Sub Pop US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Beach House gets in on this year's Record Store Day hype with The Become EP, which is a collection of five songs from the Once Twice Melody sessions. Say the band, "We didn't think they fit in the world of OTM, but later realized they all fit in a little world of their own.' As such they are presented here with their own scuzzy and spacious sound and special capturing of live playing spirit. The tunes are outliers for where the band is generally headed right now but still offer plenty of fans old and new to enjoy.

Review: After turning his hand to big band jazz on his previous album, Father John Misty (John Tilman to friends and family) returns to more familiar sonic territory on this sixth set. The Sanskrit title apparently translates to "great cremation ground", offering a hint to the weighty and philosophical themes behind some of the singer-songwriter's lyrics this time around. In many ways, it is a classic Father John Misty album: all sweeping strings, Americana-tinged folk-rock, grandiose 1970s pop-rock productions, funky-as-hell nods to Rare Earth ('She Cleans Up') effortlessly emotive vocals and White Album-era Beatles excellence.

Review: Kyle Thomas is the name of the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff. During the pandemic lockdowns he had something of a realisation about who he was and what he wanted to be and then "set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him," namely Brattleboro, Vermont. This is that love letter and it is an album of musical magic with uplifting and spiritual joy found in every hook and verse. There are gorgeous orchestral tones, tender moments of violin and cello and plenty of thoughtful sax lines on a gem of a record.

Review: In January 2023, amidst Dorset's snow-laden silence, Emily Cross found herself in an unlikely setting: a former coffin-maker's workshop serving as her end-of-life doula workspace. Here, Loma sought rebirth after disbanding post-Don't Shy Away. International separation during the pandemic stalled their creative process until Cross suggested a regroup in the UK. Using minimal gear and a padded coffin as a vocal booth, they transformed whitewashed rooms into a studio, even using a nearby chapel's ruin as a reverb chamber. The resulting album, How Will I Live Without A Body?, resonates with English countryside hues and Laurie Anderson-inspired AI poetry, reflecting on partnership, loss, and the transformative journey of reconnecting.

Review: Taking its name from the band's two favourite guitar effects pedals - the Univox Super-Fuzz and the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, both credited with producing a 'dirty sound' - it's safe to say Mudhoney came up with one of the finest double entendre titles with their 1988 debut EP. Arriving through the seminal Sub Pop, the record would fail to grab the attention of the masses, or the nascent grunge underground bubbling beneath the streets of their native Seattle at the time, but now we know just how wrong people can be. Skip forward to today, and Mudhoney's first spawn is recognised as one of the seminal outings in the early Pacific Northwestern alternative guitar scene that would go on to dominate the world, albeit for a relatively brief time. Praised for being "sexy, smart, humorous and hard", hearing the tracks today affords an opportunity to draw direct lines between the heavy rock that came before, and what was being born.

Review: Shabazz Palaces made more fine moves with their classic album Black Up offering up a luxury take on hip-hop "like rich velvet hijabs or gold threaded abayas." Produced by Knife Knights.plcrs at Gunbeat Serenade Studio in Outplace Palacelands, the album originally arrived in 2011 and now gets reissued on red and black smoked vinyl in a lovely spot-varnished sleeve. It's a mix of dubby hip-hop, conscious lyrics and electronic styles with a heavyweight sound that remains ahead of its time with cuts like 'An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum' a firm favourite with ambient influences and glitchy, experimental textures.

Review: Shabazz Palaces's Exotic Birds of Prey is a new seven-song mini-album that comes via Sub Pop and follows the huge success of Robed in Rareness back in October 2023. It is a rather enchaining listen that draws on many different rap eras and blends them into one new sound helmed by vocalist and producer Ismael Butler. Shabazz Palaces redefines hip-hop across decades here with the album blending the past, present, and future with warped sounds and fine collaborations from the likes of Stas THEE Boss and Japreme Magnetic who help to enrich this sonic journey. This special Loser Edition comes on creamy white vinyl.

Review: Stella Chronopoulou began writing her fifth album in 2019 during a ferry ride to Anafi. Seeking solace after personal turmoil, she composed a melody that evolved into a rootsy, atmospheric track. While much of her career was in English, this album marks her first songs in Greek, including 'Omorfo Mou' which was written on the boat, and a cover of Greek New Wave's 'Ta Vimata.' The album was recorded with collaborators like Rafael Cohen and is a 27-minute meditation on love, desire and time with gentle rhythms and warm instrumentation. It represents ?tella's sound by capturing both nostalgia and confident self-assurance.

Review: Natalie Mering's Weyes Blood project is 12 years deep now, and she follows up on 2019's Titanic Rising with this, her fourth studio album. Her sound evolves in kind over this time from the DIY roots of her appearances on Not Not Fun et al, and now she strikes the figure of an eternal songstress joining the dots from classic 70s composition and production through to the aching, head-fogged reflection of the modern condition. Lead single 'It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody' nails the mood of malaise, but the beauty of her songwriting leads and saves us from slipping into despair. Why not commit to the concept and cop this, the limited Loser Edition of And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow.