New Releases - 7/24/20

Hitting The Racks

Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's

New Releases

Liza Anne - Bad Vacation CD/LP (Arts & Crafts)
Called bold in both sound and subject (NPR), Nashville-based artist Liza Anne pairs the sonic palette of pop-minded indie acts with the raw emotional lyrics. Produced by Kyle Ryan (Kacey Musgraves, Natalie Prass) and Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Beck), her album, Bad Vacation, represents an audacious sonic leap forward, mixing full-throated rock and roll anthems with playful new wave jams and power pop earworms, all with a hint of Americana. All vinyl & CD copies at Grimey's are signed by Liza Anne! Mask up and come on in to pick one up or order it here.

Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers CD/LP (Fat Possum)
Created in the aftermath of a long-term relationship, Old Flowers features the acclaimed singer, songwriter and musician's most vulnerable writing across 10 new songs that chronicle her journey through heartbreak, loneliness and finding herself again after it all.Produced by Andrew Sarlo (Bon Iver, Big Thief), Old Flowers features only three musicians: Andrews (vocals, acoustic guitar, piano), Twain's Matthew Davidson (bass, celeste, mellotron, pedal steel, piano, pump organ, wurlitzer, background vocals) and Big Thief's James Krivchenia (drums, percussion).

The Anxiety - The Anxiety LP (Roc Nation)
Debut album from Willow Smith and Tyler Cole's indie rock duo The Anxiety. Exploring heart-wrenching angsts and screamo-inspired feels, The Anxiety features ten tracks, including their hit single "Hey You".

Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat - Genetic LP (Black Truffle)
Genetic is the first release outside Indonesia from contemporary Balinese composer Dewa Alit and his Gamelan Salukat, a 25-member ensemble that perform on instruments built to Alit's designs, using a unique 11-note scale and techniques that occasionally sound uncannily electronic. Alit's magical sound world builds on the concepts of traditional Balinese Gamelan music to create something radically new, putting stop-start dynamics, and unison melodies in the service of rhythmic, harmonic, and timbral experimentation, crafting a work possessed by at once by mysterious grandeur and a joyous volatility.

Against All Logic - 2017-2019 3LP (Other People)
The second full-length from Nicolas Jaar's more uptempo alias. Includes a vinyl-only edit on Side F. Following the relatively accessible, sample-heavy house release 2012-2017, A.A.L. returns with a more abrasive and aggressive style of dance music, a "warped techno counterpart... Textures undulate and basses overwhelm, while vocals flutter in and out of focus as if someone were flicking through channels on a decrepit television. 2017-2019 transcends the previous mid-tempo crowd-pleasers, unafraid to draw from various club subgenres while injecting Jaar's customary washed-out tape atmospheres." - Pitchfork

Against All Logic - Illusions of Shameless Abundance/Alucinao 12" (Other People)
Against All Logic single 12" on Other People featuring Lydia Lunch and FKA Twigs. Also features Estado Unido.

The Acacia Strain - Slow Decay CD/LP (Rise)
The Acacia Strain are often referred to as the heaviest band around. Any doubt of this claim will surely be silenced with their eighth album, Slow Decay, produced by Randy Leboeuf (Every Time I Die, Counterparts, Gideon). The Acacia Strain are pioneers of the deathcore genre, and for almost two decades they've been releasing albums that have managed to stand the test of time and become staples in the metalcore community.

Devendra Banhart - Vast Ovoid 12" (Nonesuch)
This four-song limited edition vinyl EP features three songs recorded during the sessions for his album Ma as well as the Helado Negro remix of the track "Love Song".

Barker - Utility 2LP (Ostgut Ton)
Berghain resident Sam Barker has spent the last few years exploring the euphoric potential of altering key variables in dance music formulas, avoiding typical genre categorizations by producing club-ready music devoid of kickdrums. Barker's vision ebbs-and-flows through waves of deeply psychedelic musical vignettes; free-floating and futuristic melodies and rhythms as targeted brain stimulation. The sound draws heavily on modular synthesis, as well as self-built mechanical instruments and plate reverbs to create atmospheres that are at once alien and emotionally recognizable, functional, and utopian. 

Thad Cockrell - If In Case You Feel The Same LP (ATO)
Recently released on CD - now available on pink colored vinyl. Thad Cockrell returns with his first solo album in over a decade.If In Case You Feel The Same taps into the tremendous depth of expression Thad has brought to co-writing for such artists as Joy Williams (on her Grammy-nominated 2019 album Front Porch), Joseph, Devon Gilfillian and Mathew Caws of Nada Surf, as well as his much beloved band Leagues. Buoyed by the support of Brittany Howard, whom he first met over a 4 a.m. pitcher of homemade margaritas, Cockrell set to work on his first solo effort in over a decade: an album that exposes his deepest insecurities and weaknesses, all for the sake of creating a transcendent connection with the audience. All vinyl copies at Grimey's are signed by Thad!

Shirley Collins - Heart's Ease CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
Heart's Ease follows 2017's Lodestar, Shirley Collins' first record in 38 years, and one that brought Shirley's widely missed voice back to fans. An album broader and brighter in tone than Lodestar, it finds Shirley exploring warmer themes and features three songs less rooted within the folk tradition.

Flower - None Is (But Once Was) LP (Ernest Jenning)
The first album in 30 years from this band featuring Ed and Richard Baluyut from Versus and Ian James from Cell. Having always remained close, while Ian was recording the most recent Versus releases, discussion turned to seeing what would happen if all four original Flower members locked themselves in the studio until an album had been written. So, it was agreed, and so it was done.

Jon Hassell - Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two) CD/LP (Ndeya)
A companion piece to 2018's Listening To Pictures, this second volume in the Pentimento series presents eight new tracks by the music visionary, continuing his lifelong exploration of the possibilities of recombination and musical gene-splicing. Pentimento is defined as the "reappearance in a painting of earlier images, forms, or strokes that have been changed and painted over" and this is evident in the innovative production style that "paints with sound" using overlapping nuances to create an undefinable and intoxicating new palette.

James Krivchenia - A New Found Relaxation LP (self-released)
An experimental ambient album from the drummer of Big Thief and sometimes Mega Bog member. Krivchenia built the album out of several hundred smaller pieces, including field recordings, YouTube fragments, and exploratory knob-twisting, conjuring a dense atmosphere of nervously shifting snippets of melody and texture proves both soothing and beguiling. 

Let It Come Down - Songs We Sang In Our Dreams LP (Joyful Noise)
Kramer's first one-on-one collaboration since Bongwater circled the drain 30 years ago. The results are ethereal, combining the most introspective songwriting of Kramer's career with luminous vocal performances from Xan Tyler. Fans of Kramer's most recent solo work on John Zorn's Tzadik Records - as well as his extensive scroll of production work for artists like Galaxie 500, Low, and Daniel Johnston - will lose themselves in the shadowy labyrinths of Songs We Sang In Our Dreams.

Lil Wayne - Funeral 2xLP (Republic)
Vinyl edition of the rapper's 13th album. Features guest appearances like Big Sean, Lil Baby, Jay Rock, Adam Levine, 2 Chainz, Takeoff, The-Dream, the late XXXTentacion and more.

Lori McKenna - The Balladeer CD/LP (CN Records)
McKenna's new album, The Balladeer, was produced by 6x Grammy-winner Dave Cobb (The Highwomen, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile, John Prine) and recorded at Nashville's historic RCA Studio A. The Balladeer is McKenna's most personal album to date featuring songs that reflect firsthand on her relationships with her children, husband and family. Following this theme, McKenna wrote the majority of the album alone except for three tracks written with Hillary Lindsey and Liz Rose - a group collectively known as the Love Junkies.

Siti Muharam - Siti of Unguja (Romance Revolution on Zanzibar) LP (On the Corner Records)
Siti Muharam, the "golden voice" of Zanzibar, is the great granddaughter of Siti Binti Saad, the first Zanzibari recording artist and the woman credited with popularizing taarab, a style of music popular in Tanzania and Kenya that is influenced by the musical traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Siti of Unguja embraces microtonal scales and percussive grooves reflective of the Swahili street culture that influenced Siti Binti Saad in the 1920s. 

The Naked And Famous - Recover CD/2xLP (Somewhat Damaged)
The Naked And Famous' new album Recover reasserts the duo as one of modern indie-pop's most exciting sonic trailblazers, taking them to emotionally inspired depths, while maintaining their fresh effervescence. While they have sonically mastered the art of dreamy, hook-laden synth-pop, The Naked And Famous have stuck to their guns as far as intimate storytelling. Recover is largely an autobiographical record rooted in a powerful sentiment of survival, and of the very human process of self-preservation - of saving, choosing and celebrating oneself in a world constantly trying to put us down.

Neck Deep - All Distortions Are Intentional CD/LP+MP3 (Hopeless)
Neck Deep wants to continue carving out their own unique space within rock, punk, and alternative music. They have no delusions of saving rock or being the biggest rock band out there. They understand their roots are in pop punk, but want to expand on their sound in their own way, taking inspiration from artists like The Beatles and Nirvana. [Limited colored vinyl pressing.]

Dan Reeder - Every Which Way LP (Oh Boy)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Every Which Ways was, as always, written, played, recorded and produced by Dan Reeder himself. Dan Reeder has been called one of the foremost outsider artists in modern folk by The New Yorker's Ben Greenman. His music has received critical acclaim for its unique blending of blues, folk, gospel and field hollers.

Roddy Ricch - Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial 2xLP (Atlantic)
Vinyl edition of the 2019 debut album from the rapper. Features guest appearances from Gunna, Lil Durk, Meek Mill, Mustard, Ty Dolla Sign, and A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie.

Straitjacket Fits - Hail LP (Flying Nun)
Hail is a documentation of a band on the up, a band flexing its potential and oozing confidence and optimism. With Hail the Straitjacket Fits were well on their way to giving the rock 'n' roll thing their very best shot.

STRFKR - Future Past Life CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
STRFKR has always been a constantly evolving entity, growing over the years from rambunctious beginnings into the manicured electro-pop perfection they exhibited on their last studio album, 2016's pristine Being No One, Going Nowhere. Future Past Life breaks new ground, dialing back some of the high-gloss production they're known for to craft songs that are stripped down, spaced out and somehow as visceral as they are dream-like. The immaculate but danceable pop that has long been STRFKR's calling card is pushed into exciting new places on Future Past Life. It's a strange and beautiful sonic environment, one that finds STRFKR growing as they embrace the chance and spontaneity that brought these songs about in the first place. [Limited opaque orange colored vinyl pressing.]

Earl Sweatshirt - Feet Of Clay LP (WB)
Released digitally last year - now available on vinyl. Earl Sweatshirt is the virtuosic byproduct of Los Angeles' fertile ground where hip-hop sowed its seeds and historic cultural movements were born. The prodigiously gifted writer, lyricist and producer grew from a zeitgeist of which contemporary collectives in hip-hop today are predicated. And while most movements are fleeting as soon as they arrive, Earl pushed forward, documented his growth and self-discovery on record and cemented himself as one of the foremost culturally relevant MC's in the game. One who never strayed away too far from his Los Angeles beat-scene roots.

Thin Lear - Wooden Cave CD (EggHunt/Clandestine)
Queens-based songwriter Matt Longo (aka Thin Lear) has always been drawn to the stories of forgotten eccentrics but never haunted by their subjects. And yet, upon the reading of 1920's occultist Netta Fornario, and her misunderstood demise on a tiny island off Scotland, he unearthed the inspiration for a surreal and ethereal collection of songs, Wooden Cave. Pulling influence from the insular world of Astral Weeks, the melodic adventurousness of Harry Nilsson, and the eclecticism of Shuggie Otis, Thin Lear creates songs existing on a sonic and lyrical island of their own. The result is eleven tracks sprawling from ornate, warm ballads, to psychedelic-tinged folk, to propulsive grooves, brimming with melody and heart. Wooden Cave, written for outsiders like Netta, radiates with a sonic glow that harkens back to '70s-era studio obsessives, familiar and surprising in equal measure, like a face from a dream. [Vinyl is available for special order]

Winter - Endless Space (between You & I) color LP (Bar/None Records)
The power of a Winter song is hard to describe, like how the delicate world building of a good book can be more compelling than real life. There's a make-believe, fairy tale surrealism that sets Winter's blend of shoegaze and psychedelia apart while existing in the same universe as the ethereal dream pop of Cocteau Twins and Melody's Echo Chamber.

X - Alphabetland CD (Fat Possum)
Alphabetland is the eighth studio album by legendary American punk rock band X. It is their first studio release in 27 years and the first with their original line-up in the past 35 years. [Vinyl edition due August 21.]

Reissues & From The Archives

PJ Harvey - Dry - Demos CD/LP (Island)
PJ Harvey - Dry [Reissue/1992] LP (Island)
Archive collection containing demos of PJ Harvey's seminal 1992 debut album. Dry features the singles "Dress" and "Sheela-Na-Gig" which heralded Harvey's burst onto the global stage. The Los Angeles Times' Robert Hilburn described the record as "... a seductive calling card that signals the arrival of an extraordinary new artist." NME wrote, "Polly dredges these sounds from the pit of her dissected soul and drags them out of her mouth with clenched fists," while Pitchfork said, "On her debut, Polly Jean Harvey matched Patti Smith's incandescence with Bessie Smith's lasciviousness, outplayed everyone on the British indie circuit, and became an instant star." [Dry has also been reissued this week on 180gm vinyl.]

Spoon - Soft Effects LP+MP3 (Matador)
Out of print for nearly five years, Soft Effects has been remastered and reissued on vinyl. Soft Effects (1997) features five of Spoon's strongest songs and marks a leap forward in the band's repertoire, signaling the great things to come on subsequent Spoon albums. The vinyl repress features blue sky cover never before used in physical packaging.

that dog. - Totally Crushed Out! LP (Third Man Records)
First ever vinyl pressing. Conceived as a loosely-based concept album around the idea of crushes and young love, that dog's 1995 sophomore album is a touchstone underrated classic in line with of-the-era releases like the Breeders Last Splash and Liz Phair's Exile in Guyville: quirky, smart, well-written and most of all... enjoyable. that dog's touring behind Totally Crushed Out! found them sharing stages with Foo Fighters, Weezer and Teenage Fanclub, their songs being covered live by Pearl Jam, collaborating with Beck, and the vid for "He's Kissing Christian" achieving sub-Buzz Bin status on MTV.

that dog. - Retreat from the Sun color LP (Third Man Records)
First ever vinyl pressing. The 1997 third studio LP from the band arrived polished, constructed and aerodynamic for the late 90's post-grunge haze it emerged from. While gems like "Hawthorne" quaintly imagine punk rock shows in car garages and "Minneapolis" recalls the "I only saw her for one second" ephemeral beauty of Citizen Kane, the album traverses a myriad of emotions and counts among its fans both Pat Smear of the Germs and the Vivian Girls. Limited edition brown vinyl pressing.

Big Bill Broonzy - The Midnight Special: Live In Nottingham 1957 LP (Org Music)
This solo performance captures Big Bill's affable personality and ability to hold the attention of an appreciative audience with his storytelling, acoustic guitar licks, and a strong singing voice that leaves an indelible impression that this man had experiences in the fields, the factories, and the railroads.

Vince Guaraldi Trio - Peanuts Greatest Hits [Reissue/2015] LP (Craft Recordings)
Limited picture disc vinyl LP pressing. Peanuts Greatest Hits is an album of all seasons for fans of the venerable Charlie Brown and the gang.

Masayoshi Fujita & Jan Jelinek - Schaum LP (Faitiche)
2020 repress; originally released in 2016. The second collaborative full-length from Japanese vibraphonist Masayoshi Fujita, who prepares his instrument with various percussion elements as well as metal objects and toys, and Jan Jelinek, who layers synthesizer and sample loops made using small-scale electronic devices. On this album, Jelinek further manipulates Fujita's recordings, emphasizing their atmospheric qualities, and incorporates artificial field recordings of jungle and rainforest settings to create a fragmented sense of space.

Diana Ross - Supertonic: Mixes CD/LP (Motown)
Diana Ross has scored four consecutive Billboard #1 Dance Club Songs Chart singles over the last two years - "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "I'm Coming Out", "Upside Down", "The Boss" and "Love Hangover 2020". This is a historical run, as each track also hit #1 during its original release. Supertonic: Mixes revisits these club hits; classic songs turned inside out. [Limited edition clear vinyl pressing.]

Pharoah Sanders - Live... LP (Theresa Records)
Originally released in 1982. Featuring John Hicks (piano), Walter Booker (bass) and Idris Muhammad (drums). "Sanders performs 'It's Easy to Remember' (in a style very reminiscent of early-'60s John Coltrane), an original blues, and two of his compositions, including the passionate 'You've Got to Have Freedom.' The musicianship is at a high level, and the Trane-ish influence was particularly strong during this relatively mellow period." --All Music Guide

Conrad Schnitzler - Con LP (Bureau B)
Originally released in 1978. A solo album from the former Tangerine Dream and Kluster member. Building on his synthesizer experiments, Schnitzler was known for exploring the creative potential of the cassette, building a "cassette organ" out of 12 cassette recorders. He recorded Con at the Paragon Studio, which was started by Peter Baumann, his successor in Tangerine Dream. With a small Korg synthesizer, a sequencer, and an EMS Synthi, Schnitzler crafted an album demonstrating his skills in tape manipulation, splicing, editing, and looping.