4AD Vinyl & CDs

Review: Kim Deal didn't waste any time in making The Breeders a vital force of their own rather than a mere Pixies side-project. By the time their second album Last Splash landed in 1993, they had struck gold with a sharply focused strain of noisy indie rock that was equal parts daring and fun. 'Cannonball' was the universally-adored hit which landed The Breeders in the wider consciousness, but there's so much more to the album than that summery blast of guitar squall. Just fast-forward to 'S.O.S.' and you'll hear a strikingly familiar lick of distorted wail which became a bedrock for a certain UK rave group's biggest hit. This 30th anniversary edition spreads the album out on double vinyl with a bonus red 12" featuring a previously unreleased version of 'Divine Hammer' sung by J Mascis.

Review: Hips & Makers takes us back to a great time for independent guitar music. The debut album from Kirstin Hersh is deceptively quiet and unarguably powerful, predominantly made up of acoustic numbers that really speak to how strong the rock-folk crossover was at this point. Adding the inimitable voice of REM's Michael Stipe to the opening track, 'Your Ghost', only accentuates this. A million miles from 'twee', while things here are often set at a volume that encourages reflection, in other moments they explode into an earthen celebration of passion and energy. Almost carnal. 'A Loon' and its campfire yelps and whoops, 'Close Your Eyes' with its rousing chorus invoking resilience and resistance. Even the sparseness of 'The Letter' makes a huge impact.

Review: Xmal Deutschland commemorate their influential 4AD years (1983-1984) with a brand new release, literally presenting us with Gift. The collection celebrates the band's profound impact on British audiences in the early 80s, marked by a unique and half-devised lyrical language, as well as a magnetic feminine mystique commandeered by the women in the group. Their breakthrough support slot with Cocteau Twins accompanied the first two albums to come out via 4AD, which grabbed audiences by the collective ear with a painter's stroke of hard-graded darkwave and goth. Gift brims with a penumbral presence, while the titular "gift" is intended as pharmakon, both a present and a poison; Xmal's music is appropriately contradictory and complex, skating thin ices of beauty and elusivity. This limited-edition 3xLP boxset includes Abbey Road remasters of their albums Fetisch and Tocsin, along with tracks from related releases like Incubus Succubus II and Qual, packaged with striking artwork and a photo booklet. The magic of Xmal Deutschland lingers like radiation and has an indelible half-life.