STAFF PICKS
Lindsay – Marika Hackman
Dario – X-Ray Spex and Sampha
Kimber – Lush reissues
Jake – Dinosaur Jr reissue
Zach – Sampha

VACCINES – Pick-Up Full Of Pink Carnations CD/LP  (Super Easy)
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. Produced by Andrew Wells (Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers) with Mixing from Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips), Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations is an immediately anthemic addition to the band’s discography. 

X-RAY SPEX – Conscious Consumer CD/LP (Do Yourself In)
The highly sought after, final studio album from the punk icons received a very limited CD only release in 1995 and has been officially unavailable for the past 27 years! The album reunited the iconic X-Ray Spex vocalist – Poly Styrene with original X-Ray Spex saxophonist – Lora Logic and bassist – Paul Dean, as well as guitar from Kula Shaker frontman Crispian Mills under his then pseudonym Red Spectre. This release has been remastered from the original master tapes and is available on LP for the first time ever! Including the original and expanded artwork, including previously unpublished lyrics and original sleeve notes from Poly.

MARIKA HACKMAN – Big Sigh CD/LP (Chrysalis)
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 (Practice Music & Grandstand) teams, along with TV (Your Army) and international promo.

DINOSAUR JR – Where You Been: 30th Anniversary LP (Cherry Red)
Limited pink splatter vinyl LP pressing. 30th Anniversary edition.

SAMPHA – Dual LP (Young)
Limited clear orange indie exclusive repress of Sampha’s breakout 2013 debut EP. Following the low-key online-only release of Sundanza (2010) plus his noted collaborative work with Jessie Ware, Lil Silva, SBTRKT, and Koreless, Dual is Sampha’s first full solo outing.

COCTEAU TWINS – Milk and Kisses CD/LP (4AD)
COCTEAU TWINS – Four Calendar Cafe CD/LP (4AD)
Released in March 1996, Milk & Kisses is the eighth and final studio album by Cocteau Twins. And like its predecessor, 1993’s Four Calendar Café, 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. Robin Guthrie returned to his original studio mixes and has delivered stunning, brand new 24-bit masters of both titles.

LUSH – Split CD remaster (4AD)
Featuring the singles ‘Desire Lines’ and ‘Hypocrite’, Split is the second full studio album by Lush. Produced by Mike Hedges – famed for his work on The Cure’s  Seventeen Seconds & Siouxsie and the Banshees’s A Kiss in the Dreamhouse – and mixed by Alan Moulder, Split sees the band hit a poppier sound whilst retaining their almost pitch-black feel.

LUSH – Spooky CD remaster (4AD)
With a few EPs and a mini-album (Scar) having set the scene, Spooky is Lush’s 1990 debut studio album. A key text for British indie music at the turn of a decade, it was produced by label mate Robin Guthrie (Cocteau Twins) and features the singles ‘Nothing Natural’, ‘For Love’ and ‘Superblast!’.

LUSH – Lovelife CD remaster (4AD)
Lush’s final studio, Lovelife, landed whilst Britpop was in full swing (Jarvis Cocker even duets with Miki on the track ‘Ciao!’), managing to fit in whilst sticking to the rules they set themselves with prior albums. Produced by Pete Bartlett (Therapy?, Kitchens of Distinction), it features three of the band’s biggest singles in ‘Single Girl’, ‘Ladykillers’ and ‘500 (Shake Baby Shake)

VARIOUS ARTISTS – ECCENTRIC SOUL – Saadia Label LP (Numero)
After the fall of the Deep City label, Rocketeers bandleader Frank Williams set up shop under the name of his twin daughters Saadia and Giwada and got to work reinventing the Miami Sound.

GRATEFUL DEAD – In The Dark LP (WEA)
Limited silver LP repress. GRATEFUL DEAD / IN THE DARK / The Dead’s Biggest Album Ever! Newly Mastered by GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer David Glasser. Produced for release by David Lemieux. The penultimate studio album from The Grateful Dead, released in 1987, it was their first Top 10 album, with their first Top 10 hit song, Touch Of Grey.

GRATEFUL DEAD – Terrapin Station LP (WEA)
Limited green LP repress. The first Arista Grateful Dead album, and the first studio album featuring an outside producer their debut album a decade earlier, Terrapin Station is one of the deepest, densest, most ambitious album in the entire Dead catalog.

KALI UCHIS – Orquideas CD/LP (Geffen)
Kali Uchis releases her fourth studio album, Orquídeas. 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, Orquídeas traverses multiple Latin genres including reggaeton, dembow, bolero and salsa furthering Uchis’ connection to her Colombian roots. 

COMING NEXT WEEK!
GREEN DAY – Saviors CD/LP
SLEATER KINNEY – Little Rope CD/LP
MARY HALVORSON – Cloudward CD/LP
COLTER WALL – Self Titled CD/LP reissue
COLTER WALL – Imaginary Appalachia CD/LP reissue
COLTER WALL – Songs Of The Plains CD/LP reissue
COLTER WALL – Wester Swing and Waltzes CD/LP reissue
SPIRITUALIZED – Amazing Grace CD/LP reissue
DANNY BROWN – Quaranta CD/LP
ELZHI + OH NO – Heavy Vibrato CD/LP
LAUFEY – Everything I Know About Love CD
90 DAY MEN – We Blame Chicago 5LP
DANIEL JOHNSTON – Alive In New York City CD/LP
SLIFT – Ilion CD/LP
SWERVEDRIVER – 99th Dream LP reissue
MCCOY TYNER – Today and Tomorrow LP reissue
CZARFACE – Czar Noir LP
CZARFACE – First Weapon Drawn LP