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Today, allegedly.

That's where the money is. They look fantastic, but would you ever play them? Ever? No.

So, Iron Maiden making huge amounts of cash for records that won't even get a spin shocker. Suppose they got pissed off at seeing what they weren't making on second hand sales of picture discs that had gone out of print aeons ago.

Johnny Marr – The Messenger - Having initially found fame as guitarist and ‘curator’ of all things music with The Smiths, the ever pragmatic and effortlessly cool Johnny Marrdid not take long to find his feet post Smithsdom. Having kick-started a (Britpop) generation of guitarists with his rickenbacker-esque fretwork in The Smiths, Johnny went on to find fame in super-group Electronicbefore eventually joining both Modest Mouse and The Cribsrespectively as a semi-permanent member, performing on and touring at least one record with both acts. Somewhere in between all of this, with a fleeting appearance as a member of The The, Marrs first foray into solo territory began – a debut record from Johnny Marr & The Healers.Now, 10 years on – and this time sans The Healers, Marr returns with his most accomplished work to date.

The Cribs – Payola - “You’ve got to be special to deliver a great love song. The Buzzcocks did it, Aztec Camera did it. Ash did, and can still do it. To those add The Cribs …” so hailed the band’s press release for their second single ‘You Were Always The One’ back in 2004. You have to be pretty special to last a decade but The Cribs have believed, provoked, empowered, excited and more than ever inspired since their arrival in 2003 and to mark the occasion comes the release of the oh, so dryly titled compilation, ‘Payola’ on 25th February 2013 (Wichita). From their inception in the early noughties, twins Gary and Ryan together with younger brother Ross have built a considerable reputation not only amongst their fans but likewise with critics and their musical peers. ‘Payola’ - a musical journey tracing the band’s musical output from the outset through to their fifth and most recent album ’In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull’ - is a concise 22 track album that includes the previously unreleased track ‘Leather Jacket Love Song’. This song, recorded in 2010, was the last song the band completed as a four piece, and thus, the final song to feature former Cribs guitarist Johnny Marr.

Theme Park – S/T - theme park release their vibrant and smooth debut album via transgressive records. produced by luke smith (foals, the maccabees), this follows a series of single releases and extensive touring throughout 2012, which gained the london 3 piece a wealth of fans and supporters in the lead up to the full album. each track has sparkle and energy with a heavy 80's, tropical and new-wave influence.

Marika Hackman – That Iron Taste - Following the captivating debut single produced by Johnny Flynn and Adam Beach from the Sussex Wit – MarikaHackman announces the release of a mini album ‘That Iron Taste’ produced by Charlie Andrew (Alt-J) due for release 25th February on Dirty Hit. Marika has recently been invited to play with Ethan Johns on his February 2013 tour and will headline her own UK tour March 2013. Marika’s music channels something very different to the happy-clappy nature of recent folk, hers is a far more potent vision in the lineage of Syd Barrett, but presented by an enigmatic beauty with a striking vocal delivery more akin to that of Nico. Testament to Marika’s rare talent can be heard on a recent covers EP that disclosed a raft of influences from Warpaint and The Knife to Nico and Nirvana.

Post War Years – Galapagos - ‘Galapagos’ is packed full of rampant ideas, inexorable grooves, variation in tempo, nuance and arrangements, signaling a major evolutionary leap for Post War Years. To bolster this confident new direction, the band enlisted the talents of Philadelphia’s far out animator and filmmaker, Tobias Stretch (Efterklang and Radiohead). Tobias has duly bestowed his brand of dream-logic surreality upon the band. On top of making all the bands videos, Tobias is working across the entire visual content for ‘Galapagos’. Alongside the work Tobias is creating will be 10 DIY videos, one for every track on the album, created by the band and filmed on their phones.

Balthazar – Rats - Balthazar are the brainchild of songwriters Maarten Devoldere and Jinte Deprez. Meeting as teenage buskers, the two embarked on a whirlwind writing partnership that led to the quick formation of the band and initial acclaim in mainland Europe. Resisting the temptation to cash in on that wave of interest, Balthazar took the best part of five years to record their debut album, experimenting with different genres and approaches until they were sure that they had the sound they were looking for. With 'Rats, that sound has been honed to a focus on melody and subtlety, avoiding the current fashion for bombast to create songs that burst forth in horns or sweep by on strings, underpinned with delicate rhythms that draw on both the pair's love of the work of Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen and the hip hop production of the likes of Dangermouse.

Caitlin Rose – The Stand In - If you fell in love with Nashville’s Caitlin Rose and her garlanded 2010 debut album, 'Own Side Now', you were in good company. Led by her golden nectar voice, an irrepressible personality matched with a gift for emotionally direct songwriting, and deliciously melodic country sounds, Caitlin Rose beguiled and flat-out, jaw-droppingly impressed wherever she turned. At 25, Caitlin Rose returns with her follow up album, 'The Stand-In'. The scope of her progression as an artist is palpable from the outset, and Rose herself concurs. “I have a tendency to work small so this album is like my first attempt at a high kick,” acknowledging 'Own Side Now' as a more pared down recording. With the warm and rousing, full-band depth of ‘No One to Call’, she immediately signals not only her personal growth but the maturing of the musical relationships within the band, and crucially, the sense of a collective pull in the same direction. “Self-exploration isn't something to take lightly and I learned a lot about myself this time around, but this was more of a team effort than anything I've ever done.”

Such Gold – Misadventures - US melodic hardcore/punk act Such Gold is set to release their debut studio album, ‘Misadventures’, in the UK on 25thFebruary, 2013 via Razor & Tie. The album was produced by Steve Evetts (Every Time I Die, Saves The Day, Lifetime, The Dillinger Escape Plan). Even before their debut was recorded, Such Gold featured in Alternative Press’ 100 Bands You Need To Know and even made it over to the UK a couple of times with the likes of The Wonder Years. They’ve also supported artists such as A Day To Remember, Polar Bear Club and MXPX back in the States. The release of ‘Misadventures’ will follow the band’s next batch of UK dates which will see them supporting Funeral For A Friend on an extensive run of shows around the country. Such Gold say "this will be the longest tour we've ever done in the UK and we're stoked to see all the friends we've made there over the years and play in some new places"

Woodpigeon – Thumbtacks and Glue - Woodpigeon continues to refine and expand upon his sound with Thumbtacks + Glue, recorded in Calgary, Alberta with producer Arran Fisher and mastered by Ryan Morey. Known for his stunning and heart-wrenching orchestral pop, Thumbtacks + Glue shows off Hamilton at his most diverse, from "Children Should Be Seen And Not Heard" crunching guitar and "As Read In The Pine Bluff Commercial" pure pop to the delicacy of "Little Wings" and the bitter sting of "Robin Song". This is the sound of a songwriter just hitting his stride.

Popstrangers – Antipodes - Popstrangers are Joel Flyger, Adam Page and David Larson, three native New Zealanders who make “pop” music that’s hard-driving, punk-influenced and sonically inimitable. After releasing several singles on fabled New Zealand label Flying Nun, the band arrives with their debut album Antipodes. Recorded in the basement of a 1930’s dancehall, Popstrangers’ first full-length features dissonant, claustrophobic melodies, anchored by the languid affectations of Flyger’s vocals, that bring a vintage feel to their decidedly contemporary garage rock. Channelling early Radiohead and kiwi indie bands of yore, like the Gordons, 3Ds and the Chills, Antipodes further develops the band’s nuanced, distorted “pop” created and cultivated from years spent honing their craft live.

Gnod – Chaudelande - Gnod’s ‘Chaudelande’ Vol 1 & 2 vinyl only-albums on Tamed Records have become a thing of infamy. Two of the greatest slabs of beat driven, shamanistic space noise to have been released in recent years, and now Rocket Recordings (who put out the awesome Goat LP last year) are set to release these two mammoth LPs together for the first time as a single release on 25th Feb. The collective that is Gnod has risen out of the DIY ethic of Manchester’s Islington Mill. Central to the ethic is an alternative approach to musical creativity and freedom of expression with no regard to established opinions. Gnod is a state of mind. Those who seek Gnod, will find Gnod, the universe is centred on neither the earth nor the sun. It is centred on Gnod. The epic pilgrimage that is ‘Chaudelande’ will take the listener on a ride through the narrow chinks of the cavernous mind in the frenzied spirit of This Heat, Sunburned Hand of Man and the repetitive beats of Krautrock via Wax Trax. So come join the cult that is Gnod’s ‘Chaudelande’ as once again the band deliver another jolt to the unsound mind.

Thought Forms – Ghost Mountain - It all bodes well for Thought Forms second new album, a record that wastes no time in establishing that this is a group who have moved on substantially from their debut of three years ago. Indeed, if their self-titled debut in 2009 was about finding the dynamic limits of their atmospheric sound, gently prodding and probing varying elements, then the huge great slab of guitar that greets you instantly on their follow-up roars with the confidence of a band who’ve found their level from which to fully explore their creative expression. Charlie Romijn (guitars / vocals), Deej Dhariwal (guitars / vocals) and Guy Metcalfe (drums) have already made their mark live – cultivating a colossal sound that bands twice their number would struggle to re-create - with appearances at ATP Festival I’ll Be Your Mirror and a US tour support slot with Portishead in 2011. Indeed, with a recent support tour with Geoff Barrow’s Beak> and, of course, putting Ghost Mountain out on Invada, there’s clearly a strong link to their fellow Bristolians – more so when you consider that Portishead live member Jim Barr produced the new record. Barr’s input was vital, says the group’s Charlie Romijn: “He totally understood what we're about and where we are coming from,” she explains. “He really helped us to develop our ideas, enhancing or changing songs we weren’t sure about. We completely trusted him and he's really pushed us further than we'd have managed on our own.”

Raisa K – Feeder EP - Raisa K – one third of Micachu & The Shapes and sometime collaborator with The Invisible, DELS and Kwes – serves up her debut solo release, Feeder. This wholesome slice of noisy experimental pop, free to download now, is the title track of Raisa K’s forthcoming Feeder EP, which will be released digitally and on 500 limited edition numbered 12”s in January. The EP is the first release for Technicolour Records, a new label from Dean Bryce, better known as DJ/producer PhOtOmachine. Alongside the names mentioned above, Raisa K (Raisa Khan) is part of a new wave of young, restlessly innovative London-based artists reshaping the modern musical landscape.

Soosh – Colour is Breathe - 2012 was a year of transition and development for Soosh’s composition and production. Moving to Italy for five blissful months to write and record the album, he built on his “Post BOARDS OF CANADA IDM” beat-led music he made his name with and matured his sound with an ever greater ‘pop’ awareness.

The Good, the Bad and the Zugly – Anti World Music - Oslo is widely regarded as the ugliest capital in the world. It’s no wonder then that the city is breeding some of the most distasteful music that is around. The proudest example of this standard Oslo-filth is Fysisk Format's newest signing: The Good The Bad and The Zugly. The Good The Bad and The Zugly has produced four 7" that have caused shock and awe amongst Norwegian natives and brought comparisons to Dead Boys and GG Allin, as well as label-mates Haraball and Haust. Their debut album is entitled, Anti World Music and is produced by Tommy Manboy of Silver and Turbonegro. With a band name as infantile and cartoonish as it gets (based on the bass player’s longtime nickname Zugly), his band is not exactly a branding or promotional minded gang, this is genuinely p-u-n-k all the way. So frothingly angry, that it brings associations to the darkness and hatred of their black metal fellow countrymen. Musically, it’s incredibly tight, tough and catchy. This is not your sloppy three chord punk band, this is spent-all-of-adolescence-playing-punkrock-because-of-alienation-from-society-syndrome.

The Bitter Springs – Everyone’s Cup of Tea - A new album from The Bitter Springs is such a rare occurrence that they thought they’d better make it a double... Featuring all the recent download singles on disc for the first time plus so much more… The unexpected departure of bassist and original member Daniel Ashkenazy makes this his Springs swansong. Everyone’s Cup of Tea is 26 songs across 2 CDs. Many of the songs feature some great trumpet and sax from Terry Edwards (Tindersticks, Robyn Hitchcock, Scapegoats). Holy Joy’s, Johny Brown guests as the Birdman of wormwood scrubs on ‘Don’t Write a Song’ and Julian Wilson (Grand Drive) plays his beautiful Hammond on the bands update of Jim Ford’s ‘Harry Hippie’ … And that’s just CD 1. CD 2 – ‘The Bitter Springs destroyed my life’ has a more electronic/acoustic feel and along with the four part album Diary that is ‘Powerless’. You’ll find the band adopting Ollie Cherer’s (Dollboy) instrumentals and giving them words from the house of Springs

Mekon – Piece of Work - Mekon, aka John Gosling, has worked with some of the most influential cultural innovators of the last 25 years including Genesis P.Orridge, Goldie, Marc Almond, Schoolly D, William Orbit, Afrika Bambaataa and Alexander McQueen. He’s also been an integral artist for the pioneering Wall Of Sound Records (Royksopp, Grace Jones, Jacques Lu Cont, Aeroplane, The Bees, I Am Kloot, Felix Da Housecat et al) run by lovable eccentric music mogul, Mark Jones. ‘Piece Of Work’ is Mekon’s fourth album for the label. ‘Piece Of Work’ features a roll call of likeminded collaborators including Schoolly D, Throbbing Gristle/Psychic TV’s Peter Christopherson, Marco Pirroni from Adam & The Ants, PIGand more, with the album’s 12 tracks ranging from electro rap, industrial techno and balearic to ambient and neo-classical.

Local Natives – Hummingbird - Much has happened between the band’s critically-acclaimed debut album, Gorilla Manor, and the imminent release of Hummingbird. Gorilla Manor launched the band onto the global stage, saw them headlining throughout America and Europe, opening for bands like Arcade Fire and The National, and winning them lauded slots at major festivals around the world. Upon their return home from the road, the band built out a rehearsal space and studio in an abandoned bungalow in Silverlake, allowing them to write and experiment extensively with new sounds and arrangements. Keeping their uniquely collaborative process intact, the band utilized new instruments and songwriting approaches, challenging themselves to grow from the comfort space of their established aesthetic. The band say Hummingbird was created from the emotional framework of being stretched between two opposite poles. In the two years following Gorilla Manor’s release, the band saw the highest highs and the lowest lows they had ever experienced together. While many of their wildest musical ambitions were coming to fruition, personal relationships faltered or fell apart, and a close family member suddenly passed away. The songs on Hummingbird embody that similar dichotomy – they are fragile and powerful, opulent and spare, tense and poised. When it came time to properly set these songs to tape, the band did their initial tracking in Montreal, and then decamped to Brooklyn, enlisting as co-producer The National’s Aaron Dessner, whom they had recently befriended while touring together. It was the first time they had ever recorded outside their native California, and relocating became the physical manifestation of working beyond what was familiar for them.

Kavinsky – Outrun - After releasing three EP’s through the Record Makers label, Kavinsky has emerged as one of the biggest artists of the French electro scene.Kavinsky’s signature track – ‘Nightcall’ – produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, was the lead track from the soundtrack of the hit neo-noir crime film ‘Drive’. The track has also been played over 30 million times on YouTube. The highly-anticipated debut album from Kavinsky, Outrun, features ‘Nightcall’ and is produced by rising French DJ/producer Sebastian, and is set for a February 25th release in the UK on Mercury Records.

Doldrums – Lesser Evil - Doldrums’ music deals with the loss of the individual, a bodiless, Soma-fried peeling back of surface emotions to expose an attitude both utterly bleak and mesmerizing In 2011, after hearing Doldrums’ interpretation of their song ‘Chase the Tear’, Portishead released his song as the b-side to their single. At the same time, new tracks fell into the hands of cult London indie label No Pain In Pop, and were quickly confirmed for release as ‘Empire Sound’, his debut EP. In 2012 he signed to Berlin label Souterrain Transmissions, releasing the ‘Egypt’ 12” EP, and has since toured extensively with a new three-piece live set up, taking in shows with Grimes, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and stand out performances at SXSW, The Great Escape, CMJ, Pop Montreal & Iceland Airwaves. The trio have developed a captivating live show so fuelled with energy and adrenaline that it often teeters dangerously on the brink of collapse, yet it’s on that edge that the world of Doldrums is at it’s most intoxicating.

The Rockingbirds – The Return of the Rockingbirds - The Rockingbirds have announced details of the release of a new album. The Return Of The Rockingbirds, their first album in 17 years, will be released through Loose Music on Monday February 25th 2013. The Return Of The Rockingbirds is the band’s 3rd album. Self-produced and recorded over the past couple of years at Reservoir, Ernie’s and Ilex studios, all songs were written by the band’s lead vocalist Alan Tyler. The Rockingbirds released their self-titled debut in 1992 on Heavenly Recordings. A much loved and acclaimed record and one which in equal parts bucked the musical trends of the time and anticipated the alt-country movement which was to follow. Their beautifully written, heart-felt songs resulted in the North London band being talked of in the same breath as the likes of Uncle Tupelo and The Jayhawks.

The Mariner’s Children – Sycamore EP - Following on from their critically acclaimed New Moore Island EP, 7-piece band The Mariner’s Children return with a new work,Sycamore EP, as devastating and as poignantly beautiful as their last. Hinging on the themes of love and death, songwriter Benedict Rubinstein explores the relationships between these experiences and how both can distort logic. “Sycamore came from a period when I’d gone to a lot of funerals in a very short space of time. I was thinking about death a lot but I was also in quite a good place in my life and very much in love, so felt quite able to write about the most terrifying thing from a pretty contented place. It’s not a happy song - it’s about everything ending and nature and time conquering all and there being nothing you can do about it but work to accept it - but it didn’t come from a place of despair. The track is about death, but it’s definitely a love song.” The Mariner’s Children include members of Peggy Sue, Laura Marling, Sons of Noel and Adrian, Alessi’s Ark, and Eyes & No Eyes.

Golden Grrrls – S/T - Golden Grrrls are Eilidh Rodgers, Ruari MacLean and Rachel Aggs. What began as a bedroom guitar experimentation soon bloomed in to a fully-formed language inspired by the 80s New Zealand and Australian indie pop scene and DIY punk. Drummer, Eilidh Rodgers' inventive, loose cannon drumming and lead vocals have framed MacLean's baritone from the beginning with newest member Rachel Aggs (also of Trash Kit) bringing an effortless melodic sensibility on guitar and backing vocals. Their debut album, Golden Grrrls contains 11 perfect songs about life's realities dressed in 3 part harmonies, heart-tugging changes and a playing style derived from punk and c86 enthusiasm. Like contemporaries Twerpsand Sea Lions, they've joined a lineage of pop essentialists such as The Clean and The Feelies - bands who never sacrifice melody to mere primitivism. Each chord, beat and vocal line is perfectly placed, essential and simply has to exist as it is in its moment in time.

Popstrangers sound intriguing (The Chills AND The Gordons as influences? Hmmm....kinda different bands, there)

Kozelek was out on Spotify last week. It's a decent enough covers album, mostly of stuff that you'd expect. And 'I Got You Babe'.

that huge wall of text isnt getting read however