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Northern Spy

Documenting modern music since 2010 Northern Spy is a Brooklyn based record label

19/11/2025

Coming to Northern Spy Records on February 27, 2026: 𝘼𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙂𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙𝙯𝙚 - 𝘼 𝙎𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚: 𝙊𝙛 𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣. Listen to the first single from the release, “Following Up”, now.

With A Semblance: Of Return, South African drummer, composer, and bandleader Asher Gamedze (.stab) gathers a close ensemble of longtime collaborators to explore what he calls “practices of assembly” - ways of coming together, making sound, and imagining new and old modes of freedom. Based in the independent music scenes of Cape Town and rooted in Pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness, Of Return extends the political and musical commitments that have defined Gamedze’s work since Dialectic Soul (On The Corner, 2020), while opening a newly collective chapter in his practice, this time on Northern Spy Records.

Of Return is an album about a grounding in local context, in collective work, in the sonic and social memory of South Africa and about reaching outward, imagining solidarities that extend beyond geographic and political borders. Musically, the record carries forward the lineages that shape Gamedze’s work and opens new spaces for communing. If Dialectic Soul, Turbulence and Pulse (International Anthem, 2022) and Constitution (International Anthem, 2024) were statements of direction, Of Return is a gathering place: a living room, a rehearsal, a shady club, a study group, a home.

Emulsive Return variant LP and Compact Disc available for preorder now.

14/11/2025

Out today on Northern Spy Records 🫧 .vandever - Another View

On Another View, Vandever’s debut album on , her quartet leans into a taut, clear-eyed study of cycles and grooves with elegiac melodies that effloresce into something dynamic, nearly bursting with life. Vandever’s trombone leads, meeting ’s elastic guitar lines in shifting light. (bass) and .gordon (drums) give the music its frame, letting repetition breathe in a mutable structure.

Underneath is a narrative about idealization curdling into dread, the way the drafts and shadows of a “dream house” reveal themselves once you move inside. Vandever has drawn, in part, from Carmen Maria Machado’s inventive memoir In the Dream House (Graywolf Press, 2019).

An immense, hopeful, melancholic, multilayered dream. Each listen promises another angle, another room, another view.

Digital album and CD available via Northern Spy now

31/10/2025

Out today on : 𝘼 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 from and – a sparkling, near-cosmic collection of five long-form pieces that are almost suite-like. Lidell uses modular synths, Fender Rhodes, tape effects, and percussion to weave a fathomless tapestry from Schneider’s improvised pedal steel swells.

The record was designed as a reverent companion for psychedelic journeys born from Lidell’s own ketamine therapy sessions, which deepened his belief in art’s healing power. “A mind is often found more exposed during psychedelic experiences,” Lidell explains. “Specifically in a therapeutic setting, where trust is key to approach issues and work through events in the way of growth. This is music to support and guide the listening with or without psychedelic sensory heightening.”

All LP and cassette orders include a free double-sided broadsheet poster printed in vibrant full color on 50 lb. newsprint.

27/10/2025

TOMORROW at 3PM EST get an exclusive first listen to 𝘼 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙁𝙤𝙧 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝘽𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝘿𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙨 from and before release this Friday.

A Companion For The Spaces Between Dreams evades the pitfalls of clinical sterility, inducing a vulnerable inner voyage. This one is truly special. Preview the record and chat with the artists about the making of the release, which was designed as a reverent companion for psychedelic journeys born from Lidell’s own ketamine therapy sessions, which deepened his belief in art’s healing power.

You can RSVP to the Bandcamp Listening Party via the link in our bio.

15/10/2025

Highlights from The Necks’ ‘Disquiet’ Bandcamp Listening Party … a few questions from fans and the band’s own answers.

Lloyd, Chris, and Tony talk improvisation, rhythm, recording and more.

Lloyd Swanton is LS
Chris Abrahams is CA
Tony Buck is TB

Disquiet is out now via

10/10/2025

Out today on : 𝘿𝙞𝙨𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 from .necks

Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured.

The music of The Necks has always carried a profound sense of shared responsibility –– between the players, of course, in their utter commitment to the improvisational –– but also between the work and its audience. With music so open, there are profound opportunities to choose: what to focus on, whether to focus at all, etc. Disquiet takes this further: there is no particular listening order prescribed. There is no “Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3.” The music itself seems to stretch time, and this presentation challenges ideas of sequencing.

Triple CD and digital album available everywhere now. All CD orders receive a double sided broadsheet poster with purchase.

25/09/2025

Be the first to hear Disquiet by The Necks in a special Bandcamp listening party. A collective debut for an extraordinary 3-hour+ record. Band members will be popping in to answer questions. RSVP via the link in our bio.

10/09/2025

Announcing to Northern Spy Records on October 31, 2025: A Companion For The Spaces Between Dreams from and

Jamie Lidell and Luke Schneider have created a kind of sonic tool to navigate a liminal state of mind. Their new collaborative LP, A Companion For The Spaces Between Dreams, is designed as a reverent companion for psychedelic journeys born from Lidell’s own ketamine therapy sessions, which deepened his belief in art’s healing power.

“The Passing”, out today, combines pedal steel with an Otari Tape machine. A lush sonic carpet is rolled out, inviting the listener to rest their eyes, enter an auricular daydream, and absorb themselves in the present moment.

Limited edition cassette and LP available for preorder now. Every physical order comes with a limited edition broadsheet poster.

13/08/2025

The eighth and final drop of Across The Horizon Vol. 1 is available to stream everywhere today. Curated by , Drop 8 features tracks from him, and — described by as “perfect examples of artists who continually defy expectations with each new release.”

12/08/2025

Out on on October 10th: The Necks - Disquiet

Disquiet is the Australian trio’s 20th studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band’s existence.

Listen to “Causeway” today— Swirling organ and cascading piano drift over a slow-building bed of percussion and bass, unfolding with the trio’s signature patience, intuition, and immersive sonic detail.

Triple CD + Broadsheet poster available for preorder now.

29/07/2025

The Candy Factory in Clinton Hill/Brooklyn was Northern Spy Records’ home for many years.

Musician, Northern Spy co-founder, Tom Abbs, and were collaborators and close friends.

As MP’s kidneys failed, he kept creating, dragging himself up the stairs of this building to paint.

Tom turned out to be a doner match. Without hesitation, he gave MP a kidney.

MP: “Tom saved my life…and treated it like another collaboration.”

After MP moved to Maine, Tom inherited his studio and made it Northern Spy HQ.

Tom: “I traded a kidney for this space. And it was worth it.”

This place was magical, made possible by people like Ann Ballentine, who made it all possible.

There are lots of stories like these in ’ moving documentary presented by the on this amazing building. Check it out!

04/07/2025

BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY! Dm us for a bandcamp download code. 🎆 🧨 🤠

“Saxophonist Bryan Murray’s wonderful quintet cast an outside-jazz eye on Bakersfield country legend Merle Haggard, and their bodacious results do justice to both camps. The Hag’s heartbreaking melodies become fodder for genre-slipping arrangements that take the long way home…The band is recording with Chadbourne, who splays country, rock, and bluegrass with feckless hyperactive humor.” - Richard Gehr, Village Voice

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https://northernspyrecs.com/

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