Our favourite Anglo-American DIY label, Audio Antihero, returns with another release from Benjamin Shaw. Should've Stayed at Home: A Collection of Oddities and Outtakes pulls together radio sessions, compilation appearances, unreleased songs, demos, alternative versions and more from the acclaimed singer-songwriter turned noise artist turned electronic pop artist.

Label head honcho and friend of the site, Jamie Halliday said, “Earlier in the year I talked Benjamin Shaw into compiling a "best of" and a "worst of." The "best of" came out in April as Exciting Opportunities: A Collection of Singles and Sadness and this "worst of" is here today with Should've Stayed at Home: A Collection of Oddities and Outtakes.

I think it came out so well. Presented in a loose reverse chronological order, there's songs pulled from forgotten compilations, an outtake from Megadead, session versions of songs from Rumfucker, Goodbye, Cagoule World, There's Always Hope, There's Always Cabernet as well gorgeous demo versions of songs from the debut EP, I Got the Pox, the Pox is What I Got, plus a handful of songs not on any other release.

I love the release. I think Ben is so underrated and I've always wished that more people heard these sessions when originally broadcast as they're so eclectic, creative and warm. Songs like ‘You & Me’, ‘Goodbye, Kagoul World’ and ‘Home’ can be played a million different ways and still sound beautiful. ‘When I Fell Over in the City’ is a song that kind of drove me and Ben a little crazy around 2011, so much so that we couldn't put it on Exciting Opportunities, even though it's probably his most popular single. But it's here, recorded in an earlier session (a shed in Melbourne) and actually sounding way nicer/cleaner than the version we released. I really can't be mad at it and I hope people still like it.

These 16 songs barely scratch the surface of some of the great stuff in "the vault," so maybe I can talk him into another of these someday. I really hope you enjoy this compilation of outtakes and oddities. Ben has been releasing stunning and strange music for about a decade now and anytime I can shine a wee light on some things people have missed then I'm delighted to do it. I miss my big pal.”

Find Should've Stayed at Home here

Count Bateman  is the fourth release from Frog, the acclaimed cult, wyrd-Americana, indie band from Queens, NYC.

On their latest eclectic and emotional outing, there’s hints of the Carole King’s ‘70s pop, Jonathan Richman’s earnest eccentricity, Ned Doheny’s white boy funk, Greg Dulli’s lust, The Meat Puppets’ bastardized Americana and the wild wit and narrow self-control of The Silver Jews.

Count Bateman will be co-released August 16 by Audio Antihero and Frog founder Danny Bateman's fledglingTape Wormies imprint (which he describes as “a hippie commune label, seeking to make its artists co-owners/profit sharers so that everyone will help each other succeed.”) Check out the first single below.