Mogwai, Matt Berry, Sufjan Stevens, Studio, Yo La Tengo, Burial, Kode9, Nourished By Time, Tuung & more...

Posted by Lee Conybeare on January 23, 2025

We write this week with a very heavy heart because of a hugely sad loss, both personally and to the wider local music community, so we can't let this newsletter pass by without paying tribute to Lucy Coggle.

Lucy was one of the most talented and well respected musicians we have met in the 20+ years of running Off The Beaten Tracks. She was such a bright, kind and generous soul and as one of the first people we ever employed at OTBT, she was always a joy to work with. Lucy was one half of the brilliant folk duo The Coggle Sisters playing cello alongside her twin sister Rosie and it was an absolute pleasure to have them play live for us many times over the years including for our 20th shop anniversary last March, which many of you will recall.

Our thoughts and love go out to her wonderful family and to her many friends.

RIP dear Lucy

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New In Store This Week

'Mogwai's The Bad Fire was recorded at Chem19 studios in Scotland with American Grammy Award winning producer John Congleton (St Vincent, Angel Olsen, John Grant) joining the band in the studio for their eleventh album. A Scottish colloquialism for Hell, The Bad Fire draws inspiration from a series of tough personal moments that the band found themselves in following on from their chart-topping tenth album.'

Various formats available 24th January

Matt Berry returns with Heard Noises, his first new solo album since 2021’s Blue Elephant. This time he delivers a soul and West Coast psych-inspired collection of songs, which attach an innate sense of melody to a lush, contemporary take on classic recording techniques. All of this is allied with Matt’s rich voice and unique lyrics.

Sufjan Stevens releases The Avalanche: Outtakes and extras from the Illinois this week. 'The little secret behind the Illinois record is that it was originally conceived as a double album, culminating in a musical collage of nearly 50 songs. But as the project began to develop into an unwieldy epic, common sense weighed in - as did the opinions of others - and the project was cut in half...Much of the work was done at the end of 2005 or in January the following year. Sufjan invited many of the original Illinoisemakers to fill in the edges: drums, trumpet, a choir of singers. The centerpiece, of course, was the title track - The Avalanche - a song intended for the leading role on the Illinois album but eventually cut and placed as a bonus track on the vinyl release. '

Double LP out Friday 24th Jan

West Coast by Studio is reissued this week

'Some called Studio, the project of Swedish musicians Dan Lissvik and Rasmus Hägg, “the missing link between The Cure and Lindstrøm,” Pitchfork heard Durutti Column and Can, as the duo’s story became swept up in a loosely developing scene and a precursor to the 2010s boom at the axis of electronic and psychedelic music guided by indie greats like Caribou, Four Tet, and Darkside.

West Coast, their seminal 2006 debut, captured a faraway romanticism of Balearic brushed up against Krautrock, disco, dub, and afrobeat, with pop lyricism lifted from new wave, all made modern by two art school grads in Gothenburg. First pressed in a small vinyl-only run via their own Information label, the album has been notably absent from most streaming services, and the internet’s record of its initial impact is all but fossilized from a bygone blog era, while its sound is simply untraceable to any one moment in music.

“It’s easy to wish we would have done some proper recordings of our own instead,” Hägg reflects. But both artists, now well into respective careers beyond Studio, have come to peace with West Coast as their most enduring effort together. Lissvik adds, “It serves as a good reminder for me to keep to that decision and promise and to continue exploring and growing.'

Fog coloured vinyl version out 24th Jan

If you haven't heard indie rock band Yo La Tengo's music do check them out. They first formed in New Jersey in 1984 and are big faves of ours here at OTBT since we first heard them in 2000.

'Back in print for the first time in over 20 years, this compilation Genius + Love = Yo La Tengo assembles more than two hours of hard to find and unreleased Yo La Tengo music from 1988 – 1995.'

'Burial and Kode9’s acclaimed joint 12” Phoneglow/Eyes Go Blank, initially released as a Hyperdub webshop exclusive in summer 2024, now available in record stores worldwide, with revised label art and custom sleeve.' Out 24th Jan

English singer/songwriter 'FKA twigs releases her highly-anticipated third studio album, EUSEXUA via Young Recordings. Eusexua is a state of being. A feeling of momentary transcendence often evoked by art, music, sex, and unity. Eusexua can be followed by a state of bliss and feelings of limitless possibility. Also used to refer to: ‘The pinnacle of Human Experience’. It is united through any moment in which we are fully embodying ourselves, present in the moment, disconnected from technology, synthesized with those around us. It was moments of Eusexua that birthed EUSEXUA the album, as twigs cites her late nights in the underground techno scene of Prague. '

Vinyl, CD and cassette versions available

Guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson leads Oregon pysch rock group Rose City Band. Their 'music is sun-kissed timeless country rock whose seemingly effortless momentum carries the joy of its creation without ignoring the darkness pervading our consciousness. Led by guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson, the music of Rose City Band is rooted in his love of private press records of the mid to late 70’s...Throughout his prolific career with Wooden Shjips, Moon Duo and now Rose City Band, Johnson’s music has consistently centered around exploration and discovery. Sol Y Sombra imbues his penchant for space and resplendent tonality with a denser amalgam of his influences through a delicate balance of the somber and the serene, of subtle evolutions and familiar sounds, Sol Y Sombra makes for a holistically joyous experience, finding solace in both sun and shade.'

Coke bottle clear vinyl out 24th Jan

American singer & producer Marcus Brown aka Nourished By Time's debut album, Erotic Probiotic 2, tells his transformative story through impeccable songwriting, infectious ear worm melodies, vivid storytelling and intimate DIY production. Originally released on London label Scenic Route, Erotic Probiotic 2 was critically acclaimed, picking up Pitchfork’s 'Best New Music' and was widely regarded as one of the ‘Best Albums of 2023’

Browse these and other new arrivals in store and online now

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The team have been working their socks off to get more great 2nd hand singles, LPs and CDs out in the shop this week. Top picks include a mint reissue of Rage Against The Machine on vinyl, The Best of BB King on CD, a new, sealed copy of The Beatles Live At The Liverpool Empire 7th December 1963 on vinyl and a mint copy of Thurston Moore's 2024 release Flow Critical Lucidity on CD.

Browse in store and in our online Discogs shop https://www.discogs.com/seller/OffTheBeatenTracks/profile

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New Music Coming Soon....