The Smile – Cutouts (Indies exclusive white vinyl)
Coldplay – Moon Music (LTD Edition 1st press with booklet, pink eco vinyl)
Jake Bugg – A Modern Day Distraction (Clear vinyl)
Talk Talk – It’s My Life (40th Anniversary Half-Speed Master)
Lightning Seeds – Tomorrow’s Here Today: 35 Years of Lightning Seeds (2xLP black vinyl)
The Smile – Cutouts
The trio – Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner – debuted several songs from Cutouts during The Smile’s UK tour in March. Cutouts features 10 new-tracks and is produced by Sam Petts-Davies. It’s the band’s third studio album following Wall of Eyes, released in January, and the trio’s 2022 debut album A Light For Attracting Attention. Cutouts was recorded in Oxford and at Abbey Road Studios during the same period of time as Wall Of Eyes. The album features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra and the album art was painted during the recording process by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke.
This is the second studio album release from The Smile in under a year. In January, Wall Of Eyes charted at #3 on the UK album charts, receiving “Best Album of the Year so far” praise from Pitchfork, The Needle Drop, Consequence, Brooklyn Vegan, Treblezine and Spin.
Coldplay – Moon Music
Coldplay return with their tenth album, Moon Music. Moon Music features June’s double MTV VMA’s-nominated feelslikeimfallinginlove as well as the band’s latest hit We Pray ft Little Simz, Burna Boy, Elyanna and TINI.
In an effort to reduce waste, the first edition run of Moon Music (EcoRecord) are strictly limited and produced at a higher specification than any future editions.
Jake Bugg – A Modern Day Distraction
Fresh off the back of a tour as special guest to Liam Gallagher and John Squire, UK rock
troubadour, Jake Bugg, returns with his forthcoming sixth album A Modern Day Distraction, out September 20th on RCA records. Alongside the announcement comes his new single ‘Zombieland’ and a run of winter 2024 UK and EU dates.
A bone-crunching Beatles-via-Nirvana guitar driven banger, ‘Zombieland’ is a rollicking ode to the many broken by the inescapable daily grind, trudging on with a stiff upper lip. “It’s fucking brutal,” he says of the people he’s known who exist in “a constant cycle of working to live”. “They’re not paid what they’re worth. People have the same routine every day, they’re at work more than they see their kids, then the government puts the retirement age up. It’s not right.”
Produced by Metrophonic at Metrophonic Studios in London, Jake returns to his roots on the rock-driven A Modern Day Distraction – a record that turns up the noise while shining a light on the injustice he’s seen dealt to the family and friends he grew up with. Fiery and engaged, the record was born out of a frustration of societal inequality. Bugg found that a time had come when he just couldn’t look away. “People might say ‘What do you know?’ or ‘Just stick to music’. I’ve got a bit of money, but we all know the people this affects. I was just writing it because it was the way I felt. It pisses me off – especially in a country like ours where we have the means and funds to take care of the people suffering the most, but we choose not to.”
Now 12 years and six albums since he emerged with his streetwise and spritely, Mercury-
nominated, chart-topping, self-titled debut, one might forget he was just 18 at the time. He’s put in the hours and achieved so much, but he’s only 30 and still seeing the front rows of his shows getting younger.
In that spirit, Bugg still feels his best work is ahead of him: “You just have to put your songs out into the universe and hope for the best.”
Talk Talk – It’s My Life
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Talk Talk’s iconic ‘It’s My Life’ album, it has been cut at Half-Speed by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios, overseen by Talk Talk drummer Lee Harris and Charlie Hollis, son of Mark Hollis, giving the album a greater depth. Originally released in February 1984, ‘It’s My Life’ is the band’s second album and followed the 1982 release of their debut ‘The Party’s Over’ which initially received moderate success in the UK reaching number 21 in the UK chart and finding some global success.
By the time they came to writing and recording ‘It’s My Life’ the band had gone from the four piece to a three with Simon Brenner leaving the band. The album initially found considerable international success. ‘Such A Shame’, the album’s first single was a top 10 hit across Europe and the album’s title track entered global Top 40’s including in the US.
Lightning Seeds – Tomorrow’s Here Today: 35 Years of Lightning Seeds
Tomorrow’s Here Today celebrated 35 Year of Lightning Seeds. It’s an absolute masterclass in modern pop songwriting from Ian Broudie. Kicking off with their classic debut single ‘Pure’, this really is a greatest hits disc worthy of the title from a band who have sold over 8 million albums. Across 20 tracks the LP features Lightning Seeds favourites including ‘The Life Of Riley’, ‘Change’, ‘Lucky You’, ‘Sense’, ‘All I Want’, ‘Sugar Coated Iceberg’, ‘You Showed Me’, ‘3 Lions’ and more.