‘No Thyself’, the first new material in 30 years from the connoisseur’s choice, Magazine. This is the band’s fifth studio album. 10 tracks from the very top drawer, to be released on the Wire–Sound label. Available as a limited edition 180gm LP vinyl.

Magazine front man, Howard Devoto, co-formed Buzzcocks with Pete Shelley after the pair travelled down to London to see the Sex Pistols in early 1976 and promoted the now legendary Manchester Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs. Devoto left in 1977, after releasing the seminal ‘Spiral Scratch’ EP and created Magazine.

Magazine went on to release 4 ground breaking LP’s before parting company in 1981 and have been cited as influences on the likes of Morrissey, Jarvis Cocker, U2, Muse and, most notably, Radiohead.

Leading the vanguard of post-punk new wave, Magazine’s sound focused on the double barrels of Dave Formula’s swirling keyboards and John McGeoch’s ahead-of-its-time innovative guitar work and showcased a band on top of their game. In February 2009 original members Howard Devoto, Barry Adamson, John Doyle and Dave Formula, were joined on guitar by former Luxuria collaborator Noko to play a handful of concerts across the UK. It was the first time Magazine had played live together since 1980. These ‘Real Life + Thereafter’ shows quickly sold out and received widespread critical acclaim. In the Summer of 2009, they went on the play the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank and at selected European festivals including Benicassim (Spain), Latitude( UK) and Electric Picnic (Ireland). The year culminated in BBC television appearances on ‘Later…with Jools Holland’ and ‘Electric Proms’.

This year the band returned to the saddle as invited guests of Morrissey at this year’s Hop Farm Festival, alongside Iggy and the Stooges, Lou Reed and Patti Smith.

“Devoto, let’s just say, for the hell of it because the story has to start somewhere, with a bang, or a legendary punk gig, was the man who changed Manchester because he had an idea about what needed to happen at just the right time in just the right place. He arranged for the Sex Pistols to play in Manchester before the rest of the country had caught up with the idea that there was any such thing as a Sex Pistol. In the audience for the shows were Mark E Smith, Ian Curtis, Morrissey and Devoto himself, four of the greatest rock singers of all time, directly challenged to take things on.” Paul Morley / The Observer / 2006

“Magazine are the most criminally underrated band in the past 25 years of British pop in my view. Howard Devoto was a total pop genius, but he was a slightly misshaped pop star and I think nobody really got him. Simple Minds should not have been big, but Magazine should have – someone made a clerical mistake somewhere.”
Jeremy Vine / The Daily Telegraph / 2007

“Saying that Devoto has a cult following is like saying that King Kong was a big hairy gorilla: it’s superfically accurate but doesn’t really convey the full scale picture. On that ‘So It Goes’ he came on with the most powerful presence I’d seen since the first time I clapped eyes on Johnny Rotten… the kind of guy who’s going to get a big hoopla but who deserves it” Charles Shaar Murray / NME / 1978