Behind The Counter Returns for 2025

Record Store Day are proud to celebrate UK Black History Month.

This year, Record Store Day’s sister event, Black Friday, returns on Friday 28 th November with a stacked lineup of special releases, exclusively for independent record shops. Highlights include limited edition vinyl from Sam Fender & Olivia Dean, Fred again.., Icona Pop & Charli XCX, Bruno Mars, Maribou State, Billie Eilish, Young Fathers and over 100 artists across a variety of genres, ensuring something for every music fan. Releases will be available exclusively at UK independent record stores from 8am on 28 th November. Find participating stores here, with a full list of titles found here . Record Store Day Black Friday continues to offer a unique alternative to the usual Black Friday frenzy, focusing on collectible editions and memorable releases that music lovers of all ages will treasure for years to come. Lägom Studio And it’s this unique and premium alternative to Black Friday that perfectly sets the stage for the introduction of Record Store Day UK’s official new partner, Lägom Studio. Lägom Studio sets out to create bespoke furniture that truly celebrates the joy of record collecting. From their Lincolnshire workshop, Lägom Studio's team of 10 like-minded creatives—including artists, designers, DJs, and collectors—designs and builds beautiful solid wood storage and display pieces. Specializing in bespoke solutions for vinyl, mixed media, and hi-fi components, they offer a high degree of customization in size, finish, and layout. Chris Mitchell, Director, said of the partnership: “We are passionate about vinyl, music and design, and set out to bring solid, lasting furniture back into a disposable world. Our pieces are made to be cherished for a lifetime, just like the records they hold. We are excited to partner with Record Store Day as it aligns perfectly with our own ethics and our ongoing support for independent shops and high street record stores at the heart of the music community.” More information on the partnership will be revealed in the coming months, but in the meantime, you check out the full list of exclusive releases coming soon to your local independent record shop. For details on each title, visit the RSD website here . 

From The Pyre is the second album from Brit Award winners, record shop favourites, and rising indie sensations, The Last Dinner Party. Coming off their Mercury Award–nominated Prelude to Ecstasy, the London-based five-piece are back, delivering theatrical indie rock that cements their place as one of the UK’s most exciting new bands. “It is our absolute delight to present our new album From The Pyre to the world,” the band say. “This record feels a little darker, more raw and more earthy; it takes place looking out at a sublime landscape rather than seated at an opulent table.” Although only a year has passed since their debut, the band have been cultivating these songs since their earliest rehearsals in 2020. Lead single Nothing Matters has been a staple of every setlist since their very first gig at the George Tavern. Reflecting on these early songs, the band say: “We have held, nurtured and fed these first songs for a long time, and in return they have flown us to heights and guided us on journeys once totally incomprehensible.” From The Pyre is a concept album, with character-driven stories bound by the allegorical world of ‘The Pyre’. Each track is imagined as part of a travelling medieval mystery play, with the band cast as its players. “This frame narrative felt like a way of visually representing our lives as a band, once again mythologising the everyday,” they explain. This month, indie record shops are stocking From The Pyre on exclusive Inferno 140g vinyl. With neon colours that echo the album cover, a 12x12” lyric sheet, and a collectible sticker, it’s a must for fans. So head to your local indie record shop and grab From The Pyre when it drops on 17th October - the Last Dinner Party’s second chapter of theatrical indie rock, perfect for vinyl lovers and anyone ready to dive into their mythic world!

CALLING ALL UNSIGNED ARTISTS!

This month indie record stores are filling the racks with South London’s Lola Young, as she becomes September’s Album of the Month. At just 23, this album is already set to be one of the biggest hits of the year for record shops, as Lola carves herself a reputation for on the UK’s most relatable voices. Across 14 tracks, Lola Young dives headfirst into the chaos of heartbreak, rage and humour, blending everything she loves - from hip-hop and indie to art-pop and grunge -into a sound that feels unmistakably hers. Working with producers including Jared Solomon (Solomonophonic), Conor Dickinson, and even SZA, this is one you’ll want to pick up when it drops on 19 th September! Viral tracks like Don’t Hate Me and Conceited already showed bite, but across the full record they take on new life, part of a bigger, unapologetically human story that’s messy, funny, and hugely relatable. Pressed on 140g marbled vinyl with matte sleeve and 12x12 insert, the Punching Bag Indie Exclusive is a must for the collection. Head to your local indie record sho p and grab I’m Only F**king Myself - Lola Young’s statement second chapter.

Clear some space in the racks, Sabrina Carpenter is back with her brand-new album Man’s Best Friend, landing August 29th and already shaping up to be one of the year’s biggest pop events. The lead single “Manchild”, written with Jack Antonoff and Amy Allen, has shot straight to #1 on both the Spotify US and Global charts, with a video racking up over 15 million views in its first week. It’s pure Sabrina: razor-sharp hooks, unapologetic attitude, and choruses made to be shouted in your bedroom or blasted in your car. This new chapter follows Short n’ Sweet, the record that dominated 2024 with three billion-streaming singles (Espresso, Please Please Please, and Taste), six GRAMMY® nominations, and two wins, including Best Pop Vocal Album. She’s broken UK chart records, sold out arenas worldwide, and even found time to duet with Dolly Parton. Pressed on Opaque Seafoam Indie Exclusive Vinyl and best enjoyed straight from your local indie’s new-release rack, pop’s most unstoppable force is in her prime and this is the sound of her running full tilt. Man’s Best Friend is available to pre-order now. Don’t miss out, grab your copy from your favourite indie!

Few captured the sounds of 80s Britain quite like the Bluebells. With their trademark jangly guitars and soaring harmonies, the Glaswegians found themselves unlikely pop heroes. Sisters, their 1984 debut album delivered a string of hits, including Young At Heart, which unexpectedly - and nothing to do with a certain Volkswagen commercial - hit number 1 in 1993 (nine years after its initial release). This newly remastered edition of Sisters throws in b-sides, live sessions and rarities – pressed on limited edition double vinyl. So, revisit, or dive in for the first time, a snapshot of a band who made a quiet but lasting dent in British pop! We caught up with Ken McCluskey and Bobby Bluebell for a few questions around the album: What can fans expect from this album? Ken: The newly remastered and expanded edition of our debut album "Sisters" is the first time that all our singles have been collated together alongside a treasure trove of recordings from our heady days at London Records. We had a most enjoyable time working in studios for the first time with producers such as Elvis Costello, Bob Andrews, Colin Fairley, and Alan Shacklock who helped show us the way. This collection of songs demonstrates our love of pop music, being a young person, having great fun with friends in a band and travelling the world balanced with the importance of mapping contemporary issues and injustices felt by a young urban folk in the time of Thatcher, deindustrialization, unemployment, and the futility of war. Tell us what inspired the album artwork? Ken: We liked the idea of a collage of some of our favourite things in a world or global setting hence the main globe shape. Bobby put it together with his friend and graphic designer Pete Barrett. Some of the images are family orientated, like a cherubic Bobby at the seaside with his lovely Mum front sleeve bottom left. Or my brother David and I's parents courting picture underneath the title "Sisters" on the front cover. No idea how Stalin got in there top right, we preferred Lennon at the time. For this new edition we wanted a very different accompanying colour for the setting of the graphic to differentiate from the original and we like the purple and think it looks great. Robert: It’s not my mum actually, it’s her almost identical sister, my aunt Guiliana. The idea came mainly from a graphic I had first tried to use at college. I did a degree in design, and I was thinking of using it for my fanzine but never got round to it and then I realised it was the perfect graphic for an LP. Then as Ken said, we assembled images to place in each segment, some tongue in cheek. Pete Barrett added some more somewhat risqué images that we replaced for the subsequent re-releases. Pete did a great job on it and I think he really helped us capture a lot of our personalities on it. It’s undoubtedly iconic now. Do you have a favourite indie record shop you’re looking forward to seeing it on the shelves of? Ken: We love Monorail in Glasgow, run by Stephen Pastel and his super team, so that would be nice, and The Big Blue shop which is the home of our current record label Last Night from Glasgow. And the best bit? Bobby and Ken took us through Sisters, track by track: Everybody's Somebody's Fool Bobby: The version of Everybody's Somebody's Fool on the album is the version we recorded with Robin Miller at Air Studios. It was one of the first recording sessions we did for the album. We had strings on it and we always felt it was a really kind of fresh version, probably not as good as the version we'd done earlier for Postcard Records, but better recorded for sure and better sound quality. Young at Heart Bobby: Young at Heart was a song that I'd written with Siobhan Fahey for Bananarama to do, and we were doing it at the same time live with The Bluebells. It's kind of a Northern Soul thing: we were going to a Northern Soul club in London, Siobhan’s cousin was a DJ there. The Bluebells’ version we played live for a long time and when Bananarama’s LP came out, we were a bit disappointed. I think they were a bit disappointed themselves, actually, with the kind of Jolley & Swain pop production on it and we decided we were going to try and do it a different way for our album. We were up in Inverness and we were pretty much in that kind of Dylan mode, you know, that “I Want You” feel and we were very interested in having a violin on it. So we just wanted to do it as completely differently as possible. We all thought it had a good chance of it being a hit single, so that's what we did. I’m Falling Bobby : I’m Falling is really kind of like three songs put together, two of mine and one of Ken's that kind of all fitted together. The verse was a thing that I'd been working on when I was trying to do this thing where I didn't repeat a single chord all the way through and I managed to achieve that. Will She Always be Waiting Bobby: Will she always be waiting used to be a song called Wishful Thinking that we did in The Bluebells pretty much from the start of our existence really. It developed over the years as songs do live and it developed quite naturally. And then we started working with Elvis Costello and he produced what I think is the definitive version of this song. He played organ on it. We did several other versions of it, some with strings, but all these versions were based on Elvis's original track that we recorded with him in Jam Studios up at Finsbury Park. Some Sweet Day Bobby: Some Sweet Day was another very early Bluebells song. We used to play this song quite fast. In fact, on the Kid Jensen radio sessions (available on the 3CD/DVD version), you're able to hear the original fast version. When we got to Elvis again, Elvis being the master producer that he was slowed it down and brought out the beauty of the song. In fact, he sings on it, he plays guitar on it as well. His harmonies on it are fantastic and the trumpet arrangement thing that he did in the middle section of the song, I really adore, it's one of my favourite recordings by The Bluebells. Cath Bobby: Cath was kind of a happy accident. Again, this was an early song that used to be called ‘honest to goodness’, when we first started to do The Bluebells. We came to record it because we were still in Jam studios, but Elvis had got ill, so we had a day booked in the studio and rather than waste that we kind of like did this version up and with the new lyrics that we'd worked out live. And we were very inspired by ‘Maggie May’. And we had a great, great, great fun doing it, so much energy in the track and we really enjoyed the mandolin break at the end. In fact, at one point when it was a single that John Peel said he wanted to play Mandolin on TOTP with us to emulate his appearance with The Faces when they performed ‘Maggie May’ in the 70’s. Unfortunately, we didn't get a high enough position in the chance for that to happen, but it would have been great. H.O.L.L.A.N.D. Ken: The title H.O.L.L.A.N.D came from the back of a Valentine’s day card I once received (Honestly) for my first girlfriend and I thought it was so lovely I wrote the song. Red Guitars Bobby: Red Guitars is a song that was kind of like a proto political song for us. Obviously, you know, we were very socialist in our leanings . I wrote this song mostly because I wanted Russell to sing it, who was an original Bluebell. We really liked the idea of having three vocalists, me, Ken and Russell. We always thought that was a kind of Buffalo Springfield, Byrdsy kind of thing. And I really loved it when Russell sang it on the Old Grey Whistle Test, but I think Ken really nails it on the recorded version. Syracuse University Bobby: Syracuse University came about when we were touring America and I was quite fascinated with Lou Reed being a student, at Syracuse University, and I always had in my head this imagining of the place being a kind of hot bed for culture and literature, but then I found out through American friends when we were over there that most of the students who were at Syracuse University ended up in the arms business, so it kind of destroyed the illusion a bit, but I love this song because of Craig Gannon, who later joined The Smiths , but I'd been in Aztec Camera before he joined us. I loved his guitar playing on this, and I really loved the fact it was a great song for me personally and a great song for the band to record. I really, really, really enjoyed it. Learn to Love Ken: The idea behind the song was a great disbelief in an unemployed youth signing up to fight for one's country in some foreign field against some "other" for the "King's shilling" when we would be better learning a bit of peace, love and understanding. The Patriot Game Ken: My brother David and I first heard this song sung at a party in our home in the early 70's by the song's writer Dominic Behan. Dominic was a friend of our Mum and Dad's and we were brought up in fairly folky surroundings, a kind of council house bohemia. When we started performing as The Bluebells we asked Dominic to update some of the verses so that it could become more of a universal message for young folk and the futility of war. South Atlantic Way Ken: Specifically about the Falklands conflict. David and I wrote this with Dominic Behan in 1982 at a session in our house. We had just watched the news featuring all the pomp and ceremony of the British naval fleet leaving port heading south for battle cheered on by thousands of Union Jack wavers egged on by Thatcher who used the war to change her very unpopular leadership. with a huge 3 million unemployed into the jingoistic ‘Iron Lady’ and the flag shaggers fell for it. Aim in Life Ken: The first lyrics I ever wrote when I was 15. It was originally a really up tempo punk song that David and I performed in our schoolboy Punk band the great, Raw Deal with mates Dixie and Donald Kerr. It lay dormant for a few years and I came across the words in an old diary and played around with some chords and turned it into a ballad which Elvis Costello really liked and encouraged us to record. It's about a lonely reclusive lady that I delivered newspapers to. She lived in a huge house but only used one room where she slept in a sleeping bag and watched a lot of T.V. and she would talk to me sometimes. May her God bless her.

For over a decade, Loyle Carner has been crafting one of the most quietly powerful discographies in UK hip hop - and now, he’s back with his fourth studio album, hopefully ! . Known for pairing soulful, jazz-tinged beats with deeply personal takes, Carner has carved out a sound that’s unmistakably his own. With two Mercury Prize nominations under his belt and a devoted fanbase to match, it’s safe to say he’s become a staple of the UK scene. This time around, hopefully ! finds the South Londoner trying out new things - playing with a full live band, and singing for the first time alongside his usual mix of rap and spoken word. Over 11 tracks, he reflects on fatherhood, identity, and growing up - creating his most open and genre-blurring project to date.

If you’re a fan of Adrianne Lenker, Jeff Buckley, or Nick Drake, you’ll feel right at home here - vulnerability spun into something magic. 'In Limerence, the stunning debut from Jacob Alon, is a heartfelt journey through the highs and lows of obsessive romantic longing. Produced by the legendary Dan Carey, it drops on May 30th - be sure to grab a copy of the Specialist Retail Exclusive Vinyl from your favourite indie record shop! We caught up with Jacob to chat about how 'In Limerence' came to life: