Cocteau Twins – Milk & Kisses (2024 Remaster) (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Milk & Kisses (2024 Remaster) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 42:44 minutes | 498 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © EMI

Milk & Kisses shouldn’t be as good as it is. Riven by years of interpersonal tensions brought on by the romantic relationship (and subsequent dissolution) between vocalist Elizabeth Fraser and guitarist Robin Guthrie as well as the aftereffects of Guthrie’s substance abuse (and recovery), Cocteau Twins was a band on its last legs in the mid-’90s. Despite the fact they were ultimately winding down, this period was remarkably collaborative and incredibly productive. (Milk & Kisses was preceded by a pair of standalone EPs that—just like in the band’s formative years—presented cohesive sonic concepts of their own; Twinlights was a largely acoustic affair, with piano-and-guitar versions of old and new songs, while Otherness brought in Seefeel’s Mark Clifford to remix a handful of tracks.)

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Cocteau Twins – Four-Calendar Café (2024 Remaster) (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Four-Calendar Café (2024 Remaster) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:07 minutes | 489 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © EMI

Four-Calendar Café may be the most vexing album in the Cocteau Twins’ discography. Following the success of Heaven or Las Vegas, it’s not surprising that the group continued to explore sounds that were accessibly structured, melody-forward, and, even occasionally, lyrically transparent. Instead of leaning into Heaven’s note-perfect combination of beautiful bombast and cosmic catchiness, the Twins made a record that was reliant on gentle, midtempo acoustic compositions that have a quiet, somewhat unfinished feel, which gets amplified by the somewhat sluggish sequence. The first two tracks—”Know Who You Are at Every Age” and “Evangeline”—are certainly up to the group’s standard for beauty, but they’re also notably low-key. It’s not until the chiming, open chords of “Bluebeard” ring out that any sort of life appears to have been breathed into the proceedings.

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The Lovecraft Sextet – Seekers Who Are Lovers [A Tribute to Cocteau Twins] (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

The Lovecraft Sextet – Seekers Who Are Lovers [A Tribute to Cocteau Twins] (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 30:10 minutes | 323 MB | Genre: Dark Jazz, Experimental, Dreampop, Ambient
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Verbum Dei 001

A key actor on the hazy side of post-punk music, Scottish trio COCTEAU TWINS became famous for their ethereal soundscapes and for pioneering what would become known as dream pop. The group’s sound was also highly inspirational for Jason Köhnen (BONG-RA, THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE). Paying tribute to this legendary band, Köhnen’s THE LOVECRAFT SEXTET has created an experimental 30-minute cover of the song ‘Seekers Who Are Lovers’ which originally appeared on the 1996 album “Milk & Kisses”.

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Cocteau Twins – Treasure (1984/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Treasure (1984/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:35 minutes | 354 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

“Treasure” is the third studio album by Scottish alternative rock band Cocteau Twins. It was released on 1 November 1984 by 4AD. With this album, the band settled on what would, from then on, be their primary lineup: vocalist Elizabeth Fraser, guitarist Robin Guthrie and bass guitarist Simon Raymonde. This new lineup also coincided with the development of the ethereal sound associated with the band’s music.

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Cocteau Twins – Tiny Dynamine / Echoes In A Shallow Bay (1985/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Tiny Dynamine / Echoes In A Shallow Bay (1985/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:46 minutes | 748 MB | Genre: Dream Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

Tiny Dynamine and Echoes in a Shallow Bay are two EPs by Cocteau Twins that were released in November of 1985. The tracks were originally recorded in order to test a new recording studio the band was using.

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Cocteau Twins – The Pink Opaque (1985/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Cocteau Twins – The Pink Opaque (1985/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:06 minutes | 869 MB | Genre: Dream Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

The Pink Opaque is the first compilation album by Cocteau Twins, composed of tracks recorded between 1982 and 1985. A joint release by the UK-based 4AD (the band’s label) and the USA-based Relativity Records, it was the band’s first official domestic USA release. The American label Relativity Records reached an agreement to distribute the band’s albums on license from 4AD. Rather than reissuing all of the band’s releases to that point, it was decided that the compilation The Pink Opaque would be issued instead, as a sampler of the Twins’ output up through early 1985.

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Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas (1990/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Heaven Or Las Vegas (1990/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:58 minutes | 791 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

Heaven or Las Vegas was released in 1990 and is recognized as their most commercially successful release, reaching number seven in the UK album charts. Numerous publications have since declared it one of the best albums of the 90s, Pitchfork calling it “a core of ungodly gorgeous songs that is every bit as moving and relevant today as it ever was.” Label founder Ivo Watts-Russell goes further, candidly revealing in the recent 4ADbiography, Facing The Other Way, that this album wasn’t just his favorite Cocteau’s album, but also his favorite all-time 4AD album, and “by a long shot”, calling it “the perfect record.”

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Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll (1988/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Cocteau Twins – Blue Bell Knoll (1988/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 35:03 minutes | 792 MB | Genre: Alternative
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

Blue Bell Knoll from Cocteau Twins gets the reissue treatment, remastered some 26 years after its initial release. Strikingly beautiful at points, it features standouts such as ‘Athol-Brose’ and the title track ‘Blue Bell Knoll’, but it’s a slow burner of an album that features them retreading their best path while venturing into unknown territory. ‘Carolyn’s Fingers’ – perhaps the album’s highest point – features Elisabeth Fraser intoning hip-hop rhythms and delightful guitar melodies as played by Robin Guthrie. While not their best work, it’s a must for collectors and newcomers alike.

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Peter Gabriel – OVO (Remastered) (2000/2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Peter Gabriel - OVO (Remastered) (2000/2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Peter Gabriel – OVO (Remastered) (2000/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:02:02 minutes | 681 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Caroline International (S&D)

OVO is the Gabriel-authored soundtrack to the Millennium Dome Show, the 160-artist extravaganza that underwent 999 performances during the 365 days in 2000 that the Dome was open. Helping to tell the story of three generations of the same family living through three distinct eras – the past, the present, the future – Peter’s soundtrack accordingly drew from deep, long-held tradition and from contemporary grooves. Hurdy-gurdys butted up alongside drum & bass, ancient dancing the same millennium-celebrating dance as modern.
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Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness (30th Anniversary Reissue) (1990/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Pale Saints - The Comforts of Madness (30th Anniversary Reissue) (1990/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness (30th Anniversary Reissue) (1990/2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:08 minutes | 1,69 GB | Genre: Alternative Rock, Dreampop, Shoegaze
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 4AD

On the eve of a post-Thatcherite Britain, the Pale Saints, alongside the likes of Lush, Ride and Slowdive, were ushering in a new wave of British indie. And in 4AD, they found a perfect home for their music – an exciting & undeniable meld of noise and dream-pop.

Their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, didn’t disappoint, now standing as one of the best of its era. Pitchfork placed it in their Best 50 Shoegaze Albums Of All Time saying, “There’s a restless urgency, particularly when the volume swells and the rhythms intensify. That energy not only keeps (it) vital, it emphasizes Pale Saints’ inventiveness, how they channelled softness and rage into something distinctive.”

Nearly 30 years on and The Comforts of Madness is finally getting the reissue treatment. Having been remastered, a faithful LP repress on black vinyl is being released as well as double CD and double clear vinyl editions, both of which come with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demos and the band’s only John Peel Session, recorded in 1989.
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The American Analog Set – What Are We Going To Tell Guy? (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

The American Analog Set – What Are We Going To Tell Guy? (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 35:22 minutes | 383 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Slowcore, Lo-Fi
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Numero Group

The American Analog Set is an Austin-based indie rock, lo-fi band. They have released seven studio albums, on the record labels Emperor Jones, Tiger Style Records, and Arts & Crafts. Formed in 1995, the group’s early sound was highly influenced by krautrock and post-rock and British shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins, often featuring long instrumental passages. Over time, their songs became shorter and more pop-influenced. The band has released seven full-length albums, four EPs, and several singles.

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The American Analog Set – Mellow Fellow (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

The American Analog Set – Mellow Fellow (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:06 minutes | 422 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Slowcore, Lo-Fi
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Numero Group

The American Analog Set is an Austin-based indie rock, lo-fi band. They have released seven studio albums, on the record labels Emperor Jones, Tiger Style Records, and Arts & Crafts. Formed in 1995, the group’s early sound was highly influenced by krautrock and post-rock and British shoegaze bands like Cocteau Twins, often featuring long instrumental passages. Over time, their songs became shorter and more pop-influenced. The band has released seven full-length albums, four EPs, and several singles.

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Maria BC – Hyaline (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Maria BC - Hyaline (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Maria BC – Hyaline (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 42:00 minutes | 417 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Dreampop, Ambient, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © fear of missing out records

Hyaline is the debut album from Ohio-born, Oakland, CA-based artist and songwriter, Maria BC. Following last year’s debut EP Devil’s Rain which received critical praise from Pitchfork, BBC Radio 6 Music, KEXP and more, Maria created Hyaline across their untreated Brooklyn apartment in Summer 2021, like a wandering spirit gaining energy from different spaces. Their classically-trained mezzo-soprano voice soars over raw, etherial guitars; audio samples from Prospect Park – now almost unrecognizable – settle alongside tender, transformative harmonies. Mixing together different sessions, tracks recorded directly into their phone and samples collected over the years, Maria BC likens Hyaline to a “sonic collage.” It’s a project of patience and trusting the process. For fans of Cocteau Twins, Grouper and Dreampop.
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Lee Gamble – Models (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Lee Gamble – Models (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:07 minutes | 573 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Trip-Hop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hyperdub

Lee Gamble considers the impact of vocals and hooks on ‘Models’, using emerging technologies and machine learning to fashion uncanny pop music that links Liz Fraser’s mysterious lingual tics with rave’s disembodied diva loops and the hoarse rasp of trip-hop. For our money it’s his most satisfying full-length to date, an earworm-addled/emo pop record that’s as strange, poignant and haunted as his breakout ‘Diversions 1994-1996’.

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Emma Anderson – Pearlies (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Emma Anderson – Pearlies (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:26 minutes | 790 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Dreampop, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sonic Cathedral

Following the news that all three Lush albums are going to be reissued, Emma Anderson, the band’s co-founder, releases her debut solo album, Pearlies, via Sonic Cathedral.

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