Releases from May–June 2022

Great albums from around the world

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Releases for 24 June 2022

Our six sizzlers for 23 June start with Songbird, the very first compilation to spotlight Christine McVie as solo artist, which features tracks from her stunning solo albums plus two previously unreleased studio recordings, all remastered by legendary producer Glyn Johns. Haitian-American multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla, alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, displays a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience on her new album, Breaking The Thermometer. Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees, the 19th studio album from Brian Jonestown Massacre, expands on the band’s psychedelic roots with the aesthetic of ’90s shoegaze plus influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music. Soccer Mommy explores many ups and downs: from the highs of love to the lows of hopelessness and disconnection on Sometimes, Forever, circling from a frustrated sense of loss of control over life back to a willingness to let go and be free: it’s a coexistence of light and dark, not only lyrically but tonally. Black Stone Cherry returns with a new live album, Live From The Royal Albert Hall … Y’All!, recorded at their sold-out 2021 performance at the Royal Albert Hall; it marks a new milestone for the band and serves as a celebration of their 20-year career, with something for every BSC fan.

Our release of the week is Closure/Continuation, the new album from hugely influential, relentlessly creative British rock band Porcupine Tree – Steven Wilson, Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison – who have constantly evolved as their expansive music has shifted between pastoral psychedelic rock and ambient electronic soundscapes, and even experimental pop.

- Porcupine Tree Closure/Continuation
Porcupine Tree – Steven Wilson, Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison – are a hugely influential, relentlessly creative British rock band. First dreamt up by Wilson in 1987 as an outlet for experimental recordings he was making outside of his synth-pop duo No-Man, Porcupine Tree expanded to become a proper band in the early ’90s in order to further explore his ideas both on record and on stage. Over the years Porcupine Tree have constantly evolved as their expansive music has shifted between pastoral psychedelic rock and ambient electronic soundscapes, and even experimental pop.

- Christine McVie Songbird (A Solo Collection)
Songbird (A Solo Collection) is the very first compilation to spotlight Christine McVie as solo artist. Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer McVie was not only the songwriter and vocalist for many of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits, including ‘Don’t Stop’, ‘Everywhere’ and ‘Little Lies’, she also released some stunning solo albums during her career. The collection includes a selection of songs from two of her solo albums – 1984’s Christine McVie and 2004’s In The Meantime – plus two previously unreleased studio recordings, including ‘Slowdown’, all of which have been remastered by legendary producer Glyn Johns, who worked closely with McVie on the project.

- Leyla McCalla Breaking The Thermometer
Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present, from both her Haitian heritage and her adopted home of New Orleans. This bilingual multi-instrumentalist is an alumna of Grammy award-winning African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, and she has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience, all of which is evident on her new album, Breaking The Thermometer.

- Brian Jonestown Massacre Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees
Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees, the 19th full-length studio album from Brian Jonestown Massacre, was recorded in Berlin and remotely during 2020 and 2021. Frontman Anton Newcombe was originally influenced heavily by The Rolling Stones’ psychedelic phase – the band’s name is a reference to Stones guitarist Brian Jones combined with cult leader Jim Jones – but his work has since expanded into aesthetic dimensions approximating the shoegaze genre of the 1990s and incorporating influences from world music, especially Middle Eastern and Brazilian music.

- Soccer Mommy Sometimes, Forever
Sometimes, Forever refers to the idea that the good and bad are both temporary and always returning. Feelings of sorrow and emptiness will pass but they will always come back around, as will feelings of joy. The new album from Soccer Mommy explores many ups and downs: from the highs of love to the lows of hopelessness and disconnection. A frustrated loss of control over life and a disconnect from the self recur throughout Sometimes, Forever only to circle back to a willingness to let go and be free, whether through love (‘shotgun, with u’) or blissful ignorance (‘don’t ask me’). It’s a coexistence of light and dark, not only lyrically but tonally.

- Black Stone Cherry Live From The Royal Albert Hall … Y’All!
Black Stone Cherry returns with a new live album, Live From The Royal Albert Hall … Y’All!, recorded at their sold-out performance at London’s world-famous Royal Albert Hall on 21 September 2021. This release marks a new milestone for the band and serves as a celebration of their 20-year career. Featuring songs from throughout Black Stone Cherry’s catalogue, Live From Royal Albert Hall … Y’All! has something for every BSC fan.

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Releases for 17 June 2022

A fantastic list for 17 June starts with Foals, who take a fresh, thrilling new direction on Life Is Yours, a life-affirming celebration with disco-tinged guitars, tight syncopated rhythms and punchy, insistent hooks echoing the band’s roots as purveyors of rambunctious house-party chaos. TV Priest – heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, the kind of bolshy, sharp-witted outfit that starts movements with their political ire – are in search of a more honest, personal approach on My Other People. DJ and producer Chris Bangs & Mick Talbot, co-founder of The Style Council, reunite for the first time in years on Back To Business, which celebrates the mod club jazz sounds that are at the backbone of their DNA and is a vital album for mod collectors and beyond. Grey Daze follow their critically praised and beloved 2020 album Amends with Back To Business, the next chapter of music in their commitment to friendship and to Chester Bennington’s memory. Dream Like A Dogwood Wild Boy is the second album under his own name by British saxophonist Binker Golding, a virtuosic and busy musician and one of the leading artists of the London jazz scene, and it adds a distinct blend of electric blues and country to his jazz core.

Our release of the week is a biggie: A Light For Attracting Attention is the long-awaited debut album from The Smile – Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead with Tom Skinner from Sons of Kemet – with a varied list of star collaborators. Not to be missed!

- The Smile A Light For Attracting Attention
A Light For Attracting Attention is the long-awaited debut album from The Smile: Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead with Tom Skinner from Sons of Kemet. The 13-track album was produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich and mastered by Bob Ludwig. Tracks feature strings by the London Contemporary Orchestra and a full brass section of contemporary UK jazz players including Byron Wallen, Theon and Nathaniel Cross, Chelsea Carmichael, Robert Stillman and Jason Yarde.

- Foals Life Is Yours
Foals take a fresh, thrilling new direction on Life Is Yours, the follow-up to the triumphant two-part Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. The new album – with its disco-tinged guitars, tight syncopated rhythms and punchy, insistent hooks echoing the band’s roots as purveyors of rambunctious house-party chaos – feels like a natural evolution for Foals. Thematically, Life Is Yours is escapist, transportive and in raptures at life’s endless possibilities. It’s a record that’s perfectly in tune with the prevailing atmosphere of this moment in time – a life-affirming celebration as the world is reunited.

- TV Priest My Other People
Without a brutal evaluation of their own becoming, TV Priest might have never made their second album. Heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, they were established as a bolshy, sharp-witted outfit, the kind that starts movements with their political ire. There was of course truth in that, but it was a suit that quickly felt heavy on its wearer’s shoulders, leaving little room for true vulnerability. “A lot of it did feel like I was being really careful and a bit at arm’s length,” says vocalist Charlie Drinkwater. “I think maybe I was not fully aware of the role I was taking. I had to take a step back and realise that what we were presenting was quite far away from the opinion of myself that I had. Now, I just want to be honest.”

- Chris Bangs & Mick Talbot Back To Business
Back To Business, the new collaboration between Chris Bangs & Mick Talbot, celebrates the mod club jazz sounds that are at the backbone of their DNA. DJ and producer Chris Bangs first coined the term ‘acid jazz’, and has produced records for Galliano and Paul Weller, alongside his own project Quiet Boys. Keyboardist Mick Talbot was a founder member of The Style Council with Paul Weller, and has since played with Galliano, Dexys Midnight Runners and Candy Staton. Having previously recorded together in Yada Yada and Soundscape, Back To Business marks the first Bangs & Talbot collaboration for years, and it’s a vital album for mod collectors and beyond.

- Grey Daze The Phoenix
Prior to his untimely death in 2017, Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington personally announced a Grey Daze reunion on social media. As he never got the chance to launch the reunion himself, his bandmates, friends, family and various collaborators stepped up to give the music the second chance it deserved, finishing what the late singer started. Longtime Grey Daze members drummer Sean Dowdell and bassist Mace Beyers recruited Cristin Davis on guitar in 2017 to tackle this artistic and personal endeavour. The Phoenix follows their critically praised and beloved 2020 album Amends, and this next chapter of music is the completion of their commitment to friendship.

- Binker Golding Dream Like A Dogwood Wild Boy
Dream Like A Dogwood Wild Boy is British saxophonist Binker Golding’s second album under his own name and represents a sonic evolution, adding a distinct blend of electric blues and country to his jazz core. The album is a personal and ultimately uplifting reflection on the trials and tribulations of the journey to manhood.
Binker Golding is one of the leading artists of the London jazz scene, having collaborated with the likes of Moses Boyd, Zara McFarlane, Emma-Jean Thackray, Evan Parker and Sarathy Korwar. A virtuosic and busy musician, composer, arranger and educator, Golding tutors at the unrivalled Tomorrow’s Warriors organisation, has conducted the Nu Civilisation Orchestra, and has released albums that stretch between free jazz, fusion and experimental electronic, proving himself always unpredictably ahead of the curve.

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Releases for 10 June 2022

10 June’s gems open with Waysides, the third collection of songs from Bedouine, which summarises her creative headspace over the past year and a half, tying together many songwriting threads that act as a prologue of sorts. The Versions is a collaboration album of covers from Neneh Cherry’s extensive catalogue by some of the most exciting and revered female artists of our time, including superstar songwriter Sia’s version of Neneh’s hit ‘Manchild’. The Dream Syndicate blend vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sheen sun-baked into their classic psychedelic, melodic hue on new album Ultraviolet Battle Hymns And True Confessions. After two blockbuster albums, George Ezra returns to heart and hearth with Gold Rush Kid, an album written and produced entirely in London with longstanding collaborator Joel Pott. More than anything, he says, the songs on the album “sound like me. That’s what ties them together.” And Shearwater change tack after the thundering songs full of fears for the future on 2016’s Jet Plane And Oxbow with a soulful and immersive travelogue of grand atmospheres and intimate landscapes on The Great Awakening.

Our release of the week comes from Academy Award-nominated actress and singer Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler, Brit Award-winning producer and musician, whose collaboration For All Our Days That Tear The Heart is a collection of twelve mesmerising songs that “should be discovered by the world as if they have tripped across a box of photographs in the back of their closet they didn’t know was there.”

- Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
“The album should be discovered by the world as if they have tripped across a box of photographs in the back of their closet they didn’t know was there,” say Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler, who have joined forces on For All Our Days That Tear The Heart, a collection of twelve mesmerising new songs. The meeting of an Academy Award-nominated actress and singer with a Brit Award-winning producer and musician feels like the tale of two distant stars coming together and forming their own constellation.

- Bedouine Waysides
Waysides is the third collection of songs from Los Angeles-based folk singer/songwriter Azniv Korkejian, who performs and records as Bedouine. It summarises her creative headspace over the past year and a half, comprising some older material and a cover and tying together many songwriting threads that act as a prologue of sorts. “It feels like going back in time, uncovering little capsules,” she explained. “I would never have gotten to do this if I didn’t have this abundance of time at home. It was my silver lining in this mess and gave me purpose.”

- Neneh Cherry The Versions
The Versions is a collaboration album of covers from Neneh Cherry’s extensive catalogue by some of the most exciting and revered female artists of our time, including superstar songwriter Sia’s version of Neneh’s hit ‘Manchild’ plus versions of other classic tracks including ‘Buffalo Stance’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Buddy X’.

- The Dream Syndicate Ultraviolet Battle Hymns And True Confessions
Ultraviolet Battle Hymns And True Confessions, the brand-new album from The Dream Syndicate, blends vintage Krautrock, Eno-like ambience, Neu-inspired rhythmic groove and a Californian sheen sun-baked into their classic psychedelic, melodic hue. The Dream Syndicate have moved well past their early Velvet Underground influences and taken on British glam, German prog and more.

- George Ezra Gold Rush Kid
“The Gold Rush Kid? That’s me,” says George Ezra, reflecting on the title of his third record – a 12-strong suite of marvellous, transporting, elevational songs that, more than anything, “sound like me. That’s what ties them together.” After two blockbuster albums – Wanted On Voyage (2014) and Staying At Tamara’s (2018), both of which reached number 1 in the UK and sold millions around the world, and the latter of which earned him his first number 1 single in ‘Shotgun’ and won him the 2019 Brit Award for British Male Solo Artist – it was time to return to heart and hearth, with an album written and produced entirely in London with longstanding collaborator Joel Pott.

- Shearwater The Great Awakening
Shearwater’s seventh studio album, The Great Awakening, shows us where its wandering frontman has been. While the thundering songs of the band’s 2016 LP Jet Plane And Oxbow were filled with fears for what the United States was becoming under the previous presidential administration, Jonathan Meiburg resolved to find a new approach for their new album. “I felt hopeless,” he admits. “And I didn’t want to make hopeless music.” As a result, The Great Awakening, which was produced by the band and Dan Duszynski (Loma), is a soulful and immersive travelogue of grand atmospheres and intimate landscapes, decorated with field recordings from Meiburg’s journey.

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Releases for 3 June 2022

3 June’s six jubilee jewels start with Welcome 2 Club XIII, on which Drive-By Truckers pay homage to the concrete-floored dive in Muscle Shoals where founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley got their start in music. Angel Olsen explores the rare, fertile moments when love and loss occur together and heighten, complicate and explain each other on Big Time, her stunning new album. Versions Of Modern Performance is the debut of Chicago trio Horsegirl, who do everything collectively, and the warmth and strength of their bond crackles through every second of their debut, ranging with joy and enthusiasm across a range of musical styles. Andrew Bird is fascinated by the liminal: thresholds when one thing becomes another, or between the inner and outer worlds, and this fascination inspires Inside Problems. And last but not least, Amy Winehouse’s classic 2007 Pyramid Stage set gets a release for the first time to celebrate the return of Glastonbury Festival in 2022, with the full concert being released as a 2-LP set.

Our release of the week comes from Michael Head, who – finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine – leads his Red Elastic Band into a new age of creativity and collaboration with optimism and some of the best music of his career with his new album, Dear Scott.

- Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band Dear Scott
Finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine, Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career with his new album, Dear Scott. The Liverpool singer-songwriter, revered by heavyweight songwriting peers and now being discovered by a new generation of discerning listeners, enters a new age of creativity and collaboration on Dear Scott, which was produced by Bill Ryder-Jones and promises to be a shimmering jewel cast by the minds and hearts of Merseyside’s finest musicians.

- Drive-By Truckers Welcome 2 Club XIII
On Welcome 2 Club XIII’s title track, Drive-By Truckers pay homage to the Muscle Shoals honky-tonk where founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley got their start: a concrete-floored dive lit like a disco, with the nightly promise of penny beer and truly dubious cover bands. “There were no cool bars in town and Club XIII was the best we had – but it wasn’t all that good, and our band wasn’t particularly liked there,” says Hood, referring to their former band Adam’s House Cat. “From time to time the owner would throw us a Wednesday night or let us open for a hair-metal band we were a terrible fit for, and everyone would hang out outside until we were done playing. It wasn’t very funny at the time, but it’s funny to us now.”

- Angel Olsen Big Time
Fresh grief, like fresh love, has a way of sharpening our vision and bringing on painful clarifications. No matter how temporary we know these states to be, the vulnerability and transformation they demand can overpower the strongest among us. Then there are the rare, fertile moments when both occur, when mourning and limerence heighten, complicate and explain each other. The songs that comprise Angel Olsen’s Big Time were forged in such a whiplash, reflecting the expansive power of new love, but tempered by a profound and layered sense of loss.

- Horsegirl Versions Of Modern Performance
Versions Of Modern Performance is the debut of Chicago trio Horsegirl – Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums) – who do everything collectively, from songwriting to trading vocal duties and swapping instruments to sound and visual art design. The warmth and strength of their bond crackles through every second of their debut. With lyrics intentionally impressionistic and open-ended, and a sound that ranges with joy and enthusiasm across a range of styles, Versions Of Modern Performance offers many pathways.

- Andrew Bird Inside Problems
“From Orpheus to Icarus, depths to heights, and the thresholds in between, I’m interested in the moment when something becomes something else, when somewhere becomes somewhere else,” says Andrew Bird. “That membrane that separates inside from outside. Retreating as we do in to the underlands, to moult our plumage, to exorcise our inside problems and emerge like newborn foals shaking, naked, squinting in the light. Don’t you know that I’m an irrepressible optimist working with a fatal flaw? The ghost that refuses to appear in the clock across the hall. You can set the table and call to her, but she decides when to visit. So, we imbue objects with crazy power to forget that we’ve been abandoned at a truck stop on the Ohio turnpike. To forget that we took a scouring pad to the places where art, music and community thrive. Promise to resist until you die and never fall apart again.”

- Amy Winehouse Live At Glastonbury 2007
In celebration of the return of Glastonbury Festival in 2022 and to mark the 15th anniversary of this classic performance, we are pleased to announce the release of Amy Winehouse’s 2007 Pyramid Stage set for the first time, with the full concert being released as a 2-LP set. This performance on the Pyramid Stage was the first of two on 22 June 2007, with Amy later performing on the Jazz World Stage. The artwork includes a foreword by Emily Eavis.

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Releases for 27 May 2022

Our selection for 27 May kicks off with Diamond Star Halos, the brand-new album from Def Leppard, which contains nods to T.Rex, David Bowie and Mott The Hoople and mixes the classic Def Leppard spirit with modern fire. The Original Recordings collects 20 Sex Pistols tracks from ‘Anarchy In The UK’ through Never Mind The Bollocks, with a wealth of early demos, cover versions and essential B-sides. Daft Punk cited Wendy Carlos, the composer of the original Tron film, as inspiration for their highly acclaimed soundtrack to Tron: Legacy, which features an 85-piece orchestra. The genesis of the idea for Bob Marley & The Chineke! Orchestra came via the acclaimed cellist Sheku Kenneh-Mason OBE, whose pioneering and original arrangements of ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and ‘Redemption Song’ captured the attention and appreciation of Tuff Gong and the Bob Marley estate. Acid Jazz presents Forward Thinker, the second LP from Glasgow-based jazz ensemble Nimbus Sextet: an exuberant, innovative and uplifting album that sees the band stepping out of the turbulence of the last couple of years with a positive message and buoyant outlook.

Our release of the week is C’mon You Know, riding on the huge success of Liam Gallagher’s previous studio albums, As You Were (2017) and Why Me? Why Not (2019), which have established his iconic status for a whole new generation. Between his triumphs as a solo artist and his phenomenal success with Oasis, Liam has spent a combined total of almost six months at number 1 across eleven chart-topping albums, and C’mon You Know looks set to add plenty more weeks to that figure.

- Liam Gallagher C’mon You Know
C’mon You Know follows the huge success of Liam Gallagher’s previous studio albums, As You Were (2017) and Why Me? Why Not (2019), which have established his iconic status for a whole new generation. His MTV Unplugged also went straight to number 1 on the album chart. Between his triumphs as a solo artist and his phenomenal success with Oasis, Liam has spent a combined total of almost six months at number 1 across eleven chart-topping albums, and C’mon You Know looks set to add plenty more weeks to that figure.

- Def Leppard Diamond Star Halos
Diamond Star Halos is the brand-new album from Def Leppard, their first since 2015’s chart-topping self-titled record. Written by the band over the past two years, the album features 15 tracks including the anthemic, stadium-ready singles ‘Kick’ and ‘Fire It Up’, with guest vocals from Alison Krauss on ‘This Guitar’ and ‘Lifeless’. The title Diamond Star Halos references T.Rex’s ‘Bang A Gong (Get It On)’, and there are nods to Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Mott The Hoople across the album, which mixes the sound of Def Leppard’s classic spirit with modern fire.

- Sex Pistols The Original Recordings
For the first time in over a decade, 20 of the Sex Pistols’ recordings from 1976 to 1978 are collected together to tell the story of one of the world’s most influential and extraordinary bands. The tracks here cover the entire initial period of the band’s recording career – from ‘Anarchy In The UK’ through Never Mind The Bollocks to the post-John Lydon Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle soundtrack featuring early demos, cover versions and more. The compilation is completed by some essential B-sides – ‘I Wanna Be Me’ (the flipside of ‘Anarchy…’), ‘Satellite’ (the B-side of ‘Holidays In The Sun’) and ‘Did You No Wrong’ (from ‘God Save The Queen’).

- Daft Punk Tron: Legacy (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Daft Punk cited Wendy Carlos, the composer of the original Tron film, as inspiration for the score of Tron: Legacy, as well as Max Steiner, Bernard Herrmann, John Carpenter, Vangelis and Maurice Jarre. The soundtrack, which features an 85-piece orchestra recorded at AIR Lyndhurst Studios in London, received awards from both the Austin Film Critics Association and the International Film Music Critics Association and was nominated for the 54th Grammy Awards.

- Bob Marley & The Chineke! Orchestra Bob Marley & The Chineke! Orchestra
The genesis of the idea for Bob Marley & The Chineke! Orchestra came via the acclaimed cellist and 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year Sheku Kenneh-Mason OBE. Although now a full-time solo artist and no longer an active Chineke! member, it was Kenneh-Mason’s pioneering and original arrangements of Marley’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ and ‘Redemption Song’ that initially captured the attention and appreciation of Tuff Gong and the Bob Marley estate, and so the Chineke! musical journey, via Abbey Road Studios, began.

- Nimbus Sextet Forward Thinker
Acid Jazz presents Forward Thinker, the second LP from Glasgow-based jazz ensemble Nimbus Sextet. Led by Joe Nicholls, the ensemble emerged in 2020 with their debut, Dreams Fulfilled, and a series of remixes and singles on Acid Jazz, establishing them as one of the most exciting jazz groups in the UK. The band offered a taster of the new album in January with ‘To The Light’, play-listed by Jazz FM, alongside a debut at Ronnie Scott’s and a series of live dates. Forward Thinker is an exuberant, innovative and uplifting second effort that sees the band stepping out of the turbulence of the last couple of years with a positive message and buoyant outlook.

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Releases for 20 May 2022

The pick of 20 May’s crop kicks off with Melbourne quintet Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, who recorded Endless Rooms in a mud-brick house in the bush, and the resulting album stands as a testament to their collaborative spirit and live power. Porridge Radio’s third full-length, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, was inspired by three vivid words: joy, fear and endlessness, and the artwork is a surreal image that evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life in recent times. Once Twice Melody, the first album produced entirely by Beach House, marks the first time the band have recorded with a live string ensemble. Everything Everything set about revolutionising modern pop music on Raw Data Feel, feeding LinkedIn T&Cs, Beowulf, 4Chan forum text and the teachings of Confucius into A.I. automation processes and using its responses as a basis for the record’s lyrics, song titles and artwork. And hugely acclaimed young artist SOAK, who has again and again been described as ‘the voice of a generation’, has finally shaken the pressures of early fame with their stunning third album, If I Never Know You Like This Again.

Release of the week is Harry’s House, the third solo studio album from Grammy award-winning global superstar Harry Styles. The 13-track album was recorded in multiple locations across the UK, Los Angeles and Tokyo in 2020 and 2021. It was written by Harry along with frequent collaborators Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Mitch Rowland.

- Harry Styles Harry’s House
Harry’s House is the third solo studio album from Grammy award-winning global superstar Harry Styles. The 13-track album was recorded in multiple locations across the UK, Los Angeles and Tokyo in 2020 and 2021. It was written by Harry along with frequent collaborators Kid Harpoon, Tyler Johnson and Mitch Rowland.

- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Endless Rooms
Melbourne quintet Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever return in 2022 with Endless Rooms, their third album proper. Described by the band – Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie and brothers Tom and Joe Russo – as them “doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together,” the album stands as a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of RBCF. While initial ideas were traded online during long spells spent separated by lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush around two hours north of Melbourne built by the extended Russo family in the 1970s.

- Porridge Radio Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky
When Porridge Radio’s Dana Margolin, one of the most vital new voices in rock, began to consider the themes of her new album, three vivid words began to emerge: joy, fear and endlessness. The artwork of the band’s third full-length, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, is a surreal image that evokes the ducks and dives, slippery slopes and existential angst of life in recent times. “To me, the feelings of joy, fear and endlessness coexist together,” says Dana. “You’re never just happy or unhappy.”

- Beach House Once Twice Melody
Once Twice Melody, the first album produced entirely by Beach House, was recorded at Pachyderm Studio in Minnesota, United Studio in Los Angeles and Apple Orchard Studios in Baltimore. For the first time, Beach House has employed a live string ensemble, with arrangements by David Campbell, and the album was mixed mostly by Alan Moulder, with some tracks mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer and Dave Fridmann.

- Everything Everything Raw Data Feel
Everything Everything, nominated twice for the Mercury Prize and five times for Ivor Novello awards and critically acclaimed, bring us their latest studio album, Raw Data Feel, on which they set about revolutionising modern pop music. Lyricist Jonathan Higgs abandons his brain and lets technology do at least some of the thinking, feeding LinkedIn T&Cs, Beowulf, 4Chan forum text and the teachings of Confucius into A.I. automation processes and using its responses as a basis for the record’s lyrics, song titles and artwork.

- SOAK If I Never Know You Like This Again
With their new album, If I Never Know You Like This Again, SOAK has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut Before We Forgot How To Dream, and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow-up, Grim Town. Having come up through BBC Music Introducing at the tender age of 15 before signing to Rough Trade Records, as well as winning the RTE Choice Music Prize, The Northern Irish Music Prize and being the youngest ever Mercury Prize nominee, SOAK has again and again been described as ‘the voice of a generation’.

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Releases for 13 May 2022

13 May’s six smashers start with Dropout Boogie – released one day before the twentieth anniversary of The Black Keys’ first album – which harks back to the stripped-down blues rock of their early days making music together in basements in Akron, Ohio. The deep connection that Bear’s Den have with their fans has been built through relentless touring, but also through Andrew Davie’s poignant, emotionally relatable songwriting, and Blue Hours beautifully addresses themes of mental turmoil and isolation, but with a sense of redemption and hopefulness weaved throughout. A live performance by Anna von Hausswolff is an extraordinary and commanding experience, and Live At Montreux Jazz Festival contains sensational renditions of tracks from her two beloved albums, The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band. The Pineapple Thief – one of the leading lights of Europe’s experimental rock domain – presents Give It Back, a new album featuring 10 fresh versions of earlier works, making this a must-have that showcases the evolution of The Pineapple Thief. The Washington Square Church performances represent some of the finest recorded examples of the Frippertronics series, with Robert Fripp exploring every sonic avenue available to him as a guitar player: mesmerising loops, overlaid with beautiful solos, fast-running lines, powerful Scary Monsters-type guitar noises and more besides.

Our release of the week is Dance Fever, which was recorded by Florence + The Machine in anticipation of the world’s reopening, conjuring up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown – clubbing, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness – and the hope of reunions to come. The album brings back the very best of Florence: the festival-headlining Boudicca, wielding anthems like a flaming sword.

- Florence + The Machine Dance Fever
Dance Fever was recorded by Florence + The Machine predominantly in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world’s reopening. It conjures up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown – clubbing, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness – and the hope of reunions to come. It’s the album that brings back the very best of Florence: the festival-headlining Boudicca, wielding anthems like a flaming sword. Just before the pandemic she had become fascinated by choreomania, a Renaissance phenomenon in which groups of people – sometimes thousands – danced wildly to the point of exhaustion, collapse and even death. This imagery resonated with her, after more than a decade of non-stop touring, and in lockdown it felt oddly prescient.

- The Black Keys Dropout Boogie
Dropout Boogie will be released one day before the twentieth anniversary of The Black Keys’ first album, The Big Come Up. As they have done throughout their entire career, the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney wrote all of the material in the studio, and the new album captures a number of first takes that hark back to the stripped-down blues rock of their early days making music together in basements in Akron, Ohio. “That’s always been the beauty of the thing Pat and I do. It’s instant,” Auerbach says. “We’ve never really had to work at it. Whenever we’d get together, we’d just make music, you know? We didn’t know what we were going to do, but we’d just do it and it would sound cool.”

- Bear’s Den Blue Hours
The deep connection that Bear’s Den have with their fans has been built through relentless touring, but also through the way their songs have naturally woven themselves into the fabric of some of the most important chapters of their fans’ lives. The emotional fuel for this has often been Andrew Davie’s lyrics, and his poignant and emotionally relatable songwriting is at the heart of Blue Hours, which beautifully addresses themes of mental turmoil and isolation, but with a sense of redemption and hopefulness weaved throughout.

- Anna von Hausswolff Live At Montreux Jazz Festival
Anybody who has witnessed a live performance by Anna von Hausswolff and band can attest to the extraordinary and commanding nature of the experience. The distinctive music that you know from her albums comes to life, shifting from hypnotic and mantra-like moods to thunderous drama, dissonance and cacophony. The musicians master playful dynamics and wield immense power. Across six pieces, on Live At Montreux Jazz Festival Anna von Hausswolff performs sensational renditions of tracks from her two beloved albums, The Miraculous and Dead Magic, with the backing of a full band including additional vocals from her sister, cinematographer Maria von Hausswolff.

- The Pineapple Thief Give It Back
The Pineapple Thief is one of the leading lights of Europe’s experimental rock domain, led by post-progressive mastermind Bruce Soord and reinforced by Gavin Harrison (King Crimson) on drums. In the lead-up to their extensive 2022 European and US tour in support of their latest studio album, Versions Of The Truth, The Pineapple Thief presents Give It Back, a new album featuring 10 new versions of earlier works including songs taken from the albums Little Man, All The Wars, Tightly Unwound and more. Frontman Bruce Soord’s newly recorded vocals and guitars, fresh drum parts from Gavin Harrison, new mixing by Soord and Harrison and mastering by Steve Kitch propel this new release into a must-have that showcases the evolution of The Pineapple Thief.

- Robert Fripp Washington Square Church
The Washington Square Church performances represent some of the finest recorded examples of the Frippertronics series. Unlike other such recordings where the loops are on tape in the DGM archive but Robert Fripp’s solos require painstaking matching of existing audience recordings and bootlegs to those loops to complete the picture, the solos for these shows were actually recorded but not labelled as to which solos matched which loops. It only became possible to match them together when DGM audio engineer Alex R. Mundy realised that the loops had been picked up, at microscopic audio levels, by the guitar pick-ups playing the solos, allowing for identification. David Singleton was then able to mix and produce the resulting audio. The music played more than rewards such efforts as Fripp appears to explore every sonic avenue available to him as a guitar player – mesmerising loops, overlaid with beautiful solos, fast-running lines, powerful Scary Monsters-type guitar noises and more besides.

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Releases for 6 May 2022

Our soaraway six for 6 May open with A Bit Of Previous, the tenth studio album by Belle & Sebastian and their first in seven years, during which they’ve released a trilogy of EPs, a soundtrack, a live album and hosted a four-day music festival on a cruise liner sailing the Mediterranean. Radiate Like This, the much-anticipated new record from Warpaint, arrives with its own very modern mythology intact, continuing the strange, brilliant, beautiful story of the band in all their glory, a luminous coalescence of sound and vision. Arcade Fire’s latest, WE, distils “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever” into a concise 40-minute epic divided into two distinct sides: Side ‘I’ channels the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side ‘WE’ expresses the joy and power of reconnection.

Our release of the week is We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, on which Sharon Van Etten looks at how we feel, mourn, and reclaim our agency when we think the world – or at least, our world – might be falling apart, and articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages.

- Sharon Van Etten We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
Sharon Van Etten has always been the kind of artist who helps people make sense of the world around them, and her sixth album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, concerns itself with how we feel, mourn, and reclaim our agency when we think the world – or at least, our world – might be falling apart. How do we protect the things most precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? How do we salvage something worthwhile when it seems all is lost? And if we can’t, or we don’t, have we loved as well as we could in the meantime? Did we try hard enough? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the face of them, Van Etten creates a stunning meditation on how life’s changes can be both terrifying and transformative. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages.

- Belle & Sebastian A Bit Of Previous
A Bit Of Previous is the tenth studio album by Belle & Sebastian and their first in seven years. This may be surprising to anyone following the recent life pursuits of the Glasgow 7-piece: a trilogy of EPs; a soundtrack for the directorial debut of The Inbetweeners’ Simon Bird; The Boaty Weekender – a 3000-capacity star-studded four-day music festival on a cruise liner sailing the Mediterranean; a live album showcasing the band’s present-day iteration as savvy main-stage entertainers; and in 2020 a collaborative project with fans called ‘Protecting The Hive’. But in all these idiosyncratic endeavours, as intrinsic to the band’s DNA as the stage invasion at the end of each of their shows, a new studio album has eluded us. Until now.

- Warpaint Radiate Like This
Radiate Like This, the much-anticipated new record from Warpaint – not to mention that it’s their first in almost 6 years – arrives with its own very modern mythology intact, continuing the strange, brilliant, beautiful story of the band and quite neatly picking up where Heads Up left off. If the previous album was the coming of age, Radiate Like This presents Warpaint Mk II in all their glory, a luminous coalescence of sound and vision which stubbornly belies its genesis, with the quartet of Emily Kokal, Theresa Wayman, Stella Mozgawa and Jenny Lee Lindberg all recording their parts separately in various cities.

- Arcade Fire WE
Arcade Fire’s latest, WE, distils “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever” into a concise 40-minute epic – “one as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them,” according to Win Butler. Produced by Nigel Godrich, Butler and Régine Chassagne and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, the album’s cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides: Side ‘I’ channels the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side ‘WE’ expresses the joy and power of reconnection.

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Other releases for 2022

Find releases from 2023 | 2021.