The Fat Angel Sings

Formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, Pixies are one of the key acts associated with the late 1980’s American alternative rock scene and were also considered a big influence on acts such as Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead.

The more obscure of the two RSD 2023 releases from the Pixies (the Massachusetts band is also releasing their 2009 Brussels gig on vinyl), “Demos” comprises the nine (of 17) tracks that were recorded in the band’s first studio session in March 1987 but didn’t make their first album, “Come On Pilgrim”.

These remaining songs from that 17-track demo reel, which has become known as ‘The Purple Tapes’, were released for the first time in 2002, but this EP marks their debut on 10-inch vinyl, which, by the way, is purple, comes with a printed inner sleeve and is limited in quantity. While this isn’t new or unheard material – these songs found their way onto subsequent albums from the band in some shape or form, after all – these original demo recordings, especially of “Here Comes Your Man” and “Rock A My Soul”, are very tasty indeed – and together here on coloured wax make for an attractive collector’s item for diehard fans.

‘Demos’ comes in a Limited Edition 10” EP pressed on purple vinyl with a printed inner sleeve.

The songs on this release were recorded by Pixies in March 1987 and were included in what has come to be known by diehard fans as ‘The Purple Tapes’. From this collection of 17 songs, 8 were chosen to comprise Pixies’ first album – ‘Come On Pilgrim’. The 9 remaining songs are featured on this release.

Available for the first time on 10” vinyl, including original demo recordings of ‘Here Comes Your Man’, ‘Broken Face’, ‘Down To The Well’ and ‘Rock A My Soul’.

Released on Cooking Vinyl Records

Denton, TX indie folk-rock pioneers Midlake announce their first catalogue-spanning double live album, “Live At Roundhouse”. Recorded at London’s historic Roundhouse in April 2022, the album includes material from their latest album “For The Sake Of Bethel Woods”, fan favourites from 2013’s exploratory Antiphon, dark psych-folk thickets of 2010’s “The Courage of Others“, and the highly wondrous and critically acclaimed modern classics of 2006’s “The Trials of Van Occupanther”.

A pivotal city to the band’s success and their dedicated fanbase, London was the obvious show to record during their most recent tour. Midlake’s Eric Pulido shares, “Since our early days, London has been like a second home. We’ve been embraced so warmly all of these years and knew our show at The Roundhouse would serve as the perfect night to celebrate our 20-year relationship with our first live album.” A long overdue retrospective, “Live at Roundhouse” includes 75+ minutes of music including Midlake classics “Roscoe,” “The Old and the Young,” “Head Home,” and “Acts of Man,” featuring vocals from singer/songwriter Bess Atwell.

We are pleased to announce our first-ever live album, “Live At Roundhouse”, coming to you April 22nd for Record Store Day UK / Record Store Day on Bella Union and ATO Records.

Recorded on April 6th, 2022 at the historic Roundhouse in London, the double LP will be pressed on Translucent Orange and Translucent Red 180 gram vinyl with expansive artwork by our friend and photographer Andy Little. Also big thanks to Tom Bejgrowicz for nailing our vision with the packaging.

The album showcases material from our entire catalog including “Roscoe,” “The Old and the Young” “Head Home,” and “Acts of Man,” featuring guest vocals from Bess Atwell.

Thanks to everyone who played a part in the making of this record. The live double album is actually the indie rockers’ first, which spans its catalogue, featuring tracks from latest album “For the Sake Of Bethel Woods”, and ventures back through their direction-changing “Antiphon” (the first post-lead-singer-Tim-Smith record), their ‘very Midlake’ “The Courage Of Others“, and of course the die-hard classics from 2006’s “The Trials Of Van Occupanther” – ya Roscoes and Head Homes and whatnot.

These superior example of a live albums that are only being made available on vinyl, and only for RSD (for now, at least). Midlake has not been around for 20 years, of course, but on this career-surveying set, they sound like they’ve been around for 50+ — they’re so in touch with a kind of moody rock timelessness that you can easily close your eyes and imagine Bill Graham is in the wings, putting them on between Santana and Ten Years After.

The packaging showcases a gorgeous matte-board double album, printed on Translucent Red (Side A) and Translucent Orange (Side B) 180-gram vinyl, with expansive artwork by photographer Andy Little. “Live At Roundhouse” is a true collector’s item for any fan of the band.

If you missed the recent joint stadium headlining dates by these two, here’s a chance to recreate ’em on your turntable, kind of. These are two examples of live album that were previously squeezed into a boxed set, now made available as independent titles for the first time. In the case of Nicks, her December 1981 performance at L.A.’s Fox Wilshire Theatre — needless to say, that would count as an underplay now — was part of a 2016 deluxe CD edition of her first solo album, and includes material from that as well as what she’d done with Fleetwood Mac to date. More than 40 years later, her solo performances still include a lot of this material, of course.

One of rock’s all-time great vocalists, at the peak of her powers, performing tracks from one of her great albums, and some of Fleetwood Mac’s most-loved songs, live on stage; what more could we ask for? 

Another title making its vinyl debut among the best Record Store Day 2023 releases, Bella Donna Live captures Stevie Nicks on stage during her White Winged Dove Tour, at Los Angeles’ Fox Wilshire Theatre, on 13th December 1981. Part of the tour to promote Nicks’ quadruple platinum solo debut album, “Bella Donna”, the show features sublime versions of many highlights among the best Stevie Nicks songs (Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around, Leather And Lace, Edge Of Seventeen), in addition to Fleetwood Mac perennials “Gold Dust Woman”, “Dreams”, “Sara” and “Rhiannon“.

Available for the first time on vinyl, this 2LP set features Stevie Nicks live recording from the ‘White Winged Dove Tour’ at the Fox Wilshire Theatre on December 13th 1981. The show included tracks from “Bella Donna” including “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” “Leather and Lace” and “Edge of Seventeen,” along with Fleetwood Mac favourites “Gold Dust Woman,” “Dreams,” “Sara” and “Rhiannon.” Black vinyl

Released on Rhino / Atlantic ?

Exclusive vinyl pressing of Amythyst Kiah’s “Pensive Pop” EP. The common themes throughout this record address the lamenting external factors that can impede us on our journey in life and the struggle to accept and work through those challenges. Fear is at the centre of all these songs: fear of rejection, fear of change, fear of sobriety, fear of living in the present. “Pensive Pop” is Kiah’s reinterpretation of pop/rock songs in order to bring more attention to the stories being told.

How good a song was Tori Amos’ “Sugar”? Good enough that it pops up, improbably after 30 years, on two Record Store Day releases this year — Amos’ own, as mentioned above, but also this four-song EP of covers from the estimable Kiah. She’s been rocking some of these songs on tour, and shows a lot of savvy in her picks, from Green Day’s “Hitchin’ a Ride” to one of Katy Perry’s most unexpectedly stealth-mature songs, “Chained to the Rhythm.” Three of the covers are fairly loud or high-energy, but a quieter closing take on Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” really delivers the lamentable goods.

Boygenius were the musical guests on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” last night (April 20th), and they performed their song “Not Strong Enough.”

“Not Strong Enough” appears on the Boygenius’ highly-anticipated debut album, “The Record”, which arrived earlier this month. The Kimmel appearance arrives between the weekends of Coachella, where the band will return to the Outdoor Stage on Saturday. Lucy Dacus used the first weekend’s set as an opportunity to speak up in support of trans youth, with Phoebe Bridgers adding, “And abortion rocks. And fuck Ron DeSantis.” The day before, the trio joined Muna for a performance of “Silk Chiffon.”

Later this year, Boygenius will tour America in support of The Record,

This Is The Kit, the group led by Paris-based bandleader Kate Stables, today announced the band’s new album “Careful of Your Keepers”–produced by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals)–will be released on June 9th, 2023, via Rough Trade Records. The album’s propulsive yet introspective lead single “Inside Outside” finds Stables as magnetic as ever, joined once again by her stalwart band of Rozi Plain(bass/vocals), Neil Smith (guitar), and Jamie Whitby-Coles (drums), and accented by a cascading horn quartet arrangement by Jesse Vernon.

“Careful Of Your Keepers” is daring and soft, cutting and warm–a wild feat of complexity and combined dispositions. There’s a shared language of the band’s family experience that is as audible as ever in these recordings, which boast beautiful instrumental performances that still leave the nuanced space required for Stables’ vocals to live at the forefront. “The album was nearly called Goodbye Bite. And in a way it still is,” says Stables. “I went for “Careful of Your Keepers” in the end. It’s one of my favourite songs on the album, a song that for me holds the general feeling of the album as a whole. The fragility of things. Of situations. Of relationships. Of humans. What we do to look after each other and ourselves. The passing of time and what that does to us, and how we live our lives going forward.”

Guiding the ship through changing seas is producer Rhys. Stables described his role as being a “tonesetter,” watchful and attentive to the band dynamics while making sure to always follow a hunch for where a new sound could find its place in the recording. “I’ve always loved the idea of working with him somehow, and when this album started getting planned, I realized that maybe this was my chance to reach out and see if he was up for working together,” Stables explains. “And he was! As if that wasn’t enough, he was also up for doing a bit of singing on the record, which totally blew my mind and made my year. His way with harmony and melody and the tone and quality of his voice is a totally killer combo.”

“They are so ridiculously talented–and every member is a great producer in their own right–so it was just a matter of trying to capture the magic they make when playing live together,” Rhys says of the recording process. “Their playing is by default so thoughtful and complimentary in terms of respect to each other’s parts and to the integrity of the songs themselves that it creates a beautiful foundation of often cosmic interplay that’s always in aid of Kate’s voice and vision as a songwriter.

We are celebrating 20 years of “Want One”! Both “Want One” & “Want Two” have been remastered – “Want One” also has a newly designed gatefold jacket & “Want Two” is now a double LP with a newly designed gatefold jacket. In addition, The Go or Go Ahead (Live) + Waiting for a Dream (Live) 7 Inch has never been on vinyl until now and if you pre-order both albums you will receive the 7 inch for free! Every purchase includes a 16 page fanzine featuring an interview with me, a track by track guide to the albums, rare photos + more.

Rufus Wainwright’s eminently desirable pair of pop masterpieces, ‘Want One’ (2003) and ‘Want Two’ (2004), is now on coloured vinyl for the very first time, exclusively from Bandbox!

‘Want One,’ named the best album of 2003 by VH1 and Paste, arrives in July on 2xLP metallic bronze vinyl, while its 2004 follow-up, nominated for top honors at the Juno and GLAAD award ceremonies, is on metallic silver wax. Beautifully lush, baroque arrangements like “Oh What a World,” “Dinner at Eight” and “Little Sister” earned each album a spot in the prestigious music criticism compendium 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

These Bandbox exclusive color pressings are accompanied by the Rufus Wainwright issue of our signature artist fanzine, this time featuring an interview with the celebrated songwriter and composer, exclusive photography and much more.

Fans who purchase both ‘Want One’ and ‘Want Two’ receive a brand-new seven-inch single (on metallic silver vinyl) sporting live performances of album tracks “Go or Go Ahead” and “Waiting for a Dream” for free!

You might have been a huge new wave music fan, pogoing your way through your senior prom in 1983, not that this reviewer would know anything about that. OK, fine, this reviewer did pogo his way through his senior prom and still might have managed to miss out on the short but illustrious early 1980s career of the Revillos. But now, thanks to “Stratoplay”, a massive new wave dance party in a box, you can experience the Revillos in all their glory.

“Stratoplay”, a six-CD anthology compiled by Cherry Red Records, is one of the most complete histories of a band you’re likely to find. That history is a bit confusing, but Tim Barr helpfully explains it in his extensive liner notes. It goes like this. The Revillos began life as an entirely different band, with a similar name: The Rezillos. Probably the first punk band to come out of Scotland, the Rezillos released their debut album, “Can’t Stand the Rezillos”, in 1978, and scored a hit single in the UK that year with “Top of the Pops”. Despite this success, the Rezillos soon broke up, releasing “Mission Accomplished…But the Beat Goes On“, a live album of their final show, in 1979.

Revillos’ fifth new single is “She’s Fallen In Love With A Monster Man” and “Mind Bending Cutie Doll” on Superville Records.

Betty Page in Sounds observes that, “Eugene gets right into Monster Mashing Translyvanian vocals and evil laughs, the girls responding with a cutesy chorus… since they abandoned themselves entirely to cartoon character pastiche and novelty, it actually works.” 

The end of the Rezillos led to the birth of the Revillos, featuring Rezillos members Fay Fife and Eugene Reynolds. Without diluting much of the punk edge or the wacky pop culture/sci-fi sense of humor, Revillos added a dayglo new wave sensibility to the mix. 

Something wicked this way comes. At the close of October 2022, Noel Gallagher and his High Flying Birds returned with ‘Pretty Boy’. Marking a departure from the Ennio Morricone leanings of his early material, this single is much darker than anything else in his repertoire, with a distinctly gothic and post-punk edge, no doubt helped by guest guitarist Johnny Marr. 

Earlier in the year, Gallagher claimed that the new record has a largely “orchestral” sound, but on the first single, this was not the case. Then, in a November interview with an Italian radio station (via Contactmusic), Gallagher spoke about his beloved football team, Manchester City FC, and revealed that the album is coming out in May, but it’s yet to be confirmed. He said: “The team is doing good, we’re having a good season. Hopefully, we will be in Istanbul [for the Champions League final] around when my new album is out next May, so that would be good”.

Noel Gallagher was the main songwriter, lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of Oasis, one of the biggest and most loved bands ever to emerge from the UK. His band played a tremendous role in shaping and inspiring contemporary guitar music from the 1990’s onwards. Noel’s continued success with the High Flying Birds cements his position as one of the most prolific and successful British songwriters of the last 50 years.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds first emerged in 2011 with their eponymous album released in October of that year. The album went double platinum in the UK and has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide. The release of the debut album was supported by a touring schedule covering 150 live shows in 32 countries. This was followed by ‘Chasing Yesterday’, released in March 2015 – the first album to be produced as well as written by Noel, with 122 further shows in 28 countries. A third album, ‘Who Built The Moon?’, was recorded in sessions spanning 2 years with renowned producer and composer David Holmes in Belfast and London released in November 2017. There followed a series of multi-genre EPs released over the course of 2019 and 2020, all receiving high critical acclaim.

June 2021 saw the release of ‘Back The Way We Came: Vol 1 (2011-2021)’ – a Best Of celebrating a decade of Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds. This was the bands 4th consecutive Number 1 album and the 12th Number 1 album across Noel’s career. 2021 also saw Noel named as Record Store Day’s official ambassador.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds played Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage in June 2022, delivering a career-spanning set to one of the weekend’s biggest crowds. The show was the culmination of a summer of acclaimed sold-out outdoor venues across the UK. Fast forward to 2023 and Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds are looking ahead to their much anticipated fourth studio album, ‘Council Skies’, due for release 2nd June. From the evocative album title to the cover art, to the lyrics themselves, ‘Council Skies’ sees Noel Gallagher bringing a more personal perspective, reclaiming his past and paying homage to his Mancunian roots. His most varied and accomplished solo record to date, Noel’s new album is a record framed by confidence, risk-taking, surefooted creative freedom, and great emotional depth.

Brand new single ‘Council Skies’  taken from Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ 4th studio album of the same name, out June 2nd!
The accompanying official video was filmed in Noel’s native Manchester and includes a performance shot at the historic New Century Hall.

Brand new single – ‘Pretty Boy’ – the first to be revealed from Noel’s forthcoming new studio album. The band are heading out on an extensive tour covering the UK, US and Europe from June 2023.
The dates will be a great opportunity to hear the new music live for the first time, alongside Oasis and High Flying Birds classics

The first singles taken from the album – ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Easy Now’ – were met with a hail of critical and commercial success by fans and media alike. ‘Pretty Boy’ has also been remixed by The Cure’s Robert Smith, taking the track to a new spaced-out dimension..

Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno) will release “Lucky For You”, her kaleidoscopic new full-length album worldwide from Sub Pop. The 10-track album combines punk grit, crunchy shoegaze bliss, and an explosive Britpop bop, all mixed in with the classic anthems Bully is known for. 
 
“Hard to Love,” the official new video from Bully, was directed by and stars Bognanno, who had this to say about the song: “Growing up never fitting into society’s constructed gender stereotypes and expectations, I often felt as though different equals bad or wrong. I was confused about my place in the world, not fully identifying with any one particular gender or sexuality. I was ashamed, and I blamed myself. Though I’m still in the process of understanding and accepting my identity, I’m glad to be surrounded by people who love and accept me for who I am regardless of the clothes I wear and the labels others use to define me.” 

“Hard to Love” follows the previously released tracks “Lose You (Feat. Soccer Mommy),” and the pulsating banger “Days Move Slow.” Of the latter track, The New York Times says, “‘Days Move Slow’…is a song about being caught in the muck of grief — she wrote it after the death of her beloved dog, Mezzi — but it also has a propulsive, bouncy energy that promises eventual forward motion.

‘There’s flowers on your grave that grow,’ Bognanno sings in her signature holler, battling her buzzing guitar.”

“Lucky For You” is Bully’s most close-to-the-bone album yet. It’s an album that’s searing and unmistakably marked by its creator’s experiences, while still retaining the massive sound that Alicia Bognanno has become known for over the last decade. Her fourth album draws from personal pain and the universal struggle that is existing, learning, and moving on—and it’s all soundtracked by Bognanno’s rock-solid melodic sensibilities and a widescreen sound that’s impossible to pin down when it comes to the textures explored. These ten songs are simply the most irresistible Bognanno’s put to tape yet, making “Lucky For You” her greatest triumph to date in a career already packed with them.
 
Bully has extended her North American tour dates for 2023 in support of “Lucky For You” with new headlining shows. These new shows will follow Bully’s previously announced headlining UK/EU tour (May 20th-28th) and her 13-date main support for the Pixies and Franz Ferdinand (June 8th-25th).

‘Lucky For You’ out on Sub Pop Records on June 2nd , 2023.