New Releases - 1/25/19
Hitting The Racks
Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's
Jump to… New Releases Reissues & From The Vaults Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections New on Vinyl Live & in Concert Books
New Releases
William Tyler - Goes West CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Goes West is the new solo album from the former Silver Jews and Lambchop member backed by a band consisting of singer/songwriter Meg Duffy, guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist and producer Brad Cook, keyboardist James Wallace, drummer Griffin Goldsmith, and engineer Tucker Martine. From M.C. Taylor (Hiss Golden Messenger): "William's new record is the best music that he's ever made. I'm sure of this because I know and love all of his music intimately, and this album moves me the most, and the most consistently. The first time I heard it was in the late spring in the Texas Hill Country, rolling between limestone and scrub. I was on a cleanse then - no alcohol, no drugs, no evil thoughts - and was astonished at the emotional clarity that the album held. It offered up a model for what I wanted my head to feel like. Goes West marks a sort of narrowing of focus for William's music; it sounds as though he found a way to point himself directly towards the rich and bittersweet emotional center of his music without being distracted by side trips. Perhaps this is down to the fact that William only plays acoustic guitar on the album, a clear and conscious decision considering that he is one of Nashville's great electric guitarists." [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing.] Free bonus CD with demos and additional non-LP tracks with purchase while supplies last!
Swervedriver - Future Ruins CD/LP (Dangerbird)
UK shoegaze legends Swervedriver return with the follow up to 2015's I Wasn't Born To Lose You. Future Ruins exhibits Swervedriver's fabled widescreen escapism, but with a tension that echoes the sleeve image of Coney Island in skeletal monochrome, like a post mortem photograph of a failed utopia. "There's a lot of foreboding with regard to the future on this album," says the band's Adam Franklin. "Space is in there a lot too. In the first song ["Mary Winter"], the character is a spaceman who's trying to remember what life is really like. Also, it could be about somewhere in the world where winter isn't like the winter here. A sunny place, but it's December or January and you're trying to remember winter. Something's going on." Fellow single "Drone Lover" sails and soars while a conscious chorus comments on the depersonalized nature of 21st century techno-warfare. [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing.]
Bring Me The Horizon - amo CD/2xLP (Columbia)
Sheffield based, multi-platinum selling band Bring Me The Horizon return with their sixth studio album, amo. The band spent the summer of 2018 writing and recording in Los Angeles, with Oli Sykes and Jordan FIsh handling production. What has transpired is one of their most exhilarating, genre crossing albums to date. Sykes explains that, "amo is a love album that explores every aspect of that most powerful emotion. It deals with the good the bad and the ugly, and as a result we've created an album that's more experimental, more varied, weird, and wonderful than anything we've done before." Whilst amo definitely has its share of surprises, it very much sticks to the band's successful fan-pleasing formula of massive stadium bouncing rocks songs with huge singalong choruses. Thanks to the BMTH guys for bringing all their fans out to Grimey's to get their copies of amo signed today!
FIDLAR - Almost Free CD/LP+MP3 (Mom + Pop Music)
Almost Free, the new release from Fidlar touches on many of the tragedies and irritations of modern life: existential dread, gentrification, the inescapable sway of the super-rich and the self-involved, post-breakup telecommunication, performative wokeness, the loneliness of sobriety or the lack thereof. But through sheer force of imagination and unchecked joie de vivre, the L.A.-based band manages to turn feeling wrong into something glorious and essential. Come in and register to win a sweet FIDLAR skate deck!
Rival Sons - Feral Roots CD/2xLP (Low Country Sound/Atlantic)
Produced by longtime collaborator Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell) at Nashville's famed RCA Studio A and the equally legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, AL, Feral Roots features cover artwork painted by renowned contemporary artist Martin Wittfooth. Rolling Stone hailed lead single "Do Your Worst" as "a relentless rocker with a gritty verse spearheaded by a sinister lead guitar riff and thumping drums. The track takes a deft turn when it hits the chorus, forgoing out-and-out guitar bombast for rousing gang vocals with singer Jay Buchanan leading the charge." Having officially formed in 2009, Rival Sons are closing in on 10 years as a band, with their bluesy brand of hard rock powered in large part by singer Jay Buchanan's powerful pipes and guitarist Scott Holiday's hefty riffs. Rival Sons caught international attention as the sole support act on Black Sabbath's lengthy farewell tour. [Double-LP-set features and etched D-side.]
Santana - In Seach Of Mona Lisa CDEP (Concord)
New five-track EP from the legendary singer-songwriter guitarist, inspired by Santana's interaction with the Mona Lisa painting at the Louvre in Paris, France. [Vinyl edition due February 22.]
The Dandy Warhols - Why You So Crazy CD/LP (Dine Alone)
The release of their tenth studio album, Why You So Crazy, sees The Dandy Warhols return in singularly freewheeling fashion, careening through classically off-kilter psych-pop ("Be Alright"), high country-fried Americana ("Motor City Steel"), and gothic piano-propelled rumbas ("Forever"). Packing in references as far flung as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Don MacLean's Chevy, and the church of Bowie's "Modern Love", these 12 songs reflect the band's surrealist visions of an alternate reality.
Keuning - Prismism CD/LP (Pretty Faithful)
Debut solo album from Killers founding member/lead guitarist Dave Keuning. Combining both acoustic and electric guitars, as well as a longtime fascination with keyboards and electronic music - which he couldn't explore as much as he would've liked in The Killers - Keuning has created a psychic diary that allows us to connect the dots and learn what brought him to a career crossroads. With idols ranging from Angus Young and Keith Richards to Michael Jackson, Prismism reflects that eclectic musical palette. Synth-infused tracks like the title song and the techno -squiggles of "Pretty Faithful" share space with acoustic guitars and big beats ("The Queen's Finest", "Gimme Your Heart", "Mr. Brightside"-style electric rock guitar riffs ("Broken Clocks"), a stylistic nod to New Order ("If You Say So") and even an EDM/pop hybrid (The Edge-style melody of "Stuck Here On Earth"). [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing.]
Tim Presley's White Fence - I Have To Feed Larry's Hawk CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
Gliding past ghostly statues of mythic entities and through the mist into the present world, Tim Presley's White Fence shed their multicolored-shroud for a heartfelt yet enigmatic, cycle of songs about losing the thing that's killing you that you love in order to gain the thing that makes you love what you love, with loads of Heartbreakers and other new pop classix.
Mike Krol - Power Chords CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Power Chords picks up where 2015's Turkey left off. It traces Krol's journey back to punk rock, harnessing both the guitar technique and the musical redemption referenced in its title. He's wielding the same influences - Misfits, The Strokes, early Weezer, Ramones - but turning up the gravity and the gain. Indeed, Krol has gone somewhere new; yes, he bludgeoned himself with over-analysis and self-loathing, but along the way he stumbled upon a trove of intricate guitar lines and artfully mutating melodies. Music ruined Krol's life. And then saved it. In chronicling that process, Krol has made his best record - painful, voyeuristic, and angry, but ultimately transcendent and timeless. It is the sound of Krol giving in to a force greater than himself, as though the chords are playing him rather than the other way around. [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing.]
Hunt Sales Memorial - Get Your Sh*t Together CD/LP (Big Legal Mess)
The debut by Hunt Sales Memorial is an explosive 12-track roots-rock exploration from the Runt band member, "Lust for Life" beatmaker, and Tin Machine co-founder. A conventional bio of Hunt Sales would start by noting his famous associations, recounting his much-revered work as a sideman for Todd Rundgren, Iggy Pop and David Bowie. It would trumpet the fact that he's long been considered one of the world's greatest drummers, a secret weapon deployed in the service of rock royalty.
Mono - Nowhere Now Here CD/LP (Temporary Residence)
Across 10 albums in 20 years, Mono have convincingly reflected the quietest and most chaotic parts of life through their music. Their ever-expanding instrumental palette - which began in earnest in 1999 with the traditional guitar- bass-drums rock band setup - has evolved to include as many as 30 orchestral instruments. Now, on Nowhere Now Here, the band add electronics to their repertoire. [Limited colored vinyl pressing.]
Sarah Louise - Nighttime Birds And Morning Stars CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Following a series of highly acclaimed solo guitar albums, Nighttime Birds And Morning Stars is Sarah Louise's most fearless work to date. Louise broadens beyond folk forms, turning streams of raw electric guitar into entire oceans of aural texture. Her rich playing is warped beyond recognition through inventive synthesizing and digital manipulations. The innovative songs mine components of the Appalachian folk music Louise is steeped in, as well as spiritual jazz, contemporary classical, and new age, while drawing intensely personal inspiration from the natural world. [Limited pink colored vinyl pressing.]
Júníus Meyvant - Across The Borders CD/LP (Glassnote)
Across The Borders follows high-profile Best Single and Newcomer of The Year wins at his home country's Icelandic Music Awards, as well as mounting critical attention in the United States. The richly orchestrated album embraces a wide palette of sounds and is awash with soulful, charming melodies. Throughout the eleven tracks, the natural warmth of his unmistakable vocals are matched and heightened by a full string section and brass ensemble, creating a hearty wall of blissful sound.
Eerie Wanda - Pet Town CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
For Dutch/Croatian songwriter and visual artist Marina Tadic, Pet Town represents time well spent in one's own shell. Her second LP as Eerie Wanda, it is a stripped down spectral manifestation, anchored by Tadic's wistful lyrics and self-possessed vocal delivery. Mixed by producer Jasper Geluk, Pet Town is perched in warm, homespun recordings-live drums are replaced with handclaps, finger snaps, and a Roland-CR 78 drum machine, enhancing the music's tactile and intimate headspace. Using minimal recording techniques, Tadic shaped these ten songs on sheer intuition, while drawing inspiration from solitude: how it can be both a state of euphoria but also one of loneliness-of inner meditation and outer yearning.
Addi McDaniel - After The News CD (Sylvan Songs)
On her captivating solo debut, After The News, Addi McDaniel points her search inwards, channeling the pain of loss and regret into a transformative work of beauty and strength. Hailed as "a dynamo with a brass-plated voice" by the L.A. Times, McDaniel is both an extraordinary singer and a gifted interpreter of song, and After The News finds her breathing vivid life into a raft of original songs from collaborator Tom Siering, whose material she deftly pairs with covers of tracks by Andrew Bird and Bruce Cockburn. Backed by an all-star cast of musicians including drummer/producer Marco Giovino (Robert Plant, Norah Jones), McDaniel blurs the lines between roots, blues, soul, and jazz on the album, inhabiting each track with the range and empathy of an actor taking on a role. Smoky and sincere, gentle in its insistence, her voice conveys a daring intimacy that feels tailor-made for Siering's candidly honest reflections on sorrow and regret, hope and forgiveness, pain and transcendence.
Lula Wiles - What Will We Do CD/LP (Smithsonian Folkways)
On What Will We Do, Lula Wiles channel infectious energy and bold insight into music that strikes with purpose. The band fosters contradiction, embracing the spirit of traditional American music, yet unflinchingly calling into question the virtues of the culture that produces it - country songs that shine a light on a country's crimes; love songs about being alone; murder ballads that challenge the standards of morality. Lula Wiles exist in the tense space where tradition and revolution meet, from which their harmonies rise into the air to create new American music.
Walter Trout - Survivor Blues CD/2xLP (Mascot Label Group)
No ordinary artist. No ordinary covers album. From the day he conceived the project to the moment he counted off the first song in the studio, Walter Trout had a bolder plan for Survivor Blues. "I'm riding in my car sometimes," says the blues titan. "I've got a blues station on - and here's another band doing 'Got My Mojo Workin''. And there's a little voice in me that says, 'Does the world need another version of that song?' So I came up with an idea. I didn't want to do 'Stormy Monday' or 'Messin' With The Kid'. I didn't want to do the blues greatest hits. I wanted to do old, obscure songs that have hardly been covered. And that's how Survivor Blues started." Includes guest appearances by Sugaray Rayford and Robby Krieger. [Limited orange colored vinyl pressing.]
Graeme James - The Long Way Home CD (Nettwerk)
Rooted in folk's rich storytelling and musical traditions, New Zealand singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Graeme James furthers the lineage with an imaginative textural approach in which he carefully crafts multi-instrumental soundscapes. His dynamically layered compositions feature him playing violin, electric violin, guitar, bass, baritone ukulele, mandolin, harmonica, percussion, and beatboxing. [Vinyl edition due March 1.]
Michael Franti & Spearhead - Stay Human: Vol. II CD/LP (Boo Boo Wax)
Michael Franti is a globally recognized musician, humanitarian, and award-winning filmmaker revered for his high-energy live shows, inspiring music, devotion to health and wellness, and worldwide philanthropic efforts. Stay Human Vol. II is Michael Franti & Spearhead's seventh studio album and was influenced by work on his new self-directed documentary of the same name. "I've traveled the globe making music and throughout the years I've always hoped that it could inspire small steps towards making the world a better place," explains Franti. "Struggling with the challenges of the world I began filming my new documentary Stay Human telling the stories of heroic everyday people who helped me to discover more deeply what it means to be and "Stay Human." [Stay Human: Vol. II] became the soundtrack of this epic journey. The songs on the new record address some of the biggest problems we face today and battles of the heart, all set to a beat that will get you on the dance floor."
Gentleman's Dub Club - Lost In Space CD/LP (Easy Star)
True connoisseurs of blending influences from genres such as dub, reggae, ska, bass culture, jazz, and everything in between, the celebrated London-based band has adopted a futuristic tone as they continue their mission to discover the ultimate bassline.
Joe Lovano/Marilyn Crispell/Carmen Castaldi - Trio Tapestry CD (ECM)
The great saxophonist Joe Lovano has appeared on a number of ECM recordings over the last four decades, including much-loved albums with Paul Motian, Steve Kuhn and John Abercrombie. Trio Tapestry is his first as a leader for the label, introducing a wonderful new group and music of flowing lyricism, delicate texture, and inspired interplay. [Vinyl edition due February 1.]
¿Que Vola? - ¿Que Vola? CD/LP (No Format)
When a French trombonist brings together a jazz septet with three young Cuban percussionists to reinterpret Afro-Cuban sacred music, you get one of the most exciting jazz projects of the year.
Jeff Ballard - Fairground CD (Edition Records)
Jeff Ballard ranks among the most inventive and adventurous drummers of his generation. He makes music that feels like the 21st century - open, fluid, ever-developing; a sound informed by jazz but truly coming to life where musical worlds collide: acoustic and electric, swinging and ambient, analogue and digital, accessible and experimental. With a rich and flexible musical language, embracing influences as diverse as jazz, rock, pop, electronica and West African music, Fairgrounds is a unique insight into his distinctive sound world. [Vinyl edition due February 8.]
Sneaks - Highway Hypnosis CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Just as she takes up space in the male-dominated Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area punk scene, Sneaks - AKA Eva Moolchan - takes up space among the patriarchy. Highway Hypnosis, plays on hip-hop, post-punk, and invented words to fill a gap between the feminist underground and genre-specific singles charts. Through it, Moolchan joins the resistance forged by queer black feminists who create, explore, empower, conquer, and play bass. "Like Neneh Cherry, M.I.A., Micachu and other singular stars before them, Sneaks has both the punk spirit and pop sense to carve out her own path in music. Highway Hypnosis is simply the sound of her revving the engine." - NPR [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing.]
Rat Boy - Internationally Unknown CD/LP (Hellcat)
UK artist Rat Boy has teamed up with Tim Armstrong to produce his new album, Internationally Unknown. Rat Boy first found Armstrong's punk/hip-hop band The Transplants in his father's record collection, and subsequently delved into his back catalogue with Rancid and Operation Ivy. Rat Boy had repeatedly mentioned his admiration of Armstrong in interviews, which led to the L.A. punk veteran discovering the young Essex upstart. Rat Boy and Armstrong immediately connected through a shared love for mixing the visceral energy of punk with hip-hop beats. The result is twelve tracks which amplify Rat Boy's rabble-rousing riot act to a new level. He's drawing on diverse influences which echo, at various points, The Clash, Beastie Boys, The Prodigy, Rebel MC, Green Day and Run DMC.
The Neal Morse Band - The Great Adventure 2xCD/2xCD+DVD/3xLP+2xCD (Metal Blade)
The Great Adventure has everything that fans would expect from a Neal Morse Band album, and more: rock, metal, classical and jazz elements appear throughout, as well as some killer melodies, all played faultlessly by some of the greatest rock musicians on the planet. [Deluxe CD edition adds a DVD featuring behind-the-scenes video clips of the making of the album. Limited white colored vinyl pressing.]
Say Anything - Oliver Appropriate CD/LP (Dine Alone)
Long-running emo/pop punk staples Say Anything release their new Will Yip-produced album, Oliver Appropriate. Band leader Max Bemis views the LP as a proper sequel to one of the group's most successful offerings, ...Is A Real Boy. "This record is the story of what would happen to the 'Real Boy' many people thought I was," Bemis says. "His band did well but then fell off hard. He'd be my age, of course, but he'd still be living in Brooklyn, struggling with financial woes, single and strung out."
Starbreaker - Dysphoria CD (Frontiers)
Former TNT frontman Tony Harnell teams up with Primal Fear and Allen/Lande guitarist Magnus Karlsson for his third Starbreaker album. An eclectic mixture of melodic and aggressive metal.
Altarage - The Approaching Roar CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Rising force of discordant blackened death Altarage emerge with their third full-length slab of absolute suffocating, pitch-black death chock full of caustic, distorted riffs, cacophonous blasts and nebular vocal nihilism.
Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections
Eric Dolphy - Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions 3xCD (Resonance)
The first official release of previously-unissued Eric Dolphy studio recordings in over 30 years, Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions contains the masterpiece albums Conversations and Iron Man recorded in NYC in July, 1963, and features jazz greats such as saxophonist Sonny Simmons, trumpeter Woody Shaw, bassist Richard Davis and NEA Jazz Master vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson.
Kiss - Kissworld (The Best Of Kiss) CD (Mercury)
Kissworld contains 20 of their best including "Detroit Rock City", "Rock And Roll All Nite", "I Was Made For Loving You", "Christine Sixteen" and many more. [Vinyl edition due March 29.]
Live & in Concert
Big Star - Live On WLIR CD/2xLP (Omnivore)
Big Star recorded their second album, Radio City, as a trio, after the departure of founding member Chris Bell. When it came time to tour, original bassist Andy Hummel decided to return to school to pursue his engineering education. With this departure, Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens recruited fellow Memphis native John Lightman to take over on bass duties, and the band readied their live set. That set is on display as Big Star recorded a radio session at Ultrasonic Studios in New York for broadcast on the city's preeminent WLIR. Nearly two decades later, those recordings were issued as Live In 1992. The 15-track set features material from the band's two releases, as well as a cover of "Motel Blues" by Loudon Wainwright III (which originally appeared on his classic 1971 sophomore release, Album II). With new, updated liner notes from Memphis writer/filmmaker, Robert Gordon (who won a Grammy® for his essay in 2010's Big Star boxed set Keep An Eye On The Sky) and an interview with John Lightman by Chris Bell biographer Rich Tupica (There Was A Light: The Cosmic History Of Big Star Founder Chris Bell), Live On WLIR has been remastered and restored on CD and vinyl.
Heart - Live In Atlantic City CD+Blu-ray/2xLP (earMUSIC)
Live In Atlantic City pays tribute to and celebrates Heart's legacy with the help of an incredible range of artists and friends. The guest list of performers includes country music star Carrie Underwood, Jane's Addiction founding member and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, country singer-songwriter Gretchen Wilson and Canadian-American singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright. An exceptional highlight of the show finds renowned grunge rockers Alice In Chains performing with Duff McKagan. Each guest had the chance to perform up to three songs together with the band. A joined performance featuring all of the guest artists on "Barracuda" rounds up the show. [Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray Audio edition also available.]
Grateful Dead - Road Trips Vol. 3 No. 4: Penn State/Cornell '80 3xCD (Real Gone Music)
An indispensable sample of the band during the early phase of Brent Mydland's tenure as the band's keyboardist, right after the release of the Go To Heaven album. Beautifully recorded by Dan Healy and mastered by Jeffrey Norman, the three-CD set mixes the first sets of the May 6th, 1980 show at Penn State's Recreation Hall and the May 7th show at Cornell's Barton Hall (or "playing in the barn," as gleefully sang by Bob Weir in tribute to the venue; also the site of their famed 1977 show) on Disc One, and presents the complete May 6 second set on Disc Two and the complete May 7 second set (save for a few moments of "Rhythm Devils" and "Space") on Disc Three.
King Diamond - Songs For The Dead Live 2xDVD+CD/2xLP/Blu-ray (Metal Blade)
Recorded live in concert in the US and Belgium, Songs For The Dead is the perfect encapsulation of King Diamond's mighty 2015 tour Abigail In Concert. All the bases are covered, with two full concerts recorded in their entirety, one from the US and another from the European festival circuit in 2016. [Also available on limited colored vinyl.]
Candlemass - Candlemass Live [Reissue/1990] CD/2xLP (Peaceville)
Candlemass Live was originally released in 1990 and features a string of classics and fan favorites from their early repertoire, including songs from doom metal's hallowed Epicus Doomicus Metallicus (1986) and Nightfall (1987) opuses. The masterful performance was recorded in 1990 at Fryshuset in Stockholm with the enigmatic and unmistakable vocal presence of Messiah Marcolin lending the performance a theatrical and powerful edge for over an hour of crushing doom.
New on Vinyl
Bruce Springsteen - Springsteen On Broadway 4xLP+MP3 (Columbia)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Springsteen on Broadway is the new album of music and stories by Bruce Springsteen, and the soundtrack to the Netflix film of the same name. The album is the complete live performance of the show. Based on his worldwide best-selling autobiography Born To Run, Springsteen On Broadway is a unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories.
Earl Sweatshirt - Some Rap Songs LP+MP3 (Sony)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Earl Sweatshirt returns after a three-year hiatus with his brisk third studio album, Some Rap Songs which offers up 15-songs in just 24-minutes. The follow-up to 2015's I Don't Like Sh*t, I Don't Go Outside was inspired by the death of his father, former South African poet laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, who is featured on the record. Other guests include Darryl Anthony, Adé Hakim, Denmark, Black Noise, Sage Elsesser and Shamel of SOTC.
Nils Frahm - Encores 2 LP+MP3 (Erased Tapes)
Encores 2 is the second in a series of extended players meant as companions to the 2018 album All Melody. While Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with just a solo piano and harmonium, Encores 2 explores a more ambient landscape from the All Melody sessions, the pinnacle of which is the astral 12-minute showpiece Spells. Recorded through a well Nils Frahm found in an ancient house on Majorca, Encores 2 is at once unique but familiar; orbiting the universe of All Melody while inhabiting its own world.
Secret Machines - Ten Silver Drops [Reissue/2006] 2xLP (Run Out Groove)
Limited 180gm double-vinyl LP pressing. Honed by the immediacy of playing an 18-month cross-country tour in support of their debut album, New York City-based Secret Machines blend songcraft and melody with their acclaimed power to sculpt epic, dreamy, neo-psychedelic soundscapes on their second full-length album, Ten Silver Drops (2006).
Max Frost - Gold Rush LP (Atlantic)
Executive produced by Michael "Fitz" Fitzpatrick (of Fitz And The Tantrums) with production by Mick Schultz (Rihanna, Jeremih, YG), JR Rotem (Panic! At The Disco, Nicki Minaj, Fallout Boy) and M-Phazes (Eminem, Logic, KYLE), Gold Rush opens with the nonchalant and mellow "New Confessional" and it is followed by his upbeat and catchy single "Good Morning".
Various Artists - Muscle Shoals: Small Town, Big Sound LP (BMG)
Released last October on CD - now available on vinyl. Muscle Shoals, Alabama - since the 1960s, the city has been known for music, developing the "Muscle Shoals Sound", as local recording studios (including FAME Studios in the late 1950s and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969) produced hit records that shaped the history of popular music. This tribute to those songs and that history reigns supreme with some of the most popular and influential artists participating in music history today. From Chris Stapleton, Willie Nelson, Lee Ann Womack and Jamey Johnson, to Demi Lovato, Steven Tyler, Keb' Mo, Grace Potter and Aloe Blacc, a cavalcade of stars lend their own personal embellishment to these classic songs.
Writhing Squares - Out Of The Ether LP (Trouble In Mind)
Writhing Squares have been conjuring up cosmic slop from the Philadelphia underground for a few years now, mixing growling bass, motorik synthesis, and skronking sax into a heady brew of punk-laced progressive R'n'R.
The 1865 - Don't Tread On We LP (Mass Appeal)
New album from the New York-based blues-punk outfit. Limited black and red colored vinyl LP pressing.
Twain - 2 E.P.s LP+MP3/Cassette (Keeled Scales)
This 14-song collection is a companion piece to Twain's most recent album, Rare Feeling, released in late 2017. Side A is "New Miami Sound", which consists of four unreleased songs recorded during the Rare Feeling album sessions, and Side B, "Alternator", is a collection of solo demos performed and recorded inside a van to raise funds for a new alternator at the time.
UNKLE - Psyence Fiction [Reissue/1998] 2xLP (London)
The British-American electronic music duo's (comprised of James Lavelle and DJ Shadow) debut studio album is back in print on vinyl.
Bruno Bavota - Re_Cordis LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
Bruno Bavota is a young Italian composer and multi-instrumentalist with seemingly boundless potential, and an extraordinary gift for marrying the intellectual and emotional into earnest and profoundly effective songs. Though favorably compared in his early career to another Italian composer, the legendary Ludovico Einaudi, Bavota has found himself increasingly pursuing ways to distort and disturb traditional arrangements and melodies in pursuit of a more distinct resonance. Armed with a plethora of outboard effects pedals and processors, Bavota manually manipulates his songs in real time as he performs - often with his bare hands engaged in a seesaw battle of construction against obstruction.
TesseracT - Polaris [Reissue/2015] 2xLP (Kscope)
TesseracT is a band full of melody, dynamics and groove, they sit outside the bounds of any genre specificity to truly create a sound that has always been pioneering and creative; an unstoppable force of off-kilter riffs, soaring melodies and disorientating atmospherics. Having found a new creative energy after reuniting with original singer Dan Tompkins, the band's output changed in 2015 with the opus Polaris; an undoubted evolution from Altered State featuring skillful experimentation with sounds and tones, plus a deeper exploration of the core attributes that define TesseracT's trademark sound.
David Vassalotti - Guitar Dream CD/LP (Wharf Cat)
David Vassalotti is a founding member of 4AD recording artists Merchandise and first saw recognition in seminal Tampa hardcore punk legends Cult Ritual. While he is well known for his intense live performances and his expansive knowledge of the post-punk guitar canon, we see a new focus on songwriting and nuanced character study on his new record, Guitar Dream.
Southern Culture On The Skids - Bootlegger's Choice LP (Scots Sound Inc)
16 all-new recordings of the most requested songs from the band's long out-of-print major label releases, Dirt Track Date (1995) and Plastic Seat Sweat (1997), plus a re-mastered edition of the original 1991 recording of "Camel Walk" from the Santo Sings EP.
Eric Church - Sinners Like Me [Reissue/2006] LP (Capitol Nashville)
Limited red colored vinyl LP pressing of the country star's debut album.
Mindy Smith - One Moment More [Reissue/2004] LP (Craft Recordings)
Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Hailed as a "striking debut album" (WXPN World Cafe), One Moment More celebrates its 15th anniversary with a first ever vinyl release. One Moment More was co-produced by Smith and Steve Buckingham and recorded in Nashville. Featuring 11 original compositions, the album was nominated for two 2004 Americana Music Awards Album of the Year and the newly created New/Emerging Artist the latter of which Mindy was the first to win.
Ringo Starr - Bad Boy [Reissue/1978] LP (Friday Music)
Audiophile 180gm translucent blue & black swirl vinyl reissue of Ringo's seventh solo album.
Lightnin' Hopkins - California Mudslide (And Earthquake) [Reissue/1969] LP (Modern Harmonic)
Root beer colored vinyl reissue of Lightnin' Hopkins' last LP in his original run of long play releases; a strong slab of electric delta blues replete with sparse, signature acoustic guitar backing, augmented with organ and other surprises.
Various Artists - The Rough Guide To Barrelhouse Blues LP (World Music Network)
Named after the rough and ready bars where laborers gathered to drink and dance, barrelhouse was a raucous form of piano blues that got the juke joints swinging. From early pioneers such as Cow Cow Davenport and Speckled Red to the boogie-woogie legends Pete Johnson and Albert Ammons, this collection charts the rise and incredible influence of this good-time blues.
The Gaturs featuring Willie Tee - Wasted [Reissue/1994] LP (Tuff City)
Veteran New Orleans keyboard player Willie Tee piloted this incredible band of funkateers who wove jazz and street rhythms into their Meters-styled funk. These 1970s recordings are legendary in acid jazz circles, and now the abundance of rare riffs and breakbeats within the songs have caught the attention of hip-hop fans as well.
Various Artists - Soul Jazz Records Presents Studio One: Black Man's Pride 32xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
This is the latest new installment of Soul Jazz Records' ongoing collection of Rastafarian music at Studio One, featuring classic material from legendary roots and culture artists The Gladiators, Horace Andy, Freddie McGregor, Sugar Minott and the Wailing Souls, alongside a superb selection of rarities from Sir Coxsone's musical empire made up of one-off and practically unknown Rastafarian artists who recorded on a myriad of Studio One off-shoot labels in the 1970s - The Manchesters, Mellodies, The Nightingales and others.
Fifty Foot Hose - Cauldron [Reissue/1967] LP (Modern Harmonic)
Fifty Foot Hose - Bad Trips LP (Modern Harmonic)
Electronic rock band wasn't even an idea when Fifty Foot Hose released their landmark debut album at the end of 1967. Their fusion of psychedelia and electronics resulted in a truly trailblazing sound. Cauldron stands as a signal achievement that laid the groundwork for genres that didn't even exist when it was released. Bad Trips collects the demos, outtakes, and other rarities that complete the story of this groundbreaking electro rock band. Limited colored vinyl pressings.
Various Artists - Midnight in Tokyo Volume 3 2LP (Studio Mule)
Midnight In Tokyo is a compilation series that aims to be the perfect companion to nights in Tokyo, collecting tracks by Japanese artists that sound best at night. Vol. 3, picks up where Vol. 1 left off, bringing together forgotten soul, disco, and new wave gems, ranging from rare groove to Balearic acid folk, from electric bossanova to stone-cold funk jams, from disco boogie to Brazilian-esque jazz fusion. Features Atsuo Fujimoto of Colored Music, Mari Kaneko, Tomoko Aran, and many more.
Kawai Kenji - Ghost in the Shell OST LP (WRWTFWW Records)
2019 repress. The first official vinyl pressing of the soundtrack for Mamoru Oshii's critically acclaimed science fiction anime film Ghost In The Shell (1995). The haunting score was composed by Kenji Kawai, one of Japan's most celebrated soundtrack composers, whose work includes Hideo Nakata's Ring (1998) and Ring 2 (1999), Death Note (2006), and countless others. Kawai's compositions see ancient harmonies and percussion uncannily mesh with synthesized sounds of the modern world to convey a sumptuous balance between folklore tradition and futuristic outlook.
Neil Hamburger - Still Dwelling LP (Drag City)
In our time of America's greatest dismay, it takes 'America's Funnyman' to show the way back to a little bit of love and a whole lot of classic entertainment. With vocal pipes alight and a full studio orchestra featuring a cast of thousands behind him, Neil Hamburger works his way through a series of songs that have helped him through all his trials; by performing them in his own unique way, he hopes to bring relief to the many out there who need it.
An Horse - Rearrange Beds [Reissue/2009] LP (Lame-O)
First-time vinyl pressing. An Horse's Kate Cooper and Damon Cox met working at a Brisbane independent record store Skinny in the mid-2000s, forming a band together in 2017. Cooper gave a CD of their roughly mixed debut EP Not Really Scared to Tegan and Sara after an in-store performance at Skinny, and quickly got invited to open their 2008 US tour. That led the release of their critically acclaimed 2009 debut, Rearrange Beds which saw the band touring the world, performing on David Letterman, and opening from everyone from Silversun Pickups to Cage The Elephant to Dashboard Confessional.
Jon Bellion - Glory Sound Prep LP (Capitol)
Glory Sound Prep illuminates the vast scope of Bellion's genre-defying musical and lyrical vision, threading together pop, R&B, hip-hop, alternative, and rock over the course of its ten tracks.
Kid Koala - Music To Draw To: Io 2xLP (Arts & Crafts)
The second volume in the legendary scratch DJ's transportive ambient-vocal collaboration series. Io is a constellation of electronic meditations that glint with the otherworldly blues of singer Trixie Whitley on six of its 18 songs. Heartrending poetry once again written by Kid Koala channel the turbulence of the modern global psyche using the Greek mythology of Io, an unwilling mortal lover of the god Zeus, as its compass.
Kamaal Williams - New Heights / Snitches Brew 12" (Black Focus) Two new pathways to unknown worlds filtering the Kamaal Williams sound through hypnotic hip-hop on the Darkhouse Family (Don Leisure & Earl Jeffers) co-produced "New Heights", and melted wah wah psychedelia on "Snitches Brew", which features Mansur Brown on guitar. To echo Kamaal's friend and collaborator Yelfris Valdés, "This ain't jazz no more..."
Lil Wayne - Tha Carter V 2xLP (Young Money)
Released last September on CD - now available on vinyl. Tha Carter V features rapping from Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott and Snoop Dogg, singing from Nicki Minaj, Ashanti and Nivea, and vocals from the late XXXTentacion.
Dolphin Midwives - Liminal Garden LP (Beacon Sound)
Using harp, voice, and electronic processing, and bringing to mind artists such as Mary Lattimore and Holly Herndon, Liminal Garden is a controlled and dynamic album that blends the organic with the digital, resulting in a body of work that fuses tranquility and rupture. The album was recorded by Jason Powers (Chromatics, Matthew Dear) at Type Foundary, and mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio (Ryuichi Sakamoto, Benoît Pioulard, Grouper). In the composer's own words, "This album is about change, about finding beauty and acceptance in the fractured, broken and vulnerable places. It's about integration, of all of my selves, of the natural world and technology, of all of the brokenness and imperfection and insecurity and fragility of being femme in a patriarchal society."
GAS - Zauberberg 3LP (Kompakt)
Wolfgang Voigt's most fundamental (and foreboding) release under his alias GAS. Originally released in 1997 on the iconic Frankfurt imprint Mille Plateaux, then reissued in 2016 as a part of the GAS Box, Zauberberg is now released on his own label, Kompakt. Though this narcotic symphony is not the first release under the GAS moniker, Zauberberg is the first to disclose the true nature of Wolfgang Voigt's unified sound and ideology as GAS. Layers of ominous intensity supported by muffled kick drums as classical music loops incessantly swirl with no direction, Zauberberg is the definitive GAS album and a perfect starting point for those not familiar with his music.
Steve Vai - Passion And Warfare [Reissue/1990] 2xLP (Friday Music)
Audiophile 180gm translucent blue vinyl reissue of the guitar virtuoso's second studio album, expanded with bonus tracks.
Venom - Storm The Gates 2xLP (Spinefarm)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. New release from the metal icons. Approaching their 40th anniversary as a band, Storm The Gates is their fifteenth studio album - the raw sound of a band who don't need tricks of technology to make their point.
Fórn - Rites Of Despair 2xLP (Gilead Media)
"Fórn's entire ethos rests in soul-crushing heaviness. The reconfigured Boston doom quintet seemingly emerged from ashes this year after a lengthy and tumultuous two years. Relocations, lineup changes, the rigors of life, and the finality of death all stood in their path. Still, even through all of it, they bounced back on their new full-length album: an 11-track, two-act ode to isolation, decay, and more called Rites Of Despair." - Metal Injection.
Puppy - Goat LP (Spinefarm)
A fusion of earth-shattering riffs, earworm melodies and anything-goes experimentation, the London-based trio's debut album The Goat has plenty to offer everyone, from bullet-belted metalheads to shoe-gazing fuzz lovers.
Suffocation - Despise The Sun [Reissue/1998] 12" (Relapse) In 1998, following a self-imposed three-year layoff, Suffocation recorded the five-song Despise The Sun EP which was released on their then-manager's micro-indie Vulture Records. Despise The Sun captured the band in their muscular prime with Suffocation's most focused, incisive material to date. Now one of the most crushing releases in the brutal death metal legends' catalog is back on vinyl for the first time in over a decade.
King Diamond - Songs For The Dead Live 2xLP (Metal Blade)
Recorded live in concert in the US and Belgium, Songs For The Dead is the perfect encapsulation of King Diamond's mighty 2015 tour Abigail In Concert. All the bases are covered, with two full concerts recorded in their entirety. [Also available on DVD+CD and Blu-ray.]
Reissues & From The Archives
Buzzcocks - Another Music In A Different Kitchen [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Domino) Buzzcocks - Love Bites [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Domino)
Domino re-issues the Buzzcocks' seminal first two albums. Both records have been lovingly restored and remastered from the original ¼" tapes for the first time and come packaged in the original Malcolm Garrett designed sleeves with lavish 8-page booklets containing unseen images and extensive liner notes by famed writer, broadcaster, music journalist and cultural commentator Jon Savage. By the end of 1978 not only had Buzzcocks established themselves as one of the leading-lights of punk but proved themselves as deft songwriters capable of producing three-minute-mini-masterpieces that would endure long after the initial spark of punk had faded.
Green River - Dry As A Bone [Reissue/1984] CD/2xLP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
The story of Seattle's rise to global rock supremacy in the late '80s and early '90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), and Alex Shumway (drums), the quintet put out three 12"s and a 7" single during its brief existence. Green River's influence on Seattle's music scene spread far and wide thanks to the members' dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and Love Battery, as well as the punk-glam-sludge-rock songs they left behind. Green River, which formed in 1984, was part of that evolution, with a sound that straddled a lot of different genres - blues, punk, bloozy straight-ahead rock. The mini-LP Dry As A Bone, which came out in 1987, and the band's lone full-length Rehab Doll, which came out in 1988, were released as a single CD with a few bonus cuts, including their sneering cover of David Bowie's "Queen Bitch" and their marauding version of Dead Boys' "Ain't Nothin' To Do", in 1990 - but they've been unavailable for years. Now, these slices of Seattle music history are not only back in print, they're accompanied by items from the vaults that had been forgotten about for decades.
Green River - Rehab Doll [Reissue/1988] CD/2xLP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
The story of Seattle's rise to global rock supremacy in the late '80s and early '90s begins with Green River. Made up of Jeff Ament (bass), Mark Arm (guitar/vocals), Bruce Fairweather (guitar), Stone Gossard (guitar), and Alex Shumway (drums), the quintet put out three 12"s and a 7" single during its brief existence. Green River's influence on Seattle's music scene spread far and wide thanks to the members' dispersion into bands including Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, and Love Battery, as well as the punk-glam-sludge-rock songs they left behind. Green River, which formed in 1984, was part of that evolution, with a sound that straddled a lot of different genres - blues, punk, bloozy straight-ahead rock. Following their mini-LP Dry As A Bone, which came out in 1987, the band's lone full-length, Rehab Doll, was released in 1988.
Mark Stewart + Maffia - Learning To Cope With Cowardice [Reissue/1983] CD/2xLP (Mute)
Learning To Cope With Cowardice - the groundbreaking 1983 debut solo album by visionary post-punk iconoclast and founder of The Pop Group, Mark Stewart - is given a definitive CD and colored double-vinyl reissue alongside The Lost Tapes, a newly discovered cache of unreleased material. Learning To Cope With Cowardice is a vital chapter in the legacy of Mark Stewart & The Maffia, a project that would prove to be a revolutionary benchmark for many, from the innovators of the "Bristol Sound" (The Wild Bunch, Smith & Mighty, Tricky, Massive Attack) through to the likes of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. [Limited colored vinyl pressing.]
Blind Guardian - Imaginations From The Other Side [Reissue/1995] CD/2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Blind Guardian - Nightfall In Middle Earth [Reissue/1998] CD/2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Blind Guardian - A Night At The Opera [Reissue/2002] CD/2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Remixed and remastered editions of three classic albums from the German power metal band.
Books
Kate Bush - How To Be Invisible BK (Faber & Faber)
How To Be Invisible presents the lyrics of Kate Bush for the first time in a beautiful cloth-bound edition from Faber. Selected and arranged by the author, it features an expansive introduction by the novelist David Mitchell.