iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

On the way home I dropped in to a beautiful café cum record shop called Dark Circles. Loads of jazz and soul, plenty of hip hop too. Mostly new but a good chunk of preloved. A wonderful vibe in there. Grabbed a slice of Misch/Dayes.

A copy of a vinyl record is propped up on a yellow Formica table against a fabric bag and cream wall. The album is What Kinda Music by Tom Misch and Yussef Dayes. The cover shows water and mountains with a red sky behind it and yellow circles that look like reflections. There’s an also a Parental Advisory sticker, because it says FUCK somewhere on a song here and there. Bollocks to those kinds of parents and their fucking advice.

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I also grabbed a copy of Come’s debut from Tough Love St Leonard’s. This is such a great album and Fire Records seem to have done a great job of the reissue.

A copy of the reissued debut album from Boston band Come. Mostly you can see a reflection of a person holding a phone up. Sorry about that.

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Wrote about The Muslims/The Soft Pack a while back - unspunheroes.com/2024/04/12/t... - and today I picked up their debut album. I think it my Magic Roundabout record bag that finds the gems. Thanks to Tim @wowandflutter.bsky.social

A tote bag made from fabric that has characters from the children’s TV show, The Magic Roundabout. Made by Jennifer Jayne Vintage (on the Insta).

A copy of The Muslims debut album before they changed their name to The Soft Pack. Shown on a yellow Formica table propped up against the fabric bag and a cream-coloured wall.

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Worn by a man. In his late 50s, maybe older. I showed Tim @wowandflutter.bsky.social and he had no words either.

A slightly overweight older man is wearing the world’s most hideous t-shirt. It depicts a six-pack stomach with a woman’s hands going down the front. There is also a red striped tie. It’s what you get if you type ‘grim’ and ‘the ick’ into Amazon.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 22/09/2026

I do love a spot varnish. So here's a photograph of one (hard to get it to show up well without tilting it towards the window!) that sits on the song notes accompanying Of Tide & Trail by Dan Arborise. Out next Friday, hopefully.

A teal/blue piece of card with lots of words on that form the song notes on Of Tide & Trail's debut vinyl release. These were written by Dan Arborise, the musician whose album they refer to. Anyway, there's a symbol printed as a spot varnish that sits over the top and makes for a neat little addition to what would be a rather mundane-looking piece of card. The 3,369 words, though, they are anything but mundane. To read them you'll need to buy a copy of the album or find someone who has one and read their song notes. Yeah, spot varnish. Love 'em.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 17/09/2026

Work meeting cancelled. Out for a spin in ‘Bertie’.

A light blue VW Beetle from the 70’s is parked in a woodland car park.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 17/09/2026

Here’s the actual A2 poster. (This one is for me, with just a signature on it. Numbered ones are for you. And you.)

An A2-sized colour poster that shows Dan Arborise standing on a rock with the sea in the background and clouds in the sky. It was taken by photographer, James Hacker and is used as the front cover of the vinyl record sleeve. Cropped of course. There is a signature in the bottom left-hand corner which says Dan A.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 17/09/2026

Delivery day. Signed posters for the Dan Arborise release. White or black.

The corner of an A2 poster with a white signature and number out of 100. The signature says Dan A. This one is 39/100.

The corner of an A2 poster with a black signature and number out of 100. The signature says Dan A. This one is 73/100.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 05/09/2026

Still very much feeling under the weather but this arrived earlier. Unexpectedly, too. Love the linocut bookmark by Tom’s mum.

A hand holds a paperback book. It’s called Curious Events Lately Occurring In This Neighbourhood. It’s by Tom Cox. Peeking out of the top of the book is a handmade bookmark featuring a linocut design by Tom’s mum. The book is signed inside and contains a collection of short stories. It’s been published by Breakthrough Books. The cover design is by Joe McLaren. I have no idea if he does 0-60 in under 3 seconds.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 29/08/2026

Then I learned that my fave Hefner album was reissued by @wiaiwya.bsky.social and @darrenhayman.bsky.social kindly signed it for me after I bought it. That cover!

Album cover for "We Love the City" by Hefner, featuring a graphic illustration of a man in a blue shirt with red tie throwing a punch at another man in a brown suit. The background is orange, and there is a handwritten note that says "Lots of Love, Darren” which was added by Darren Hayman who was the lead singer of the band Hefner.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 29/08/2026

Got distracted! Here’s the first purchase of today, from @handofglory.bsky.social - an album I’d only become acquainted with this year. Since then I’ve dig into Kiran’s work and listened to all his albums in a day. Recommended!

The sleeve of Bowler Hat Soup by Kiran Leonard. It’s an artistic album cover featuring a colourful, abstract landscape with whimsical elements, including a mountain, clouds, a house on stilts, and various abstract shapes. A sticker in the corner notes that it includes a download code because, well, it does.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 28/08/2026

Reminds me of that time someone did Pat Sharpe and no one liked it.

An image of David Bowie in his famous Aladdin Sane lightning bolt face paint get-up that looks a lot like the mullet-haired Capital FM DJ, Pat Sharpe doing some Bowie cosplay.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 23/08/2026

Yesterday I handed over a set of test pressings to John Hillarby, the man who introduced me to Dan Arborise’s music and who writes about John Martyn for those reissues, and his website. He just sent me this.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 22/08/2026

Worked out it’s been a year since I started trying to get to this stage (well, to retail-ready stage) and having listened to it I can say it’s been worth it. All being well, preorders will open in September and the double LP will ship early October.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 11/08/2026

Gifted to me by the owner of Snap Records in Hexham, this is his band I believe. Anyway, not too shabby. A mix of Madchester-style vocals and shoegaze/indie/psych music. Listen here: earlymaze.bandcamp.com/album/fast-t...

Grey background of a vinyl record sleeve held by a hand on the left edge. Image shows a train speeding past, shot from below. Daffodils are in the foreground. The image is greyscale. The band’s name, Early Maze, is in caps above the image. The title of the album, Fast train slow thoughts, is in italicised caps below the train image.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 09/08/2026

Had to make up a fresh batch of bespoke fabric bags as I’d run out. The labels remain one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. Which is either a sad admission or a very sad admission 😂

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And this reissue from Music On Vinyl. I almost bought a slightly tatty original recently for twice the price so was happy to get something I can just play loud for a decent price. I also bought Mrs Unspun a reissue of Macy Gray’s debut, which was released the year we first met.

The front of the sleeve for The Fall’s Perverted By Language. The artwork features a piece by Claus Castenskiold and can best be described as a sort of cartoonish Francis Bacon. The scene has a clown following a man with a newspaper clutched in his hand. In the background is a cross with the word SAVE written underneath.

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With just 35 minutes to go until closing I set about looking through the racks. Lorraine who runs it was so helpful. Been open since December. Great mix of new and pre-loved covering most genres. Picked up this, an overlooked(?) 80’s pop gem.

Maria McKee’s self-titled debut showing Maria McKee looking a tad unhappy with her blonde bangs hanging down.

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After that we ended up in Buxton. Yes, the one famous for its water. As we were about to leave I spotted this sign.

An A-frame showing a hagstone with the words Hagstone Records Buxton MMXXV. Vinyl CDs T-shirts 20 Hardwock Street, Buxton, SK17 6DH. 07881651265

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Here’s a moody Hipstamtic photo of the river at Bakewell. It’s such a lovely place to visit, but we were passing through this time.

A photo of the ducks on the river at Bakewell, Derbyshire.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 05/08/2026

Later than planned, here’s a few bits from today. First up is a little something from Vanishing Point Records in Chesterfield, one of the friendliest places I’ve ever been to. Corey is a gem of a human. Go see him!

An almost mint copy of the EP, The French Press by the band Rolling Blackouts C.F. Which shows two women on stairs looking at paper or phones. Behind some metal shutters is a shop front. The bands name and the EP’s title are top left in a black font.

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Okay, I got this. It’s a 2020 pressing. Reviews say it’s good, if incomplete. I had it on tape in the mid-80s, or some of it. It’s a bootleg, obvs. Anyway, I always loved this band when I was a teen. I wanted to skate but useless at balancing/falling over.

An illustrated image in white of a skull wearing a bandana. The text above has the band’s name, Suicidal Tendencies, and 1982 Demos underneath that. The background is black.

The back of the Suicidal Tendencies 1982 Demos vinyl sleeve. It shows singer Mike Muir on stage. Tracklist is shows, which is as follows:
Side A
Suicide’s An Alternative
I Shot Reagan
Suicidal Failure
Memories of Tomorrow
I Saw Your Mommy
Fascist Pig
Possessed
I Saw Your Mommy (no idea why it’s listed twice)
War Inside Myself

Side B
Stupid Genocide
Kill
Pseudo Mom
Two Sides Politics
Your Are Forgiven (again, no idea why it’s listed twice)
Burn The Constitution
Kill (second time listed, no reason given)

Beneath the track list is a short story about why the band took a few years to be signed. It says:

WORST BAND / BIGGEST ASSHOLES? YOU COULD NEVER KEEP SUICIDAL DOWN
In 1982. Flipside fanzine voted SUICIDAL TENDENCIES “Worst Band” and “Biggest Assholes”. One year later, amidst a tidal wave of controversy including murky rumors of gang affiliations, Mike Muir’s Venice, California crew finally got the credit they deserved.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 04/08/2026

Just a couple of pieces picked up today. Both from RPM in Newcastle.

Debut album from Cable Ties, a punk/garage rock band from Melbourne. I also like the singer’s other band , Wet Lips, for whom she played bass. Never seen this on vinyl in the UK and is on the indie Melbourne label, Poison City.

An EP by Brighton band, KEG. Described as “muscular art punk” - whatever the fuck that means - they’re quite different and experimental. Anyway, been a fan for a while and this was a tenner. Bargain.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 03/08/2026

I did go see a Sister Ray Davies site of special interest. No fog on the Tyne.

A photo of the Holy Island castle, also known as Lindisfarne castle.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 31/07/2026

One of the benefits* of having cancer is that despite there being ZERO accessibility consideration for merch at Nick Cave’s thing, the volunteer staff are really fab and helpful. So I was able to snag one of these before they sold out without queuing for 4 hours in the sun. * yeah, lol

A Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds special edition 10-inch vinyl record sold at his show in Preston Park, Brighton. It features the title, Jubilee Street in multi-coloured letters, plus some mer-people in yellow and green, and the band’s name also in coloured hand drawn lettering.

The single features a live version of the song, plus the original track from Nick’s album of the same name.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 20/07/2026

Very sad news. I had to do a double take on this Wiki overview though. Guessing they used a cached version of the page.

A screenshot of the overview on a search conducted on Duck Duck Go about the footballer, Kevin Keegan. It pulls info from his Wikipedia page, which has clearly been tampered with. His nickname 'King Kev' was doctored by a rogue Wikipedia 'editor' to read Cumbum.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 09/07/2026

Terrible photo but this is on my wall and therefore I beg to differ 😂

A cartoon that shows thousands of books on shelves that curve horizontally. A ladder reaches up several storeys. The caption reads: There’s no such thing as too many books. The print is numbered 101/500. The artist is Ralph Lazer.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 28/06/2026

Have had a power cut at Unspun HQ since midday. Likely to be another four hours, apparently. So I’ll be enjoying this zine from @logofiasco.bsky.social in which I have two pieces… one a chat with @dannythechamp.bsky.social and the other a chat with @ianfromballoon.bsky.social

A zine with a black and white cover featuring a linocut design by Ruth Joyce. The title, ‘Pond Life’ features prominently in the centre of the cover. The subtitle, A Carshalton Fanzine is written a long the bottom of the page.

A photo of a page within the Pond Life zone. It reads:

Big Skies & The Mad Mile
Simon White talks to Danny George Wilson

Perhaps unbeknown to many, Carshalton has been on the global music stage for over three decades. Hiding in the local area in plain sight, Danny George Wilson has been writing about his local "stomping ground", and it's a subject that's sustained his career across a few bands and his solo work. When we meet in his newly opened record shop in Carshalton, Danny explains how Sutton, as a borough, has had an impact on his songwriting.

A page from the zine, Pond Life. It reads:

WATCH OUT FOR THE QUIET ONES
Simon White talks to lan Bickerton

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 17/06/2026

Nothing like celebrating Miles Davis and his legacy than by changing the theme colour of your Slack environment.

A screenshot of a theme selection from the app, Slack, which purports to help you 'Celebrate the music of Miles Davis' through six possible colour schemes: Kind of Blue, Funky Fresh, Jazz Club, Electric Fusion, Brassy, and Sunglasses Inside.

Kind of Blue is, well, kind of blue, whereas Funky Fresh is a purple to green gradient thing; Jazz Club is a gradient of dark red shifting to darker maroon, while Electric Fusion is a light green; Brassy is sort of yellow/gold in colour with a nod to Bet Lynch's leopard skin tops, and Sunglasses Inside is a deep, dark purple, the colour of an eye that has been bruised by tripping over in a dark club because you're wearing sunglasses inside.

Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 12/06/2026

Playing some of my own releases tonight. First up I’m cracking open my super limited edition version of James Varda’s Chance And Time. I was so lucky to be able to do this. I think he would have loved how it turned out. A very special album indeed.

A yellow hand-cut and handmade card sleeve with the name James Varda in black foil on the left. On the right hand flap that closes the outer sleeve is the black foil of the album’s name, Chance & Time.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 07/06/2026

After a morning moving the child out of uni halls and back home, I’m sat on a bench in the park with this idiot.

A black pug looks into the distance. Behind it is a big tree. The sky is mostly blue with some clouds. The grass is a lush green colour.

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Unspun Heroes® @unspunheroes.com · 06/06/2026

I suspect this ain’t a well loved album but it holds a special place in my heart due to its release year and subject matter.

A hand holds a vinyl album featuring a black and white cover image of a boy surfing in the ocean, with a second surfer visible in the background. The band’s name, "The Rapture", is prominently shown as white text on a black hype sticker, along with the title of the album, "In the Grace of Your Love". Released in 2011, it’s damn hard to find on vinyl in the UK and the album deals with themes of grief and loss. The music is danceable guitar band with electronica leanings. Most people hated it when it came out, if I recall correctly. They preferred the old version of the band from 2005 with a different singer and a much brighter sound. I like both.