Fortuna POP!

The Joanna Gruesome/Perfect Pussy mutual admiration society had an emergency meeting and this split single was the result. Each band does one original song and one cover, and the single comes with a super cool 24-page comic by renowned artist Phil McAndrew.

For the covers, each band has dug deep and skirted the obvious. Joanna Gruesome turn in a driving, pummeling version of I Hate Myself's "...And Keep Reaching For The Stars," while Perfect Pussy tackle The Sugarcubes "A Leash Called Love." And of course the originals are 100% up to both group's usual high standards.

It's a fantastic package, the bands' styles complementing each other perfectly. A brilliant racket, and a fun read.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
Joanna Gruesome
1. Psykick Espionage
2. ...And Keep Reaching for Those Stars (I Hate Myself cover)

Side B:
Perfect Pussy
3. Adult World (The Secret)
4. Leash Called Love (Sugarcubes cover)

With a new album now the final copies of this album are being made available at a low price. One of the greatest indie albums ever made. Marries Phil Spector's 60s girl group sound to that of 80s indiepop, but it's the awesome quality of the songwriting that is most important. Buy this! 

The Aislers Set occupy an enviable place in the pop pantheon. Brimming with drunken romanticism, sharp pop sensibilities and timeless melodies, The Aislers reveled in the history of great POP, spiking their classicist 60s-tinged tunes with pure post-punk energy and originality of bands like the Fire Engines and The June Brides.

Every song is a meticulously constructed sound world, where the arrangement and instrumentation sublimely, uncannily bring each tune to completeness. The Last Match expanded the band's sound into more orchestral areas. While the songs are still driving and catchy as a fish hook, the arrangements are far more sophisticated.

The instrumentation has been augmented by Jen's vintage keyboards/organs and various horns, giving the tunes the timeless feel of classic groups like the early Bee Gees, The Zombies and The Millennium. Still preferring to record in the garage where they are allowed unlimited time for experimentation, the band had no problem crafting an amazing sounding album that could have sprung fully-formed from the hallowed studios of Gold Star. This is no murky lo-fi production, but a fully-rounded and rich-sounding recording with a warm, analog sound.

The Last Match was a roaring success, garnering fantastic reviews and spurring the band to tour the US, Japan and UK multiple times, with bands (and fans) including Belle & Sebastian, Black Dice, The Gossip, Erase Errata, Comet Gain and Sleater-Kinney. The band even achieved the ultimate badge of indie honor, recording a session for the legendary John Peel. Even more, The Last Match established The Aislers Set as one of the most beloved indiepop bands of their generation.

It was a must-listen album, one that fueled fond memories, sparked love affairs, set off spontaneous dance parties, and reminded us all of the power of songs and song-craft and POP. It's chiming guitars and indelible melodies were heard everywhere from London to Tokyo, from Glasgow to Malmo: The Aislers truly came into their own with The Last Match.

One of the greatest indie albums ever made. marries Phil Spector's 60s girl group sound to that of 80s indiepop, but it's the awesome quality of the songwriting that is most important.

Buy this! spin.com top 20 albums of the year.

the vu-do-the-shirelles¦ one of the best albums of the year. (8/10) (nme). the sparkliest pop album of the year (The Guardian).

for lovers of bright and simple guitar pop music. album of the week, 5 out of 5 stars (The Times).

exhilarating, clattering, clever pop songs, mixing up the shangri-las, the ramomes and the mary chain (Mojo).

Tracklisting:
1. The Way To Market Station
2. Hit The Snow
3. Chicago New York
4. One Half Laughing
5. Been Hiding
6. Balloon Song
7. Lonely Side Of Town
8. Last Match
9. Christmas Song
10. The Walk
11. The Red Door
12. Fairnt Chairnt
13. We Give Up
14. Bang Bang Bang

The fabulous debut album from airport girl marries their love of americana (Pavement, Sonic Youth) to with a dose of scottish pop (Pastels, Belle and Sebastian).

As played by John Peel and John Kennedy (XFM). Album of the month, scootering ”The Pastels, Teenage Fanclub and Belle & Sebastian all come to mind… a cool album from the genuinely and fiercely independent underground.”

“Airport Girl est à prendre beaucoup plus au sérieux, point de jonction idéal entre les go-betweens et hefner - autrement dit un ersatz complétement affriolant de l'icone Jonathan Richman.” (Les Inrockuptibles)

Tracklisting:
1. This Could Be The Start Of Something Small
2. Power Yr Trip
3. I'm Wrong, You're Right
4. Home On The Range
5. Frostbite
6. Hey! Crayola
7. Love Runs Clean
8. Between Delta And Delaware
9. The Foolishness That We Create Through Love Is The Closest We Come To Greatness
10. You Fill Me Up (I Lose)
11. Surf #7 Wave
12. Shine Like Stars

'Binary' is the new single from DIY-punk-pop quartet The Spook School, takenTry To Be Hopeful, out on now via Fortuna POP! A triumphant queer pop song, exploring gender and identity, "Binary" bursts with noisy energy and a maddeningly catchy tune that you just want to sing over and over, blending together influences ranging from Buzzcocks, to T-Rex and the noisier end of C86.

The Spook School are Anna Cory (bass and vocals), Adam Todd (guitar and vocals), Nye Todd (guitar and vocals) and Niall McCamley (drums). A band in the most communal sense of the word, the songwriting is split between all four members, giving a different perspective and energy to each song.  Since forming in 2012 they've become increasingly involved with the DIY queer punk scene, taking inspiration from the passionate, like-minded people they've met along the way, and from bands such as Martha, Joanna Gruesome, Trust Fund and Tuff Love.

The original recording of the track didn't quite match the excitement of their live show, so the band headed back into the studio to record a new version, the one you hear now, which also served to demonstrate the change in Nye's voice during the making of the record. As Nye undertook his own personal journey by embracing his trans identity and starting testosterone therapy his voice had become considerably lower! As he explains: 'It was a bit nerve-wracking and frustrating to not be able to sing things that I'd been able to sing easily before, but it sounds pretty great!'

The song itself about about questioning gender norms, something that singer and guitarist Nye Todd's experience of coming out as being trans has forced him to think about. As he explains, 'I could never understand gender when trying to think about it as a choice between men'and women'. What was it that separates those two types of people? When I discovered the idea of gender as something a lot messier and more nuanced than two categories, something that could be defined according to how people actually wanted to identify and place themselves, things made a lot more sense. I'm so proud and fortunate to know quite a few amazing people who openly identify as non-binary, genderqueer or other non-binary identities.' Celebrating life beyond the false choice between 'bowties or high heels', this song has quickly become a live favourite, prompting massed choruses of the 'I am bigger than a hexadecimal' line.

Try To Be Hopeful follows The Spook School's critically acclaimed debut album Dress Up (2013), which received plaudits from the Guardian, Uncut and Loud and Quiet. The Spook School have since seen their music used on TV, having recorded the theme tune for BBC Three series 'Badults' (Adam, Anna & Niall all have sidelines in the world of comedy), and have also toured the US, where they became the subject of a Rolling Stone documentary and met Laura Jane Grace of Against Me!

Try To Be Hopeful is the sound of a band growing up, embracing their identities, and taking charge at the world. But amidst the fight for a place in society for everyone, there's still time for love, friendship, and fun. With their bold, fizzy and electrifying anthems, The Spook School are the shot of optimism we've been hoping for.

"Edinburgh's Spook School are a band who have to exist... the quartet's bright indie-pop - sometimes breezily cheerful, 

"Emotionally literate and politically conscious... The Spook School deliver the goods with a good-humoured, no frills approach." The New Internationalist 4*s

Limited Edition 7" (Reverend Black Grape coloured vinyl)
Enabler is the first single to be taken from Evans the Death's new album Expect Delays, out 2nd March. 

Recorded again with producer Rory Atwell (Test Icicles, Warm Brains), the new long-player bristles with underlying tension and veers from rip-roaring noise to quiet contemplation, underpinned by Katherine Whitaker's extraordinary voice. Enabler opens with a sonic onslaught of fuzz and feedback before the rhythm section explodes into life and the song kicks in, Whitaker's distinctive vocals doubled up like sinister twins prowling around a gorgeously discordant melody.

Still barely out of their teens, there's a tremendous sense across Expect Delays of a band coming into their own, honing a plethora of influences to make a sound that is uniquely them. Each song on the album has a different feel to it: some of them are melodic and pretty; some of them heavy and dissonant; and some of them are, to quote guitarist Dan Moss, 'a bit strange'. While retaining the post-punk and 90s alt-rock inspired elements that peppered their debut, the music is more expressive, heavier and more experimental, and the lyrics more nuanced, the sense of despair leavened by sharp wordplay and humour.

The unsettling undercurrent of melancholy and hopelessness that pervades the record has its roots in the last three years, spent eking out an existence on the poverty line in Cameron's Britain, leaving them with a succession of minimum-wage jobs and unemployment benefits interviews. As guitarist Dan Moss relates, the album is about 'being in London and feeling hopeless and a bit lost. Not having any money, relationships falling apart, things just not connecting or going anywhere and getting absolutely wasted all the time.'

Named after the undertaker in Dylan Thomas's Under Milk Wood, the band's 2012 self-titled inaugural album saw critical acclaim from the likes of Q, Uncut and Artrocker, as well as radio play on BBC Radio 1, BBC 6Music and XFM. Following the departure of bassist Alanna McArdle to Joanna Gruesome, the band regrouped around the core of brothers Dan and Olly Moss and singer Katherine Whitaker for the recording of Expect Delays. Drummer James Burkitt was recruited from Leeds'band The ABC Club to complete a lean and taut new four-piece.

'Evans the Death manage to make humdrum everyday existence seem quite magical' Q ****

Tracklisting:
A. Enabler
B. (You Sound Like) An American

Limited Edition (500) 7" Single.

The first single to be taken from Allo Darlin's album 'We Come From the Same Place', "Bright Eyes" is a hugely enjoyable duet between singer Elizabeth Morris and guitarist Paul Rains.

Recording their vocals simultaneously in the live room of the studio, the two were able to play off one another and capture the humour and affection inherent in the song's lyrics.

"Bright Eyes" isn't the first duet the band have recorded, early single "Dreaming" featured Monster Bobby of The Pipettes trading lines with Elizabeth, but as she notes, that then poses its own problems when it comes to playing live.

"I wanted to write another duet, but the only problem with doing that is that when you play live it's very rare that the person you recorded it with can be there. So I thought it would be great to write a song with Paul singing the other part. I love Paul's singing and I wanted to hear him do it more, so it's quite selfish really!"

"We Come From The Same Place" is the third full-length recording from the much loved Anglo-Australian four-piece and is made up of smart, beautiful pop music, with lyrics that resonate with experience and melodies that chime, echo and soar.

The album combines the eagerness, urgency and immediacy of their 2010 self-titled debut with the contemplation, sophistication and ambition of their 2012 follow-up "Europe," and yet it goes beyond either both sonically and in the songs.

It was written at a time of considerable change for songwriter Elizabeth Morris, a time during which she fell in love, moved to Italy and got married. The truism is that third albums are difficult beasts, but by remaining true to themselves Allo Darlin'have side-stepped the pitfalls to produce a wonderful record - thoughtful and exciting and exquisitely played - that will please their existing army of fans and newcomers alike.

Tracklisting:
Side A:
Bright Eyes

Side B:
The Best I Can