Notable vinyl releases out this Friday - 2 February (2024)

What Do We Do Now is the fifth solo studio LP recorded by J Mascis since 1996. Using his own Bisquiteen Studio in the waning days of the pandemic, J started working on writing a series of tunes on acoustic with a different dynamic than the stuff he creates for Dino. "When I'm writing for the band," he says, "I'm always trying to think of doing things Lou and Murph would fit into. Usually, I try to do the solo stuff more simply so I can play it by myself, but I really wanted to add the drums. Once that started, everything else just fell into place. So it ended up sounding a lot more like a band record." Western Mass local Ken Mauri (of the B52s) plays piano on several tracks, while Toronto musician Matthew "Doc" Dunn's steel guitar manages to both widen and soften the musical edges of the music, giving it a full classicist profile. What Do We Do Now is the finest set of solo tunes J has yet penned, and the way they're presented is just about perfect.

Conceived, written and recorded during the COVID pandemic, 'King Perry’ is Lee Scratch Perry’s posthumous album, produced by Daniel Boyle, and featuring guest performances from Greentea Peng, Shaun Ryder, Tricky, Marta, Rose Waite and Fifi Rong. Two tracks were also co- produced with Tricky, who releases Perry’s last works on his False Idols label. The 'King Perry’ album was born out of a request from Perry that he "wanted to do something new, something different but still with a dub framework". And so, armed with influences as diverse as synthwave, big beat, drum & bass and electronica, Boyle and Perry traded ideas, beats and lyrics in a project that continued to grow as its various guest performers were added, resulting in a kaleidoscopic and engaging melting pot of rhythms, melodies, and voices. Poignantly, closing track 'Goodbye’ was Perry’s last ever recorded vocal performance.

From the Dolls-meets-the-devil opening title track to the desperate Sister Lovers-adjacent finale "The Findings," The Interrogator is thirteen vibrant, crackling, scary and hilarious songs which taken together represent nothing less than a thorough and thrilling moral inventory of our decadent and depraved times. Following up and doubling down on the themes of last year's lionized cult favorite For Executive Meeting, Elizabeth Nelson has authored an album as politically potent and pointedly hilarious as antecedents like The Mekons' Rock 'n' Roll and Neil Young's on On the Beach and wed it to the sound of ZZ Top's Eliminator. As writers like Rob Sheffield and Robert Christgau have known for years Elizbeth Nelson has been one of our very best songwriters for going on a decade. On the charged anthem "Bad Day for the Group Chat" she reassesses the current state of affairs: "I have bested all my peers."

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1973 album, Band On The Run, this special edition was cut at half-speed on 180g vinyl using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes by Miles Showell at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. This tracklist mirrors the U.S. release which includes the song, "Helen Wheels." Also included is a reproduction of the Linda McCartney Polaroid poster.

"Prelude To Ecstasy is a pendulum which swings between the extremes of human emotion - from the ecstasy of passion to the sublimity of pain - and it is this concept which binds our album together. This is an archeology of ourselves; you can exhume our collective and individual experiences and influences from within it's fabric. We exorcised guitars for their solos, laid bare confessions directly from diary pages, and summoned an orchestra to bring our vision to life. It is out greatest honour and pride to present this offering to the world, it is everything we are." - The Last Dinner Party

The Vaselines have long been celebrated by musicians and music enthusiasts across genres and across the globe, including super-fan Kurt Cobain. Emerging in the mid-eighties under the wing of The Pastels's Stephen McRobbie, The Vaselines came to define the sly wit and irresistible pop hooks of the era's Scottish indie scene. Sub Pop's remastered reintroduction of The Way of The Vaselines is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Scottish band's brief career to delve deeper into their body of work, while those new to their music can experience firsthand why so many hold them in such high regard. Originally mastered from a cassette tape (and since remastered on much better equipment in the new millennium), The Way of The Vaselines compiles the band's two EPs (Son of a Gun and Dying for It) and their sole LP release (Dum-Dum). This 2024 edition is the first ever vinyl release of The Way of The Vaselines, which originally came out on CD in 1992.

Canadian/American poet, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Vera Sola makes timeless, mind-bending sound, evoking comparisons to Nick Cave, Nancy Sinatra, Leonard Cohen and PJ Harvey. Following debut album Shades (2018), written, performed and produced entirely alone, her new album Peacemaker will be out in February on City Slang.