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There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share. It's a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020. But knowing he couldn't simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas-who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont-set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls "an album about love and nature and youth." The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist's back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas's desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. "I consider nature to be my religion," he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration. While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas's past, the album's recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas's Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021's Fun House and 2022's Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Ashworth's contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song. In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us.

In the early '70s, after relocating from his native Genoa to Rome, young saxophonist Gianni Oddi was beginning to establish himself as a super-cool arranger thanks to a series of cover albums recorded for RCA Italy. They contained funk, soul and easy-listening versions of contemporary pop hits, but Oddi often managed to include one or two original compositions of his own – like the ones contained in this new instalment of Four Flies's 12-inch vinyl series for DJs.

The luscious funk of Dreamin', on side A, shows Oddi as an Italian master of groove. Warm, sexy and nocturnal, the song combines breaky drums with tantalizing vocals (provided by Baba Yaga's Isabella Sodani), adding a romantic, dreamy vibe in the special with strings and piano (the latter played by Oddi himself) that are at once reminiscent of soulful black music and influenced by the melodic tradition of Italy.

Geronimo, on side B, is almost a tribute to Manu Dibango – a favourite of Oddi's at the time. Here, Oddi's signature groove, at once refined and infectious, is driven by Mario Scotti's pulsating bass, Silvano Chimenti's wah-wah guitar, Oddi's own persuasive sax and, in particular, sound engineer (and former drummer) Enzo Martella's 'moose call' sound (made by sliding a thumb across the top of a conga). In a nutshell: Africa reimagined in Via Tiburtina (the street in Rome where RCA Italy's recording studios where located).

Both tracks are perfect examples of Oddi's sound and... Style (yes, his 1974 album for RCA Italy's SP series). The same sound (and style!) characterizes masterpieces like Le Montagne della Luce (co-written with Romolo Grano), La Sbandata (the funky theme from Domenico Modugno's soundtrack, which Oddi arranged and produced) and Mondo di Notte Oggi (co-written with Gianni Dell'Orso). All of these have been released by Four Flies, which continues to celebrate this fantastic groove maker.

A space of wonderment and exhilaration, the home of
true heart and a timeless soul, Delays’ ‘Faded Seaside
Glamour’ was an atmospheric and evocative debut
album. Released in 2004, the fragile strength of
frontman Greg Gilbert’s vocals intoxicatedly
intertwined with the forward looking synths of his
brother Aaron, Colin Fox’s bass and Rowly’s
drumming, to create a series of affecting songs that
delivered an immediate pop hit that also left a deep
and wistful impact worthy of the album’s enticing title.
Its iconic singles, ‘Nearer Than Heaven’ and ‘Long
Time Coming’, became immediate yet lasting focal
points for Southampton’s Delays, while tracks
including the melancholic ‘No Ending’, the smooth
beats of ‘Stay Where You Are’ and chiming opener,
‘Wanderlust’, demonstrated the remarkable depth of
this unique debut.
Nearly 20 years have passed since the release of
‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ and much has changed -
most notably the loss of Greg Gilbert, who passed
away in 2021 after a period of treatment for cancer -
but like the idiosyncratic places the album’s name
celebrated, Delays’ music has not only endured but
their art has been loved and cherished as it has
continually connected with audiences.
To celebrate this soaring and smouldering body of
work, Rough Trade Records are pleased to announce
the release of Delays’ ‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ on
vinyl for the first time ever.
Also available to independent retailers on orange vinyl
with deluxe packaging, a print of Greg’s art and some
words written by Aaron.

A space of wonderment and exhilaration, the home of
true heart and a timeless soul, Delays’ ‘Faded Seaside
Glamour’ was an atmospheric and evocative debut
album. Released in 2004, the fragile strength of
frontman Greg Gilbert’s vocals intoxicatedly
intertwined with the forward looking synths of his
brother Aaron, Colin Fox’s bass and Rowly’s
drumming, to create a series of affecting songs that
delivered an immediate pop hit that also left a deep
and wistful impact worthy of the album’s enticing title.
Its iconic singles, ‘Nearer Than Heaven’ and ‘Long
Time Coming’, became immediate yet lasting focal
points for Southampton’s Delays, while tracks
including the melancholic ‘No Ending’, the smooth
beats of ‘Stay Where You Are’ and chiming opener,
‘Wanderlust’, demonstrated the remarkable depth of
this unique debut.
Nearly 20 years have passed since the release of
‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ and much has changed -
most notably the loss of Greg Gilbert, who passed
away in 2021 after a period of treatment for cancer -
but like the idiosyncratic places the album’s name
celebrated, Delays’ music has not only endured but
their art has been loved and cherished as it has
continually connected with audiences.
To celebrate this soaring and smouldering body of
work, Rough Trade Records are pleased to announce
the release of Delays’ ‘Faded Seaside Glamour’ on
vinyl for the first time ever.
Also available to independent retailers on orange vinyl
with deluxe packaging, a print of Greg’s art and some
words written by Aaron.

 With ‘Resonanzen’ (Resonances), Johanna
Summer has extended her extraordinary art and
deepened the way she re-tells the music of
classical composers through improvisation.
 The album spans a wide range, starting with Bach,
Schubert, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Grieg and
Ravel and ending with Mompou, Ligeti and
Scriabin.
 Johanna Summer’s deep insights into the two
worlds of composition and improvisation are the
result of the particular path along which she has
developed as a musician. In her childhood and
youth, she solely studied classical music. Jazz and
improvisation came relatively late, but when they
did, it was with a powerful focus.
 Her classical grounding remained in place, and yet
there were many things that she needed to relearn for ‘Resonanzen’. As she says: “It was very
important that I should master the original pieces
first. That was particularly demanding for
‘Resonanzen’, because each of these very
contrasting compositions makes very different
demands on me as a player. At the same time,
improvisation is also an art which you have to keep
practising and developing, so that the music can
attain its own natural flow. To do justice to both of
these sides, and to find a balance between them,
these really are lifelong tasks for me.”

1000 black vinyl LPs. London-based ‘indie-supergroup’ SUEP announce their long-awaited debut mini-album Shop, a collection of 6 oddball, car-boot-sale pop songs with a sprinkling of theatrical storytelling. Led by Georgie Stott (of Porridge Radio, Garden Centre) and Josh Harvey, SUEP was born out of a near-decade of playing in sheds and barns with like minded personnel, holding a mutual love for Paul McCartney, Jona Lewie, the B-52s, Devo and other performative freaks enjoying themselves. Following a move to London from Brighton, the pair added George Nicholls (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Will William Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and Ollie Chapman (Boil King) to the line-up. The 5 piece take turns writing songs and taking the lead vocal duties in a wonderfully playful but coherent collaboration, with their debut being a kaleidoscopic off kilter pop ride, taking the listener through haunted castles, deprived encounters, days lost to the imagination in bed, and through the integral friendships that give SUEP the energy to keep dancing to their own beat. The album was arranged and recorded in the Red Lion Boys Club, an ex-youth centre in which Georgie and Josh both lived. Using equipment collected by Josh in his travels as a bootsale and market trader, the sports hall was transformed into a makeshift studio for a few days, with sessions conducted by producer Matthew Green (Sniffany & The Nits, The Tubs, etc.) Mark Riley (BBC 6 Music) described SUEP’s debut single and album opener, ‘Domesticated Dream’ (2021) as “perfect pop music.” The joyfully kitsch track brims with a 70s Yamaha disco beat, deep bass, nostalgic drum machines, and hooky melodies. Possibly the most psychedelic and infectious track born out of lockdown, it tackles homelife, drinking too much, and making big plans that never come to fruition, but with a big technicoloured positivity for the future of the human-race, with the chorus’ refrain, “the psychedelic 4000s,” predicting the return of the psychedelic Age of Aquarius in a couple of millennia time. The following single ‘Misery’ (2021) is pure cosmic swing-pop wizardry in part inspired by spy music and The Supremes. Ollie, The track’s baritone vocalist, describes it as “A love song disguised as a song about loss. It's about cherishing the things that matter but it’s also about having the courage to say goodbye,” with each line of the song a small story about a different character. Whilst latest Shop taster ‘In Good Health’ is darkly euphoric like a pleasantly strange meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Jona Lewie. It’s a playfully discombobulating mix of 80s jangly guitar, chirpy keyboard and moody post-punk tackling mental health, drug addiction, and the power of friendship, written after the song’s vocalist Georgie came out of hospital following a mental health crisis. “I wanted to write a song that encapsulated how important my relationships with my friends and boyfriend were at that time” she explains “…and one that also felt dark like I did at the time. I couldn’t go outside due to anxiety surrounding my health so I stayed inside for weeks. People would visit and watch films with me or let me tattoo them or make music with me. My community helped me recover.” Elsewhere on Shop is ‘Just The Job’ fronted by Harvey and described by him as “About the relief of accepting a menial existence, and allowing life to be boring - but (within that) how the small things are the important ones, how pulling a sicky or extra long lunch break are important things to do for yourself. It’s an anthem for working people who’ve had enough - and a crowd favourite at SUEP gigs. The darker undertones and post-punk angles of the Georgie-fronted ‘Onions’ is inspired by the crapness of cliques, with the band calling the song “A cry of welcome to all;” and finally the hooky ‘Friend of Mine,’ described as “A love letter to all the people that come and go throughout your life no matter how long you know them”. SUEP have received coverage in Independent & Clash, (among many others), with big support from Mark Riley and Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music) for early singles.

Hailing from Brussels, Bandler Ching is a creation of musical ideas from composer and saxophonist Ambroos De Schepper (Kosmo Sound, Azmari and Mos Ensemble).

Flawlessly blending contemporary jazz, electronics, trap, hip-hop and global beats, the sound is based around the freedom of expression and improvisation and performed with astounding conviction. With the help of Alan Van Rompuy (Azertyklavierwerke), Federico Pecoraro (ECHT!) and Olivier Penu (Kel Assouf), the four idiosyncratic artists come together to express their musical identity to dazzling effect.

After a period of exploration, the quartet are set to release their debut album 'Coaxial' on the 27th January, via the groove-obsessed Sdban Ultra label. A hypnotic trip through each band members' musical fantasies, the band have their roots in jazz. "We start from Jazz and we give it our own attitude with improvisation and a lot of freedom and eventually mix it with influences such as electronics, beats, hip-hop etc," says De Schepper.

From the free-spirited beauty of 'You Call It' and pulsating, loose beats of 'Awpril' to the luminous 'Dag na Naamdag' inspired by warm winter memories and wild summer dreams, De Schepper gives the sax a new place in its musical sphere. The album title refers to the band members' various musical influences that coalesce around one artistic centre. That centre is 'Coaxial' - a distinct sound with a clear identity, yet versatile and difficult to catergorise.

Elsewhere, the bass-heavy 'RoodGroen' features Vieze Meisje (performer Maya Mertens) while the sonoric mayhem of 'Smooch' mutates without border - mischievous, dynamic and unpredictable at the same time. 'Rave Fever' is rich cataclysm of sound and rhythm while the intriguing 'You Have Got Me' and album closer 'Kitsune' showcase the magnetic soundings of Bandler Ching.

Bosconi reaches number 50 milestone on it's main label catalogue and who better than label founders Mimimono could unfold this. Fabio Della Torre & Ennio Colaci come back on their output with this series of two eps forming a mini album named "Half Way Trough" with an intriguing blend of modern electro tech house tunes taking to the next level their concept of moving in between styles. The first ep starts with "Accelerate", an Uk infected tech house tune.. with a distinctly aggressive acid bassline in contrast to the clean synths and bleep sounds.. The result is a floor burner for your peaktime moments on da floor. "Overflow" is more of an hypnotic swing house tune, with some kind of arabic melodies , accompanied by subtle bassline reminding of prince of Persia sounding like environments.. B side starts with "Discorruption", a tribute from Minimono to the electro italo-disco sound , still with their own original approach, where all the arpeggios and synths notes are accompanied by a driving bassline and a funky house groove more typical by the Florentine duo. The record ends with the stylish melodic tech house tune "Getting Gold" where Fabio and Ennio show their ability of condensing melodic elements and synths into a dancefloor track.. for your sugared moments on the floor.
Definitively one to have in your bag

Eva Louise Goodman’s Nighttime project locates itself on a musical tree planted on the British Isles, perched atop the branch of folk leaning into sixties rock. Her upstate New York environs don’t stray far from that image. With tempered percussion, floating mellotron, and singing that evokes Bleecker & MacDougal on a fervent Saturday afternoon, her new album Keeper Is The Heart reaches deep into the essence of musicians such as Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Pentangle, breaking down the decades into a sound thoroughly and bizarrely modern.

Through her years performing with Mutual Benefit, Goodman fell in love with life on the road and the collaborative energy of a band. In this third Nighttime album, she channels these experiences into her own music. The creative journey from writing to recording to mixing drove her deeper into a sense of self while expanding her sound. In the process, she put aside lo-fi origins and challenged herself to achieve the same intimacy with a bigger production.

Like most paths of self-discovery, the journey started with displacement. In October 2019, Goodman set out to record the album on her own, while cat-sitting at a friend’s empty Brooklyn apartment. Rather than recording, she was drawn to the overgrown garden, where she spent her days listening to music and reading old journals. Charlie Megira, The Incredible String Band and Roy Montgomery invoked the spirit of the album, as she realized that a new, more collaborative approach would be necessary to bring the songs to life.

In March 2021, after a pandemic year immersed in sound experimentation and writing, she entered the upstate New York studio of recording engineer Rick Spataro (Florist). Together, Spataro and Goodman dove into creating the album, recording one song a day, letting the spark and excitement of spontaneity be their guide. “I've always been fascinated with ‘automatic’ arts,” Goodman says, “where things are created intuitively and without premeditation, from the subconscious.” In this light, they worked with abandon–pushing through the heaviness of songs written years earlier with the same energy as songs which were not yet fully developed. Taking chances, improvising, they sought to strip away pretense, and elude perfectionism at all cost.

Among their experiments, the duo manipulated tape speeds–slowing or speeding up different instrument tracks, imbuing passages with altered perspectives. Improvisation was the key in track five, ‘The Way,’ a song about “the magical act of carving out a path through life, amidst all possibility.” After a long day of recording, the song was feeling heavy and uninspired. As night fell, Spataro picked up the Stratocaster and, in one take, laid down a rolling, roiling guitar line that defined the track.

This spirit of surrender weaves through the album. “Break free from time, and sink in the pool of the mind,” begins ‘Garden of Delight’, an energetic highlight, propelled by 60’s-era organ and Jefferson Airplane-esque vocals. The song was accidentally deleted after the first day of recording. By luck or fate, the one surviving file captured the song’s loose and free-wheeling essence. Inspired, Goodman encouraged her circle of collaborators to work similarly: “I gave everyone trust and total freedom to contribute as they felt called to, encouraging an intuitive approach of simply improvising, playing through the song a few times and then sending over the results.” Synth, cello, violin, saxophone and flute all appear, but often in unconventional ways.

Keeper Is the Heart reflects Goodman’s process towards greater creative freedom. The first words she sings: “Lift the veil of all of this hate/To see the fear at its base.” Her last lines: “We’ll follow the fates across the great expanse of time/To the source of the light within our mind.” In between is a work of art awash in personal awakenings that revel in the freedom of intuition, the lifting of veils, and the beauty of transformation. As Goodman states, “What is it you find when you look inward to see beyond, past your fears, to your heart's true desires?”

His debut EP on Amen Brother and for this release, he went for a different approach to our usual kind of release. This EP has been created to sound like recording of a rave from the early 90’s. Back in the day, tape packs and bootleg cassettes were common place, where raves from all over the country could be enjoyed at home, especially by those of us who were too young to attend. They were like currency, traded with mates at school or sent to friends in other parts of the country by post.

Tony Justice kicks you off at the start of the rave, interlinking all the tracks by extracts of various raves so the release runs smoothly (for the digital we chopped the EP into 4). You are then asked to leave… but quietly. And don’t go looking for any free parties in Bournemouth!

Sit back, light a fat one and let this ep take you on a trip…

New York heavyweights Emskee and Saint are The Good People and teamed up with French producer Shar The Analog Bastard for this superb EP released as digital only back in September 2020. Around the same time AE Productions dropped Emskee’s Wall To Wall 12” and while talking back and forth we arranged to release The Fall Back EP on AE. Unfortunately pressing vinyl became very difficult due to worldwide lockdowns so is only now ready for release even though it was sent to manufacture back in June 2021.

If you missed the digital release and if you dig real deal intelligent Hip Hop with a couple stellar MC’s over that classic SP1200 soundscape this EP is for you and if a guest verse each from the beyond legendary Masta Ace and El Da Sensei plus the not so well known but very dope Meraxx is your cup of tea look no further.

Remastered for vinyl by our mastering engineer of choice Rola and artwork by the multitalented Saint. Available on 6 track black vinyl EP supplied in full colour heavy grade card sleeve plus available from all the usual digital services to stream or download but please see The Good People and Shar’s Bandcamp pages for better file types.

Charly Records presents GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS This highly collectable 1965 original album portrays Gladys Knight & The Pips at their very best, just one year before signing to the mighty Motown Records. The recordings that Gladys Knight and the Pips made for Larry Maxwell’s Maxx label were some of the least successful – sales wise – with just one Top 10 R&B hit over a two-year period. BUT, they were the important first steps in the second phase of their career that took them to Motown and confirmed them as international superstars. Nearly sixty years later these wonderful recordings form an astounding collection of classic soul music, that showcases Gladys, The Pips and world class arranger Van McCoy, working at the very top of their game. Despite disapointing sales in 1965, time has testified that these songs are some of the very best, in a career that produced some of the greatest soul music ever laid to tape. This fabulous first ever reissue of this most sought after album completes our Gladys Knight & The Pips legacy collection and is also available as an expanded double-CD special edition. Curated and annotated by Dean Rudland, Acid Jazz • First ever reissue of this sought-after album from 1965 • Includes the #6 Billboard R&B Hit “Giving Up” and the Northern Soul classic “Stop & Get A Hold Of Myself”

Turbo Recordings is proud to present a 12”-inch vinyl release of Tiga’s trance pilgrimage to the centre of your personal space, “There Is No Distance Between Us.”
Co-produced by Tiga and on-again/off-again musical life partner Jesper Dahlback, the track was originally released digitally as a b-side to the Tiga mega-hit “Easy” earlier this year, and is now available in its glorious physical manifestation with an insane after-hours techno remix from Paris producer u.r. trax, perhaps the first Turbo
artist with a Master’s Degree in something other than Comparative Tiga Studies.
“Yeah, I’m back up in your area,” says Tiga from atop the rock-climbing wall inside his virtual panic room. “Something just didn’t sit right with me about this track not existing on the material plane. Here I am singing about human connection and not giving you something you can hold in your filthy hands? Anyone who knows me knows I
hate hypocrisy, so I had to make things right, vinyl-style. If I could make the world’s problems go away by pressing records, I would. And I can, so I will. This is only the beginning."

Drunk punks Organized Chaos release their first ever album compiling 18 tracks from two demos from 1981 and 1982 plus the compilation tracks from Wessex 82 7” and the Riotous Assembly Compilation LP. Organized Chaos were masters of driving UK82 punk with tin pot drums, buzzsaw guitars and snarling vocals. If the band had released an album at the time they could have easily been as influential as Chaos UK or Disorder. How this band didn’t have a Riot City release is anyone’s guess. Simple meat and potatoes UK82 punk for those who still hate Thatcher, are worried about a nuclear war and despise the system.

"2018 Tbilisi Georgia. The energy captured materialized into the beats, melodies, and grooves across this album.
2022 the energy extended, echoes from the rawness, and its intention can be perceived all around the globe. With no program to stop.
Reasons enough to repress this record thanking hard to all those who have taken part in this incredible story which still has to be written.
As we are saying.
One of you."

Red Vinyl

Breaking from the strange monotony and abnormal norms that took hold during two years of pandemic life, Hammock returns with Love in the Void , an album that looks to the future, seizes the present, and unabashedly relishes the experiences and bonds that bring meaning to our days. Known for crafting orchestral works of stirring cinematic ambience, on Love in the Void the Nashville-based duo of Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson bring guitar-forward, heart-pounding urgency to songs that shout through and shatter the static of complacency. Since forming as Hammock in 2003, Byrd and Thompson have released 14 critically-acclaimed albums, and are renowned for their unique talent for bringing inexpressible emotion to life. The Covid-19 pandemic followed closely after one of Hammock's career-defining works, the Mysterium, Universalis, and Silencia trilogy that chronicled the incomprehensible loss of Byrd's 20-year- old nephew. At their homes and apart, Byrd and Thompson then recorded Elsewhere, an album of shimmering ambience that channeled alienated longing and displacement into avenues that gave way to worlds and possibilities yet realized. Shaken awake and needing to break free of frustrations and longings, Love in the Void pulses with an unbridled spirit for action and experience and a burning desire for connection Across songs that hammer home the keenly felt emotions of life's highs and lows, Byrd and Thompson crest soaring crescendos awash in reverb and delve to keenly felt moments of quiet introspection, with unflinching lyrics on tracks like "Undoing" and "Denial of Endings'' that weigh choices made and circumstances that can't be changed. Lush and dramatic string orchestration from Matt Kidd (Slow Meadow) and emphatic drumming from Jake Finch heighten the stakes in play, and Christine Byrd's (Lumenette) ethereal vocals leave mysteries lingering in the haze. Love in the Void is Hammock's loudest album to date, embracing daring and vulnerability with palpable vitality at its core, and moving into an unknown future without fear.

We are proud to finally present you the first release of our label. Starting with a powerful vinyl by Dutch newcomer Y-NØT.

The melodic, more modern A-side is a mix of classic synthlines and modern drums, while the B-side consists of two pure, timeless peaktime tools. The EP already gained early support by DJs like Amelie Lens, SHDW & Obscure Shape, Klangkuenstler and many more.

Remixes by: Cynthia Spiering, Jayat & Lamin

• There was plenty of genuine discontent in Britain at the tail end of the 1970s, and it had little to do with bin strikes or dark rumours about overflowing morgues. In the world of popular music, the most liberating after-effect of the Sex Pistols was that anyone with something to say now felt they could make a 7” single. “Winter Of Discontent” is the sound of truly DIY music, made by people who maybe hadn’t written a song until a day or two before they went into the studio. It’s spontaneous and genuinely free in a way the British music scene has rarely been before or since.

• “Winter of Discontent” has been compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs, the latest in their highly acclaimed series of albums that includes “The Daisy Age”, “Fell From The Sun” and “English Weather” ("really compelling and immersive: it’s a pleasure to lose yourself in it" - Alexis Petridis, the Guardian). The era's bigger DIY names (Scritti Politti, TV Personalities, the Fall) and the lesser-known (Exhibit A, Digital Dinosaurs, Frankie’s Crew) are side by side on “Winter Of Discontent”. Mark Perry’s Sniffin’ Glue command – “Here’s one chord, here’s another, now start a band” – was amplified by the Mekons and the Raincoats, whose music shared a little of punk’s volume, speed and distortion, but all of its obliqueness and irreverence.

• The discontent was with society as a whole. No subject matter was taboo: oppressive maleness (Scritti Politti); deluded Britishness (TV Personalities); gender stereotypes (Raincoats, Androids of Mu); nihilistic youth (Fatal Microbes); alcoholism (Thin Yoghurts); self-doubt and pacifism (Zounds). The band names (Thin Yoghurts!) and those of individual members (Andrew Lunchbox!) had enough daftness to avoid any accusations of solemnity.

• “Winter Of Discontent” is the definitive compilation of the UK DIY scene, and a beacon in grim times.

Fresh out of Brussels: The debut EP of the X/Y/Secret label, with original tracks by Downside and a remix by Phara. Both are resident DJs of the FUSE nightclub, bringing you raw & hypnotic dance floor fillers.