Looking At The Stars Price: $11.00 Artist: Anderson Council Description: It had been 6+ years since we’d heard from these Mod/Britpopsters when the Kurt Reil-produced “The Fall Parade was released in late 2012. "They may be as Jersey as you can get - lead singer Pete Horvath has been playing in New Brunswick bands for almost as long as I can remember - but the uninitiated listener would be forgiven for thinking they're as British as a pair of knickers. They launch a one-band British invasion with this disc, gleefully pillaging from decades of UK pop, from 60's Beatlemania and early psychedelia to the 70's Mods to 00's Britpop. Oh, and don't forget the Kinks, lots of Kinks, including the uber-catchy leadoff track, 'Don't You Think.' There are echoes of the Jam, Beatlesque music-hall pop, and on big, bold pop numbers like 'First of November' and 'Watch You Sleeping,' they even sound a bit like their Jersey forebears, the Smithereens (must be the New Brunswick water). 'Gardening Man' could be an outtake from Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd. Reil's production keeps the guitars shimmering, the bass peppery and insistent, the drums booming; everything sounds big and bright in a way you don't hear much anymore. There's certainly an element of nostalgia in what the Anderson Council do so well, but mostly this is a band that's embracing old tropes and making them sound new again." - Jim Testa/Jersey Beat.com "They have the most authentic, Creation-influenced mod-psych sound conceived by any band west of The Thames, and the band has both the smarts and skill to convey the sense of whimsy that defines late 60’s British pop-psych." - David Bash/IPO In case you missed it the first time… GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

The Fall Parade Price: $11.00 Artist: Anderson Council Description: The 2006 release from the foursome who cleverly created its name out of Syd Barrett left-overs (Syd’s band took the front half of bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council’s handles), and its aesthetic out of mod-boy, 60’s garage ephemera. “Their take on ‘Nuggets’-era psyche pop is so fresh, so happy, so damn fun to listen to that you can’t fault them. It’s not like they’ve copied the Zombies, the Monkees, the Flamin’ Groovies… more like they drank the same purple and orange kool-aid. This record is pure joy from start to finish, whether you favor the Who-redolent tom and guitar intro of ‘Beautiful,”’the Costello-ish swagger of ‘Looking at Louth’, or the wonderfully excessive mid-70’s guitar solo that splits poppy ‘Strawberry Smell’ right in the middle. Myself, I’m partial to wah wah, so it’s the dreamy, drowsy furze of ‘Archie’s Theme’ that pulls me in, and wrecks me on its UK-strutting razor sharp choruses. The best cut, though, clearly belongs to one ‘Meghan Allison’, a frighteningly accomplished young woman who’s ‘Ten feet tall in boots/Built for the purpose of/Kicking down doors of those in power/She’s the girl of the hour.” The song is drenched in giddy ’60s harmonies, fuzz-laden guitars. You might think you were in swinging London, except at the end, the title character comes home from work, announcing, ‘Everyone there is dead/ What would you like for dinner?’” Brilliant stuff.” - PopMatters GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Americanapé - Hellstranded Live Sessions Price: $14.00 Artist: Armchair Oracles Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! Armchair Oracles are in a roll! 2024’s “Nothingeveris” appeared on many “Best Of” lists. They’ve been praised for their catchy harmonies, compact song structures, and guitar textures, with reviews highlighting their ability to create "instant classics". They’re in the process of recording the studio followup, but in the meantime, here’s “Americanapé - Hellstranded Live Sessions”! Recorded in October of 2024, all of the songs on the album are 10 new originals, recorded entirely live (with no discernible overdubs) and raw with the whole band in the studio, ensuring an honest and energetic country-rock sound. Here, the band’s rock and power pop is traded in for Americana and country, with an homage to their “other” influences, proving their versatility and adaptability to different genres. The recording is a recreational project from the band. As always, they show great variation throughout the set, tipping their hats to Neil Young, Tom Petty and The Byrds along the way. And they NAIL IT - BIG TIME! “I heart Armchair Oracles, and you will too.” - Alan Haber/Pure Pop Radio “Armchair Oracles master guitar-led melodic rock in a ‘Jack of all trades, master of all’ way. Although centred around the 90’s Pop Rock explosion, the band can be anything that you want them to be from 70’s gentleness to Glasgow TFC 90’s. ” - I Don’t Hear A Single And they prove it here! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

A Sober Conversation Price: $18.00 Artist: BC Camplight Description: “A Sober Conversation”, BC Camplight’s seventh album takes his meta-theatrical style almost into showtune territory, with songs about repression, depression and anger. “’Some people face the music,’ Brian Christinzio sings on ‘The Tent’. ‘Some people face the floor.’ On this outlandish album, the Manchester-based US singer-songwriter makes a bold bid for the former. That song alone excavates childhood memories, with Christinzio crunching leaves and finding caterpillars, cutely illustrated by twinkling piano, only for abrupt tonal shifts (siren-like drones, distorted vocals, heavenly choirs) to crash in like intrusive thoughts. It’s a queasy, visceral introduction to a record which confronts the summer he was abused, as a child, by an adult camp counsellor. ‘A Sober Conversation’ is an eccentric rock told with the meta-theatrical, tragicomic style that has won Christinzio a cult following. The title track veers into showtune territory, shimmying in double time as he employs a kooky variety of voices to tease a ‘big secret’, but also has a gorgeous, melancholy vocal melody that Sufjan Stevens would be proud of. ‘Two Legged Dog’, a glam piano-pop duet with the Last Dinner Party’s Abigail Morris, sticks a middle finger up to pity and culminates in a howling crescendo. Best (or most galling) of all is ‘Where You Taking My Baby?’, a chilling, jaunty confrontation of his abuser with sparse, lovely guitar underpinning the song’s gut-churning question. Christinzio’s inventive, infuriating writing often packs three extra songs into every single track – but this time for good reason. When the chatter falls away on instrumental closer ‘Leaving Camp Four Oaks’, he achieves a hard-won, sun-lit sense of peace.” - The Guardian EXCELLENT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

On The Brink (Rarities, Remixes and Unreleased) Price: $14.00 Quantity in Basket: none

Live At Rockpalast 1975 Price: $18.00 Artist: Brinsley Schwarz Description: On March 6, 1975, Brinsley Schwarz played a one-hour set for Rockpalast in Studio L of Cologne, Germany's WDR. Soon afterward, the five musicians then parted ways. Unfortunately, almost all the video footage of the set has been lost over the years. However, the soundtrack of the last/final Brinsley Schwarz performance could be saved and were restored for this release. “For a band on the verge of splitting up, this doesn't sound like a group in their death throes. The entire 10 songs come across more as a joyous nod to their back catalog and influences than a musical wake. The sound quality is excellent, and the opening number, a bouncy version of ‘Country Girl’, features Bob Andrews’ swirling organ to edifying effect with the band tight and sharp throughout self-penned numbers, such as ‘Juju Man’ and ‘Surrender To The Rhythm’, sitting comfortably alongside well-chosen covers of Judy Clay and William Bell's ‘Private Number’ and a classy reworking of The Drifters’ ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’. Vocalists Lowe and Gomm are in fine form, with the band adding faultless harmonies to the mix. Even old chestnuts such as ‘Run Rudolph Run’ are full of swing and verve delivered by an outfit that, as we know, for 50 years removed, should've been so much bigger." - Shindig! Magazine GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Consequences + Detours Price: $14.00 Artist: Crossword Smiles Description: Detroit indie pop duo Crossword Smiles (Tom Curless and Chip Saam) are back with their second album, “Consequences & Detours”, the followup to their 2022 debut “Pressed & Ironed”, delivering on the promise of that record's hooks, inspired lyrics and timeless arrangements. Here, the duo continue exploring new sonic textures and lyrical landscapes, and applying them to the kind of perfect pop-rock song structures and melodies at which they excel. It's a winning combination of inspiration and songcraft that expands on the foundation of the first album and delivers a set of instantly memorable, richly detailed melodic gems. The resulting sound suggests a blend of Crowded House and The Replacements with a bent toward sharp character studies in the Ray Davies tradition, but there are countless other guiding lights here. Spotting them is half of the fun: Chip and Tom share an encyclopedic grasp of pop-rock history in all its many flavors, and the band’s ethos lets them go deep-diving for inspiration. Tinges of Michael Penn and Del Amitri can be heard in Tom's tender but sly vocal delivery – check out the pitch-perfect melancholy of “Once Or Twice” – and the band cites diverse inspirations from Madness (“Night Train”) to Guided By Voices (on the lead single “Falling All Over Myself”) to The Left Banke (“Girls Club”) when discussing the new tunes. That may owe to the scrupulously collaborative nature of the songwriting – both members have a hand in the crafting of every tune – or perhaps it's because they’ve taken on an identity of its very own, instinctively grasped by its creators and instantly recognizable in its uniqueness. EXCELLENT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Sirens And Hellbinders Price: $11.00 Artist: Dennis Davison Description: A longtime figure in underground music, Dennis Davison first made his mark with United States of Existence and later with the Grammy-nominated Jigsaw Seen. “Sirens And Hellbinders” is Dennis’ third solo release. “I obviously move around many selected genres and enjoy them all, but the love of my life is Psych Pop. No other genre brings the past into the future like it. Essentially guitar pop, but with many twists and turns. It may sound very second half of the 60’s to some, but that is a failure to appreciate the full scope of arrangements and sheer melody. Possibly, my favourite band in the genre was The Jigsaw Seen. They had largely gone by the time I started IDHAS, but I still managed to sneak in their magnificent compilation, ‘For The Discriminating Completist’. I don’t listen to the old much these days due to the amount that I deal with in the new, but I still listen to that beloved band. Mainstays of the quartet were founders Dennis Davison and Jonathan Lea. Whereas Lea went on to play with his heroes of the past, Davison, the vocalist, kept the new Psych Pop candle burning with excellent effect. 2020’s ‘The Book Of Strongman’ was in our Best Albums Of The Year, the follow up EP, ‘Creaturefeature’, was in our Best EPs of 2023. The gaps plugged by killer singles. Now we have his second album and it is wonderful. There are interesting diversions, the splendid ‘Invisiblia’ may be the most pop that Davison ever gets, sounding more late 80’s/early 90’s, all riff and joyous melody. ‘536 AD’ skirts Prog and ‘Winterland's Gone’ gets all big studio UK Beat ballad. But it is the Psych Pop that grabs you most. ‘Sensual Summer’, ‘Is It The Medicine?’ ‘Putting Up With People’, being great examples, all very different. ‘Sirens And Hellbenders’ is a corking listen and will be there in the end of year celebrations.” - IDontHearASingle GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Presley Trap Price: $15.00 Artist: Diesel Park West Description: We continue our exclusive agreement with Diesel Park West to release their music on CD that either have been download-only releases or only physical product in Europe on their Danville label. The band could well be the biggest enigma in British music. Their 2024 album “Presley Trap” brings their tally to the partial miracle of eleven official releases. Miraculous, if only because media interest and by association public awareness of them has pretty much been minimal since the initial brief, upbeat reaction to their brilliant 1989 debut album “Shakespeare Alabama”. No real hits and hardly ever on any promoters “must-have” lists, they have nevertheless carried on being what they are which in reality is purveyors of some of the most sublime and crafted rock n roll of the past 35 years if not even further back. ”Presley Trap” lets you in on the secret of songcraft wrapped up inside an indomitable spirit which this band are quite possibly near to the best we have. The Diesels go beyond mere suggestion to deliver in real time with these 15 tracks full of melodies, twangs, beats and homespun soul. “They've never really deviated from their blueprint alt-country folk-rock sound of swaggery melodies, chorus hooks, chiming guitars, driving drums and punchy vocals, somewhere between The Byrds, Moby Grape and The Stones. “Opener 'Wonder (Just A Word)' sets out the stall, opening with ringing guitars and proceeding into a Dylan-tinged melody. The swagger swaggers on with 'Garden', more Southern rock and Crazy Horse than West Coast, while, with its raspy punctuation marks, 'Six a.m. Two Coffees In' has that Stonesy feel. Opening with thumping drums and ringing guitar notes, 'Let's Pretend' has a slightly Pettyish, almost power poppy air to it, complete with ooh and aahing backing vocals, while 'The Wound That Doesn't Heal' with its cascading guitar notes feels like a countrified version of Graham Parker And The Rumour. And that’s only the half of what is another solid album. Those that have been with them for their previous ten albums can pat themselves on the back for recognising pure class when they hear it.” - FATEA GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Leicester? Price: $15.00 Artist: Diesel Park West Description: “Leicester?” is the band’s 2025 release and the latest in our efforts to make available titles by them and lead vocalist/songwriter John Butler in their brilliant catalog to people in North America and the world. To call an album “Leicester?” must surely carry with it a more ethereal reference than simply the name of a city, which it does. The question mark is the secret. In reality Diesel Park West long ago atoned for the sin of being a “next big thing” during the profligate late 80’s from whence they sprang. They are often praised for their songwriting, particularly John Butler's lyrics and vocals, and the band's ability to deliver engaging and tuneful rock music. With “Leicester?”, they confirm their place at the creative top table. The question mark applies as much to their hometown mystery as it does to their unique staying power. Twelve new tracks which may well include career–best songs such as “Cold Midland Morning” and the classic “Blood Red Roses” alongside number one Heritage Chart single “Hole In One” and of course sublime DPW rock ‘n’ roll with just the right mix of intelligence and gut feeling. Despite not achieving mainstream success, the band is often recognized for their consistent output of high-quality albums and their enduring musical spirit…and we’re damn proud to be associated with them! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none