New Releases - 1/20/23

Hitting The Racks

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

New Releases

Caitlin Rose – Cazimi CD/LP (Missing Piece)

The latest release from Nashville-based Caitlin Rose, Cazimi captures a voice which is equal parts honeyed and world-weary, and sees her singing self-aware songs of self-destruction, documenting proclivity and impulse control, bad habits in life and in romantic pursuits. She skips across genres, combining new wave influences with pop stylings and the melancholy folk songwriting that made her such a staple of the Nashville rock scene. Featuring the singles "Black Obsidian", "Nobody's Sweetheart" and "Getting it Right".

The Bad Ends – The Power And The Glory CD/LP (New West)

The Bad Ends is a band of veteran musicians from Athens, GA featuring Bill Berry (R.E.M), Mike Manitone (Five Eight) Christian Lopez (Curly Maple) Geoff Melkonian (Josh Joplin Group) and local guitar-shop-owner, Dave Domizi. The Power And The Glory was recorded at the legendary local studio, Espresso Machine, and features guitar driven songs like "Mile Marker 29", "Thanksgiving 1915", and "Honestly". An immediate classic referencing the best of early ‘90s college rock. Athens, GA to the max. [Indie store exclusive translucent orange vinyl.]

Belle And Sebastian – Late Developers CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)

Recorded in the same sessions as A Bit Of Previous, Late Developers doesn't feel like a collection of lesser-than songs that weren't good enough to go on the "real" record. Rather, it's an embrace of the freedom that comes with a jumbo-sized canvas, skilled students left unsupervised to paint whatever picture they feel like. Late Developers takes you on a journey as the band floats through genres with ease.

Boy Harsher – Burn It Down 12”+MP3 (Sacred Bones/Nude Club)

Fan favorite dark dance outfit Boy Harsher have contributed a sumptuously eerie track for the David Gordon Green directed finale to the iconic Halloween franchise. Sacred Bones and Nude Club (Boy Harsher's imprint) are joining forces and releasing a proper 12" maxi single containing four versions of the track "Burn It Down", to be released in tandem with the original score provided by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter, and Daniel Davies. [A limited-edition ‘pumpkin orange’ color vinyl pressing is available.]

John Cale – Mercy CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)

For nearly 60 years, John Cale has been reimagining how his music is made, sounds, and even works. Mercy, Cale's first full album in a decade, moves through true dark-night-of-the-soul electronic torment toward vulnerable love songs and hopeful considerations for the future with the help of some of music's most curious young minds. Cale has always searched for new ways to explore old ideas of alienation, hurt, and joy; Mercy is the latest transfixing find of this unsatisfied mind. [An indie store exclusive translucent purple vinyl pressing is available.]

John Carpenter / Cody Carpenter / Daniel Davies – Halloween Ends (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD/LP+MP3 (Sacred Bones)

After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before, one where only one of them will survive. As Halloween Ends marks the last chapter of the David Gordon Green trilogy, so it ushers the essential return of original director and composer John Carpenter to score the hair-raising soundtrack alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. [Limited-edition pumpkin orange vinyl.]

Mac DeMarco – Five Easy Hot Dogs CD (Mac’s Record Label)

Mac DeMarco's new instrumental collection Five Easy Hot Dogs was created while traveling across North America, with each song named after the city in which it was recorded. The tracklist is sequenced in the chronological order in which the songs were produced. DeMarco set out on his journey to make Five Easy Hot Dogs in January 2022 with the plan to stay and record in motels, hotels, or people's houses. "The nature of ripping around and recording and traveling in this manner doesn't lend well to sitting around and planning or thinking about what it was that I was setting out to do," DeMarco said. "I didn't ever have a sound in mind, or a theme or anything, I would just start recording. Luckily the collection of recordings from this period all shake hands, they have a present musical identity as a whole. I was in it while I was in it, and this is what came out of it, just the way it was." Five Easy Hot Dogs follows-up 2019's Here Comes The Cowboy. [Vinyl edition due May 12.]

Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein – Stranger Things 4 (Volume 1) Original Score 2xLP (Lakeshore)
Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein – Stranger Things 4 (Volume 2) Original Score 2xLP (Lakeshore)

Original score to the fourth season of Netflix's popular series Stranger Things. Each pressed on translucent color vinyl (blue and red, respectively).

Guided By Voices – La La Land CD/LP (GBV Inc.)

La La Land doubles down on the intricate proggy-pop displayed on Guided By Voices's last album Tremblers And Goggles By Rank. On a hot streak of critical acclaim, Robert Pollard continues expanding his songwriting towards extremes of prettiness, heaviness and poeticism. [Sorry proud brothers and sisters, the new GBV shipped to us late and we won’t have it until next week.]

Hardy – The Mockingbird & The Crow CD (Big Loud)

The follow up to debut album A Rock, one of the New York Times Best Albums of 2020 all-genre and a Billboard Best Country Album of 2020, The Mockingbird & The Crow is one of the most highly-anticipated sophomore albums in the country format. Hardy has made his mark as "a promising purveyor of keeping the spirit of classic heavy Southern rock alive" (American Songwriter), a juggernaut artist-writer whose influence has already changed the sound and style of the genre. With his second full-length LP, he charges into uncharted territory, marrying country and rock in a two-part, 17-track duality showcase, mastering the sounds and themes of both the influences he grew up listening to with the life he grew up living. [Vinyl edition due January 27.]

Adam Hood – Bad Days Better LP (Soundly Music, LLC)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Fifth album from singer/songwriter Adam Hood. Bad Days Better was recorded at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia with the help of members of Blackberry Smoke, and Brent Cobb in the producer's chair.

Katatonia – Sky Void Of Stars CD/LP (Napalm)

Meritorious masters of melancholic metal Katatonia present their hauntingly beautiful new studio album, Sky Void Of Stars. [The limited-edition mediabook edition of the CD includes a bonus track. Indie store exclusive white vinyl.]

Ladytron – Time’s Arrow CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)

Beauty, disposability, and fragility of the culture that surrounds us, and the exhilaration of freeing yourself from those structures... these are the themes Ladytron return to on Time's Arrow, their seventh album. Driven by analogue synths, distorted chimes, and hallucinogenic soundscapes, Ladytron crash-landed into electroclash at the turn of the century, using the dancefloor as a bridgehead to the collective unconscious. On Time's Arrow the group add new richness, distant shimmers and a shoegaze-adjacent glow with Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo's trademark understated voices now inhabiting a space somewhere between cloudscape and dream. [Indie store exclusive crystal clear vinyl.]

Matt Maeson – Never Had To Leave 2xLP (Atlantic)

Released last summer on CD – now available on vinyl. For Maeson, the making of Never Had To Leave fulfills the restless creativity that's relentlessly fueled his musical output. As he reveals, the process of creating Never Had To Leave reaffirmed the need to work at his own pace and follow his instincts without compromise. Never Had To Leave takes on a stunning tenderness as Maeson opens up about the infinite complexities and nuances of love. "This record taught me to take as long as I need to make the album I want, instead of pushing out something because of outside pressure," he says.

Kali Malone / Stephen O’Malley / Lucy Railton – Does Spring Hide It’s Joy 3xLP/3xCD (Ideologic Organ)

Does Spring Hide It's Joy is an immersive piece by composer Kali Malone featuring Stephen O'Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone herself on tuned sine wave oscillators. The music is a study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns. Malone's experience with pipe organ tuning, harmonic theory, and long durational composition provides prominent points of departure for this work. Her nuanced minimalism unfolds an astonishing depth of focus and opens contemplative spaces in the listener's attention.

Måneskin – Rush! CD/LP (Arista)

Rush! is the latest full-length album from global sensation, Måneskin – a critically acclaimed four-piece-rock band that began busking on the streets of Rome as teenagers, and now just a few years later, are a razor tight group of captivating musicians widely hailed for being at the forefront of driving a worldwide resurgence of rock music. Rush! contains the track "Kools Kids" that was recently debuted live along with "The Loneliest", the band's latest global-smash-in-waiting, an ode to classic old-school rock ballads. [Includes a value-add poster. An indie store exclusive deluxe hardcover casebook CD edition with booklet & photo cards is available.]

The Murder Capital – Gigi’s Recovery CD/LP (Human Season)

Ireland's The Murder Capital make their return with Gigi's Recovery. While their 2019 debut When I Have Fears captured the vital beginnings of the group, the 12 songs of Gigi's Recovery push the band into ever braver sonic territories, oceans apart from previous peers. Ambition is put right at the front and center, with the inventive, expansive guitar work of Cathal Roper and Damien Tuit paired to a precise and intelligent rhythmic unit in bassist Gabriel Paschal Blake and drummer Diarmuid Brennan. Electronic elements are noticeably more prominent across the record, with industrial influences explored in greater detail than ever before, frontman James McGovern's bold melodies acting as a reassuring anchor, so we never get totally swept away into the band's newfound soundscape. [An indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is available next week.]

Pigeon Pit – feather river canyon blues LP (Ernest Jenning)

Limited-edition blue w/ white color vinyl pressing. "Pigeon Pit's folk-punk twang is as raw as it is rambling, but never reckless in its tender heart." - NPR

Dave Rowntree – Radio Songs LP (Cooking Vinyl)

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree releases his debut album Radio Songs. Standout track “London Bridge” was produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts / Brian Eno / Ghostpoet). It heralds the start of an exciting new project for Rowntree, over three decades since Blur formed back in 1989. “London Bridge” is an enticing opening statement. Deceptively bright and upbeat, with its staccato 'la-la-la-la' hook line, the music belies a lyrical sense of dread. As proficient with a synth or guitar as he is behind the drum-kit, Rowntree's innate ear for a melody is given free-reign on this scuzzy but impactful, lo-fi number.

Sylvan Esso – No Rules Sandy CD/LP/Cassette (Loma Vista)

Describing Sylvan Esso's first three albums as a trilogy that is now complete, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn see No Rules Sandy as the beginning of a new period, with songs that are "wilder and stranger and more cathartic than the band used to be," as Sanborn puts it. "It feels like who we actually are," Meath adds. "It just feels like us. We're not trying to fit into the mold, just happily being our freak selves." From the glitchy "Moving" to the delicate "Coming Back To You", to all the ecstatic, inspiring pieces in between, No Rules Sandy's most private moments come as interstitial diary entries, filling the spaces between tracks with voicemails from loved ones, birdsong from outside Betty's, children and other life sounds. [Indie store exclusive Tiger’s Eye colored vinyl and cassette editions are available.]

Butch Walker – Butch Walker As… Glenn CD (Ruby Red Recordings)

A phenomenal producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, author, and more, Butch Walker has been making music his professional game for nearly four decades. Beginning his career out of Georgia, with a series of rock bands, he officially began doing things his way with 2002’s Left Of Self-Centered. Somewhere amid creating another eight solo albums—including 2008’s Sycamore Meadows, 2016’s Stay Gold, and 2020’s American Love Story—he would go on to become a highly sought-after producer and songwriter, collaborating with the likes of Green Day, Pink, and Taylor Swift. But sometimes, simplicity is king. So, for his tenth disc, Butch Walker As… Glenn, he opted to set aside his eclectic resume and draw inspiration from his past, tapping into his own nostalgia. The album’s 13-tracks draws on the sophisticated pop elements of past hitmakers, particularly the balladeers of the 1970s, while pairing his characteristic sense of sardonic wit with a timeless storyline.” – Jeannie Blue, Cryptic Rock

Wilco – Cruel Country 2xLP (dBpm)

Released last year on CD – now available on vinyl. The dynamic Chicago rock band Wilco returns with its 12th studio album, the first of its kind. Cruel Country is the band's exploration of the genre they've often been defined by but, until now, never fully embraced. The double album features 21 Jeff Tweedy-penned tracks, made almost entirely of live takes, created with all six members together in The Loft for the first time since the 2011 release The Whole Love.

Reissues, Comps, Live Recordings, Vault Excavations & Books...

Blues Brothers – Blues Brothers – Original Soundtrack Recording [Reissue/1980] LP (Friday Music)

Limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing. After their phenomenal success on Saturday Night Live and with a number of smash comedy movies already under their belt, John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd dove headfirst into their love of soul, blues and R&B with the introduction of the Blues Brothers. One of the most popular musical comedies of all time, 1980's The Blues Brothers film combines performances by many of the greatest musical acts of all time with incredible comedy and mayhem. The Platinum-certified soundtrack is anchored by the duo's signature take on the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'".

Brainiac – The Predator Nominate E.P. 12” (Touch & Go)

Silver color vinyl pressing. The Predator Nominate E.P. is a celebration of what was to come before the tragic exit of ringleader/singer Tim Taylor. Listen to these realized demos and imagine what only could have been the confident seed of what the group might be capable of in this future century. The world will never truly know.

David Byrne – Live From Austin, TX 2xLP (New West)

Double red color vinyl pressing. Includes sticker. David Byrne is a modern renaissance man - and that's not just a cliché. From the heady days as co-founder of the celebrated art new-wave group Talking Heads (1976-‘88) through his own constantly evolving and innovative solo music career, he has pursued his muse on many different artistic fronts. This show, captured on November 28, 2001, came on the heels of his hit single, "Like Humans Do" and the release of the album Look Into The Eyeball, which was another typically eclectic musical stew reflecting a variety of styles and influences, from Philly soul to a D.C. Go-Go inspired groove and his first-ever Spanish composition, "Desconocido Soy".

Carnivore – Retaliation [Reissue/1987] LP (FDDL)

Light green vinyl pressing. No one in the New York crossover metal scene could make a guy laugh like Carnivore frontman Pete Steele. Whether it was the vomit-in-the-toilet track "Jack Daniels and Pizza," which opened the band's second album Retaliation or the crudely drawn obscene Sharpie renderings Steele would scribble on passed out musicians and crew members. Steele was a one of a kind and his perverse, oddball sense of humor infiltrated and enhanced his viciously aggressive blend of hardcore and metal.

Cloud Nothings – Attack On Memory [Reissue/2012] LP+2x7”+MP3 (Carpark)

Deluxe 10th Anniversary sky blue color vinyl pressing + two 7" flexidiscs. In 2009, Cleveland's Dylan Baldi began writing and recording lo-fi power-pop songs in his parents' basement, dubbing the project Cloud Nothings. His music quickly started making the internet rounds, and fans and critics alike took note of his pithy songcraft, infectiously catchy melodies, and youthful enthusiasm. After the release of 2011's Cloud Nothings, Baldi toured widely and put a great deal of focus on his live show, a detail that heavily shapes the music of his follow-up album, Attack On Memory.

Luther Dickinson – Rock ‘n Roll Blues [Reissue/2014] LP (New West)

Limited green color vinyl pressing of the 2014 album from the North Mississippi Allstars frontman. Luther Dickinson entered a new phase of his storied musical career with his first proper studio album of all original songs. As a member of the North Mississippi Allstars, South Memphis String Band and The Word, Luther has made himself widely known as both a talented musician and as a producer with four Grammy nominations to prove it - three in the contemporary blues category and one in traditional folk.

The Doobie Brothers – Takin’ It To The Streets [Reissue/1975] LP (Friday Music)

1975 was truly a successful and transitional year for the classic rock legends The Doobie Brothers. After recording a handful of high chart rock masterpieces, they returned to the studio for the very first time with a new band line-up consisting of Steely Dan alumni Michael McDonald and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and recorded the classic rock champion Takin' It To The Streets. Along with originals Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons, Tiran Porter, Keith Knudsen and John Hartmann, this revitalized chapter of the Doobie franchise became a sensation, as the album's nine historic tracks prove decades after its original release.

Duke Ellington – Duke Ellington Presents… [Reissue/1956] LP (Bethlehem)

Duke Ellington Presents…, recorded for Bethlehem in 1956, is unusual in that it consists mainly of standards. On it, Duke Ellington and key soloists work wonders on such chestnuts as "My Funny Valentine", "Summertime", "Laura", and the Rosetta Stone of be-bop, "I Can't Get Started", plus a few choice Ellington originals.

Roky Erickson & The Explosives – Live At The Whisky 1981 LP (Sunset Blvd)

Roky Erickson & The Explosives had been honing their craft in hot, sweaty clubs all over Texas for a couple of years before this California tour which, along with the Whisky, included the Warfield Theater in San Francisco, Galactica 2000 in Sacramento, the Stone in San Francisco, the Keystone Berkeley in, well, Berkeley, the Bacchanal in San Diego and the Europa in Tucson, AZ on the way back to Texas. But, the Whisky was a special, magic night of music.

Falling Forward – Let These Days Pass: The Complete Anthology 1991–1995 CD/LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)

Formed in Louisville, KY in 1991, Falling Forward was a band made up of childhood friends Benjamin Clark, Gary Bell, Jonathan Mobley, Ben Lord, and Chris Higdon. Started in their early teens, the band released a handful of recordings on a few different labels (Noble Recordings, Initial Records, and Doghouse Records) before disbanding in 1995. Higdon, Mobley, and Lord would immediately regroup as the renowned atmospheric post-hardcore band, Elliott. Let These Days Pass: The Complete Anthology 1991–1995 documents the entire recorded history of a young band who met in their preteens, wore their hearts on their collective sleeves, and incidentally inspired and influenced thousands of kids and dozens of bands (most notably Thursday) across the world with their unique union of chunky, metallic riffs, pop-punk-inspired hooks, and startlingly infectious, Sunny Day Real Estate-inspired melodicism. [Limited-edition opaque orange vinyl.]

Ella Fitzgerald – Live In Montreux 1969 CD (Mercury Studios)

Live At Montreux 1969 finds The First Lady of Song expertly backed by the Tommy Flanagan Trio (Tommy Flanagan (piano), Frank de la Rosa (bass), and Ed Thigpen (drums)) and performing a stunning set that combines contemporary tracks, such as "Sunshine Of Your Love" and "Hey Jude" alongside such classics as "I Won't Dance" and "That Old Black Magic" plus a scat medley. [Vinyl for this title shipped late and will arrive next week.]

Gorguts – Pleiades' Dust [Reissue/2016] 12” (Season Of Mist)

Gold color vinyl reissue of the Canadian death metal band’s 2016 EP.

Grant Green – Green Is Beautiful [Reissue/1970] LP (Blue Note)

Grant Green's musical style evolved to embrace jazz-funk as the decade turned to 1970. The guitarist's vibrant album Green Is Beautiful is a highlight of the era. With his distinctive tone, he shines on a set that includes covers of James Brown ("Ain't It Funky Now"), The Beatles ("A Day In The Life") and Burt Bacharach ("I'll Never Fall In Love Again”). [Another title that shipped late and will arrive next week.]

Howdy Glenn – I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn CD (Omnivore)

While Black influences are inextricably intertwined with the formation of the genre, there is a very short list of Black country performers who made a splash on the national charts or the public consciousness in the 20th century. After winning the 1974 "Trucker's Jamboree" at the Hollywood Palladium, Inglewood California firefighter Howdy Glenn began a recording career that not only gained him regional hits on an independent label but found him appearing to rapturous crowds whenever and wherever he performed live. After singing at the Academy of Country Music's general meeting, he was signed to Warner Bros. Records by Andy Wickham (who had also signed Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Buck Owens, and more). I Can Almost See Houston: The Complete Howdy Glenn collects 23 of his recordings and reexamines Glenn’s legacy.

Bobby Hutcherson – San Francisco [Reissue/1970] LP (Blue Note)

The musical partnership between vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and tenor saxophonist Harold Land fully blossomed on the 1970 album San Francisco, which found the musicians moving into fusion territory with relentlessly grooving tunes like "Goin' Down South" and "Ummh" counterbalanced by exploratory pieces like the mesmerizing "Prints Tie”. [Like the other Universal releases, this one will arrive next week.]

Jazzanova – Creative Musicians 12” (Barely Breaking Even)

Remixes by Waajeed and Henrik Schwarz. Originally released as a digital EP from the album Strata Records – The Sound of Detroit – Reimagined by Jazzanova, “Creative Musicians” and its remixes now come to you on deep grooved vinyl.

Jazzanova, The Lyman Woodard Organization – Saturday Night Special (Kai Alcé NDATL Remix / DJ Amir & Re.Decay Remix) 12” (Barely Breaking Even)

Possibly the best-known piece of music from the Strata label’s diverse and innovative catalogue, the unique, low-fi, moody, understated aesthetic of Saturday Night Special has captured the hearts of music fans and DJs worldwide.

Jethro Tull – Thick As A Brick [Reissue/1972] CD+DVD (Rhino/Parlophone)

To celebrate the 50th anniversary, Thick As A Brick has been reproduced in its original format, the legendary 12-page newspaper. Mixed by Steve Wilson.

J.I.D. – The Never Story [Reissue/2017] LP (J. Cole/Dreamville)

J.I.D's debut album The Never Story was originally released in 2017 and features the singles "Underwear" and "Never".

Motörhead – Sacrifice [Reissue/1995] CD/LP (BMG)
Motörhead – Overnight Sensation [Reissue/1996] CD (BMG)

Reissues of Motörhead’s 12th and 13th studio albums. Sacrifice is the second, and last album to feature the four-man line-up of Lemmy, Phil Campbell, Würzel and Mikkey Dee.

Nas – Magic (Instrumental Version) LP (Mass Appeal)

Color vinyl pressing. In 2021 rap legend Nas delivered the highly anticipated Magic, a transcendent nine track album produced by longtime collaborator Hit-Boy and including "Wave Gods" feat. A$AP Rocky and DJ Premier. Magic follows-up the August 2021 release of Nas' Grammy nominated album, King's Disease II, and finds the hip-hop icon spitting bars about social media, fellow rappers, the rough past few years and the human condition.

The Pyramids – Lalibela [Reissue/1973] LP (Strut)
The Pyramids – King Of Kings [Reissue/1974] LP (Strut)
The Pyramids – Birth / Speed / Merging [Reissue/1976] LP (Strut)

Vinyl reissues of the first three albums by the spiritual Afro-jazz-influenced ensemble.

Elliott Smith – Either/Or: Alternative Versions 7” (Kill Rock Stars)

This limited-edition white color 7" features four alternate versions of some of Elliott Smith's greatest songs. With distinct production, instrumentation, and vocals, the recordings found on Alternate Versions offer a new perspective on one of Smith's most highly acclaimed albums and separate them from the original cuts found on Either/Or.

Spiritbox – Eternal Blue [Reissue/2021] LP (Rise)

Limited-edition color vinyl pressing of the debut album from the Victoria, BC-based metal outfit.