Out this week…

[CD] 01. American Exterior / 02. American Interior / 03. The Whether (Or Not) / 04. The Last Conquistador / 05. Lost Tribes / 06. Liberty (Is Where We’ll Be) / 07. Allweddellau Allweddol / 08. Walk into the Wilderness / 09. Sugar Insides / 10. 100 Unread Messages / 11. That’s Why / 12. The Swamp / 13. Media Quake / 14. Cylchdro Amser / 15. Iolo / 16. Y Gwenan Gorn / 17. Year of the Dog / 18. Tiger’s Tale

[2LP] A1. American Exterior / A2. American Interior / A3. The Whether (Or Not) / A4. The Last Conquistador / A5. Lost Tribes / B1. Liberty (Is Where We’ll Be) / B2. Allweddellau Allweddol / B3. Walk into the Wilderness / B4. Sugar Insides / C1. 100 Unread Messages / C2. That’s Why / C3. The Swamp / C4. Media Quake / D1. Cylchdro Amser / D2. Iolo / D3. Y Gwenan Gorn / D4. Year of the Dog / D5. Tiger’s Tale

[3LP] A1. American Exterior / A2. American Interior / A3. The Whether (Or Not) / A4. The Last Conquistador / A5. Lost Tribes / B1. Liberty (Is Where We’ll Be) / B2. Allweddellau Allweddol / B3. Walk into the Wilderness / B4. Sugar Insides / C1. 100 Unread Messages / C2. That’s Why / C3. The Swamp / C4. Media Quake / D1. Cylchdro Amser / D2. Iolo / D3. Y Gwenan Gorn / D4. Year of the Dog / D5. Tiger’s Tale / E1. I Grombil Cyfandir Pell / E2. Ar Goll / E3. Y Madogwys Neu Angau / F1. Power Point Presentation / F2. American Exterior (Extended Version For Two Synthesizers)

In 2012 Gruff Rhys embarked on a solo ‘investigative concert tour’ through the heart of America following the route taken by his distant relative John Evans. Every night he presented songs augmented by a power point presentation that detailed his relative’s unbelievable history, along with any new piece of information that had come his way during the day. He was ultimately looking for Evans’s lost unmarked grave. Along with many major cities, the tour took him to play shows at the Mandan and Omaha tribe reservations, a Missouri vineyard, villages that no longer exist and lay at the bottom the Mississippi river and a New Orleans bordello.

What transpired from that ‘investigative concert tour’ was a 2014 album, American Interior, plus a book, film and exhaustive tour of the same name. With the aid of the dusted-off power point presentation, Gruff Rhys and a full band revisits the project in 2025 to perform the songs that formed both the album, and the soundtrack to the film.

[Indie 3LP] Indie exclusive deluxe apricot/purple/rosé coloured vinyl housed in a triple gatefold sleeve with bonus tracks.

TUNE-YARDS
BETTER DREAMING

[CD] 01. Heartbreak / 02. Swarm / 03. Never Look Back / 04. Suspended / 05. Limelight / 06. Get Through / 07. Better Dreaming / 08. How Big Is The Rainbow / 09. See You There / 10. Perpetual Motion / 11. Sanctuary

[LP] A1. Heartbreak / A2. Swarm / A3. Never Look Back / A4. Suspended / A5. Limelight / A6. Get Through / B1. Better Dreaming / B2. How Big Is The Rainbow / B3. See You There / B4. Perpetual Motion / B5. Sanctuary

Distraction, depression, and heartbreak reign supreme in 2025. “Making art in this day and age for me is a battle for focus; we’re in an age of interruption,” says Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards on sixth album Better Dreaming. Proudly waving an anti-fascist, liberation, freak flag, Better Dreaming contains some of Tune-Yards smoothest, funkiest, and most direct pop music to date, and yes, you can dance to it.

Its songs came to Garbus and bandmate/partner Brenner with unusual ease, letting the songs come out, following any trail they wished. After covid-isolation, and time away from touring and live shows, the desire to be moved by music was undeniable. The insane experience of growing an actual human being influenced this as well. Garbus and Brenner’s 3-year-old can be heard singing on “Limelight”; the song was born from dancing together as a family to George Clinton.

Recorded as a duo, all but one of these songs are built around Merrill’s drum looping and rhythm building, as they were on some of their early albums like Bird-Brains and W H O K I L L. Opening track “Heartbreak” builds huge chords of Garbus’ vocal harmony around a fat beat full of clicks, pops, samples, and dubbed snares. Garbus sings of heartbreak as fuel, as a challenge; lyrics like “Watch me survive another heartbreak” hit like a call to action. Four-on-the-floor “How Big is the Rainbow” drips with disco-house, queer-club, anthemic strobe energy.

Better Dreaming is ferocious in its invocation of self-love, collective action, dance floor liberation, ego-death deliverance, and a future we could all thrive in. When diving into the present darkness of the world, Tune-Yards asks themselves how much literal energy and joy can be conjured and pumped through the music. In its life-affirming art-pop of the apocalypse, Better Dreaming comes true.

Available on indie exclusive blue coloured vinyl.