NEW Singles & Videos + Release Announcements + Brand New Signings
ARTHUR AHBEZ shares rocking new single | Turn on, tune in, and drop out, Ahbez style!
Combine a New Zealand-born songwriter with a goulash of 1960s music inspirations and a marijuana cigarette, slow-roast, and then compost him since 1987. The result? Distinctly tangible, folk-laden rock and roll. Arthur Ahbez returns with a rocking new single ‘A Simple Medication‘. A dreamy psych-pop ode to dreamland with lush guitar and awash in the spirit of the 1960s. Arthur Ahbez & The Flaming Ahbez releases November 2024. The new record soars to dizzying heights in the Ahbez realm and maximizes Arthur’s uncanny ability to churn out distinct and vibrant songs.
BON IVER share S P E Y S I D E & announce SABLE | Listen to S P E Y S I D E
Justin Vernon announces the release of SABLE,: three intimate songs that together serve as a reset and reintroduction. Arriving October 18th via Jagjaguwar, the EP marks the first new Bon Iver record in more than five years, while stripping the project down to the primary elements on which it was originally founded. Emerging from a slow-burning breakdown – possibly done with music, thinking increasingly about the process of healing – SABLE, is a space for Vernon to unpack the darkness, pressure and anxiety that amounted to one of the most trying periods of his life. “I know now that I can’t make good, how I wish I could,” he sings in the opening line of ‘S P E Y S I D E,’ an apology to some loved ones he hurt, written during a moment of clarity in 2021.
TUCKER ZIMMERMAN shares new songs | Check out these offerings from album Dance Of Love
Last month, Belgium-based, American-born, singer-songwriter Tucker Zimmerman announced his 4AD debut and eleventh career studio record Dance Of Love, out on 11 October, and shared its lead single ‘Burial At Sea’. Today, Zimmerman blesses us with two new singles, ‘The Idiot’s Maze’ and ‘The Season’. Over a career that spans half a century, Zimmerman’s discography is a sonic memoir. A sprawling collection of records that have explored folk, 12-bar blues, full-band rock concertos and classical piano compositions, his work is also a tribute to the people, experiences and sounds that have shaped his life, amassing in a deeply personal and resonating songbook.
GREG MENDEZ shares song from new EP via Dead Oceans | THE LABEL
Philadelphia, PA’s Greg Mendez signs to Dead Oceans and announces his new EP, First Time / Alone, due October 18th. The announcement comes with the release of the EP’s funereal lead single ‘First Time.’ First Time / Alone came together in late summer and early fall of 2023, on the heels of the release of Greg Mendez, his self-titled breakthrough album, also being reissued via Dead Oceans, with pre-orders available now. “His words hold so much immediacy that there’s a freeing aspect to it. Greg Mendez is a religious experience.” -UPROXX
RUTHVEN serves up a smooth R&B song | Listen to 'Itch'
Ruthven releases ‘Itch’, the latest single revealed from his hotly-anticipated debut album Rough & Ready which is out on 25 October 2024 via Paul Institute / XL Recordings. Written, performed and produced in collaboration with A.K. Paul, ‘Itch’ is yet another shining example of the South London-based ex-firefighter’s flawless vocals and sleek funk-inspired productions.
JAPANDROIDS share closing track of new album | Listen to 'All Bets Are Off'
Next month on October 18, eighteen years of the Vancouver duo Japandroids will come to a close with the release of their fourth and final album ‘Fate & Alcohol’. David Prowse and Brian King met in the early 2000s as students at The University of Victoria in British Columbia. Today they share the album’s closing track, a heart-racing, hedonistic song of passionate connection that is not dissimilar to the all-encompassing embrace the band’s fans have for their music.
BECKY AND THE BIRDS share song from new album | Check this out!
Swedish musician Thea Gustafsson – who writes, records, and produces under the moniker Becky and the Birds – has recently turned a new leaf, entering an era of creative freedom and emotional release with the announcement of her forthcoming self-produced debut album, Only Music Makes Me Cry Now, due for release on 15 November. In celebration of the record’s announcement, Gustafsson has also shared a new track entitled ‘I made my baby cry’, a gorgeous post-breakup lament that swells with emotional catharsis meshing delicate keys and stirring strings with a soaring choir of the songwriter’s own pitched, layered, and manipulated vocals, the huge-sounding self-made symphony highlights her effortless command of the studio.
REMO DRIVE share song from new project| Check out 'Mercy' Deluxe
Split between Minneapolis, Minnesota and Albany, NY, Remo Drive – the longstanding project of brothers Erik and Stephen Paulson – announce the extension of their latest record Mercy due for release on October 18th via Epitaph. Mercy Deluxe introduces four new covers that reinvent songs from their fourth album released in February of this year. Tapping a collection of old friends, collaborators and tour mates united by a shared love of music, each arrangement highlights different shades of innovation with a quiet reverence for the original track. Shared this week from the upcoming album, is Field Medic's version of 'Mercy'.
New Albums & EPs Out Now
JAMIE XX releases acclaimed 2nd album - In Waves | Get it today!
Jamie xx releases his hotly-anticipated new album In Waves via Young. In Waves will be available digitally, on CD and in multiple vinyl formats, A Deluxe LP will feature a bonus 12” of previous singles 'It’s So Good', 'KILL DEM' and 'LET’S DO IT AGAIN' plus two exclusive new tracks: 'F U (ft. Erykah Badu)' and 'Do Something'.
“An immaculate album” – NME ★ ★ ★ ★
“Jamie xx returns to define another era of British dance music with his superb, eclectic second LP… a record that aims for – and reaches – pure euphoria” – Rolling Stone UK ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
BRIGHT EYES new album Five Dice, All Threes out today | Check out 'All Threes ft. Cat Power)'
Bright Eyes have released their tenth studio album Five Dice, All Threes via Dead Oceans along with a new music video for ‘All Threes’ (featuring Cat Power). Of ‘All Threes’ Conor Oberst says, “We wanted this song to have some space – and let the piano part have room to stand out and feel special. Something about the mood of it just made me think of Chan [Marshall of Cat Power]. ”
THE CALAMATIX release joyful reggae-rooted spring album | Essential feel good listening
The reggae-rooted, punk flavoured quartet The Calamatix share their debut self-titled record out now via Hellcat Records. Born from their creative partnership with ska-punk icon Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy), today they share the lyric video to their upbeat, skankable focus track, ‘Still Rudy’, co-written by Armstrong with Sam Preston (Sum 41, Liam Payne, The Ordinary Boys) on synths, and Ruben Durazo (Dirty Heads) on trombone. Honoring punk’s legacy with lyrical references to Circle Jerks and Minor Threat, the rebellious anthem is a celebration of individuality and self-expression. “Growing up is for losers,” vocalist Raylin Joy exclaims. “And punk rock never dies!”
Reissue of the Week
PERFUME GENIUS vinyl reissue of Too Bright - Sashay away to 'Queen'
Perfume Genius has released a new crystal-clear vinyl reissue of Too Bright via his long-time label Matador Records. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Perfume Genius’ critically acclaimed album Too Bright, originally released by Matador on September 23, 2014. The third record by Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), it marked a significant departure from the artist’s earlier work with its bold, avant-garde sound and introspective lyrics. The LP featured the standout single ‘Queen’ – Hadreas’ confrontational dissection of “gay panic,” which Pitchfork said “sounds like triumph amid the pathetic relevancy of its subject matter in 2014.” The song was a jolt in the cultural discourse and has since become a fan-favourite.
Beggars Arkive put 3 BUFFALO TOM albums back into print | Pre-order the set!
Beggars Arkive is excited to put three Buffalo Tom albums back in print on standard black vinyl. Birdbrain (1990), Let Me Come Over (1992) and Big Red Letter Day (1993) will be available everywhere on November 8th. The LPs are available now for pre-order: https://buffalotom.ffm.to/2024reissues Buffalo Tom (Bill Janovitz, Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis) formed at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1984 – a breeding ground of post punk guitar bands like Dinosaur Jr. and Pixies. Initially offering a raw, propulsive sound that emphasized Janovitz’s imposing guitar squall, Buffalo Tom’s early approach gave way to a more melodic, yet no less distinctive, style.
Matador reissue BUTTHOLE SURFERS early essentials | Buy them from your favourite record store
The second part of Matador’s reissues of the essential early records by Texas’s Butthole Surfers continues with three of their most insane slabs — 1985’s Cream Corn from the Socket of Davis, 1987’s Locust Abortion Technician and 1988’s Hairway to Steven. The period during which these records were first issued parallels the Buttholes’ transition from being weirdo Texas outcasts to becoming internationally recognised smut-kings of the American underground.