Essential Alternative / New Wave Records on Vinyl

Best album of the 90s? Possibly maybe! For her second album, Bjork and her cast of collaborators escaped to the Bahamas to record at Compass Point ...

Vespertine was a departure from the sultry downtempo and chic IDM of Bjork’s previous albums, trading big room extravagance for reticent experiment...

We all know that dream pop begins and ends with Mazzy Star. Specifically the opening track on this album. "Fade Into You" set the template that so ...

"Remastered 2LP vinyl version of the classic 1987 compilation originally released via the legendary Factory Records. Substance compiles all of New ...

Maybe the best album from J. Spaceman's Spiritualized. At least that seems to be what the critics thought. We'll let the fans argue amongst themsel...

No joke, this is the best selling 12" vinyl of all time. I'm being serious. They went over the 3 million mark on this a long time ago. Other intere...

There's so much to the Breeders' Last Splash. The sophomore album, from what was originally Kim Deal's side project from the Pixies, packs in a be...

Debut full-length from Birmingham, England’s Broadcast. The Noise Made By People came after the band signed to Warp Records and spent nearly three ...

While Head Over Heels retained traces of the metallic postpunk nihilism that defined their first album and early singles, Treasure finds the Coctea...

Stereolab's fourth studio album, expanded on triple vinyl (the original pressing was a smushed single LP)! Definitely one of their more accessible...

Floating Into The Night is Julee Cruise’s first album, produced and arranged by Angelo Badalamenti with David Lynch writing the lyrics. Cruise’s pr...

The Cocteau Twins’ very first breakthrough in a career littered with breakthroughs: Treasure established them as the flagbearers of postpunk’s swir...

Unpopular opinion but this is the coolest Cocteau Twins record. It was their first-ever release on 4AD or any other label, with no single or EP pre...

What do you do when your current band decides to take a break? Start another one! After meeting while their respective bands were touring together,...

I have a folder with every Lab review written for the site. There's definite themes that emerge when you read the older ones. Let me set this one u...

With most of these seminal brit-pop albums of late eighties / early nineties, I listen to them today and nearly gag at the sound of the pompous fro...

Seminal shoegaze band's 2nd album reissued! The follow up to what might easily be one of the best albums in the genre (Nowhere), Going Blank Again ...

25th anniversary edition! Numero Group celebrate a quarter century of Duster's slow burning classic with this special edition pressed on 180 gram h...

"Document is R.E.M.'s tribute to the work ethic. A snapshot in time, a true documentary, this meticulously-crafted creation pays homage to the grou...

Sixth studio album from New York's Sonic Youth. Goo was originally recorded in the spring of 1990 and was the band's major label debut. Following t...

"Eponymous debut album by acclaimed rock band Blind Melon, released in 1992, featuring breakthrough single 'No Rain'. Fronted by singer Shannon Hoo...

Me and Stony have a mighty addiction to Belle & Sebastian. This is B&S's second album from 1996, generally considered their best album thus...

Live album from Manchester's The Smiths. Rank was recorded in 1986 at the National Ballroom in Kilburn, London. This was about six months before th...

This is the album that New Order fans pretend not to like. As in: "I prefer their early, formative stuff like Movement or Power Corruption Lies." W...

I'm actually glad I didn't get into the Smiths until I was like 22. Let's face it, if my gothy neighbor or whatever gave me their first album on ta...

2004 full length from NYC's Blonde Redhead. This album marked their debut on the legendary 4AD imprint as well as solidifying their place in the pa...

Mozmentous. I kinda dread getting these foundational records of my teenage years in. I feel the need to write a confessional blurb, then Woodman wi...

Debut studio album from Northampton's Bauhaus. In the Flat Field was originally recorded in 1980 after the band had wrapped up a 30 date tour. The ...

One of the classics of American indie rock. Dinosaur Jr. drew influence from hardcore punk, the noisier side of Sonic Youth, heavy metal, and Neil ...

Goodbye seventies! Vince Clarke formed Yazoo (called Yaz in the States for legal reasons) with Alison Moyet shortly after quitting Depeche Mode, an...

"The wait is over. All three studio albums by Lush are back in print on vinyl. With a few EPs and a mini-album (Scar) having set the scene, Spooky ...

"By now, you know the story: J Mascis, Lou Barlow, & Patrick 'Murph' Murphy, meet in Amherst, MA. J, Lou & Murph start a band. Said band go...

It can be argued that Bjork hit her artistic peak on The Sugarcubes' debut album. Yeah, Debut, Post, Homogenic, all pretty incredible... however, c...

Kate's sixth studio album, now on deluxe 180 gram vinyl. By 1989, Kate Bush had five albums under her belt and was already an icon with her own ver...

It can be argued that Bjork hit her artistic peak on The Sugarcubes' debut album. Yeah, Debut, Post, Homogenic, all pretty incredible... however, c...

25th anniversary edition! Numero Group celebrate a quarter century of Duster's slow burning classic with this special edition pressed on 180 gram h...

"Sassy and streetwise: The Slits were everything girls in a band weren’t supposed to be before punk leveled the playing field, and their debut albu...