Notable vinyl releases out this Friday - 1 November (2024)

The Charleston, South Carolina artist Contour's body of work is evidence of a restless curiosity that culminates on his latest album and debut for Mexican Summer, Take Off from Mercy. Starting off as a beatmaker, Khari's vision has broadened over releases like Onwards (2022, Touching Bass), Love Suite (2021, Good Question) and Weight (self-released/Purple Tape Pedigree, 2021), spanning from noirish, sample-driven R&B to covers of Strawberry Switchblade. Take Off from Mercy eschews samples in favor of guitar-driven songwriting, positing a singular take on the blues, Tropicalia, hip hop, post-punk and indie rock, establishing Lucas as an exemplary lyricist and broad collaborator, working with the likes of Saul Williams, Mndsgn and his co-producer, Omari Jazz.

Originally released in November 2000 Ivy's third studio album, Long Distance is considered by many to be their breakthrough album. It's heavily influenced by trip hop and new wave while maintaining the blend of indie pop and rock they had become known for. Long Distance includes some of Ivy's must recognizable songs like "Worry About You," "Undertow" and their signature song "Edge of the Ocean."This 25th Anniversary edition includes a rare Ivy outtake "All I Ever Wanted." Produced by Lloyd Cole in 1996 while recording their album Apartment Life. It was shelved and has gone completely unheard until now. Also include are a remix and the original demo for Edge of the Ocean.

Camelot, Jennifer Castle's extraordinary, moving chronicle of the artist in early middle age, charts a realer place than the legendary Camelot of the British Early Middle Ages, but it too is a space more psychic than physical. In Castle's Camelot, the fantastic interpenetrates the mundane, and the Grail, if there is one, distills everyday experience into art and art into faith, subliming terrestrial concerns into sublime celestial prayers to Mother Nature, and to the unfolding process of perfecting imperfection in one's own nature: "Back in Camelot / I really learned a lot / circles in the crops and / sky-high geometry..." "Castle's songs are vibrant and bountiful landscapes, and even in their quietest, darkest moments, they thrum and glow. [She] has a stunning capacity for crafting lines rich with nuance, humor and devastating beauty." - CBC

There is typically talk of a ‘second coming’ but much less, if at all, of a ‘third coming’ but that’s what Perrett’s third album The Cleansing epitomises. Following the second coming of its two predecessors – both unexpected given his 2017 solo debut How The West Was Won was Perrett’s first album in almost 30 years, whilst his pattern of vanishing from sight was broken by 2019’s follow-up Humanworld – The Cleansing doesn’t only match his best work but expands it: an ambitious double album comprising 20 songs, with his uniquely narcotic and alluring melodies, gorgeous South London drawl and ravishing rock dynamic now allied to a wider span of musical arrangements and lyrical concerns. Alongside his trusted team of sons Jamie (guitar / production) and Peter Jr (bass) plus members of his live band, Perrett is assisted by a roster of starry guests including Johnny Marr, Bobby Gillespie and Fontaines DC’s Carlos O’Connell. With The Cleansing, the saga of Peter Perrett can finally, and irrefutably, move on from his first coming with The Only Ones, one of the most distinctive and charismatic of all new wave bands.

.A harrowing document of life, death and transcendence, Do You Still Love Me? is the fifth album from Planes Mistaken for Stars (PMFS), the band’s second outing for Deathwish Records and first new music since 2016. It is also the first PMFS release since the death of frontman Gared O’Donnell, whose cancer diagnosis loomed heavily over the recording and whose ghost guided the mix. Chemo and radiation would not stop him from making this masterpiece, in which the band finds itself reeling from the gut-wrenching horrors of their leader’s unimaginable absence. Written in Peoria amidst the forced isolation of a global pandemic and recorded by Sanford Parker in Chicago, these thirteen songs burn the ears to listen. Album opener “Matthew is Dead” wastes no time with niceties as Planes mourns the 2017 death of founding guitarist Matt Bellinger — Gared’s throat-shredded rasp seethes as if taunting himself: You’re dead, you’re dead, you’re dead— guttural human screams unbottled and broken glass shattered as transcendental meditation and musical catharsis, for band and listener alike. These acute and raw moments are found throughout the record, audible wounds you can hear, see, taste and almost touch. We’ve only got the night, as Gared knew and preached and lived. Just one last drink, shall we begin? Do You Still Love Me? carries forward Planes’ natural evolution beyond post-hardcore and metal-tinged rock n’ roll, unveiling new layers with each listen. Intertwined vocals and infectious melodies simmer beneath the surface and occasionally boil over, shards of guitar strike like lightning as the rhythm section pounds its marching orders. Whether pummeling mercilessly or tenderly relenting, Do You Still Love Me? shows a band unafraid to lose itself in the musical maelstrom. I don’t have the shakes, the shakes have me — it’s not an easy listen, yet offers immense rewards with time, alchemizing a unique beauty from the pain and tragedy of its creation. It’s an emotional bloodletting for Planes and their extended family around the world, a collective primal scream of coping with life and last breaths, and eternal proof that death is truly not the end.

Devotees of Richard Swift know that his catalog issprawly and imaginative, packed with as many finely-honedstone cold classics as one-take, madman experiments. Thegems take all shapes and sizes, and while it doesn't phase thediehard, it does make Swift's music tricky to introduce to thenewcomer: Where to start? What makes the cut? How manycrooners? How many wild ones? It's with this in mind thatSecretly Canadian presents 4 Hits & A Miss, our humble swing atgathering the forty-seven minutes and fourteen songs that caninitiate the uninitiated. If you don't know Richard Swift, let theincomparable Kevin Morby catch you up:There's an old boy-scout myth I heard about as a childwhere, if you put the right person in the middle of the forest,armed with only a Swiss Army knife, they could build you achapel.When I think back on this myth I end up thinking ofRichard Swift who, if dropped in the middle of the forest withonly a $10 Radio Shack microphone, would somehow constructa studio and within that studio build you a chapel of sound. Infact, he essentially did exactly this at his own National Freedomstudio in the middle of the Oregon woods, in a town calledCottage Grove where he recorded countless hours of both hisown and other people's music.Those chapels of sound will, and I have witnessed italready, awe and inspire generations to come - in the same waythat those stone chapels of early Europe do. Each leaves peoplebewildered and wondering: how was something so massive andso beautiful constructed with such minimal and archaic tools -and in Richard's case, so quickly?Once they've passed away, most artists seem to finallyrest, their catalogs resting eternally beside them. But Richard,from somewhere in the great beyond, seems restless, and thework he began down here on earth continues. His last album,The Hex, was released only a few months after his untimelydeath in 2018 and now, with 4 Hits and A Miss, we have acollection of his most beloved songs all in one place, as well as anew unheard ever before track "Common Law", recordedaround 2012.Whether you're a casual fan or a Swift purist, 4 Hits & AMiss is either a perfect starting place or a destination for usdevoted fans to find, yet again, something new to awe andinspire. Like a hidden room inside his already impressive chapel,there's always something new to discover from our belovedfriend and hero, the late great Richard Swift."

Songs Of A Lost World is the long-awaited new album from The Cure, their 14th studio release and their first in 16 years. Written and arranged by Robert Smith, produced and mixed by Robert Smith and Paul Corkett and performed by The Cure - Robert Smith: Voice / guitar / 6string bass / keyboard, Simon Gallup: Bass, Jason Cooper: Drums / percussion, Roger O'Donnell: Keyboard, Reeves Gabrels: Guitar. The album was recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Robert Smith created the sleeve concept, and Andy Vella, a long-time Cure collaborator, handled the album's art and design. The cover art features 'Bagatelle', a 1975 sculpture by Janez Pirnat.

Often revered as one of the most important debut albums of all-time, Weezer's "blue" album celebrates 30 years with an extensive Super Deluxe boxset featuring 4 LPs on 180g vinyl, a 10" single (33 RPM), and 7" single (45 RPM). The album has been newly remastered from the original analog tapes. The set includes 50 total tracks with 36 previously unreleased, including 8 Kitchen Tape demos, 22 early practices & live recordings, 6 BBC radio recordings (2 never broadcasted) and 4 tracks from their LMU sessions. Karl Koch updates the history on the album with new liner notes in issue #18 of the Weezine, along with laying out all the artwork throughout the boxset filled with unreleased photos. The boxset showcases sweater embossed graphics along with a blue thread that's pullable (and retractable), 4 lithographs, a poster for the garage, song-themed sticker sheet, 12-sided dice and an enamel Bokkus pin. Limited Edition.