New Releases - 1/4/19

Hitting The Racks

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

New Releases

Ed Harcourt - Beyond The End CD/LP (PIAS America) 

Mercury Prize nominated recording artist’s eight studio album sees the supremely versatile singer, writer and all-round instrumentalist bravely eschew vocals and lyrics and create a soft-spoken yet emotionally loquacious group of piano-led instrumentals. It is as if Harcourt is sound-tracking an as yet invisible film, or responding to today's ferocious shouting match of a planet with a mesmerizing, meditative calm.

Swizz Beats - Poison CD (Epic) 

Second studio album by the rapper and producer. Features collaborations with Nas, Lil Wayne, Kendrick Lamar, and Young Thug, among others. [Vinyl edition due January 25.]

Coil - Love's Secret Demise CD (Mythras)
The recordings here were initially titled "The Side Effects Of Life", which was the working title of Coil's legendary album Love's Secret Demise. The music presented here are demos/mixes of material that was later released as the Love's Secret Domain album and includes parts of the "Wrong Eye/Scope" 7" single. The original cassette (only a handful are known to exist) was sent to WaxTrax! records in 1989 ahead of the planned future release of Love's Secret Domain on the label. The track "Fidget" was subsequently released on the WaxTrax!Sampler#2 cassette in 1989. The album was finally released by Torso (Europe) and Wax Trax! (USA) in 1991.

John Garcia & The Band Of Gold - John Garcia and The Band Of Gold CD/LP (Napalm) 

The Kyuss legend and founder of desert rock institutions such as Unida, Slo-Burn, Hermano and Vista Chino returns with his next incarnation: John Garcia and The Band Of Gold. Chris Goss (who produced Kyuss and the Queens of the Stone Age) gave Garcia’s self-titled album its finishing touches and provided that gritty, unmistakable coating. [Limited edition red colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Xenobiotic - Prometheus CD (Unique Leader) 

“Prometheus serves as a sort of modern and technical effort that borders on the progressive at times, especially with some of the song structuring as well as the track listing. As the name suggests, the release features themes linked to the subgenre of "aliencore" in addition to other lyrical content that deals with issues such as death and mysticism.” - Metal Trenches

Festerday - iihtallan CD/LP (Season Of Mist) 

Repugnant Finnish death metal forged in the flames of early Carcass worship.

New on Vinyl

The Gangsters - The Gangsters LP (Albina Music Trust) 

Archive collection of previously unreleased early ‘70s Portland funk. Fostered by the Albina Art Center, a hangout spot for creatively-inclined black youth, The Gangsters were led by trumpeter Thara Memory, who wrote and arranged all of their material, and produced the sessions heard on this vinyl-only release. After gigging around the city for a few years, the group-who were almost all in their late teens-laid down some tracks at Ripcord Studios, but they disbanded soon thereafter and the tapes sat in a closet, unheard for over 40 years.

The Shangri-Las - 65! LP (Radiation Deluxe Series)
Originally released in 1965. The queens of Queens, The Shangri-Las formed in 1963 in Cambria Heights. Made up of two sets of sisters from Andrew Jackson High School, the Shangri-Las hooked up with producer George "Shadow" Morton in 1964 and signed to Lieber & Stoller's legendary Red Bird Records label. Featuring songwriting credits from the Brill Building's dynamic duo of Jeff Berry and Ellie Greenwich, as well as future Band member Levon Helm, Ike Turner, and more, this is the group's second LP, and is pure NYC girl-group perfection.

The Shangri-Las - Leader of the Pack LP (Radiation Deluxe Series)
Originally released in 1965. Following the success of their hit singles "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" and the title track, The Shangri-Las, all still in their teens, released their debut album Leader Of The Pack in early 1965. With songs from Lieber & Stoller, Berry & Greenwich, The Isley Brothers, and more, this LP was absolutely the sound of mid-60s New York City. These four girls from Queens changed the landscape of pop music in the mid-60s and this album still sounds fresh over a half century later.

David Bowie - 1. Outside [Reissue/1995] 2xLP (Friday Music) 

David Bowie - Hours... [Reissue/1999] 2xLP (Friday Music) 

Two different colored variations of each title are now available: 180gm black & white swirl and 180gm green & blue pressings of 1. Outside and 180gm orange & red and translucent blue & gold swirl pressings of Hours... 

Elvis Presley - King Creole [Reissue/1958] LP (Friday Music) 

180gm translucent red audiophile vinyl pressing.

Boston - Boston [Reissue/1976] LP (Friday Music) 

180gm audiophile translucent gold vinyl pressing.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Up Above My Head LP (Wax Love)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe is often referred to as "the godmother of rock and roll" for her pioneering guitar technique, use of distortion/reverb, and a 1963 UK tour with Muddy Waters that has been cited as a huge influence by Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, and Jeff Beck. Though she reached more widespread notoriety across the world in the '50s and '60s thanks to the folk/blues revival and her beloved status among UK blues and rock musicians, it's her early recordings from the late '30s and early-mid '40s that are the most brilliant, visceral, and emotional of her career. Up Above My Head compiles 18 of those amazing gospel and R&B sides on one LP.

Billie Holiday - Lady Day LP (Down at Dawn)
Down At Dawn presents a reissue of Billie Holiday's Lady Day, originally issued in 1954. Based on a selection from different recordings from the golden era 1935-1937, Lady Day consists of a gorgeous collection of classic performances by Holiday accompanied by a stellar cast of jazz greats such as Lester Young, Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman and the great Count Basie's rhythm section with Freddie Green, Walter Page and Jo Jones.

Caetano Veloso - Caetano Veloso (A Little More Blue) LP (Lilith)
Originally issued in 1971. Often referred to as "Brazil's unofficial poet laureate" and the "Bob Dylan of Brazil", this heavyweight of Brazilian music was also a young revolutionary who used his music to protest against Brazil's oppressive military regime. This protest music, which became known as tropicalia, first earned Veloso a stint in jail, but by the time this dour album was released, it had placed him in exile in the UK. Veloso's extreme bitterness and melancholy can be heard on every groove of this album, but don't let the album's gloomy atmosphere deter you; it is dripping with some of the best moments of saudade in the history of Brazilian music.

Happy. - Cult Classic LP (RudeNetworks) 

Released last year on CD - now available on vinyl. Happy.’s mission is to provide a sense of nostalgia for listeners with a sound that is full of infectious melodic hooks, oozing with catchy harmonies.

The Pineapple Thief ‎- Tightly Unwound [Reissue/2008] 2xLP (Kscope) 

Remixed and remastered vinyl reissue of The Pineapple Thief’s seventh album.

Ricky Eat Acid - Three Love Songs [Reissue/2014] LP (Run For Cover) 

Ricky Eat Acid's first full length album Three Love Songs is a modern masterpiece for the Bandcamp era. The album was originally released in 2014 by Sam Ray, whose other projects include American Pleasure Club [FKA Teen Suicide], Julia Brown and Starry Cat. A departure from the indie and lo-fi leaning sounds of most of those bands, Ricky Eat Acid's first full-length release takes varying elements of all types of electronic music - ambient, drone, dance, house, and more - and infuses them with Ray's authentic and hyper-personal songwriting to create a truly unique record.

Objekt - Cocoon Crush 2LP (PAN)
Objekt depoys impeccable technical finesse in crafting elaborate narratives from a diverse and challenging electronic palette. Marking a further evolution from the youthful exuberance and synthetic tonality of his previous album, Flatland, Cocoon Crush explores a more introspective side, with themes of human interaction resonating throughout, and draws from organic source material and natural textures to illustrate perplexing and unfamiliar scenery in photorealistic detail. Through meticulous sculpting, Objekt weaves ghostly synth passages through mind-bending, weighty drums, and sparkling, ASMR-triggering Foley collages, tracing a rich and impressionistic journey through claustrophobia, hope, guilt, anxiety and joy, nested in layers of sonic detail that reward with every listen. 

Carl Matthews - Call for World Saviours LP (Bureau B)
Originally issued in 1984. Mesmerizing DIY electronic soundscapes from Cumbria, UK, influenced by the Berlin School e.g. Neu!, Kraftwerk, and Tangerine Dream, but even more by Tim Blake. Carl Matthews is by no means immune to the maelstrom of geocaching notebooks. Krautrock (tick), guerrilla DIY cassette-era artist (tick), under-rated UK electronic composer (tick). While his music clearly bears the hallmarks of superb craftsmanship, Carl Matthews was, and still is, a truly independent artist, from the means of production to the published recordings. 'I was totally alone in doing this; no one was interested in my musical taste at that time. As far as I know the electronic/new wave music scene in Carlisle was virtually zero.' 

Scandinavian Star - SOLAS LP (Posh Isolation)
Inspired by the tragedy of the passenger liner MS Scandinavian Star, Malthe Fischer's solo work navigates the themes of the narrative with a series of heart-wrenching affairs in crisp detail. SOLAS touches on the floaty, melodramatic electronics of Fischer's other projects, but with deeper threads of heartbreak and intrigue. A symphony of disembodied voices trails across the album, gesturing toward longing and hope and struggling to get out of the misty collage of stumbling rhythms. Minor acoustic instrumentation is precariously balanced against thickets of cut-up recordings and samples, the hybrid charge of the synthesizers holds everything together without letting anything recede. As soft as SOLAS feels, it stays sharp and bites at times, even through four-to-the-floor whispers. 

Spiritflesh - Spiritflesh LP (No Corner)
Spiritflesh is the brainchild of Julian "DJ October" Raymond-Smith and Boris "Borai" English of Bristol. The culmination of countless hours spent in an infamous basement studio full of old machines, BBC-grade reverbs, delays, phasers and little known mixing technique, Spiritflesh blurs the conventions of influences and spawns a unique sonic character. Phased, delayed and crashed through red-hot electronics, their music is at a constant boiling point, constantly spewing and spitting like a skeletal, fog-riddled construct of otherwordly ambience, guttural bassline and rhythm. Dreamlike, yet crushingly physical, their sound is a cerebral kind of music that touches, with great conviction, on ideas of life, death and the in-between. 

Caterina Barbieri - Patterns of Consciousness 2LP (Important Records)
2018 repress. Patterns Of Consciousness is the powerful second full-length from analog synth composer Caterina Barbieri. Gorgeous high resolution analog textures and algorithmic melodies unfold under Barbieri's careful control, exploring the basic nature of sound and consciousness. Patterns Of Consciousness was originated by ideally infinite permutation of patterns through a disciplined and exclusive use of machinery. By means of subtraction, addition, and jitter operations, Barbieri derives a myriad of interlocking patterns extracted from an original matrix of just few harmonic archetypes. In POC, repetition and permutation of patterns are explored as tools to reconfigure perceptions and bend emotions, approaching sound as a medium to develop and master our own perceptual art. 

The Sacrifice - The Sacrifice LP (Season Of Mist) 

Featuring members of break-through French electro-pop band Panzer Flower, The Sacrifice draws disparate elements of darkwave, metal, and classic ‘80s pop to produce a sophisticated sound devoid of any genre limitations. Driving beats, soaring synths, razor-wire guitars, and macabre prose (influenced by Pink Floyd, Mayhem and Depeche Mode and more) blend into a sprawling musical mosaic.

The Ocean - Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic 2xLP (Metal Blade) 

Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Based in Berlin, Germany, The Ocean have been making what they refer to as 'ambient soundtrack doomrock' since 2001. Their style combines elements of hardcore punk and modern, technical metal with epic arrangements and classical instrumentation. After five years of touring on 2013’s Pelagial, the band delivers their long-awaited eighth studio album, Phanerozoic, split into two volumes.

Schammasch - Triangle [Reissue/2016] 3xLP (Prosthetic) 

New colored vinyl repress of the colossal 2016 album from the Swiss avant-garde extreme metal titans.

Cannibal Corpse - Red Before Black [Reissue/2017] LP (Metal Blade) 

Picture disc pressing. In 2017 death metal veterans Cannibal Corpse returned with their fourteenth full-length slab, the monstrous Red Before Black.

Mercyful Fate - Into The Unknown [Reissue/1996] LP (Metal Blade) 

Mercyful Fate - Dead Again [Reissue/1998] 2xLP (Metal Blade) 

Mercyful Fate - 9 [Reissue/1999] LP (Metal Blade) 

Limited picture disc pressings of the Danish heavy metal band’s final three albums.