After a busy fall, this week is giving us a little break and I review just four new albums, though all of them have been anticipated: The Lemonheads, Tortoise, Spiritual Cramp, and Just Mustard.

I also play catch-up with Bristol duo Getdown Services, and pay tribute to Dave Ball with a look back at Soft Cell’s classic debut album.

Over in Notable Releases, Andrew takes the latest from Dave, Parts Work, Eliza McLamb and more.

In other news: Wilco and Billy Bragg will play their first-ever full set of Mermaid Avenue songs at Solid Sound 2026; a massive collection of Florian Schneider synths, gear and more is going on the auction block; and Sleaford Mods just announced their first album in three years which features former Life Without Buildings singer Sue Tompkins and Game Of Thrones’ Gwendoline Christie. Who could’ve predicted either?

Head below for this week’s reviews…

The Lemonheads – Love Chant (Fire)
First Lemonheads album of original material in nearly two decades, featuring contributions from J Mascis, Adam Green, Juliana Hatfield, The Bevis Frond & more

Evan Dando is one of those musicians I’m always rooting for — a songwriter whose records are so good, so full of charm, that 30 years of trainwreck live shows, erratic behavior, bad tabloid press, and battles with addiction can’t stain them. In recent years, he’s been trying to clean up his various messes, moving to São Paulo, Brazil, where he can focus on music while continuing to tour as The Lemonheads, to varying degrees of success. Dando is the kind of talent that, if he could just get out of his own way, could still get it together and deliver another classic.

Love Chant, the first Lemonheads album of original material in nearly 20 years, isn’t quite that — but it elicits warm vibes, goodwill, and hope, offering a few great songs with glimpses of peak Dando. That hangdog charm is still there, too, evident on the terrific opening song “58 Second Song,” which is actually 3:23 long — but never mind that — the song’s all about time. Dando’s voice still sounds like a warm smile, even if it’s weathered and dropped an octave or two, and he gets a lot of vocal assistance from Erin Rae, old friend Juliana Hatfield, Alice Caymmi, and bandmates Farley Glavin and John Kent. There are a few other notable contributors on guitar: J Mascis brings his ragged shredding to “Deep End,” former Lemonhead and Blake Baby John Strohm plays on “Togetherness Is All I’m After,” and The Bevis Frond’s Nick Saloman lends his signature style to closing track “Roky.”

There’s a hard rock element to a few of these songs, as well as some heavy psych, but the album is most successful when it plays to Dando’s poppy, folkier strengths — like on “Cell Phone Blues,” “Be In,” and “The Key of Victory.” Love Chant is the kind of record where Dando’s pluses shine through the shambles and still keep you hoping the next one will come faster, more focused, and with more of that Dando charm.

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Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE (Partisan)
Irish electronic/shoegazy group Just Mustard return with their third album that lets just a little light and melody into their bleak sound

One of the best newish shoegaze-adjacent bands, Ireland’s Just Mustard have so far been powered by dark, heavy vibes, mixing hazy rock with ‘90s trip hop and electronic elements. But on their first album in three years, they’re letting just a little light in. “The vocal structure was the most important thing,” guitarist, producer, and sometimes singer David Noonan says of their approach this time, which puts Katie Ball’s vocals higher in the mix. “Her lyrics can be ingested as a conflicted and toxic grasp at positivity, or a cathartic breakthrough into bliss.”

WE WERE JUST HERE opens with the kind of feedback you’d expect Kim Deal to “ahhooooh” out of, and soon “POLLYANNA” blasts off with a driving beat and a swirling haze that’s cut through with searing guitar lines. That feedback swells and fades throughout as Ball wails, siren-like, from the eye of the storm. The rest of the album follows suit, with one eye on the dancefloor and the other on the stars as noise, rhythm, and melody form a dark, gaseous mass with a glowing center.

Noonan, Ball, and the rest of the band have outdone themselves production-wise — Grammy-nominated engineer David Wrench mixed the album — and it sounds fantastic, especially at high volume when the bass rumbles your gut and the guitars blow your hair back. The greater emphasis on songwriting and vocals makes songs like “SOMEWHERE,” “ENDLESS DEATHLESS,” “DANDELION,” and the title track stickier. Just Mustard are still a vibes-first group, but this time, they’ve got the tunes too.

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Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem)
Chicago post-rock greats’ first album in nine years and their first for Chicago jazz label International Anthem

When last we heard from Tortoise, the Chicago instrumental quintet had made the bold move to add vocals — via a few guest singers — to the mix on their 2016 album The Catastrophist. It was not a catastrophe, but it also didn’t quite fit into their extended musical universe. Nine years later, Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire, and Jeff Parker have gone back to their core with Touch, an album that is, apart from some subtle, nonverbal vocoder on a couple of tracks, the sound of five longtime collaborators blissing out on their instruments.

There is another move forward, though. After spending their whole career on Thrill Jockey, the band have switched to another Chicago-based label, forward-thinking jazz imprint International Anthem (already home to multiple Jeff Parker solo releases). But these five remain unaffected by the move, still pulling from their usual sonic palette: krautrock, jazz, prog, soundtrack music, lounge, psychedelia, dub, and heady electronics.

For a group who often go full jam live (and occasionally on record), Touch is concise and engaging — at 39 minutes, it’s the shortest album they’ve ever made. The record starts strong with “Vexations,” which transforms from atmospheric, twangy surf rock into percussion-heavy, synth-swarming prog, and is a great example of the alchemy these five musicians can still conjure. There’s also “Oganesson,” jazzy, electronic, and groovy with a distinct filmic vibe — you could almost imagine it soundtracking a ’70s cop show, except it feels entirely modern. They also head into techno territory on “Velka,” drift on a flute-filled breeze on “Works and Days,” and give Air a run for their money on “Promenade à deux.” It all fits together under the Tortoise umbrella. Or is that shell?

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Spiritual Cramp – RUDE (Blue Grape Music)
Angst again meets danceable riffs on this Bay Area band’s second album that features a duet with Sharon Van Etten

In these dark times — and they are bordering on pitch black — remembering to have a little fun is important, even as the world crumbles around us. Spiritual Cramp are here to help. After a decade on the scene, the Bay Area band — made up of vets from the hardcore world — finally delivered their 2023 debut album, which took inspiration from the party-hardy ‘00s indie scene that gave us The Hives, The Strokes, and The White Stripes and many The O.C. soundtracks. Their second album, produced by John Congleton, expands their range while still delivering danceable, electro-fueled rock earworms.

RUDE isn’t all sunshine and rainbows; lyrically, most of the songs have a dark sense of humor that some might just see as dark. But they all deliver fist-pumping riffs and instantly memorable choruses, from the slashing “At My Funeral” (“nobody came”) to the Bloc Party-esque “Automatic,” the ripper “I Hate the Way That I Look,” and “True (Love is Hard to Find),” which finds frontman Mike Bingham questioning his recent move to L.A.

Congleton gives the whole thing what they used to call a radio-friendly sheen, expertly layering synths in with all the guitars. That takes them further into Killers territory on “Crazy” and “Young Offenders,” lets them explore their love of 2-Tone ska and reggae on “Violence in the Supermarket,” and paints a big canvas for “You’ve Got My Number,” an anthemic duet with Sharon Van Etten that has an irresistible “bah-dah-bah-dah” chorus. In another era, that one — and half this record — would’ve been hits, or at least gotten them a headline slot at The Bait Shop.

Grab our exclusive, limited edition orange marble vinyl variant of RUDE in the BV shop.

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Getdown Services – Your Medal’s In the Post / Primordial Slot Machine (Breakfast Records)
Bristol duo blend disco, indie, and absurdist wit into pure danceable fun; Beak> and Super Furry Animals are fans

Bristol, UK residents Ben Sadler and Josh Law had been friends since they were teenagers and both played in bands — just not with each other. During the pandemic they decided to start collaborating as Getdown Services, letting their love of disco and ’00s indie — not to mention their eccentric, pop-culture-informed senses of humor — fly free. They put a few songs on Bandcamp with no intention of playing live and pretty much instantly took off. They quit their other groups and made Getdown Services their full-time musical concern.

This is a bit of a catch-up post, to be honest, as somehow this duo — who fit squarely into the orbit of Sleaford Mods, Baxter Dury, Yard Act, Pulp, The Rakes, and Daft Punk, and have been championed by Beak> and Super Furry Animals (they’ll open their reunion tour next year) — escaped my radar until very recently. (They just played their first U.S. shows in NYC and L.A. earlier this month, all of which were sold out.) Getdown Services released their debut album, Crisps, at the end of 2023, and it’s both a hook and quote machine. For me, it was an instant “how did I miss this band who is so coded to me until now?” moment.

They’ve been on a tear ever since, with a string of singles that seem to get better with every release. 2024’s Your Medal’s in the Post contains instant classics like French Touch banger “I’m Not Feelin’ It,” the irresistible “Dog Dribble,” an electro-rock smash that references The Fall and Korn, and the funky “Both Our Dads Like James Brown,” which owes a little to The Beta Band.

Most recently, they released the Primordial Slot Machine EP, which features another six winners, including “Eat Quiche, Sleep, Repeat” that contains such lines as “I’m gonna hate your socks off” and “Like body odor on the dance floor, I bring a certain sadness to the conga line.” They’re very funny, but the grooves are real, keeping things out of novelty territory. Now that I’m caught up, I’m looking forward to seeing where Getdown Services head next.

Your Medal’s in the Post and Primordial Slot Machine were just released as one vinyl LP.

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INDIE BASEMENT CLASSIC: Soft Cell – Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981, Some Bizarre)
Honoring the Soft Cell co-founder who made the gutter glow on their debut album

Dave Ball, who died on Thursday at age 66 after a prolonged illness, co-founded two groundbreaking electronic groups: Soft Cell in the ’80s and The Grid in the ’90s. It was the former, though, that continues to inspire 40 years on from their groundbreaking, subversive debut album.

Synthpop groups — at least the ones with eyes on the Top 40 — often presented a shiny future, a Brave New World. As Soft Cell, Marc Almond and Dave Ball used the same bouncing tones as Depeche Mode and The Human League but were far more interested in carnal pleasures, forbidden romance, the parts of town most people don’t admit to visiting, and the tension between one’s public face and private life. “I used to wonder about these really glamorous people,” Almond told Sounds at the time. “What do they look like doing the dishes?”

Almond loved the trashy glamour of Alan Vega and Martin Rev’s Suicide; Ball was a fan of Northern Soul, and that mix gave Soft Cell their distinctive sound — ’60s pop played on machines and dragged through the gutter. It’s exemplified on their cover of Ed Cobb’s 1964 song “Tainted Love,” originally recorded by Gloria Jones, which gave the duo a worldwide smash. But the whole of Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret follows in lurid, technicolor fashion — from the depraved “Sex Dwarf,” to the city isolation of “Bedsitter,” to the beautifully melancholic “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” — a fluorescent-lit portrait of a sleazy city where anything goes, but for many of its residents, nothing ever happens. 

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

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THE MOON & THE MELODIES: 12 SONGS FEATURING ELIZABETH FRASER

This Mortal Coil – “A Song to the Siren”

Most people want Elizabeth Fraser for her voice’s more angelic qualities, but she’s got quite the range, and her lower register can be just as transportive, as this spine-tingling cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren” proves. This Mortal Coil was the recording project of 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer, and “Song to the Siren” — Ivo’s favorite song of all time — was TMC’s debut single in 1983. With guitar from Robin Guthrie, it remains one of the most unforgettable showcases for Fraser’s emotive pipes. This Mortal Coil’s version has touched a lot of people over the years, perhaps none more so than filmmaker David Lynch, who has called it his favorite piece of music ever. He was obsessed with “Song to the Siren” during the making of Blue Velvet, and wanted Fraser and Guthrie to perform it in the film, but usage rights were out of the film’s budget. Lynch eventually got to use it 10 years later in Lost Highway. “That song does something to me, for sure,” Lynch told The Guardian.

Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser – “All Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” (demo)

Jeff Buckley loved This Mortal Coil’s cover of his father’s “Song to the Siren,” and the musical admiration was mutual, as Fraser was enamored with Jeff Buckley’s album Grace. Their mutual admiration grew into a short but passionate love affair somewhere around 1994, which was not long after her relationship with Robin Guthrie ended. (Cocteau Twins continued till 1997.) “I just couldn’t help falling in love with him,” she said in BBC documentary Jeff Buckley – Everybody Here Wants You. “I read his diaries, he read mine. We’d just swap…I’ve never done that with anybody else.” While it didn’t last, at least one song was written during their relationship. “All the Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” is a gorgeous duet between Buckley and Fraser, with Jeff singing the chorus of “Oh, all flowers in time bend towards the sun / I know you say that there’s no-one for you / But here is one.” It’s a rough demo that has never been commercially released, but you don’t really need much more than their voices to have you wondering what could have been.

Elizabeth Fraser w/ Massive Attack at Radio City Music Hall, 2019 (photo by P Squared)

Massive Attack – “Teardrop”

Elizabeth Fraser’s most popular song, Cocteau Twins or otherwise, is probably “Teardrop,” one of three songs she sings on Massive Attack’s 1998 album Mezzanine. It is the trip hop group’s biggest UK hit, reaching #10, and it went to #1 in Iceland, and in the ’00s became known as the theme song to TV show House. Liz says she learned of Jeff Buckley’s death while recording it which influenced her lyrics. “I’d got letters out and I was thinking about him,” Fraser told The Guardian. “That song’s kind of about him – that’s how it feels to me anyway.” Interestingly, the track was almost given to Madonna. Massive Attack’s Mushroom sent Madonna the instrumental and she really wanted to make it a single of her own. No disrespect to Madge but we’re glad 3D and Daddy G won out. She can still belt it out, too.

Felt – “Primitive Painters”

One of the great UK indie singles — and duets — of the mid-’80s came about through happenstance. Felt, the cult band led by the iconoclastic Lawrence, hired Robin Guthrie to produce their 1985 album Ignite the Seven Cannons, the centerpiece of which was “Primitive Painters,” with its hypnotic, cyclical riff. (You’re right, it does sound a little like Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City.”) Liz Fraser came to visit Guthrie in the studio while Felt were working on the song, and he had the idea to have her sing on it. Lawrence told Uncut: “He just played her the end section. I wrote the lyrics out for her on a piece of paper, she went in, listened to it once on headphones, and then just improvised around it. It was as real as that. It was a remarkable moment. When you listen back to something like that, we knew we’d got it.” A classic was born.

photo by Barnaby Roper

Jónsi – “Cannibal”

One wonders if The Cocteau Twins didn’t inspire all of what we think of as “Icelandic music” — the kind that sounds like glaciers and waterfalls — even if just through osmosis. Sigur Ros certainly got compared to the Cocteaus a lot when they first started, though the band always claimed they’d never listened to them. (Never?) “I really didn’t like that,” says Sigur Ros’ Jónsi of the comparisons. “I hated being compared to anybody. Then I got really into Cocteau Twins like two or three years ago. They’re so good. I understood the comparison then.” Thankfully he came around as it’s given us “Cannibal” from Jónsi’s new solo album. It’s the sound of two one-of-a-kind, unearthly voices meeting in the heavens.

Dif Juz – “Love Insane”

Dif Juz were one of 4AD’s early signings, an instrumental post-punk group whose sound fell somewhere between Cocteau Twins’ ethereal wash and Dead Can Dance’s baroque orchestrations. (The mix proved influential on the ’90s post-rock scene.) Their 1985 album Extractions features this beautiful collaboration with Fraser that pairs her voice with delicate piano and saxophone. The group’s Richard Thomas would return the favor by playing saxophone on Cocteau Twins’ 1986 album Victorialand.

Ian McCulloch – “Candleland”

Here’s another case of two iconic ’80s voices coming together to make magic. Echo & the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch brought in Fraser to sing on the title track of his 1989 solo debut. “Candleland” has a bit of a Cocteau Twins sound to it, with a gentle melody and treated, arpeggiated guitars, and would probably be considered a pleasant but less impressive song without her. What really makes “Candleland” soar is the alchemy of McCulloch’s smoky croon and Fraser, who is at her most angelic here. The call-and-response at the end of the song could go on twice as long — three times — and would not get old. McCulloch & Fraser worked similar magic on “Heaven’s Gate” from his second solo album, Mysterio.

Medicine – “Time Baby 3”

Los Angeles shoegaze band Medicine were kind of America’s My Bloody Valentine, not afraid to mix harsh noise, ethereal beauty and electronica in new and cool ways. The band appeared in the 1993 film The Crow, performing a rocking version of Time Baby II” in a club scene. The Crow soundtrack, however, featured a dreamy remix of the song by Robin Guthrie, dubbed “Time Baby III.” Guthrie added some of his signature guitar stylings and brought in Liz Fraser for backing vocals. Most of what Fraser does is subtle, but then she unleashes her full power on some “no no nos,” sending things into the stratosphere.

Elizabeth Fraser – “Moses”

Fraser hasn’t made much music under her own name since the Cocteau Twins disbanded. She released a limited edition single, “Underwater,” in 2000 (only 200 pressed); contributed a cover of Chic’s “At Last I Am Free” to Rough Trade’s 25th anniversary cover comp Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before; and she put out this 2009 single which she released as a tribute to her friend and Echo & The Bunnymen collaborator Jake Drake-Brockman, who died that year. Made with her partner, drummer Damien Reese (Lupine Howl, Massive Attack, EATB), “Moses” rides a trip hop vibe by way of the French Riviera, but Fraser’s voice is really the main instrument, with layer upon layer of gorgeous harmonies.

Howard Shore – “Lothlorien (feat. Gandalf’s Lament)” (from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

When you’re making movies out of some of the most beloved fantasy novels of all time — say, The Lord of the Rings series — it’s good to have access to a “Voice of God” who is used to singing in invented languages. Director Peter Jackson and composer Howard Shore brought in Fraser for The Fellowship of the Ring scene where the Fellowship rests in Lothlórien, while the elves sing a lament for Gandalf. Needless to say, her Elvish is impeccable (skip to around 2:30 mark on the track to for Fraser’s entrance). They brought Fraser back for The Two Towers’“Isengaard Uleashed” sequence. Speaking of heavenly voices: Fellowship of the Ring‘s soundtrack also featured Enya.

Yann Tiersen – “Kala”

Composer Yann Tiersen, who gained fame in 2001 for his Amelie score, released Les Retrouvailles in 2005 which found him collaborating with a number of great vocalists, including Jane Birkin, Tindersticks frontman Stuart Staples and Fraser, who contributed to two songs on the album. “I was a huge fan of [Cocteau Twins] and of her voice,” Tiersen told The Beijinger. They wrote the fanciful, swooping and dramatic “Kala” together. “It’s like a very good moment in the studio we spent together…to see her working and see her ideas coming from nowhere. It was great.”

The Wolfgang Press – “Respect”

Chances are you’ve never heard Liz Fraser like this before. Certainly not since, either. The Wolfgang Press were a dark and brooding band signed to 4AD, cut from the same cloth as The Birthday Party but with an interest in funk, dub and drum machines. Having become fast friends with Liz and Robin of the Cocteau Twins, TWP asked Liz to sing on their debut EP…for a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” It’s true. Liz provides the “Just a little bit!” backing vocals in the chorus. “Our version was too rigid,” Wolfgang Press frontman Mark Allen said in 4AD chronicle Facing the Other Way. “It should have been thrashier, heavy, more tribal. It was almost comical by the end.” It’s probably the most comical song 4AD released in the ’80s, and more of a curio than anything else, but it’s nonetheless interesting to hear Fraser so outside her wheelhouse.