Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Van Boom shows a talent for blending dark, atmospheric tones with experimental soundscapes here while working with artists like whiterose, Safety Trance and Evita Manji on an album that explores themes of emotional vulnerability and transformation. The opening track 'Nuborne' sets the tone with its haunting, immersive sound, followed by 'Untethered' with the ethereal vocals of whiterose. 'Polished Wounds' and 'Object Mapping' delve deeper into intricate textures and layered compositions. It sounds great and looks good too on limited edition smokey clear vinyl.

Review: First popping up on our radar in 2020 - or rather hurling itself onto it with all the subtlety punk can muster - Common Sense gets a reissue and not before time. Outspoken but never outgunned, Swedes Viagra Boys rightly courted some serious praise with 2022's album, Cave World, so it makes sense to revisit this epic EP in a bid to get newcomers acquainted with what came before. Opening on the title number, things may not sound quite as you'd expect. While known for their ability to wield bloody-lipped chargers, 'Common Sense' owes as much to shoegaze and synth rock as it does punk variants, immediately marking the outfit out as something not quite so easy to define. Nevertheless, 'Lick the Bang' is straight up topless sweatbox material, and 'Sentinel Island' centres our brains on wonderfully distorted and frayed riffs. Closing on the slow, nostalgia-hued 'Blue', it's quite the collection.

Review: Renowned for his seminal work with acts such as The Moody Boys, 400 Blows, and The KLF, the incomparable Tony Thorpe compiles this astutely curated, meticulous collection of 16 rare and sought-after post-punk era cuts that the maestro would regularly spin at parties, making them his personal pile of niche gems. Featuring tracks from Public Image Ltd, Mark Stewart and The Maffia, Basement 5, 23 Skidoo, and African Headcharge, to name but a small handful, Post Punk Theory arrives spread out across 2xLP and includes a 40-page fanzine booklet written by Matt Annis with photographs by Simon Pyke and Ian Brodie. A unadulterated true post-punk time capsule for both lifers and studious newcomers alike.

Review: Klamm is the new label dedicated to the artistic output of Saele Valese. After "Ivic", a collection of old and new materials published on Alva Noto's label (NOTON) at the beginning of the year, Saele Valese releases now his first real album "A White, White Day". Written and recorded between 2018 and 2021 the material of this work was sliced, glued and recreated several times, just like a filmmaker in the editing process, before finding its final form. Inspired indeed by the most poetic cinema, 'A White, White Day' represents, in the form of a non-linear and enigmatic narrative, a personal and psychological reflection on time, memory and dreams. Mastered by Rashad Becker.

Review: The most aptly-named record label in the world, Light Sounds Dark present another collection of wildly experimental bits and pieces cultivated in the lab of things that you simply don't hear in other places. Suitably christened 'Track 1', 'Track 2', and so on until 'Track 29', this is a huge point of entry for newcomers to the LSD realm and an excellent deep dive for veterans alike. Winds howl and thunder crashes before beautiful harmonies change the vibe from cold to warm, Gregorian chants echo in and out above dubby, stubby beats, and post punk guitars lunge forward beneath jerky, naive melodies. And that's just the first few parts here. A journey to the outer reaches of the musical universe, then back again, turning left at the industrial jazz and continuing through shoegaze, soundtrack, field and weirdo pop. Mind you don't get lost, now.

Review: You could probably buy every Soul Jazz compilation known to humankind and come out on top of most other people's record collections. As a label, the crew's ability to track down, rediscover, unearth, and reappraise archive music, and package things up as part of a spellbinding collection of like sounds, is remarkable, and the imprint must be up there with the best curated on the planet. The output is so good, in fact, that here we are pushing a reissue of the 2002 compilation, In The Beginning There Was Rhythm. Pieced together by Stuart Baker and Adrian Self, it's a wonderful trip into the deceptively varied world of UK post punk during its nascent, formative years. Informed by dub, psychedelia, punk, synth, samples and more, it's a celebration of a genre that proves you could spend all day listening and not really hear the same type of tune twice.

Review: Secret Superstar Sounds, courtesy of Soul Jazz, offers an eclectic and excellent collection of oddball punk and powerpop rare cuts from little-known bands from the late 70s, including but not limited to The Squares, The Meanies, The Monitors, Plummet Airline, and Krypton Tunes. Falling between the cracks of punk, new wave and post-punk, these unfairly overlooked and forgotten to time gems came from a slew of DIY ethos purists inspired by the messaging of bands like The Desperate Bicycles, Sniffing Glue fanzine and early UK punk labels like Stiff, Chiswick and Rough Trade, recording everything in-house, then sending their recordings to the likes of John Peel and labels with hopes of some airplay or recognition, little of which came. A long-lost micro-genre of unfairly forgotten underground punk (but not punk) gems awaits.

Review: Out of print for over 15 years, the Soul Jazz distributed Do It Yourself compilation offers up a bevy of both essential and niche acts from the realms of punk, post-punk, punk-funk, dance-punk and even further afield electronic experimentations where the term "punk" becomes utterly redundant. All UK artists recorded between the late 70s and 80s, the collection sonically details the aftermath of the British punk movement in real time, complete with legacy names such as Buzzcocks, A Certain Ratio and The Last Gang to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and even Throbbing Gristle. Housed in a gatefold sleeve and spread across translucent orange vinyl 2xLP, the collection has been fully remastered and features extensive sleevenotes and photography as well as interviews with key behind-the-scene players, providing a unique insight into just how much the landscape of independent music changed after the advent of punk.

Review: 80s Techno Tracks is an essential compilation series for those looking to complete their collections of retro classics. The third vinyl edition of this series of ZYX is another doozy that contains 12 carefully selected gems from the earliest days of techno and despite the fact these are around 40 years old they still do damage on the dancefloor. The likes of Bigod 20, Song, Robotiko Rejekto, Scarecrow, technic and Aircrash Bureau all feature with authentic old-school tracks that wear their hardware aesthetics on their sleeves and cannot fail to make a mark.

Review: A box office flop at the time of its release in 1995 - only recouping around $6million of its $25million budget - Tank Girl has since become a cult classic of the post-apocalyptic science fiction canon. Popularised thanks to its strong feminist messages and vivid construction of a universe, the foundations of which were found in a comic book series of the same namer, the soundtrack is both of its time and every bit as high impact as the flick. From Bjork's moody and abrasive 'Army of Me', to the disrupted lo-fi rock & roll of Hole's 'Drown Soda', Ice T's typically snarling and sinister 'Big Gun', and the trip hop landmark 'Roads' by Portishead, the credits read like a who's who of 1990s cool. And this emphasises just how on point Tank Girl was, even if we didn't all seem ready to acknowledge it back then.

Review: Celebrating their 20th anniversary the only way a label knows how, Red Scare Industries: 20 Years Of Dreaming And Scheming offers up 17 new cuts from current acts, alumni and long defunct bands who had it in their aging punk hearts to reform for one last blast around the sun. Boasting contributions from the likes of The Menzingers, Laura Jane Grace (Against Me!), No Trigger, Cobra Skulls and Elway, to name just a small handful, this is a compilation covering almost each and every cornerstone of modern punk from the emo to the hardcore to the unashamed pop-centric ditties. And as the label themselves point out, the only place you'll ever be able to cop these tracks is right here, right now (or whenever payday rolls around again).

Review: The REPITCH label started back in 2011 with a 12" split three ways between its co-founders, Pasquale Ascione (Ascion), Davide Carbone (D. Carbone) and Nino Pedone (Shapednoise).
Some 11 years on, and the trio are still very much at the heart of the label's activities, celebrated here with the Dys Functional Electronic Music X compilation, highlighting not only their label's scope but also, they say, pointing a way forward for its future intentions. This collection pushes at the edges of the experimental techno genre, whether that be through speed and heaviness (see Buttechno's pummelling 'Ghost Yunost'), smashed up arrangements like opening tune 'Mastice Riddim (VIP Mix)' from Shapednoise and Gabber Eleganza or reconnection with the ruffneck breakbeats that were once an integral part of rave culture (Ascion's 'Plugged' (Heavy-Rotation Mix) and DJ Plant Texture's 'Threat The Music With Respect')

Review: There's a good reason that the Viagra Boys' latest album is self-titled. Unlike their previous album, 2022's satirical, politically-charged Cave World, the Swedish post-punkers' latest set is lyrically far more introspective, with frontman Sebastian Murphy offering (in the band's own words), a "self-deprecating exploration of his own absurdity" (or, in the case of opener 'Made of Meat', "your mom's Only Fans"). Musically sitting between energetic, horn-heavy early 80s post-punk and grunge-fired US alt-rock - with occasional nods to more tropical and melody-driven flavours - the album is heaps of fun with strong songs aplenty, not least the jaunty 'Pyramid of Health', the low-slung, synth-sporting 'Waterboy' and the surprisingly pastoral 'River King'.

Review: Many months on, Record Store Day Black Friday 2023 continues to serve up treasures and the latest is
VIRULENCE's If This Isn't A Dream album. It's a wild ride through atmospheric soundscapes and haunting melodies that immerse you in a dreamscape of ethereal textures and pulsating rhythms, blending elements of ambient, electronic, and experimental music. Each track unfolds like a surreal exploration of the subconscious, inviting introspection and contemplation with intricate layering of synths, evocative vocals, and intricate percussion. Both hypnotic and transcendent, If This Isn't A Dream is a captivating trip that is well worth hearing for fans and newcomers alike as it transports to a realm where reality blurs with imagination.

Review: This Earquake 1993 double album is a fitting soundtrack to celebrate Kompakt's March 1st 1993 birthday. It is packed with rare, long-out-of-print classics from that era and highlights include Love Inc.'s iconic 'Monoculture EP' and the acid opera 'Animal Republic' by Vinyl Countdown. Also featured are the unforgettable gabber hit 'Lovely Ugly Brutal World' by Mike Ink & Chain Of Brotherhood and the deep, pop-infused anthem 'Trump Tower' by Mike Ink. These tunes very much capture the spirit of legendary label Kompakt's early days by blending new, genre-busting sounds with timeless electronica.