via Ipecac Recordings, and it's turning heads everywhere. Produced by Paul Allen, the track is a thrilling precursor to their forthcoming album, Rack.. The Chicago noise rock iconsiDavid Yow, Duane Denison, David Wm. Sims, and Mac McNeillyirecapture their legendary raw energy and chaotic brilliance. 'Hide & Seek' boasts hooks and an abrasive edge that Yow humorously questions as "pop." Recorded live at Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney's Audio Eagle studio, Rack features 11 tracks that blend lunging momentum, nuanced instrumentation, and Yow's signature unhinged vocals. The band's chemistry shines, with Yow's confessional lyrics and Denison's piercing leads delivering emotional punch. Embodying the balance between sophistication and punk-rock abandon, Rack will excited 90s rock fans without a doubt. The Jesus Lizard's return is more than a nostalgia trip; it's a reaffirmation of their influential legacy and a thrilling addition to it.
Review: JJ Ulius, solo exclave of the bands Monokultur and Skiftande Enheter, shares his third solo LP for Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox and DFA Records. Volume III continues his brand of quirky, Mellotronic, flauneuristic indie. With Ulius described as a "world-building artist" by DFA, and his album as a "big step forward" compared to the earlier two volumes in this LPs series, this balming collection of tunes is a paean to personal maturation, and to feelings of restlessness mellowed by slowmo days. With each song written over beats played in by Tor Sjoden of the wild-eyed Stockholm group Viagra Boys, these are beats that were themselves inspired by tracks by Patrick Cowley, CAN, Count Ossie, Black Devil Disco Club and others, in all of whom Julius would find inspiration.
Review: Joan As Police Woman returns with her new single 'Long For Ruin,' the lead track from her forthcoming album Lemons, Limes And Orchids, out via Play It Again Sam. Long For Ruin is a haunting, introspective piece that delves into humanity's role in the world's current disarray. With cinematic instrumentation and a striking blend of indie rock and alternative soul, the song features distorted electric guitars and shuffling percussion, creating a soundscape uniquely Joan's. Her evocative vocals imbue the track with a sense of melancholy and contemplation. Lemons, Limes And Orchids, Joan's 10th studio album, explores themes of love and loss, serving as a poignant reflection on time's passage and our collective disorientation. The album features Joan's jazz influences intertwined with electronic and ambient elements, recorded live with the band to highlight her vocal abilities. Collaborators include Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Chris Bruce on guitar, Daniel Mintseris on keys, and drummers Parker Kindred and Otto Hauser. Joan's previous project, The Solution Is Restless, received critical acclaim and she continues to tour with legends like Iggy Pop and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Review: Joan As Police Woman's Lemons, Limes, and Orchids, her 12th studio album, highlights her voice in its full, transformative glory. Accompanied by her signature piano and strings, the album also features contributions from renowned artists like Meshell Ndegeocello on bass, Chris Bruce on guitar, Daniel Mintseris on keys and drummers Parker Kindred and Otto Hauser. This record, a nocturne about love, loss, and the shared experience of disorientation, intertwines themes of holding on and letting go. Joan recorded the basics of the album live with the band, creating a raw and intimate sound. Joan is said agrees is Described by a close friend as her "sexiest album," with this sentiment, embracing the sultry, organic feel of the music. Over her career, Joan has collaborated with an impressive array of artists, and with this album, she cements her place as a versatile and powerful voice in contemporary music. From the sound of the lead single off the album 'Long For Ruin' we expect this album to be as well-loved as her best albums in her career.
Review: Released in 2000, Poison is the third studio album by Swedish singer-songwriter Jay-Jay Johanson, having earned his place as a stalwart figure thanks to his melancholic vocals set to perspirant trip hop. From 'Believe in Us' to 'Colder,' not to mention the toxicologist's favourite 'Poison,' we're met again with Johanson's signature downtempos and experientially charged lyrics. Sophisticated atmospherics abound, bridging the all-to-intimate gap between sexuality and the unknown.
Review: Two British pop legends unite for Who Believes in Angels?, a new record spot-checking our faith in divinity. Having connected through a mutual admiration and shared love of music, Elton initially became a fan of Carlile through her effusions of folk, rock and country, which matched the former's megastar's sometimes pained, moving songwriting. Their friendship deepened over the years, with Carlile performing at Elton's annual AIDS Foundation events and joining him on stage for special collaborations. Now blending Elton-led and Brandi-led tracks, the album contains lyrics from longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin alongside Carlile's own contributions, with production by Andrew Watt. This marks Elton's 33rd studio album and Brandi's eighth.
Review: There's a dark and eerie underbelly to Kathryn Joseph's We Were Made Prey. Everything feels dense, the air thick with a kind of moonlight, midnight unease. Images spring to mind of rushing through twilight woodlands or sailing through blinding fog. More than a few shades of Kate Bush, with the leading lady's vocal range certainly worthy of such a comparison. Tracks like 'Deer' owe more to the eternal Wuthering Heights resident than others, perhaps, but when all is said and done drawing this kind of comparison does us all a disservice. Lazy writing, and a failure to recognise the unique individuality of both female icons. Sticking in the here and now, Joseph has this remarkable ability to distill heady, intoxicating songs that grow, blossom, sometimes growl and always captivate. An emotionally charged enigma you need in your life.
Review: First released in 1981 in the wake of Ian Curtis's death, the compilation Still served as both an epilogue to and archive of Joy Division's brief but seismic existence, beginning in 1980s Manchester. A one-of-a-kind compilation, its uniqueness stems from two non-album wranglings, 'Dead Souls' and 'Glass', which precipitate a revelatory ream of studio outtakes, before a raw, emotionally freighted live set from their final show at Birmingham University. That concert also captured the only time the band played 'Ceremony' live; the tune would later reappear, reshaped, on the other side of Curtis's death, as New Order's debut single. An unusually passable idiosyncrasy consists in the fact that Curtis' vocals are barely audible on this version, as was often the case with every live performance of the song. Now reissued, this has to be one of the most comprehensive four sides of formative post-punk supersession ever to hit the shelves.
Review: In January 1980, Joy Division toured Europe as they prepared to enter the studio to record their second album Closer. This recording from Amsterdam's legendary hippy hangout Paradiso catches them right at those crucial musical crossroads, building on the success of the hulking rhythms of Unknown Pleasures and heading towards the proto-electronic influences that would shape that second album (and the even more seminal career of New Order beyond that). As well as pre-studio outings for Closer tracks like 'She's Lost Control', 'Atrocity Exhibition' and 'A Means To An End', there's also a relatively rare airing of what would become their sonic talisman, 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', alongside the - as ever - frighteningly heavy debut LP material.
Atmosphere (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (2:22)
Wilderness (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (3:00)
Shadowplay (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (3:53)
Insight (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (4:06)
Colony (live At The Factory, Hulme, UK, September 28, 1979) (4:06)
Review: Famed for having hosted the likes of Hendrix and The Stones, the Moonlight Club in the basement of the vintage Hampstead pub The Railway, was a ram-packed sweaty room and a fantastic place to have seen Joy Division live. The Ian Curtis-fronted Macclesfield post-punk legends played three nights on the trot here and the setlist is the stuff of legends, nicely meandering through the best tracks from their Closer, Still, Unknown Pleasures albums and beyond. Side 2 includes a run of tracks that they recorded in the briefly opened and since demolished Factory live venue in Moss Side, Manchester, bringing you back to a time when the city was in its monochromatic prime..
Review: Le Phonographe's chronological reissue series continues with the highly anticipated re-release of Juniore's debut album Ouh La La (2017). Following the success of Un Peu d'Histoire and Marabout in 2024, this reissue presents an upgraded audiophile-quality version of the album, where the original Sony France pressing omitted several tracks and suffered a thin sound. Ouh La La has been out of print since 2019 and was difficult to find in the UK except as an expensive import; Juniore, the French band known for its retro blend of ye-ye pop, psychedelic rock, and chanson, channel 60s French influences and contemporary indie pop, with conferring hypnagogic vocals upon sprawling jangles.
The Biggest, Loudest, Hairiest Group of All (3:25)
Empty Bottles (3:16)
Femme Fatale (4:25)
No One Is There (4:27)
Frozen Warnings (4:59)
Janitor of Lunacy (5:47)
I'Il Be Your Mirror (2:52)
All Tomorrow's Parties (3:00)
Review: What you see before you ranks among the most mythologised live albums (n)ever released. Like the title suggests, it was originally recorded in 1972 at Parisian rock institution Le Bataclan, a legendary venue which would later gain notoriety after a group of armed gunmen opened fire on a crowd in 2015, killing 90 people. But that grisly recent history belies its status as one of the most respected concert halls in the French capital, and this not-quite-Velvet Underground show has contributed to that legacy. Showcasing the stop-you-dead qualities of Nico's staggering (and unique) vocal timbre, the surreal, immersive qualities of the Cale and Reed's legendary art-rock tones, this time capsule had been bootlegged and bootlegged until 2004, when it finally got an official release. Now it's back.
Review: It could have all been so different when you think about it. One of the UK's most critically acclaimed, celebrated and mourned bands, Joy Division, were originally toying with the idea of calling themselves Stiff Kittens after first getting together. This then changed to Warsaw, after David Bowie's track, 'Warsawa', and it's under this guise they broke into the common conscious, supporting The Buzzcocks, Penetration and John Cooper Clarke at Electric Circus in 1977. Reviews from that show - by music journalist leg-ends Paul Morley and Ian Wood - would ignite the hype. A debut album was planned for RCA Records, 11 tracks that would go on to be known simply as The RCA Sessions. Here they are now, as originally intended, some of which eventually made it onto Joy Division records, others didn't, but all clearly showing musicians defining their sound and place in the scene.
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