New Music 2025

asredastheycome said:
This thing of beauty to finish with. This was first released in 1981 but is now part of this fantastic release. Not heard this before.

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Various Artists – All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985 (Night School)

Lush’s Phil King curated this compilation of forgotten electrop from the era when the future was now

I love the “junkshop” genre of compilations—collections that shine a light on obscure acts who maybe only made one self-released single before vanishing into the ether. 2003’s Velvet Tinmine: 20 Junkshop Glam Ravers, compiled by Saint Etienne’s Bob Stanley and Lush’s Phil King, remains the gold standard. King is also behind All the Young Droids, which dives into “junkshop synth pop” from the genre’s original golden age: 1978–1985, or roughly the period between Daniel Miller forming Mute Records to release “Warm Leatherette” through the moment glossy “’80s production” took over everything in pop and rock.

Says King: “And then came the rise of synth pop: blokes with dodgy haircuts hunched over keyboard-operated machines stuffed with wires and do-it-yourself tone oscillators making sounds like a brood of geese passing gas in a wind tunnel. Whoopee! This is the way the ’70s ended: not with a blood-curdling bang but with a cheap, synthesized, emasculating whimper.” I’m pretty sure he means that in the best way, and the 24 songs and artists featured here—all new to me—range from charmingly wobbly to genuinely awesome.

Most tracks lean toward the darkwave side of things—sci-fi themes, band names to match—with very early drum machines that click, pop, and whoosh more than they kick, snare, or tom, and minor-key melodies paired with melodramatic vocals. A few sound delightfully naïve, made by musicians still figuring out the gear they often built themselves, while others are surprisingly lush. The best songs land somewhere in between, like Rich Wilde’s “The Lady Wants to Be Alone,” Disco Volante’s “No Motion,” Peta Lilly’s “I Am a Time Bomb,” and Andreas Dorau’s “Fred Vom Jupiter,” which features expertly layered synth-work that makes the most of cassette four-track recording equipment.

Beyond discovering all this great music I’d never heard before, the accompanying booklet—full of rare photos and excellent liner notes—is a treasure trove of information, not to mention amazing fashion and wild hairstyles. It’s a great document of an era when the future felt within reach of anyone with a soldering iron and access to a Radio Shack.

Peta Lily And Michael Process - I Am A Time Bomb​
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Great find!
 
goalscrounger said:
Love this...."Linoleum" by The Golden Dregs

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Really like this. It reminds me of an updated version of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra. I must say though I got all excited when I saw the name Linoleum(which is obviously song name) as I thought it was the band Linoleum who had a great album called Dissent in the late 90's.

But cracking song this.
 
CARDIACS – “WOODENEYE”

Cardiacs have revealed a release date for LSD, their first album in over 25 years that’s been in the works since before bandleader Tim Smith’s 2020 death. It comes out on September 19

 
ADA LEA – “BOB DYLAN’S 115TH HAIRCUT”

“Sometimes I get into these moods where I feel like there will always be a gap between what I want to say, and what I actually end up writing,” Ada Lea says of the latest single off her new album when i paint my masterpiece. “I start comparing myself. The mood that evening was comparing myself to Bob Dylan. And why not? In order to pick myself up off the floor after saying things like ‘I could never write a song like Bob Dylan,’ which of course, is true, I had to reverse the thought ‘could he write one like me?’ Whether or not that was a good thing, it was something.”

 
Maisie Jean - In Ecstasy ......................this is an 18 year old from Sheffield. Friends of mine saw her playing and recommended her. I like this and a few others off her debut album “Fluorescent Girl”.

 
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