New Releases for Friday 19th May 2023

Some crackers coming up this Friday.

We have limited stocks of all of these, so get your orders in as soon as possible.

Gary Crowley’s Punk and New Wave Vol 2

Available as 2LP set or a 6LP signed Box Set

Following on from the highly popular first volume of Gary Crowley’s Punk and New Wave, Demon Records are proud to introduce Vol. 2. “Alongside my rhythm pal Jim Lahat, we’ve once again pillaged our respective music collections to bring you a highly personal and extremely eclectic selection of gems, mined from the rich seam that was the late ‘70s / early ‘80s.”

A period when a raft of bands and artists imbued a new energy into the country’s musical culture. The collection features some of the biggest names from this period such as The Clash, Ramones, The Jam, X-Ray Spex, The Cure and The Slits.

Alongside the bigger names Gary and Jim also shine a light on the lesser known bands, those who might have left just the one great single in their wake such as The Limit, Gary Valentine, The Times and The Limps. Many of these incredibly rare tracks appearing on a compilation for the very first time.

Leftfield - Leftism

Leftism is the debut studio album by duo Leftfield, originally released in 1995 on Columbia Records. It contained a mixture of new tracks along with reworked versions of previous Leftfield singles. The album contains guest spots from musicians not associated with dance music at the time such as John Lydon from Public Image Ltd. (and formerly of Sex Pistols) and Toni Halliday from Curve. The album was described as progressive house, although some journalists found that label too limiting, suggesting the album incorporated many genres.

On its release, the album was well received by the British press with positive reviews from the NME and Q. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in. Critics have praised the album as one of the major album-length works of dance music, with Q referring to it as "the first truly complete album experience to be created by house musicians and the first quintessentially British one".

Leftfield - Rhythm and Stealth

Rhythm and Stealth is the second studio album by Leftfield, originally released on 20 September 1999. It reached number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and was nominated for the 2000 Mercury Music Prize.

Matt Hendrickson of Rolling Stone said, "The album's jumble of epic sounds is a blessing and a curse: Rhythm and Stealth never develops a sustained, full-on groove, but it makes for a mind-melding headphone adventure."

Cate Le Bon - Crab Day

Reissue of Cate Le Bon's Crab Day from 2016. The material was recorded at Panoramic House studio, West Marin, California and produced by Noah Georgson and Josiah Steinbrickit. It's an ambitious piece of work. While the album has a post-punk angularity about it in places, it's post-punk as reimagined by Bagpuss creator Oliver Postage. Songs such as 'Find Me' and 'Yellow Blinds, Cream Shadows' have a charming home-made feel to their lopsided gearshifts, jerky movements and quirky surrealism. It's eccentric and off-kilter but pop in a perfect way a la Robert Wyatt and Gruff Rhys.

Lambrini Girls - You're Welcome

“The best band in the world. Imagine your nan is in the boot of your car with a croissant in her mouth and hears Bikini Kill for the first time. That could be you. It will never be us, as we are not Bikini Kill, and we are not your nan. We are Lambrini Girls. Bon appétit.”

Phoebe Lunny (Vocals/Guitar) , Lilly Macieira (Bass) and Catt Jack (Drums) first joined forces amongst the anarchic waves of the Brighton underground music scene.

They soon formed a strong artistic bond over their creative common ground; not just a musical connection, but also in the shared messages they set out to convey. The band’s driving punk rhythms and ability to hold a mirror up to hot button societal issues draws inspiration from the likes of alternative stalwarts Le Tigre and Bikini Kill, combined with a biting, tongue in cheek lyrical style all their own.

A longtime staple of the Brighton scene, in 2021 the release of their first singles brought the band’s sonic barrage to a whole new circuit of ears. They’ve since performed alongside the likes of Shame, Gilla Band, Destroy Boys, Dead Sara Heavy Lungs, Joe and the Shitboys, PVA and Pist Idiots. Further appearances included 2022’s Great Escape Festival and a slot at Rough Trade Recommends (Rough Trade East). Lambrini Girls have played with the likes of Shame, Gilla Band, Destroy Boys, . Lined up for a strong 2023; tearing through Europe, the festival circuit and probably the entire world.

They have quickly garnered a reputation around tastemaking circles as an unmissable new prospect and one of the most exciting live acts of the post-pandemic generation. Simply put, Lambrini Girls are here to take over the scene, one fizzy bottle at a time.

Tanlines - The Big Mess

Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen of Tanlines are indie-rock lifers turned reasonable, happy middle-aged fathers of two, figuring out their place in a chaotic culture and industry that can no longer command their full attention.They are emblematic of a particular time and place that doesn’t really exist anymore, yet here they are existing, and thriving, in 2023.

The Big Mess came together when Emm and his family moved from Brooklyn to rural Connecticut, while Cohen launched a marketing career and a successful podcast and stayed in the city. Emm continued writing songs hundreds of them through all the weirdness of the past few years, but he wasn’t exactly sure who he was writing them for. “I spent years figuring out in my mind, ‘What is my musical life going to look like?’” he says. “I just kept writing.”

Cohen gave Emm his blessing to continue Tanlines, even if his own contributions would be limited due to his own non-musical obligations. “I’m like, ‘Whatever you can do to keep this thing going, do it,’” Cohen says. And with that, Tanlines was reborn.

By January 2022 Emm felt he had a body of work that made sense as a Tanlines album. Cohen spent ten days with Emm at his Connecticut studio, along with unofficial third Tanline Patrick Ford (!!!). This was tied together with a sleek final mix from Peter Katis (The National, Interpol) at his famed Tarquin Studios, resulting in a clear vision of what Emm’s musical life was going to look like: The Big Mess.

The first sounds on The Big Mess are the title track’s coiled guitars and thumping drums, building into the kind of outsize, choral rock anthem artists like Tanlines were almost a reaction to. It is warm and nostalgic, and Cohen likens a lot of the prevailing mood to “a sepia filter on a digital photo.” He continues, “we were pretty intentional about making this the first song on the album, underlining the way that this is a new phase of the band.” Cohen says. 

The moody, scintillating “Burns Effect” serves as one of the biggest pushes forward for the Tanlines sound, and for Emm as a lyricist. He says that the song is “deep and dark and dangerous, but in a fun way. It’s one of the more personal tracks on the album where this ungrounded part of my personality surfaces, but with an over-the-top machismo, almost an ironic character.”

Other tracks like “New Reality” and closer “The Age of Innocence” are also demonstrably guitar-forward in ways that wouldn’t seem obvious for Tanlines (despite Emm’s pedigree in austere avant-garde math-rock outfits Storm and Stress and Don Caballero), but Emm is less sure The Big Mess is a total departure. “I’m trying to make these absolutely simple things,” he says. “I think of these songs as Rothko paintings: They’re big and they’re bold and they’re seemingly straightforward, but they have a lot of depth and they engage with you and make you feel something.”

Lemonheads - Come on Feel: 30th Anniversary Edition

Expanded 30th anniversary re-issue of The Lemonheads’ classic 1993 album. The breakthrough record that took American alt rock global and catapulted Evan Dando into the hearts of a generation.  With a wealth of unreleased demos, alternative versions and rarities - including covers of Victoria Williams, Buddy Holly and The Flying Burrito Brothers plus The Lemonhead’s take on the Cole Porter standard ‘Miss Otis Regrets’.

In the 90’s Evan’s Lemonheads produced hit after a hit, a string of super cool singles: ‘Big Gay Heart’, ‘Into Your Arms’, ‘It’s About Time’, and ‘The Great Big No’. Pure genius filling the radio waves and taking the stage...  Some 30 years on; Evan is still knocking that song writing thing out of the park and Come On Feel The Lemonheads sounds as fresh and perky as it ever did. Amid the hits on the original record are stencils and outlines for yet more magical music and now this deluxe edition adds a second disc of demos and acoustic versions, plus a host of one-offs from sessions and compilations that add further colour to the myth and how it was created.

There’s the in-demand combo lovingly covering Victoria Williams’ ‘Frying Pan’ from her ‘Sweet Relief’ album, which is joined by an eclectic set of flipsides and out-takes, like their version of original garage punk nugget ‘Little Black Egg’ by The Nightcrawlers, Evan’s homage to Gram Parsons on the winsome ‘Streets Of Baltimore’ and Buddy Holly’s melancholy ‘Learning The Game’. Evan knows a good song when he hears it, as Come On Feel by The Lemonheads certainly proved.

Galen and Paul - Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day?

Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? is the debut project from Paul Simonon (The Clash, Gorillaz and The Good, The Bad and The Queen); and Galen Ayers (singer-songwriter who amongst other artistic projects released the rightly acclaimed solo album Monument).

The roots of the album began in lockdown as Simonon relocated to a remote Mallorcan fishing village, where he spent his time, painting, and writing songs. Over an 18-month period he worked with local musicians, playing and busking in the streets of Palma with his friend Ayers.

What emerged is a collection of ten uplifting songs which collectively present a snapshot of pan-European music culture - and an album that journeys across the continent, influenced by French chansons, Spanish pop and English sea shanties; evoking scenes stretching from Edgware Road to Hydra Island; and painting pictures of everything from elegant Parisian cafes to drunken tourists in Magaluf to the ghosttown chill of an out-of-season holiday destination.

Can We Do Tomorrow Another Day? features an array of top tier talent. Produced by the legendary Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T-Rex, Sparks) with a band made up of Simon Tong (The Verve, The Good, The Bad and The Queen), Sebastian Rochford (Polar Bear, David Byrne, Patti Smith), Dan Donovan (Big Audio Dynamite) and Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz…) playing melodica.

Jeremy Tuplin - Orville's Discoteque

Welcome to Orville’s Discotheque: a synth-drenched concept album brought to you by indie singer-songwriter from Somerset, Jeremy Tuplin.

Paul Simon - Seven Psalms

Recorded entirely on acoustic instruments and predominantly performed by Paul, Seven Psalms showcases Simon’s craft at its finest and most captivating, simply with his voice and guitar. Intended to be listened to as one continuous piece, the 33 minute, seven movement composition transcends the concept of the “album".

A stunning, intricately layered work, it’s a record which establishes an engaging and meditative, almost hymnal soundscape, with Paul’s lyrics providing the gravitational center for constellations of sound woven from guitar strings and other acoustic instrumentation – including choral elements from the highly-regarded British vocal ensemble VOCES8, and a beautiful vocal appearance by Edie Brickell.

True to the origin of psalms as hymns meant to be sung rather than spoken, Seven Psalms reaches back to the very genesis of folk music: King David’s Psalms. The result is a quietly moving musical experience which uncovers a wealth of subtle details with every repeated listen. A step apart from anything Paul Simon has released before, Seven Psalms defies categorization. 

The record’s tone is complemented by its artwork, which features a close-up extract of “Two Owls” by the celebrated landscape artist Thomas Moran.

Take a listen to this weeks new releases here: