The Flaming Lips & Stardeath And White Dwarfs - The Dark Side Of The Moon [12", LP]

This FLAMING LIPS album (collaborating here not only with STARDEATH & WHITE DWARFS, the band of Dennis Coyne who's a nephew of Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, but also PEACHES and HENRY ROLLINS) came out on Record Store Day 2010. It was a limited pressing of 5000 copies on both seafoam green and on clear vinyl. I've got a clear one, as you can see on the picture. The album is a complete remake of Pink Floyd's DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, but in a typical Flaming Lips style with weird sounds, vocoders and funny noises. Some nice versions of these classic songs on this LP for sure; but as a whole, i prefer the original.

Label: Warner Bros.
Cat.nr.: 523541-1
Year of release: 2010

SIDE A:
01. Speak To Me / Breathe
02. On The Run
03. Time / Breathe (Reprise)
04. The Great Gig In The Sky

SIDE B:
01. Money
02. Us And Them
03. Any Colour You Like
04. Brain Damage
05. Eclipse

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains [10"]

This HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS single came in two maxi versions: a 12" and this 10". The cover art is different than the 12" and the tracklisting as well. Shake and Happy When It Rains (Demo) are unique to this format. Unbelievable that it's already 25 years ago that this was released; time really flies. And with bands like A Place To Bury Strangers being hot these days, THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN still don't sound dated either.

Label: Blanco Y Negro
Cat.nr.: NEG 25TE
Year of release: 1987

SIDE A:
01. Happy When It Rains (Long Version)
02. Shake

SIDE B:
01. Everything's Alright When You're Down
02. Happy When It Rains (Demo)

Washed Out - Within And Without [12", LP]

A pretty good debut album from last year. WASHED OUT is a one-man chillwave act and WITHIN AND WITHOUT is an album with nice songs, atmospheric melancholy and it gives you a general warm feeling throughout. Chillwave is a hard to define genre of course. If i'd have to give it a try, this album is some kind of mixture of laidback psychedelic pop, krautrock and a lot of M83-esque synths. Quite enjoyable.

Label: Weird World Record Co.
Cat.nr.: WEIRD003LP
Year of release: 2011

SIDE A:
01. Eyes Be Closed
02. Echoes
03. Amor Fati
04. Soft

SIDE B:
01. Far Away
02. Before
03. You And I
04. Within And Without
05. A Dedication

The Raveonettes - Observator [12", LP]

OBSERVATOR is the new album by THE RAVEONETTES. Earlier this year they released the double-7" EP Into The Night, and now this beauty. Shoegazy fuzz-pop at its best, and i think that one of the best Raveonettes songs ever (so far at least) is on this album: Sinking With The Sun. It could've been a long lost Lush song, or so. Absolutely gorgeous. The whole album breathes this warm, fuzzy, but sometimes a little sad atmosphere. A great "autumn-album" for that matter. Love it!


Label: Vice Music
Cat.nr.: VCA 80329-1
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Young And Cold
02. Observations
03. Curse The Night
04. The Enemy
05. Sinking With The Sun

SIDE B:
01. She Owns The Streets
02. Downtown
03. You Hit Me (I'm Down)
04. Till The End

David Bowie - Stage [12", 2LP]

STAGE is a double live album by DAVID BOWIE that was originally released in 1978. It was one of the first Bowie albums i bought in 1983 when i became a massive fan after i had bought the Let's Dance album, and in that way it introduced me to the variety of his back-catalogue at the time. Side A/B almost chronologically covers the first 6 years of the 70's, and side C/D has songs from Low and Heroes. The album captures live performances from a few USA shows of his Isolar II World Tour (1978) and is pretty polished, in that there's little crowd to be heard in these recordings. Also the running order of the setlists was changed, and there are fades between the songs. So it sounds a bit sterile for a live album. Like said, i bought my copy in 1983, and that's the one pictured below here on black vinyl:

The yellow version as showed on top is a copy i bought second-hand somewhere a few years ago. It is a limited edition of the first UK pressing from 1978. In Holland the album also has come out on blue vinyl at the time.


Label: RCA
Cat.nr.: PL 2913 (reissue: PL 89002)
Year of release: 1978 (reissue: 1983)

SIDE A:
01. Hang On To Yourself
02. Ziggy Stardust
03. Five Years
04. Soul Love
05. Star

SIDE B:
01. Station To Station
02. Fame
03. TVC 15

SIDE C:
01. Warszawa
02. Speed Of Life
03. Art Decade
04. Sense Of Doubt
05. Breaking Glass

SIDE D:
01. "Heroes"
02. What In The World
03. Blackout
04. Beauty And The Beast

Tame Impala - Elephant [12"]

ELEPHANT is the first single taken from TAME IMPALA's upcoming new album Lonerism, that should be out in a few weeks. A track that's extremely promising for the rest of the album and i really can't wait until it's out. But in the meantime i'll just be spinning this 12" over and over, i guess. The remixes are rather good as well, and they really add something. Especially the Todd Rundgren Remix is pretty awesome.

Label: Modular
Cat.nr.: MODVL 166
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Elephant
02. Elephant (Canyons Wooly Mammoth Extension)

SIDE B:
01. Elephant (Todd Rundgren Remix)

Loop - Heaven's End [12", LP]

Originally released in 1987, this year's reissue marks the 25th anniversary of HEAVEN'S END by LOOP. A psychedelic masterpiece, this debut album, with bluesy droning riffs and howling guitar soundscapes, soaked by wah-wah pedals and drowning in reverb. Hypnotic from the first tones of Soundhead until the very last ones of Carry Me.
Great to finally have this on vinyl 'cause i've been looking for a second-hand copy of the original for quite a while, but never managed to find one. This is a numbered edition by the way, but i've no idea how many were made. My number's #1952.


Label: Reactor
Cat.nr.: REACTOR 01 LP
Year of release: 2012 (originally: 1987)

SIDE A:
01. Soundhead
02. Straight To Your Heart
03. Forever
04. Heaven's End

SIDE B:
01. To Real To Feel
02. Fix To Fall
03. Head On
04. Carry Me

Whirr - Pipe Dreams [12", LP]

Wow. Just wow. This is simply an amazing debut album by the band WHIRR. A noisy, punky shoegaze album that clocks in at just over 35 minutes, but leaves you completely blown away if you give it a full spin at decent volume. It's kind of the missing link between shoegaze bands like Lush and Slowdive on one side, and post-rock bands like Explosions In The Sky, Mogwai and Alcest on the other.

Label: Tee Pee Records
Cat.nr.: TPE-141-1
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Reverse
02. Junebouvier
03. Bogus
04. Flashback
05. Formulas And Frequencies

SIDE B:
01. Home Is Where My Head Is
02. Toss
03. Hide
04. Wait
05. Reverie

Violens - True [12", LP]

A lovely album, this TRUE by VIOLENS. Dreamy, gentle and light as a feather, but still very catchy songs. Hard to describe what kind of music they make but it's some kind of mixture of dreampop like Cocteau Twins and Slowdive, indie rock like Adorable and Sloan, and great pop melodies like Swedish band Eskobar makes them. Totally awesome.


Label: Slumberland Records
Cat.nr.: SLR 169
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Totally True
02. Der Microarc
03. When To Let Go
04. Sariza Spring
05. Every Melting Degree
06. Lavender Forces

SIDE B:
01. Unfolding Black Wings
02. All Night Low
03. Watch The Streams
04. Lucent Caries
05. Through The Window
06. So Hard To See

DIIV - Oshin [12", LP]

To me, this brilliant album OSHIN by DIIV (pronounced as "Dive") is the debut full length of 2012. For now at least, with just 3 more months to go. I just love it. A great mix of krautrock, shoegaze, dreampop and postpunk. Definitely a band to keep track of.

Label: Captured Tracks
Cat.nr.: CT-158
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. (Druun)
02. Past Lives
03. Human
04. Air Conditioning
05. How Long Have You Known?
06.Wait
07. Earthboy

SIDE B:
01. (Druun Pt. II)
02. Flow
03. Suntime
04. Oshin (Subsume)
05. Doused
06. Home

Slowdive - Hide Yer Eyes [12", LP, Unofficial]

This is a peculiar release, that i ran into a few weeks ago. HIDE YER EYES is a collection of SLOWDIVE songs that apparently were recorded between the Just For Today and Souvlaki albums, and were supposed to be released as an album called I Saw The Sun. Or maybe they were just leftover demos, i don't know. All songs, except for Dagger, never made it to any of their albums at least.
Various things can be found online about these songs. The only thing i do know however, is that if there are still master tapes around of these, a little remastering could do a miracle and you'd have a lovely high-quality Slowdive album from their best period. The quality of these tracks however is pretty bad. Likely taken straight from mp3's that float around on the internet (originating from dubbed copies of tapes, i can only imagine) and only just decent enough to be able to dream how these would sound if properly remastered. Surely not the reason why they call this genre dreampop. Another funny detail: when you look up the supposed address for the record label as stated on the cover on Google Maps, it's an Aral gas station near Leipzig, Germany.
But anyway for big Slowdive fans like myself, this LP is a welcome addition to my collection.


Label: Alti Philosophi
Cat.nr.: -
Year of release: ?

SIDE A:
01. Summer Day
02. Bleed
03. Sleep
04. Silver Screen
05. Dagger

SIDE B:
01. Joy
02. Hide Yer Eyes
03. Ending
04. Richard
05. I Saw The Sun

Ringo Deathstarr - Rip [7"]

RINGO DEATHSTARR will be releasing their second full length ("Mauve") in a few weeks. This 7" on nice deep blue vinyl that just came out of the album's opening track RIP, is the first single from that album. Great stuff once again and i can't wait until the album's spinning on my record player.

Label: Club AC30
Cat.nr.: AC309117
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Rip

SIDE B:
01. Scene

Woven Hand - The Laughing Stalk [12", LP]

I must admit that this is the first ever release by the hands of David Eugene Edwards that i've bought. Never been a fan of Sixteen Horsepower, and probably because of that i've always ignored WOVEN HAND, but ever since i heard a promo of this new album for the first time (around 2 months ago) i knew i had to buy this once it got released. It came out this week. THE LAUGHING STALK is a true beauty. And very likely also not the last release by this band that i'll be buying.

Label: Glitterhouse Records
Cat.nr.: GRLP 765
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Long Horn
02. The Laughing Stalk
03. In The Temple
04. King O King
05. Closer

SIDE B:
01. Maize
02. Coup Stick
03. As Wool
04. Glistening Black

The xx - Coexist (Deluxe Edition) [12", LP]

I'm not going to write much about this new, second album by THE XX. Because there have already been numerous reviews online and there will be many more following, since COEXIST is going to be without doubt one of the biggest releases of the year. And also for me, it will definitely end up in my top 10 of 2012.

So what's there to say? I bought the deluxe vinyl edition; it has the album on CD, a die-cut gatefold sleeve and holds a 24-page booklet with song lyrics and great pictures. Looks beautiful and sounds even better.

Label: Young Turks
Cat.nr.: YT080LPX
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Angels
02. Chained
03. Fiction
04. Try
05. Reunion
06. Sunset

SIDE B:
01. Missing
02. Tides
03. Unfold
04. Swept Away
05. Our Song

Taffy - Flower Chain [7"]

TAFFY... the first time i read about this band i immediately thought about the Italo disco act with the same name, that had a hit with I Love My Radio which blasted through my speakers in the mid 80's. But no, this is something different. Way different.
This is a band from Japan and they play britpop/shoegaze. I checked out a few of their tunes online and thought they were pretty cool, or well at least: OK. Until i heard a song called Theron and found out it was going to be the B-side of their single FLOWER CHAIN. This was not just OK, this was simply awesome and i just had to have it on vinyl. Haven't heard a new song that catchy for quite a while. A rather simple tune, i admit - but fuzzy and distorted, just the way i like it. Kinda like a mix of Ride and Smashing Pumpkins or so, with female vocals. Judge for yourself...
So here i am now: the single arrived for me today and i've been playing the B-side over and over. The A-side ain't bad either by the way ;)

Label: Club AC30
Cat.nr.: AC309097
Year of release: 2012

SIDE A:
01. Flower Chain

SIDE B:
01. Theron

The Telescopes - The Telescopes [12", LP]

Last weekend i found this album by THE TELESCOPES at 33|45 Vinyl Records and i'm extremely happy with it. Until recently, this band was pretty much unknown territory to me except for their song Flying (which is from this album), because it appears on some Indie Top 20 CD i have. But since i saw they'll be playing a concert soon over here and i bought a ticket for that, i've been listening to them quite a lot, and i wonder why i've always completely overlooked them.
This self-titled album was their first and only one on Creation Records, and a few years ago reissued as "Untitled Second" on Bomp! Records. A nice lil' piece of psychedelic shoegaze/indie rock. Hopefully they'll be playing some songs from this album on Sunday when i'll be seeing them.

Label: Creation Records
Cat.nr.: CRELP 079
Year of release: 1992

SIDE A:
01. Splashdown
02. High On Fire
03. You Set My Soul
04. Spaceships
05. The Presence Of Your Grace
06. And

SIDE B:
01. Flying
02. Yeah
03. Ocean Drive
04. Please Tell Mother
05. To The Shore