The Boomtown Rats were an Irish rock band that scored a series of British hits between 1977 and 1980, and were led by singer Bob Geldof, who organized the Ethiopian relief efforts Band Aid and Live Aid. Collection includes: A Tonic for the Troops (1978); The Fine Art Of Surfacing (1979); Mondo Bongo (1981); V Deep (1982).

My Nation Underground is the fourth solo album by Julian Cope. It produced three singles including "Charlotte Anne" (which reached number 35 in the UK charts in September 1988 and was also Cope's only song to reach any position on the US charts). The album's music is an extension of the more commercial side of Cope's songwriting, following on from the relative commercial and organisational success of its predecessor Saint Julian.

Journey through the music of a generation in one of the UK’s most vibrant and creative cities. Features classics, rarities, album tracks and TWELVE previously unreleased gems from The Human League, Pulp (and members thereof), Heaven 17, Thompson Twins, B.E.F., Artery, ABC, Clock DVA, Hula, The Danse Society, In The Nursery, Treebound Story and many more.

UK three CD collection. This release charts the birth of synthesized pop music in the 1980s and ultimately the roots of contemporary electronic dance music. The importance and continued popularity of '80s pop is not to be underestimated, and the emergence of serious synthesized music producers in Kraftwerk, The Human League, Heaven 17, OMD, Yazoo, Ultravox, Talk Talk, Japan, Devo, Sparks, Gary Numan, New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, all of whom massively pushed the boundaries in experimenting with (mainly) Roland synths in this era, ultimately showed the way for the House and Techno producers of the '90s to the present day. Within this more serious side there was also some brilliant, pure Synthpop from the Thompson Twins, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Thomas Dolby, Simple Minds, Propaganda, Erasure, China Crisis, Belouis Some, the Lotus Eaters, a Flock of Seagulls, Howard Jones, Blancmange and the Associates.

Peepshow is the ninth studio album by English alternative rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees, released in September 1988 on Polydor. It was their first record as a quintet. With the arrival of multi-instrumentalist Martin McCarrick, the group recorded a multifaceted album with a variety of influences. Including the singles "Peek-a-Boo" and "The Last Beat of My Heart", the record was a commercial success, peaking at No. 68 on the Billboard 200 chart in the week of 3 December 1988. It spent a total of 20 weeks on that chart. Peepshow was widely acclaimed by critics. Praise centred around the unpredictability of the orchestrations and new nuances in Siouxsie's voice.

Released four years after the Talking Heads called it a day with 1988's Naked, Popular Favorites provides a thorough overview of one of the most important American bands of the '80s. From tightly wound early efforts such as "Psycho Killer" and "Don't Worry About the Government" to the seriously funky likes of "I Zimbra" and "Burning Down the House," David Byrne, Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Franz grew as musicians as they stretched the original concepts of the unit to the breaking point. Over the course of two discs and 32 selections, the anthology chronicles the Heads' development from Bowery art punks (albeit of the most civil stripe) to unlikely arena stars. A smattering of unreleased tracks and notes from the original quartet nicely flesh out the retrospective.

All the ghouls, ghosts and goblins of gothic rock past, present and future have gathered on this very special 2CD Halloween-themed compilation! Includes exclusive tracks not found anywhere else by Lebanon Hanover, Buzz Kull, R. Missing, Bauhaus's David J and others PLUS classic tracks by Ministry, Christian Death, The Damned, Corpus Delicti, The 69 Eyes, Powerman 5000, Skold and more!

A group whose distinctly ethereal and gossamer sound virtually defined the enigmatic image of the record label 4AD, Cocteau Twins were founded in Grangemouth, Scotland, in 1979. Taking their name from an obscure song from fellow Scots Simple Minds, the Cocteaus were originally formed by guitarist Robin Guthrie and bassist Will Heggie and later rounded out by Guthrie's girlfriend Elizabeth Fraser, an utterly unique performer whose swooping, operatic vocals relied less on any recognizable language than on the subjective sounds and textures of verbalized emotions.

THE THE, one of the most acclaimed and cherished bands of the last few decades, have announced details of the release of ‘Ensoulment’, their first studio album of new songs in a quarter century. This 12-song album will be released through Cinéola / earMUSIC on Friday 6th September 2024.

A long awaited reissue of The Fall's ninth full length album Bend Sinister, this edition is titled Bend Sinister/The 'Domesday' Pay-Off Triad-Plus. “Part musical hypnotist, part ranting madman, Smith was a singular figure in post-punk. His Mancunian accent, dry witticisms and plays on words were one of the Fall’s most constant characteristics. Their songs were odysseys into his ever-verbose psyche, marked by repetitive rhythms and melodies.” - ROLLING STONE. The bonus material added to the reissue includes various B-sides, Peel Session cuts, live tracks and more. If you spring for the CD version, you'll get six added tracks that are previously unreleased.

Formed whilst still at school in late 1974, The Outsiders charted their own unlikely path through the tumultuous punk era, releasing one of the very first independent ‘punk’ albums in the process and dividing opinion with their contribution to the new musical revolution. Aided and backed by front man Adrian Borland’s father, the band produced material in an adventurous range of styles (somehow becoming ‘post-punk’ during the original wave), recorded in their own private studio and released material on their own Raw Edge label. Borland and co-founder Adrian Janes, whilst tapping into punk’s energy, explored songwriting which dug deeper than much of whatever else was happening at the time, simultaneously youthful, reflective and knowing.

Limited edition of 500. Tone Set (Galen Herod and Greg Horn) was an Arizona minimal synth duo that existed from 1981 to 1983. Their early sound mixed analog synthesizers and gritty drum machines with tapes of found speech. This was the sound of their first release, a 1982 cassette called Cal's Ranch recorded with almost no vocals at The Center for Advanced Studies and released through the Zia record store in Tempe, AZ. In 1982, Tone Set contributed the track "Out! Out! Out!" to Placebo Records' Amuck compilation (PLA-103), which also featured Meat Puppets, and Sun City Girls (the duo also contributed a track called "Happy People" under their Happy People alias). Vocals started to become a more prominent part of their sound by the time they recorded their Calibrate EP, released in February 1983 on Pegna Records (peg one). The first side featured three pop songs – "Life is Busy" and "Slim," both sung by Herod, and "Living In Another Land," sung by Horn.

Fontaines D.C. release their highly-anticipated fourth album, Romance. Released via XL Recordings, Romance is the band’s first album with producer James Ford and is without doubt their most assured, inventive and sonically adventurous record yet. It’s set to build on the success of the Dublin-made, now London-based band’s acclaimed 2022 album Skinty Fia, which reached number 1 in the UK and Irish album charts and saw the band receiving a host of accolades including “International Group of the Year” at the 2023 Brit Awards.

Five CD set bringing a comprehensive, big-tent look at the early years of punk rock in the US and Canada. Over six hours of music. Includes benchmark tracks by the scene's most influential bands plus many rare singles making their first appearance on CD. This five CD includes influential NYC bands - Patti Smith Group, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, The Voidoids, etc. - as well as the scene's other pioneers such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). Blank Generation offers a deliberately broad definition of punk, encompassing contributions from such outré acts as Suicide, The Cramps and The Residents through to new wave/power pop combos (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's, etc.). While the US punk scene was arguably always more diverse musically than that of the UK, the music evolved quickly, as evinced by the choices heard on Discs 4 and 5. Many of the acts here such as X, The Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, The Dream Syndicate, The Gun Club and Minor Threat would make an even greater impact as the 1980s wore on. It's hard to overestimate the seismic shocks caused by the music on 'Blank Generation', not only on everything in alternative music which followed in North American, from the 80s hardcore scene and the music heard on the whole alternative college radio network through to grunge and beyond. And yet this era has never before been treated to a comprehensive retrospective of this kind.

Compiled by noted Australian music writer and historian David Nichols, ‘Closed Circuits’ looks at what happened in Australia when the machines started taking over in the wake of punk in the late 70s.