Hello from the mesquite-scented, hazy, hot and humid dog days of Brooklyn. This week I review four new albums: Tricky goes “indie” with new collaborators for his best album in eons; Yard Act pivot on their third album; Helado Negro & Renya Tropical team for a hazy, humid collab; and Australian indie rock quartet Swapmeet release their charming debut. Plus a new EP from DFA-approved duo Fundido.

This week’s Indie Basement Classic is a Welsh band’s debut album that turns 30 this year.

Over in Notable Releases, Andrew digs into new ones from Quicksand, The Menzingers, Steve Lacy (influenced by Stereolab?), Nia Archives, and more.

This week’s episode of BV Interviews is with Swervedriver who are going on the BV-presented Raise at 30 tour.

Pour one out for Dave Kendall who turned so many Gen X kids onto cool music via MTV’s 120 Minutes.

Head below for this week’s reviews. Stay cool everybody.

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Tricky – Different When It’s Silent (False Idols)
Tricky goes indie on his best album in years

“I think this is my first ‘indie’ album,” Tricky says of Different When It’s Silent. You can tell what he means almost instantly, as its primary spotlight instrument is bass. Now, of course, the low end has always been integral to his music, but we’re talking bass guitar, played melodically and high up on the neck. Think The Cure’s Simon Gallup or New Order’s Peter Hook. The bass is front and center on nearly every song, including “I Still See Me Here,” the album’s ghostly opening track, which has new collaborator Mitch Sanders mournfully singing the title as Tricky, as usual, haunts the edges with the whisper he’s prone to.

It’s still Tricky’s world, but he’s never taken us here before.

While he has been very busy this decade, Different When It’s Silent is the first album credited solely to Tricky in six years, and it was originally going to be released under another name until his new manager, Alan McGee (of Creation Records fame), heard it and insisted it was — and should be — a Tricky album. His main collaborator this time is Sanders, a singer-songwriter from Tricky’s hometown of Bristol, who seems to have brought this rock side to the fore, along with those memorable basslines. He is also the primary voice on the album — Marta is only on one song this time — and has a versatile, powerful set of pipes that helps bring a new flavor to songs like the very rock “I’m Yours” and “I Tried.”

McGee told Tricky this was his best album since Maxinquaye; I’m not quite sure about that, but it is without a doubt the most fully realized, inspired record, production-wise, that he’s released in a very long time. That’s saying something because he’s been on a hot streak for the last 10 years. Different When It’s Silent is loaded with memorable, moody, single-worthy songs, including another bass-forward gem, “Paris Maybe,” the heavy “Because I Don’t Know,” and “Frontier Town,” which could be the theme song to a blood-soaked, Peaky Blinders-style historical drama.

In addition to “Paris Maybe,” there are two other absolute bangers here. “Be Still in the Pain,” a head-bobber that could’ve been on Maxinquaye, features Bristol rapper Run Red Rambo (also on 2024’s great Theis Thaws album) as well as Sanders, who delivers a killer falsetto vocal hook. Then there’s album closer “Out of Place,” which is the only Marta song here and features the most prominent Tricky vocals on the album — which makes sense as it’s about his daughter who died suddenly in 2019. It might be strange to call the latter a banger, but grief set to a tenebrous, undeniable beat.

If there is one criticism to be lobbed here, it’s that Different When It’s Silent doesn’t have enough of Tricky. There was a time when he would’ve done the Run Red Rambo bars himself, and he sounds so good on “Out of Place” that you wish he’d done more of that. Was much of this meant to be a Mitch Sanders solo album? (He does have his own record coming out on False Idols at some point.) And while more of Marta would be nice, she did put out a fantastic Tricky-produced solo album in 2025. Regardless of how much Adrian Thaws (his real name) can be gleaned from these tracks, there’s no denying this is a standout in Tricky’s mercurial discography.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: Yard Act – You’re Gonna Need A Little Music (Island)
Yard Act trade post-punk for anthemic rock; a surprisingly natural pivot on their third album

“I’ve got absolutely nothing new to say,” declares James Smith on the opening song of his band’s third album. Anyone who has ever heard Yard Act knows there’s no way this can be true. And it’s not. The line comes mid-rant as Smith unloads a screed that sounds both meticulously crafted and off the cuff, working in references to their Leeds indie elders The Wedding Present and Buzzcocks/Magazine founder Howard Devoto while eviscerating those who love to complain but aren’t doing anything about it. Smith’s agitation builds as the band grind out a churning guitar haze that mirrors his state: “Every time I hear you moaning / If I only had a pound / I could’ve sold the house for now / And built a solid tungsten bunker underground.”

Yard Act have been on a nonstop album-tour-album-tour cycle since releasing their 2022 post-punky debut, The Overload, which was followed by 2024’s ambitious, cynical-but-party-forward Where’s My Utopia? With You’re Gonna Need a Little Music, Yard Act have made a bit of a hangover record — in the tradition of Pulp’s This Is Hardcore — that has Smith looking in the bathroom mirror under harsh ultraviolet light and asking, despite their success, “What have I done?” If the album title seems hopeful, one look at the cover art paints a different picture.

You’re Gonna Need a Little Music is also a musical reset. Gone are the angular guitars of the first album and the disco-charged anthems of the second; in their place is muscular rock that lands somewhere between peak ’90s Britpop and AM-era Arctic Monkeys. This was also the first time the whole band, who formed during the early days of the pandemic, wrote together in a room, whittling down 40-some new songs to these 11 with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Nine Inch Nails, Wolf Alice). Smith is singing more and sprechgesang-ing less, and the darker, harder-edged sound suits them surprisingly well.

Yard Act are still giving us loads of hooks and danceable rhythms, but this is a murky, meaty beast. “I can’t stand people / people who think they’re good people,” Smith snarls at the start of “Thrill of the Chase,” which comes close to Prodigy territory and is a showcase for his rapid-fire delivery. We also get some straight-up punk (“Cherophobe Rock”), a little Brit-funk (“Fiction”), the Blur-esque “Janey Said,” and “Over the Barrel,” plus the full-throated blues-rock blast of “Redeemer,” where Smith preaches, “You stole the sun / Now your orbit is the bullshit of the damage done!” Some bands with an identifiable sound get stuck in a rut, but like Fontaines D.C., Yard Act know how and when to pivot.

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Helado Tropical – Helado Tropical (Psychic Hotline)
Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical team up for this hazy, hot and humid collab LP

Two unique and talented iconoclast musicians — Roberto Carlos Lange (Helado Negro) and Fabi Reyna (Reyna Tropical) — have joined forces for a project that sounds like a trip through the rainforest at midnight. They met in North Carolina in 2024 and, when offered some studio time, set out to make a song but left with a whole record. Lange and Reyna’s styles are a natural fit, and their voices sound great together on these lush, sensuous creations. Lo-fi beats slither alongside delicately plucked nylon-string guitar, harmonies, synths, and layers of hazy, hot, humid atmosphere. It’s a perfect album for the dog days of summer.

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Swapmeet – Mount Zero (Winspear)
Four songwriters, four singers, one charming debut from Adelaide’s Swapmeet

We’ve got a rare visit to Australia that doesn’t involve Melbourne. Swapmeet are from Adelaide in South Australia and clearly love a lot of warm and fuzzy ’90s indie rock. Mount Zero is their debut album, and what makes it distinctive is that rhythm guitarist Venus O’Broin, drummer Jack Medlyn, lead guitarist Maxwell Elphick, and bassist Josh Doherty all write and sing, often singing together or pairing off, which brings a lot of zest to the album. Venus also has a delivery reminiscent of SORRY’s Asha Lorenz, and Swapmeet have a similar bummed-out quality to their songs.

Do you enjoy high-ceiling arrangements that favor interplay between guitar lines and melodic bass? Do you like it when vocals mirror guitar leads and vice versa? Do you still find joy in loud-quiet-loud and quiet-loud-quiet? Mount Zero has something for you.

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Fundido – Melt EP (Life and Death)
DFA-approved Brooklyn duo keep the party going on their second single

Latane Hughes and Billy Scher started out spinning Balearic cuts late at night in the front room of Baby’s All Right, and soon their party moved to the Brooklyn venue’s main room. After a decade of hit parties, they’ve now started making their own music. Back in March, Fundido released their great debut single, “Get a Grip”, on DFA, and now they’re back with a second 12″ via DJ Tennis’ Life and Death Records. The Melt EP is more straight-up dance music than the punky, funky “Get a Grip,” but both tracks are great: the title track features octave-hopping disco bass, acid-house squelches, and ice-cool vocals from Emma Dufaux (who also sings on “Get a Grip”); “Siren Tiger,” meanwhile, is more of a sweatbox burner with dirty bass, house piano, cowbell, and… whistling? It all works. There’s also Papa Nugs’ remix of “Siren Tiger,” which ups the bongos, and Retromigration’s remix of “Melt,” which owes just a smidge to Madonna’s “Vogue.” Across it all there’s playfulness, a knowing wink, and a dash of camp. Because what’s Fundido without a little queso?

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INDIE BASEMENT CLASSIC: Super Furry Animals – Fuzzy Logic (Creation Record, 1996)
The Welsh indie rockers came out swinging on their playful, anarchic debut album that just turned 30

Few bands benefited more from Oasis’ massive rise to fame than Welsh greats Super Furry Animals. Formed in 1993, SFA originally had two factions — the rave camp and the rock camp — and were led by Rhys Ifans, who left the group for a burgeoning Hollywood acting career before they released a single. Guitarist Gruff Rhys stepped up to the mic, the band’s electronic side was tamped down but not extinguished, and they signed to Creation in 1995, where they went all out on their debut album, made at Wales’ famed Rockfield Studios. While they sang in English on Fuzzy Logic, the band’s wildly creative, anarchic spirit was still in full effect: that’s Welsh-born drug smuggler Howard Marks on the cover in a variety of disguises.

Fuzzy Logic was meant to be a reaction against Britpop, but the momentum Creation had with Oasis and Primal Scream helped it reach the Top 25 on the UK album charts and made decidedly weird singles “God! Show Me Magic” and “Hometown Unicorn” modest hits. It also helped that, weird as they were, those songs and the other 10 tracks on the album were all earworms. While they would get more ambitious on subsequent albums, Super Furry Animals’ style was already fully formed, generally swerving between punky, glammy, pogo-able jams like “Something for the Weekend,” “God! Show Me Magic,” and “Frisbee,” and tripped-out, glitter-soaked, “All the Young Dudes”-style anthems like “If You Don’t Want Me to Destroy,” “Hometown Unicorn,” and “Long Gone.” Their cover star also gets a song: “Hanging with Howard Marks.” Fuzzy Logic is a fun, bratty blast that ranks among the best indie albums of 1996, but it’s also just a taste of what was to come.

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

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Beyond by“Blue Monday”: New Order’s Best Deep Cuts

“Dreams Never End” (1981)

New Order were still underneath the shadow of Joy Division in 1981, a hard shackle to shake. Unsure how to progress after the death of Ian Curtis, both guitarist Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook sing lead on New Order's debut album, Movement, and both sound like they're trying to mimic him. "Dreams Never End," which features Hook on vocals, is musically bright and sunny, with Hook, Sumner and Gilbert's instruments swirling around Stephen Morris' insistent, danceable beat. The Cure would crib liberally from this for their 1986 single "Inbetween Days."

“Procession” (1981)

Following their debut single, "Ceremony" (which had been played live with Joy Division), their next release was "Procession" which felt like a natural progression from Joy Division's Closer, with glacial synths washing over a frantic rhythm section and Bernard Sumner's brittle guitars. Recorded and released before Movement, "Procession" nonetheless feels past it, with Bernard Sumner coming into his own as lead vocalist. While a single, "Procession" didn't make it on to the main tracklist for 1987's Substance, but was instead relegated to the bonus disc of the CD. But it's a pivotal song in their evolution.

“Turn the Heater On” (1982 John Peel Session)

Keith Hudson's "Turn the Heater On" was Ian Curtis' favorite reggae song, says Peter Hook in his Substance memoir, saying it was where Bernard Sumner "got the got the idea for using the melodica," an instrument which would turn up in New Order songs like "Your Silent Face" and "Love Vigilantes." Barney's only playing guitar at the end, after he's stopped singing," adds Hook, only kinda joking that "That became the whole template for the band."

“The Village” (1983)

Power, Corruption & Lies is a perfect record, and none of the songs were released as singles -- "Blue Monday" was tacked onto the U.S. CD release -- so every song could theoretically fit on this list. There are moments of sadness and desolation, but there are also songs of unabashed joy. In much the same spirit as "Age of Consent," "The Village" bounces along like the first day of spring with Sumner singing "Our love is like the flowers / The rain, the sea and the hours." The mid-section instrumental -- with guitars, synthesizers and drum machines joining forces -- remains one of New Order's most magical moments.

"The synths are incredible from 1:45 so in your face but not overpowering ... then they disappear - my whole taste in music seemed to change because of this song" - The Charlatan's Tim Burgess on "The Village"

“Leave Me Alone” (1983)

Many of New Order's most genius moments come from the interplay between Peter Hook's bass -- which is almost always played high up on the neck to where some mistake it for guitar -- and Bernard Sumner's guitar. Is there a more perfect example than on Power Corruption & Lies' closing track? The bass hook opens the song, but it's when the chiming guitar lead enters that "Leave Me Alone" truly blooms. (Gillian Gilbert adds further, crucial, counterpoint guitar lines.) A grey-hued portrait of loneliness ("On a thousand islands in the sea / I see a thousand people just like me"), it's one of New Order's crowning achievements, fading out with two more minutes of gorgeous instrumental melancholia.

“Thieves Like Us” (1984)

This is the big concession to the "no singles" rule on this list. While "Thieves Like Us" went to #18 in the UK in 1984, it does not have the stature of "Bizarre Love Triangle," "Temptation," "Blue Monday," "Sub-Culture," "True Faith" or even LP tracks like "Age of Consent" or "Love Vigilantes." But it is one of New Order's best, most deeply emotive songs -- it's Peter Hook's favorite (you can see his full Top 10 below) -- that needs all six minutes and 36 seconds to work its magic. Bernard Sumner's vocals doesn't even come in till two-and-a-half minutes into the song, long after we've been seduced by the song's NYC hip-hop inspired rhythm section and majestic washes of synths. While the song works well as an instrumental -- it plays over the "making the dress" montage in Pretty in Pink -- Sumner gives a great delivery with a whole lot of "Loves," in his signature, fragile style.

PETER HOOK: THE TEN BEST NEW ORDER SONGS from his memoir "Substance: Inside New Order" 1. "Thieves Like Us"
2. "Leave Me Alone"
3. "Homage" (unreleased)
4. "Too Late" (John Peel session)
5. "Someone Like You"
6. "Ruined in a Day" (K-KLass Remix)
7. "Every Little Counts"
8. "Age of Consent"
9. "Temptation"
10. "Eligia"

“Lonesome Tonight” (1984)

"Lonesome Tonight" is, according to Peter Hook, New Order's ode to Elvis Presley. Bernard Sumner was apparently obsessed with a version of "Lonesome Tonight" (where The King can't stop laughing) and suggested to the rest of New Order they try jamming it on stage one night. That bit of C-F chord improvisation became this song, which Hook calls "a glorious tune even though it's nothing like Elvis', given away in true fashion as a b-side." (It's the flip to "Thieves Like Us.") New Order rarely needed more than two chords to create something amazing (see all of Power, Corruption and Lies), and when the synthesizers crest halfway through, it evokes Joy Division's "Atmosphere." If you're wondering, that is Peter Hook clearing his sinuses at the four-minute mark. "When Barney heard me hocking up phlegm into a handkerchief he suggested we put it on at the end because the contrast between something so beautiful and something so awful might be interesting. He was absolutely right."

“Murder” (1984)

New Order have always had a way with instrumentals and this one's a real tour-de-force, a pounding goth nightmare powered by Stephen Morris' propulsive drumming, a sinister bass line from Hook and Sumner's three-note, cyclical guitar hook. The song also makes great, creepy use of movie samples of Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey and Malcolm McDowell in infamous big-budget softcore film Caligula. "Murder," which has been covered by The Charlatans and K-X-P, was originally only released as a single in Belgium, but later appeared on the second disc of the Substance two-CD set.

“Elegia” (full version) (1985)

An ode to Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores, specifically the pocket watch scene from A Few Dollars More, "Elegia" opens side two of 1985's highly underrated Low-Life. While the five-minute instrumental is carefully paced, exploding into full Sergio Leone glory in the last minute, the original 17-minute version is even better. "Dylan Jones - then editor at id magazine --asked us if we’d like to do some music for a short 15-20 min art film," Stephen Morris says. "We went into a studio in Wembley and did a marathon all night session. The film never happened, but we liked 'Elegia' so much it got edited down to fit on the LP." As Morris says, "Hooky's bass melodies on 'Elegia' are majestic."

"Elegia" is one of three New Order tracks to appear in Pretty in Pink ("Thieves Like Us" and "Shellshock," which appears on the soundtrack album, are the others), and you may have also heard it in Stranger Things, and the trailer for video game "Metal Gear Solid 5: Phantom Pain."

“Sooner Than You Think” (1985)

Like Power, Corruption and Lies, Low-Life is a near-perfect album and picking from the many great songs is difficult. Following "Blue Monday" and "Thieves Like Us," New Order really came into their own as far as blending rock and club music. While the albums that follow would more often than not have songs that were either "rock" or "synth," Low-Life let things intermingle in wonderful and surprising ways. After a building, minute-long intro that is mostly guitar, bass and drums, "Sooner Than You Think" shifts gears and lets the keyboards take over. "A very unusual tune, showing exactly why I used to love New Order," says Peter Hook in his memoir. "We were so versatile." As the lyrics describe, the song was actually written after "a party in [New Order's] hotel" in Zurich in 1984. "I think some members of the Furious Five were there, no Grandmaster Flash," recalls Stephen Morris. "There was a very loud blaster in a very small room - other hotel guests were not amused - complaints were made, maybe I dreamt the Furious Five bit? But not the Swiss police though."

“Face Up” (1985)

This one should've been a single. "When we first wrote Face up in early 1984 we thought it was the best thing ever," says Stephen Morris. "Face Up" is another New Order song where two disparate parts have been grafted together, with an an atmospheric intro ("inspired by Caligula" says Hook) that then drastically shifts gears into music that all but demands you bounce up and down. Sonically, "Face Up" is pure ebullience, the kind few besides New Order can do with guitars, but the lyrics -- "Oh how I cannot bear the thought of you" -- are a decided kiss-off from a spurned lover. "I couldn’t understand why some people didn’t get Face Up’s euphoria, but maybe you had to be playing the drums to fully get that," adds Morris.

“Way of Life” (1986)

As the '80s progressed, New Order became more and more known as a synthpop band, but they remained a clever, inventive rock band on album tracks, as is evidenced by the entire first side of 1986's Brotherhood. "Way of Life" closes out Side A, beginning with another gloomy fake-out intro before blossoming into a wonderful pop song with a chorus so infectious it seems impossible they would bury it this deep into the album. Hook says "We were trying to emulate 'Age of Consent' so I just played the riff backwards, and voilà."

“Every Little Counts” (1986)

New Order were guilty a few times over the years of what Peter Hook calls "five o'clock in the morning lyrics." Sometimes that meant something special, like "you caught me at a bad time, so why don't you piss off" (Power, Corruption & Lies' "Your Silent Face") and sometimes it gives you the opening lines to Brotherhood's closing track. "Every second counts when I am with you / I think you are a pig, you should be in a zoo," which Bernard Sumner cannot get through without laughing. (He also didn't feel a need to do another take.) And yet, "Every Second Counts" is still pure gold, making great use of orchestral samples, harmony and Sumner's winning "do de do de dooh" chorus. "Every Little Counts" is also a perfect album-closer, with a massive, woozy swell from their Emulator sampling keyboard -- "with Barney holding all the keys down at once, using both arms" -- and then a great final joke that definitely freaked out some vinyl listeners at the time.

“1963” (1987)

Like "The Perfect Kiss," this b-side to 1987 single "True Faith" is a story-song about a doomed relationship -- and perhaps firearms -- set to ultra-catchy crystalline synthpop. There's a case to be made that it's better than the A-side (which was one of New Order's biggest hits and their first entry into the Billboard Top 40). For people like Peter Hook who wished more of Peter Hook's distinctive bass stylings made it into the the final product (it doesn't show up till right before the slow fade out), Arthur Baker's sublime remix adds in more string instruments -- bass and guitar -- throughout.

“Vanishing Point” (1989)

Both Stephen Morris and Peter Hook's favorite song on 1989's Technique, "Vanishing Point" is one of New Order's finest electronic dance songs (and it really should've been a single instead of either "Fine Time" or "Run"). Like "Thieves Like Us," this one is in no hurry to get to vocals, with the 90 second lead-in playing like an overture, leading us through the major melodic points; when Sumner does begin with "Grow up children don't you suffer / at the hands of one another" it's a cinematic experience. "Vanishing Point" has the best chorus on the album and the best breakdown and "drop" (before they called them that), that was clearly influenced by the two months spent in Ibiza making the album (and spending a lot of time at the club).

“Dream Attack” (1989)

individual lanes, but the album closes with the glorious "Dream Attack" that brings the whole record together, mixing ragged guitar solos, windswept acoustic guitars, sampled orchestra hits, sequencers and live drums -- plus another great chorus -- all together as only New Order can do. Bernard Sumner apparently had The Eagles' "Hotel California" in mind with the song's two-minute jam outro which, in their hands, works. Gillian Gilbert, who played those wonderful acoustic guitars, says, "To me, Dream Attack' sums up the whole album. It’s bright breezy and uplifting...a good song to walk off into the sunset to."

“Special” (1993)

New Order were not especially getting along in the early-'90s, but got back together to make a new album, as they were low on funds after their label Factory Records (which went belly-up the year prior) and their troubled Manchester club, The Hacienda, depleted their bank accounts. Republic was, by all accounts, not the most pleasant recording experience with Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook butting heads constantly. There's not much of Hook's signature bass on the album, but there is some unfortunate rapping by Sumner. Republic does contain "Regret," one of their best-ever singles (a Top 40 hit in the US), and some of the old magic can also be found tucked away near the end of Side 2 with the sultry, moody "Special," which is driven by Hook's bass and another great chorus. Lyrically the song is perhaps referencing the demise of Factory Records or the group itself: "It was always special, like water down the drain." New Order went on an eight-year hiatus not long after its release.