Notable vinyl releases out this Friday - 12 January (2024)

POST HUMAN: NeX GEn is the second instalment in the POST HUMAN series, coming after POST HUMAN: SURVIVAL HORROR, was set to be released September 15th, 2023, revealed on Twitter by the band on June 9th. On August 23rd, the band announced the album was going to be delayed without giving a new release date. Pre-orders for the album later indicated that it would be released January 12th, 2024. It was described by the band as a mix of emo, pop-punk, hyper-pop and post-hardcore. On December 20th, Oliver Sykes posted a clip of the track Kool-Aid, along with the names of 2 other tracks, ScREam and ToP 10 STatUeS THAT CRiED BLooD, to his Instagram stories.

Having just turned 30, Four-Calendar Cafe, was the first of two Cocteau Twins albums previously released via Capitol Records in the US. Like most Cocteau Twins works before it, Four-Calendar Cafe was recorded and produced by the band, this time at their September Sound studio on the banks of the Thames in West London. A beautiful yet bittersweet record featuring the singles "Bluebeard", "Evangeline" and "Summerhead", the band manifest maturity and fragility in equal measure and while Liz's lyrics remain cryptic, they're more intelligible here. Complete with a memorable design of inanimate objects by the I Spy children's book creator Walter Wick, Four-Calendar Cafe still stands tall going into its fourth decade.

Released in March 1996, Milk & Kisses is the eighth and final studio album by Cocteau Twins. And like its predecessor, 1993's Four Calendar Cafe, it's yet to be formally released on vinyl outside Europe. That all changes next January when 4AD will reissue both titles in the United States. The second of two albums Cocteau Twins released via Fontana / Capitol Records after their long association with 4AD ended in 1990 with "Heaven or Las Vegas, the band warmed the waters for Milk & Kisses with a pair of exceptional EPs where they took their music to new places, Twinlights and Otherness - the first largely acoustic, the second their only sanctioned remixes (done with Seefeel's Mark Clifford). A period of high creativity for the band, renewed after a turbulent time, they recorded and produced Milk & Kisses between their September Sound studio in London and the coastal town of Pors Poulhan in Brittany, France. Featuring the singles 'Tishbite' and 'Violaine' and fan favourites such as 'Serpentskirt' and 'Treasure Hiding', the album is a cathartic listen too with MOJO saying in a glowing review that the album's title "accurately intimates its soothing, healing powers." Ultimately, Milk & Kisses also proved to be their swan song, bringing the curtain down on 14 years of wonder to leave an incredible legacy that new generations continue to discover to this day. 4AD are delighted to announce that they're working with the band on reissuing both Four Calendar Cafe and Milk & Kisses in the United States, with CD and black vinyl editions of both titles coming out on January 12th 2024. To do this, Robin Guthrie returned to his original studio mixes and has delivered stunning, brand new 24-bit masters of both titles.

GRAMMY Award winner Kali Uchis releases her fourth studio album, "Orquideas." Marking Uchis' striking return to Spanish-language music, the project features a superstar lineup with Karol G, Peso Pluma, El Alfa, and JT. Inspired by the sensual allure of Colombia's national flower, the orchid, "Orquideas" traverses multiple Latin genres including reggaeton, dembow, bolero and salsa furthering Uchis' connection to her Colombian root's.

Fresh off his acclaimed, Emmy-nominated album and series Entergalactic, the multi-platinum Grammy Award-winning rapper/songwriter/producer/actor/style-icon/fashion designer releases his album, Insano. Inspired by time spent with fans on the road during last year's To The Moon World Tour, Cudi delighted fans in postponing retirement to give them an album that reflects the unbridled joy he is experiencing in his life as evidenced by the euphoric single "Porsche Topless."

I first composed this music for myself as an adjunctto meditation, Tai Chi, and bodywork, and as music to play in the background oflife, to replace the everyday cacophony with new and ordered sounds of anunpredictable nature. New sounds freed from preconception. ... over time, friends who heard the music asked if I could make them copies. I then wrote twomore pieces with the same intent: to relax the body, mind, and spirit andfacilitate meditation. " - Lou Reed Light in the Attic Records in cooperation with LaurieAnderson and the Lou Reed Archive, proudly announces a definitive re-release ofHudson River Wind Meditations, the pioneering artist's final solo album. Originally released in 2007, the deeply personal project combines Reed's loveof creating drone music with his passion for Tai Chi, yoga and meditation. Thealbum's ambient soundscapes have been described as a counterpoint to hisintense Metal Machine Music album-but they are similar outliers in Reed's 40+year exploration of drone music and feedback harmonics. The album has been remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominatedengineer John Baldwin with vinyl pressed at Record Technology Inc. (RTI). TheDouble LP set is presented in a gatefold jacket designed by GRAMMY®-winningartist, Masaki Koike and features new liner notes by renowned Yoga instructorand author, Eddie Stern, who guided Reed's practice for years. Also included inthe physical editions is a fascinating conversation conducted earlier this yearbetween author/journalist Jonathan Cott (Rolling Stone, The New Yorker) andReed's wife, artist Laurie Anderson, who discusses the album, as well as herhusband's devotion to Tai Chi - one of the album's primary inspirations. Hudson River Wind Meditations marks the latest release inLITA's Lou Reed Archival Series. Launched in 2022 in tandem with the lateartist's 80th birthday, the ongoing series has celebrated one of America's mostinfluential songwriters through such acclaimed collections as Words &Music, May 1965 featuring many of Reed's earliest (and previously-unreleased)recordings, including the earliest-known versions of "I'm Waiting for the Man"and "Pale Blue Eyes.

Big Sigh brings together the best of Marika's previous works as an indie artist and adds a new layer of indie-rock production. The 10-track album was produced entirely by Marika with contributions from Sam Petts Davies (Frank Ocean, Radiohead, Red Hot Chilli Peppers) & Charlie Andrew (Alt J, Wolf Alice, London Grammar). Focus Track: "The Yellow Mile". Lyrically, Marika pairs romance alongside grief, vulnerability and feelings of being trapped. Visually the record combines bold and violent concepts (as seen in music videos for "No Caffeine" and "Slime") and minimal sketch work on the album artwork. US/UK radio (They-Do & Planetary) and press (Practise Music & Grandstand) teams, along with TV (Your Army) and international promo.Such was the case with Big Sigh - the "hardest record" Marika has ever made. As it's title suggests, it is a release of sorts - of sadness, of stress and lust, but mostly relief.

Torchbearers for British guitar music, The Vaccines are back with their sixth studio album Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations. The title comes from a misheard lyric from Don McClean's "American Pie," a song that for Young fittingly evokes the death of innocence and the American Dream. After he moved to Los Angeles - a city the band has grown up being captivated by - he was forced to wrestle with the disillusionment that comes when expectations, dreams, and reality don't quite meet. Yet, though Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations is an album about reconciling with loss, it's also filled with gratitude for the people and places we once loved. "Pink carnations symbolise gratitude and tell a person they'll never be forgotten," says Young.