Notable vinyl releases out this Friday - 14 June (2024)

The Gloss is the second album from Cola. From their inception Cola have expanded on the d.i.y. ethic of the Dischord and SST eras, creating potent sounds from a minimal palette of drums/bass/guitar and lacing their songs with winsome one-liners and societal commentary. What’s another word for commentary? Gloss, apparently. Never basic, the lyrics reward repeated listening for deeper meanings. David Berman’s poetry-via-garage light pennings are an inspiration, as equally so are the lighter side of UK first-wave New Wave and the Dunedin sound. The results are in the pudding: at times sparse and poetic, at others a thrilling, hook-laden good time, as with the cheeky romantic sketch of a one-night stand that is so overflowing with innuendo-cum-journalism talk that it almost teeters over into self-parody. But the results are the right combination of lightheartedness and sincerity. Romanticism is never far from laughter, and equally never far from righteous anger in the music of Cola: “Pulling quotes now in the dark/Our outlook is restrained/Your tongue might weaken to be-fit your smile/Til nothing ill remains.” ‘nuff said. It's an album bursting with energy and wit and ideas–filled to the margins.

Despite the album’s playful title, Cale’s second album in just over a year still contains the same feelings of fierce and inquisitive rage that were present in 2023 album MERCY. He remains angry, still incensed by the willful destruction that unchecked capitalists and unrepentant conmen have hoisted upon the wonders of this world and the goodness of its people. But this is not at all MERCY II, or some collection of castoffs, as throughout his career of more than six decades, Cale has never been much for repetition. His vanguard-shaping enthusiasms have shifted among ecstatic classicism and unbound rock, classic songcraft and electronic reimagination with proud restlessness.

Following the runaway success of his last LP, Boy From Michigan, which crashed the UK Top 10 back in July 2021, legendary singer-songwriter John Grant returns with his hugely-anticipated sixth album, The Art Of The Lie. The album is one of one of Grant's greatest and most visionary to date and confirms his status as a modern electronic auteur. The Art of The Lie was produced by Grant and Grammy-nominated producer Ivor Guest who is perhaps best-known for his work with Grace Jones. It features an array of celebrated musicians including Dave Okumu, Seb Rochford and Robin Mullarkey.

When Belfast's Kneecap - aka Mo Chara, Moglaí Bap and DJ Provaí - entered the studio with producer Toddla T in the summer of 2023, they quickly decided to scrap everything they had already prepared and 'build' a pub together. The Rutz is currently a figment of their imagination, but across Fine Art's twelve tracks, and the interconnecting moments between them, it comes to life vividly, providing the perfect backdrop for the cast of characters that appear throughout. Like the band themselves, Fine Art is fiercely intelligent, consistently hilarious, and genuinely thought provoking. It seamlessly merges Irish with English and satire with socially conscious lyrics. It's genius is to immerse you in a world thus far unrepresented in modern music. The group also recently took this year's Sundance Film Festival by storm with their self-titled Rich Peppiatt directed semi-biopic film starring Michael Fassbender.

On his new album Always Centered at Night, Moby has once again conjured into reality a collection of heartachingly beautiful, tender-yet-defiant songs, made in collaboration with uniquely talented, soulfully aware, other-worldly vocalists. All the songs are love letters to the unrestricted and enchanting music scene of late ‘70s, early ‘80s New York that shaped Moby as a musician. The featured vocalists were given the same assignment: “Please don’t write anything commercial. Let it be weird. Let it be personal. It doesn’t have to make sense.” 

.Monsters of Folk - comprised of Jim James (My Morning Jacket), M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes) - released their first collaborative album in 2009. The set was recorded in Malibu and Omaha with all four members playing every instrument. It marked their only recorded output as a band. This reissue features revised artwork, the original 15-song record plus 5 unreleased studio tracks from 2012, intended for a never-finished 2nd album, and featuring "5th Monster" Will Johnson.

.The 8th full length studio album from RJD2! You may know him from the Mad Men theme. Or "Deadringer". Or those commercials and shows and movies and such. You may not even know the name, but you surely know the tunes. Well into his third decade in the game, RJD2 refuses to let his foot off the gas with quality albums. Ever so funky, mysterious, and quirkily soulful, "Visions Out Of Limelight" continues his tradition of making records free your mind, and you know what will follow. Featuring vocals from the legendary Jamie Lidell, long time collaborator Jordan Brown, and even one song by the man himself, this album is sure to satisfy longtime fans and those new to the party alike.

For over 20 years, The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling American rock bands. Their distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start, releasing nine full-length albums that are unbound by genre and highly ambitious. Now the beloved indie band is back with their first new album in six years, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again - not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hope.

Since 2012, New York City singer-songwriter Nate Amos (Water From Your Eyes, My Idea) has recorded and self-released hundreds of songs under the This Is Lorelei moniker, and perhaps surprisingly, after a decade plus, "Box for Buddy, Box for Star" marks the first attempt at a traditional, intentionally written full-length album. Amos describes the bulk of This Is Lorelei’s discography as “unedited diary entries,” written and recorded without much forethought, regard for genre or reverence for albums as thematic bodies of work, so oddly enough, "Box for Buddy, Box for Star" is both a fresh start and the culmination of years of diligent, interesting songwriting. "Box for Buddy, Box for Star" embraces traditional pop songcraft and a confessional, carefully written brand of lyricism, dabbling in the kind of classic singer-songwriter cliches he never imagined toying with—but not without the counterbalancing force of shitpost-y irony, which listeners have come to expect from Amos. Inspired by the gritty romanticism of Shane MacGowan and the Jim Croce mimicry of Tim Heidecker’s "What the Brokenhearted Do…", the LP exudes both a grizzled charm and youthful intensity. Sonically, Amos adorns the record with quaint country gestures—a full-circle artistic choice for Amos whose father is a veteran bluegrass musician. And it wouldn’t be a Nate Amos release without a few curveballs, like “Dancing in the Club,” a bouncy auto-tuned pop song, which he likens to Bruce Hornsby-via-Blink-182, or “Perfect Hand,” an intimate piano-led track with vocal samples, alarm bell-like effects and skittering electronic beats. He also mischievously opens the album with a red herring of sorts, “Angel’s Eye,” a twangy sci-fi country duet about an angel who abducts a cowboy and unintentionally falls in love.

New album from Walt Disco follows 2022 debut Unlearning, a Scottish AOTY & AIM Best Indie Album nominee. Taking their cinematic glam & pushing it further, using orchestral musicians to bring a new level to their sound. The band hold a mirror up to many shifting faces, once again welcome the listener into a theatrical world, both euphoric & unsettling. One of Rolling Stone’s best bands of SXSW. Recently toured with Nation of Language & will be main support for OMD across Europe & UK from Jan.

Zsela (zhay-la) quietly keeps a creative pace that consistently bubbles then erupts into bursts of beauty. The New York Times previously described her as “at once earthy and otherworldly,” noting how “her voice clings to her melodies like liquefied amber.” With her forthcoming debut album, Big For You, co-produced with Daniel Aged and Gabe Wax, Zsela takes a leap. Full of duality — at once strong and fragile — the album sways, simmers, and sweats itself into heady, art pop splendor.