Past Releases

WORRIERS "Warm Blanket"

Lauren Denitzio has always been the type of songwriter to say exactly what’s on their mind. Over the course of the past decade with their band Worriers, they’ve addressed gender liberation, capitalist violence, and searing heartbreak, all over the band’s signature style of triumphant chords and subtle pop sensibilities. Worriers was always a band that shined with the feelings of ecstatic potential; offering a sense of liberation amidst the chaos of the world.

And yet, on their newest album Warm Blanket, they’ve never sounded more free.

The band’s fourth full length record has the feel of an exciting debut and there’s a reason: it marks the first time that Denitzio accepted that the group they had been trying to treat as a band is actually a solo project. After a pace of touring and recording that would be breakneck for most, but de rigueur in the underground scene which forged them, Denitzio found themselves in the summer of 2022 with a chance to finally catch their breath. “I realized I could write whatever I wanted.”

The DIY ethic that Denitzio developed on a thousand punk tours, playing squats, house parties and rowdy warehouses is never far from their mode of operation. And so—with no proper training in audio recording—they recorded and mixed the entirety of Warm Blanket at home. Atom Willard (Against Me!, Social Distortion) contributed drums remotely, adding an orchestral element of weight and emphasis to the proceedings.

The result is a collection of songs that reflects Denitizio “unlearning the expectations of being in a band” and writing music “that’s more in line with my actual influences.” Written during a particularly fertile creative period—Denitzio had already completed an entirely separate new album to be released later—Warm Blanket marked a chance to write the kind of songs they had always appreciated but were unsure of how to place in the Worriers catalog.

The album reveals a songwriter tossing off former constrictions, giving themselves the space and time to properly reflect on all they’ve learned. There’s a somber yet tender unpacking of the past; songs littered with mix tapes, motorola phones, Brooklyn bars in their heyday, house shows, broken bikes and doomed love.

On “Prepared to Forget”, Denitzio delivers an aching paean to the time when they had friends who still thought they could get away with anything; even the most self-destructive things.

And lest you think their signature critical edge has dulled, “Never Kicks In”—which functions as a sonic tribute to the Magnetic Fields—offers a biting send-up of Denitzio’s non-committal musical peers who seem to perpetually coast by on doing the bare minimum for their art.

There’s also a new tenderness at work in their writing, perhaps best seen on “Pollen in the Air”, which sees them literally sprawling out all over the landscape declaring: “we could be anywhere,” marking the terms of their new perspective.

The album finds Denitzio as a vigilante seeking revenge, a lover ready to be hurt and a weary traveler, meditating on heartache and loss, all while wanting to continue the beautiful, exhausting struggle.

In short, they are anyone they want to be.

Few bands have the luxury of writing a first album a decade into their discography. But for Worriers, Warm Blanket is exactly that: a staggering debut from a songwriter who is just getting started.

Desire Marea "On the Romance of Being"

A Certain Ratio "1982"

Looking backwards and forwards all at once, drawing on influences from across every spectrum, 1982 is an unpredictable record that will reward a dedicated listener dozens of times over.

Even by the band’s high standards – which includes a gleeful disregard for boundaries of style and genre, their eye fixed firmly on constant movement forwards – their latest studio album 1982 is multidimensional. Recorded by the core ACR line up of Jez Kerr, Martin Moscrop and Donald Johnson, alongside Tony Quigley, Matthew Steele and Ellen Beth Abdi, it shoots off in every direction, whether via searing Afrobeat, mind-melting jazz breakdowns or moody electronic experiments.

And the album title? Although 1982 might conjure memories of the year that saw ACR put out both the acclaimed Sextet and the cult favourite I’d Like To See You Again, it’s more of a playful red herring than an invitation to nostalgia.

Samiam "Stowaway"

From Samiam:

Most of the songs on this record are about feeling dysfunctional, isolated, and lonely. Trying to find a way to connect to people and be happy. We’ve been a band for over 30 years. We almost never see each other. Two in NY, one in Florida, two in California. We live so far apart it’s hard to get everyone together to do anything. If we’re lucky someone will fly us all in to a city to play a show and we can get there a day early to rehearse the songs we want to play.