4AD Vinilo y CD

Review: Big Thief's 2016 debut album Masterpiece has been newly remastered by Heba Kadry for this reissue via 4AD - the first time it's been reissued and comes on eco-vinyl. Fans will know the music is rooted in Adrianne Lenker's songs and "paints in vivid tones the process of harnessing pain, loss, and love, while simultaneously letting go, looking into your own eyes through someone else's, and being okay with the inevitability of death. " Heavy stuff for sure and the music is indeed emotion with Buck Meek on guitar, Max Oleartchik on bass, and James Krivchenia on drums all bringing it to life.

Review: Four years on from the release of sixth studio album As Long As You Are, American synth-pop/alt-rock fusionists Future Islands return with full-length number seven. People Who Aren't There Any More sees them reunite with regular collaborator Steve Wright and mixer Chris Coady, whose production on 2014's Singles - the band's most polished and arguably greatest album - was widely praised. Lyrically focused on being lovestruck and feeling lovelorn - wearily but forcefully delivered by frontman Samuel T Herring - the songs are strong and memorable. Musically, the sound worlds created - think stylish synths, immersive electronic textures, low-slung basslines and indie-rock guitars - match the disillusioned and emotionally fragile words, giving the set a coherent theme and sonic vision..

Review: Originally released in 1992, Lush's second studio album really stuck a flag in the ground for the band. Having bestowed the 'mini LP' Scar on listeners three years earlier, at which point they became one of the first outfits to have the term shoegazing applied to their sound, it would take a full length offering to truly establish a framework for the outfit's approach to the (sub)genre. Spooky did just that, opening on the beautiful, grinding greatness of 'Stray', in many ways the record only builds intensity and grandeur from thereon in, providing a home for some of the most incredible moments of opiate indie rock you could ask for. Helped no end by the production of Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie, 31 years later it remains a landmark.

Review: In many ways, Lovelife represented a commercial high for British dream pop deities turned indie pogo set Lush. Reaching number eight in the UK album charts upon release, only the band's second album (technically their first full-length LP, with one compilation of singles and a mini-long player preceding it) managed to place higher, and while it was very much caught in a specific musical moment - shoegaze - it still felt rather experimental. Or maybe that's just true of the style overall. Regardless, leap four years into the future and things sound a lot different. Britpop's stranglehold on the charts was at max tought, and with their final album Lush jumped straight in with two feet. Clearly influenced by the high energy, big attitude ethic of the day, signs of which were evident on third album, Split, on Lovelife they managed to create one of the scene's defining albums, with anthems such as 'Ladykillers' and 'Ciao!' (featuring Jarvis Cocker, no less) among the highlights.

Review: Two years on from the release of their debut mini-album, Scar, Lush headed into the studio to record their first full-length proper, the critically acclaimed Spooky. One of the all-time great shoegaze-meets-dream-pop sets, it was notable not only for the immersive nature of the sound and the meditative effect of its hazy, layered guitars and vocals, but also the fact that it was produced by Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. This reissue, which forms part of a series inaugurated by the band and remastering engineer Kevin Vanberger, offers a neat reminder of the album's timeless qualities, alongside a freshly cleaned and spruced-up sound that allows every single sonic element to shine.

Review: Lush's reissue series continues via a painstakingly remastered and sonically spruced-up edition of the band's second studio album, 1994's 'Split'. A very different album to its loose, immersive and shoegaze-fuelled predecessor, it saw the band join forces with producer Mike Hedges (celebrated for his work with The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees) and opt for a more - in their words - "direct" sound. Of course, it was still Lush, so the layered guitars and vocals remained, albeit amongst a lightly expanded sound palette, more hooky riffs and an early Britpop vibe that delivered a subtle evolution from the band's more wide-eyed, sonically loved-up roots.

Review: Pale Saints' breakthrough album, In Ribbons, turns 30 years old this year and so the label that first put it out is looking back with this superb new anniversary edition. The album was a key driver in the shoegaze scene and became much loved for its ethereal sound. That has aged well here with bittersweet pop in tracks like 'Thread Of Light' as Meriel Barham's vocal delivery reaches through time and still hits the mark today. Musically the record blends bruising riffs and dreamy atmospherics and has been freshly remastered for this special commemorative CD edition which should appeal to fans old and new.