New Releases - 12/11/20
Hitting The Racks
Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's
New Releases
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions) CD/2xLP (High Top Mountain)
Since breaking through in 2014 with his Grammy-nominated Metamodern Sounds In Country Music album, Sturgill Simpson has established himself as one of the most daring and most acclaimed artists of our time. His music stretches across genres and styles, from the psychedelic soul of 2016's A Sailor's Guide To Earth (Grammy nominated for Album of the Year and winner for Best Country Album) to the fuzzed-out rock attack of Sound & Fury in 2019. Now Simpson returns to the music of his native Kentucky with his first bluegrass project, Cuttin' Grass - Vol. 1 (The Butcher Shoppe Sessions). The album, which he calls "a mixtape for the fans," was dreamed up while he was recovering from COVID-19, and sees him reimagining songs from across his catalogue backed by some of Nashville's finest acoustic virtuosos. The album was produced by Sturgill Simpson and Dave Ferguson and features Mark Howard, Scott Vestal, Mike Bubb, Tim O'Brien, Miles Miller, Stuart Duncan, and Sierra Hull.
The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You CD/2xLP (Astralwerks)
Australian electronic duo The Avalanches' new album, We Will Always Love You is the much-anticipated follow-up to 2016's Wildflower. Described as "an exploration of the vibrational relationship between light, sound and spirit," it doubles as an examination of the human voice and a spiritual reckoning via the big questions: “Who are we really? What happens when we die?” The album features collaborations with Blood Orange ("We Will Always Love You"), Rivers Cuomo and Pink Siifu ("Running Red Lights"), Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry and CLYPSO ("Wherever You Go"), Sananda Maitreya and Vashti Bunyan ("Reflecting Light"), and alt-rapper Denzel Curry, Tricky and Melbourne-based Zambian rapper-singer Sampa The Great ("Take Care In Your Dreaming"). [Limited edition indie-store exclusive vinyl.]
Boris with Merzbow – 2R0I2P0 CD/2xLP (Relapse)
The brand-new collaborative album from Boris and Merzbow showcases every bit of the excitement and pulse-pounding rock and metal heard throughout the inimitable, expansive Boris catalog, as it meets the signature harsh noise and soundscapes of the equally prolific Merzbow. An album that is at once familiar and unique for its time, melodic and harsh in equal parts, 2R0I2P0 aims to find sonic harmony. After all, 2R0I2P0 translates to "Twenty Twenty R.I.P." "This year was a period of trial for everyone in the world," Boris comments. "This work becomes a monument to the requiem of the previous era. From here, a new world begins again."
Lauren Bousfield - Palimpsest LP (Deathbomb Arc)
Composer and electronics mastermind Lauren Bousfield has always displayed a virtuouso flare while ecstatically flying by our ears at lightning speed, seemingly from 10 directions at once. On her latest album, she brings a new found expertise in orchestral arranging from her other work as a cinema composer, and puts vocals to the front. Much like her finger blurring piano playing, these vocals seem to be passing us by at the speed of light. We know they're there, but they dance around us rather than beat straight into our bodies. Our souls feel these songs, not just our hips.
Bullion – Heaven Is Over 12” (Jagjaguwar)
“While it may appear from the title that Bullion has changed his mind since 2016’s Heaven Is A Wonderful Place, his new EP Heaven Is Over still brims with a classic ‘80s poptimism that’s hard to shake and needed now more than ever. Between the strolling synth-pop and shrugging lyrics of ‘Heaven Is Over’ to the dusky yacht bop of ’Strike a Light’, thru the blue-eyed soul balm of ‘Thirty-Two’, to those subtle Linndrums and full sail Arps and guitars in ‘Yawn’, or the fantasy AM dial cruise of ‘Loving Furlong’, Bullion’s crystal-cut songwriting and studio finesse is in full effect here, hopefully heralding a new album on the horizon” – Boomkat. Clear vinyl pressing.
Calexico - Seasonal Shift CD (Anti-)
Calexico's Seasonal Shift is less of a Christmas album and more of a cross cultural seasonal celebration. The themes are based around that familiar end of year feeling, of reflection, of ceremony and of recognition of the year gone by and changes it brought for better and for worse. It contains a few cover songs including classics by John Lennon and Tom Petty, a few more special guests and a whole load of good will. It's heartfelt but fun, and earnest but celebratory. It features Calexico in an as-sortment of guises, referencing Portuguese Fado and Old Mexican Folk Songs, from the stripped back two-man skeleton to the full party of international collaborators in-cluding artists like Bombino, Gaby Moreno, Gisela João, Nick Urata (DeVotchKa) and Camilo Lara.
Deep Purple – Whoosh! 2xLP+DVD (earMUSIC)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Whoosh! sees Deep Purple for the third time joining forces with producer Bob Ezrin, who invited the band to Nashville to write and record new songs. Together they created the most versatile album in their collaboration.
Emma Donovan and The Putbacks – Crossover CD (Hope Street)
Iconic Indigenous Australian soul singer Emma Donovan and powerhouse rhythm combo The Putbacks present their much-anticipated sophomore album. Personal, powerful lyrics and masterful musicianship combine to deliver a uniquely soulful LP, reflective of Emma's unique experience and the deep, dark, sophisticated funk that only The Putbacks can provide. [Vinyl edition due December 18.]
Falcon Jane – Faith LP (Darling Recordings)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Falcon Jane's second album Faithstarted coming together at the beginning of 2019 when Sara May, the artist behind the band, experienced a string of deaths in her family. Attending a seemingly endless number of traditional Catholic funerals within the space of a year caused May to dive inwards, reassessing her own notions of memory, grief, love, ceremony and identity.
Laura Jane Grace – Stay Alive LP+MP3/CD/CS (Polyvinyl)
Limited blue lapis lazuli colored vinyl pressing. Recorded at Electrical Audio by Steve Albini, Stay Alive takes all of Laura Jane Grace’s (Against Me!) pent-up fears, anger, and anxiety and releases it, like an olive branch to the weary listeners who are feeling those exact same ways.
Lonnie Holley – National Freedom 12”+MP3 (Jagjaguwar)
This five-song collaboration between artist Lonnie Holley and the late visionary producer Richard Swift is a tribute to urgent, raw, American art - from Howlin' Wolf to Captain Beefheart, from Cecil Taylor to Bo Diddley. The songs pulse with anger, hope, energy and a bit of swagger.
Kacy & Clayton And Marlon Williams – Plastic Bouquet CD/LP (New West)
Every December, Christchurch, NZ enjoys the start of summer as Saskatoon, SK begins to freeze over. For as far apart as these places may seem, you would never know it from the sound of Plastic Bouquet, the debut collaborative album between Saskatoon duo Kacy & Clayton and Christchurch singer and songwriter Marlon Williams. While on tour across Europe in 2017, Kacy & Clayton quite literally stopped Marlon in his tracks. As if playing by divine design through the radio, the pair's "Springtime Of The Year" immediately enchanted him. Soon thereafter, Marlon hopped a flight to Saskatoon and they wrote and recorded the bulk of what would become Plastic Bouquet. They unlocked undeniable chemistry. With Plastic Bouquet, these three musicians find common ground in dusty country spun through a kaleidoscope of psychedelic soul and dreamy fifties delivery. They created an ethnosphere that is more than the sum of its parts. It's also the beginning of something very exciting.
Kamixlo – Cicatriz LP (Pan)
Limited red colored vinyl pressing. Kamixlo has experienced a lot of loss in the last two-and-a-half years. His long-awaited debut LP, Cicatriz, is named after the Spanish word for scar, taking it's intense and energetic tone from the tough times in the Brixton-based producer's life. An extremely personal album, it pitches soft and hard sonics against each other to create an urgent and exciting tension as the track listing hurtles through its own emotional rollercoaster.
The Killers – Imploding The Mirage LP (Island)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Imploding The Mirage is The Killers' highly anticipated sixth studio album. Produced by the band with Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado of Foxygen, it was recorded in L.A. and Park City, UT, the first of their career to be created outside their Las Vegas hometown. The album also features a brilliant array of collaborators, another first for the band who typically keep guest spots to a minimum. With Lindsey Buckingham, k. d. lang, Weyes Blood, Adam Granduciel (War On Drugs), Blake Mills and Lucius.
The Kills – Little Bastards CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)
Little Bastards is extraordinary career-spanning B-sides and rarities album from duo of Alison Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie Hince. The songs date back from the band's first 7” singles in 2002 through to 2009. All of the material has been newly remastered. Often raw, intimate and zero-budget spontaneous, the album's title is a wry comment on these excellent recordings' neglectful fate: in many cases birthed on the fly to fill bonus-track space on CD singles, they'd effectively vanished together with the release format that necessitated their creation. Highlights include "I Call It Art" from the Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited covers compilation, the brilliant Midnight Boom digital bonus track "Night Train", a blistering performance of "Love Is A Deserter" from an XFM radio session and a handful of classic American roots songs performed with the kind of bruising delivery they're famous for: Howlin' Wolf’s "Forty Four", Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put A Spell On You" and Dock Boggs' "Sugar Baby". [Indie exclusive yellow colored vinyl.]
Ledisi – The Wild Card 2xLP (BMG)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Award-winning, singer-songwriter, Ledisi's soulful new album, The Wild Card is truly a labor of love with long-time collaborator, Rex Rideout, and features songs that are imbued with empowerment and inspiration that speak to all of humanity as the world grapples with the pandemic. Ledisi's music is steeped in the tradition of soul music which provides a much-needed salve.
Less Than Jake – Silver Linings CD (Pure Noise)
Silver Linings is ska punk veterans Less Than Jake's ninth full-length and follow-up to 2013's See The Light. It also doubles as a bunch of sonic diary pages and a mission statement that cements their conviction after two decades in this rock 'n' roll circus. Indeed, LTJ-frontman/guitarist Chris DeMakes, bassist/vocalist Roger Lima, trombonist Buddy Schaub, saxophonist Peter "JR" Wasilewski, and new drummer Matt Yonker - have escaped most (but not all) forms of ennui, depression and violence against screen-based objects to create an endorsement of humanity. Silver Linings also does a good amount of myth-exploding in its pursuit of joy. The songwriting core of DeMakes, Lima and Wasilewski wrote all the lyrics. New drummer Matt Yonker, whose former positions included LTJ tour manager and hammering along with such punk outfits as the Teen Idols and the Queers, helps bring a new sense of urgency the band’s overall sound. [Limited edition indie-store exclusive yellow colored vinyl pressing also available for special order.]
Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas – III LP (Smalltown Supersound)
This is expansive, luscious electronic music rich with texture and intricacy, patiently revealing every eccentricity while constantly pulling the listener in. Getting lost never sounded so good. [CD edition due January 15.]
Alex Maas – Luca LP (Innovative Leisure)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Everything changed for Alex Maas in 2018. That was the year his first child was born, a happy and healthy baby boy, sending The Black Angels' vocalist and multi-instrumentalist into a flurry of emotions he hadn't felt before. There was the joy, of course, and the sheer awe that comes with creating new life. But to a lesser degree, there was also the fear: What world is his son going to grow up into, exactly? And how can Maas protect him from the dangers within it? “When you have a child, you face your own mortality in a lot of ways,” says Maas, a Texas native who's lived in Austin for decades. “The world is definitely messed up, but there's a lot of good in the world too.”
Jahari Massamba Unit – Pardon My French CD (Madlib Invazion)
Recently released on vinyl for Black Friday – now available on CD. Among all of the projects Madlib presented as part of his Jazz Universe, this collaboration was of particular note to fans, who continued to wonder for years if anything else might come from the collaboration. This album, put together by students of jazz in its myriad and historic corms, and also proponents of jazz’s future, reflects a lifetime of record collecting, musical study, woodshopping, and a reverential respect for one another’s craft. [RSD Black Friday exclusive vinyl is still in stock.]
Moor Mother – Circuit City CD (Don Giovanni)
Poet and noise musician Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother) presents her first theatrical work, a futuristic exploration “part musical, part choreopoem, part play” of public/private ownership, housing, and technology set in a living room in a corporate-owned apartment complex. Framed by Ayewa's bold poetry and bolstered by new Moor Mother music performed live by Irreversible Entanglements and the Circuit City Band, Circuit City is an afrofuturist song cycle for our current climate. [Vinyl edition due January 8.]
P.H.F. – New Metal LP (Danger Collective)
P.H.F. (formerly Perfect Hair Forever) is the home recording project of Auckland, New Zealand native, Joe Locke. After forming the project in 2012, Locke has had a prolific musical output and creative presence online. Inspired by the freedom to experiment exercised by bands like Deerhoof and Xiu Xiu, and the resourcefulness of '80s-era hardcore, P.H.F. has created a sound that is both imaginative and utilitarian.
Potatohead People – Mellow Fantasy LP (Bastard Jazz)
On their third full-length release, Potatohead People widen the frame of their progressive musical vision and deliver a far-reaching yet approachable set of moods and grooves. Mellow Fantasy continues to showcase the trademark instrumental prowess of the duo and their ease with the loose but hard-hitting drum style brought to the fore by Jay Dee's influential productions, but goes well beyond basic boom bap bread and butter, with singer-centered R&B and uptempo bumps sharing the stage.
Quarter Life Crisis – Quarter Life Crisis 12”+MP3 (Saddle Creek)
Quarter-Life Crisis is a collaboration between Ryan Hemsworth and various artists who've come to prominence over the past couple of years, many of whom got their start playing scrappy DIY shows. Their eponymous EP features contributions from Frances Quinlan (Hop Along), Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Charlie Martin (Hovvdy), Yohuna, and Claud. It showcases Hemsworth in a new phase of his career, one that is perhaps a bit less indebted to the nightclub dance floor. [Limited red colored vinyl.]
Pete Rock & The Soul Brothers – PeteStrumentals 3 CD/Cassette (Tru Soul)
For the third installment of his PeteStrumentals series, producer Pete Rock takes a departure from the sample-heavy style that has earned him recognition as a living hip-hop legend. This 14-track project is instead a collection of beats crafted by the producer, then reimagined by his stellar band, The Soul Brothers - drummer Daru Jones (Jack White), keyboardist BigYuki, bassist MonoNeon (Prince), guitarist Marcus Machado and vocalist Jermaine Holmes (D'Angelo); all critically acclaimed musicians in their own rights. After performing together across Manhattan, cementing their creative bond, Pete Rock & The Soul Brothers combined their individual musical influences and experiences to craft a smooth sonic experience that is truly the sum of all of its stylistic and instrumental parts. PeteStrumentals 3is a masterful blend of funk, jazz, hip-hop and soul, a mellow soundtrack for any occasion. [Vinyl has been delayed until late December.]
Secret Machines - Awake In The Brain Chamber LP (TSM Recordings)
In a world turned upside down, The Secret Machines are back, and looking for light in the chaos. Awake In the Brain Chamber, the band's fourth LP and first recorded output in more than ten years, is the sound of things falling apart, with the hope of dawn touching the horizon. If there is a crack in everything, Curtis and Garza are more interested in the light coming in. Curtis' darkly prophetic lyrics speak of isolation and fear, while Garza's frenetic, pounding drum beats sound of the four horsemen. But just when things look their worst, the Machines' beautifully ethereal space-rock takes us away to a different, safe destination: A place with angels, where dreaming is alright, and life blooms from a new disaster.
M. Ward – Think Of Spring CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
M. Ward's new album Think Of Spring is a collection of songs originally recorded by Billie Holiday – a muse to Ward and many others. Ward achieved the intimate sound of this record by filtering the original songs and strings through a single acoustic guitar, using various alternate tunings and a minimal amount of textures and studio manipulation. Most of the songs were recorded on an analog Tascam four track. The title Think Of Spring comes from a poem written in 1924 by Jane Brown-Thompson that eventually became "I Get Along Without You Very Well" in 1938 - the first song on the record. "I first heard [Billie's album] Lady In Satin in a mega-shopping mall somewhere in San Francisco," M. Ward explained. "I was about 20 years old and didn't know much about Billie's records or her life or how her voice changed over the years. Anyway, the sound was coming from the other side of the mall and I remember mistaking her voice for a beautiful perfectly distorted electric guitar - some other-world thing floating there on this strange mournful ocean of strings and I was hooked for life." [Limited edition translucent orange colored vinyl.]
Kamasi Washington – Becoming (Music From The Netflix Original Documentary) CD/LP (Young Turks)
Kamasi Washington composed and produced the original score for Becoming, the four time Emmy-nominated film that provided an intimate glimpse into the life of Michelle Obama. Produced by Netflix Originals, Becoming documented a moment of profound change for the former First Lady, not only for her personally but for the country she and her husband served over eight impactful years in the White House. Washington, who joined the project in its embryonic stages, provides the powerful musical backdrop.
Chester Watson - Past Cloaks LP (POW Recordings)
An introduction to one of the most gifted teenage rappers this side of Earl, Nas, or Andre. An adolescent gypsy skating through St. Louis, Georgia, and Florida, blessed with a wild imagination, precocity, and a dark temperament. He re-imagines himself as a cursed black Pharaoh covered in golden scarabs, an enigma with wings, spitting raps as hot as Guatemalan springs. A new anti-hero with venom, the beast hallucinated on ayahuasca or just too much liquor. As Watson says himself, “the best villain since Mad-V.”
Donovan Woods – Without People LP (Meant Well LLC)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. For his new album, Without People, Donovan Woods explains: "Anything but protest music feels out of place right now. In the middle of a pandemic, as the truth of our environmental devastation sinks in, in the thick of protests reshaping our thoughts on policing and crystallizing the reality of white supremacy at work in all corners of our society, it feels silly to write about relationships. I was thinking about that when the title Without People came to me. It made me think about the intrusion of real life, other people's needs and opinions into our internal worlds. It made me think about life as a series of lessons that all seem to be about learning to cope without people you love. And it made me think about how beautiful the world could be without us, and how we're perhaps the first generation to consider that notion as a real possibility."
Reissues & From The Archives
Fiona Apple – Fetch The Bolt Cutters [Deluxe] CD (Epic)
Deluxe version of Apple's critically acclaimed and daring original 2020 album is packaged with a 40-page linen-wrapped 6.25”x8” hardbound CD book. The casebook includes song lyrics, photos, a set of four randomly selected 5”x7” photos cards, two die-cut sticker magnet letter sheets, and a 3”x3” Seeding Sovereignty magnet.
Belle and Sebastian – What To Look For In Summer CD/2xLP+MP3 (Matador)
A new live double album gathering choice selections from the band's 2019 world tour, including last summer's epic "Boaty Weekender" cruise. All live records are a time capsule to some extent, but Belle and Sebastian's What To Look For In Summer is perhaps a bit more evocative than originally planned. Neither a retrospective nor a back-door greatest-hits, What To Look For In Summer is the sound of a band that's always moving forward, a picture of Belle and Sebastian in 2019 that gives equal weight to early days ("My Wandering Days Are Over", "Seeing Other People") and recent years ("Poor Boy", "We Were Beautiful"), with a track selection Murdoch says was almost random. Also included are three songs from 2000's Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (which the band played in full at the Boaty Weekender).
Vanessa Carlton – Be Not Nobody [Reissue/2002] LP (Real Gone Music)
Limited red colored vinyl pressing of the 2002 debut from the 21-year-old singer-songwriter and classically trained pianist.
Suzanne Ciani - A Sonic Womb: Live Buchla Performance at Lapsus LP (Lapsus Records)
Suzanne Ciani is a true electronic music pioneer. The five Grammy nominated Italian-American neoclassical composer is unquestionably one of the greatest minds that contemporary music has ever witnessed, with a body of work that transcends the music industry, composing for film, video games, and famous advertising campaigns. On December 14, 2019, after six years of sound experimentation, Lapsus Festival bid farewell to Barcelona's Centre for Contemporary Culture with a headlining performance from Ciani, accompanied by her modular Buchla 200e synthesizer and enveloped in a specially designed multi-channel sound environment by Intorno Labs. It was a sonic voyage to the very heart of her beloved machine and a tribute to improvisation through an instrument that is said to possess its own soul.
Coheed And Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World For Tomorrow [Reissue/2007] 2xLP (Sony Legacy)
Vinyl reissue of the fourth studio album by the progressive rock band.
Deftones – White Pony (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) 2xCD (WB)
Deluxe double-CD 20th anniversary edition includes bonus remix CD Black Stallion. White Pony is the third studio album by alternative metal band Deftones, originally released in 2000. It was produced by Terry Date, who produced the band's first two albums, Adrenaline (1995) and Around The Fur (1997).
Lee Fields – Let's Get A Groove On [Reissue/1998] LP (Daptone)
Freshly unleash remastered for the first time since its 1998 release, Daptone is honored to announce the re-release of one of the finest and most satisfying needle drops of the last 40 years, Lee Fields' classic, Let's Get A Groove On. In addition to ushering in the funk revival of the 1990s, this album was a watershed moment that laid roots for the future of soul music to come, being not only Fields' re-introduction to the modern scene, but featuring background vocals by a young Miss Sharon Jones as well.
Fields Of The Nephilim – Elizium [Reissue/1990] LP (Beggars Banquet)
Limited dark green vinyl repress. Fields Of The Nephilim’s unique sound, an apocalyptic fusion of Victorian underworld meets Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western, had an appearance to match (wide-brimmed hats, long duster coats and cowboy boots, usually black and smothered in white flour as a substitute for dust), and set them apart from their contemporaries.
Four Tet – There Is Love In You [Reissue/2009] 2xLP+12”+MP3 (Text)
Four Tet's most celebrated album is reissued on vinyl as a deluxe, limited edition 3xLP set that includes remixes by Caribou, Jon Hopkins, Floating Points, Joy Orbison, and Roska.
Philip Glass feat. Yo-Yo Ma - Naqoyqatsi: Life as War Original Motion Picture Soundtrack LP (Music On Vinyl)
Naqoyqatsi is the third and final film in the Qatsi trilogy, meaning 'life as war'. About eighty percent of Naqoyqatsi uses archive footage and stock images manipulated and processed digitally on non-linear editing (workstations and intercut with specially-produced computer-generated imagery to demonstrate society's transition from a natural environment to a technology-based one. Just like it's predecessors Koyaanisqatsi and Powaqqatsi the music was composed by Philip Glass. Performed by members of the Philip Glass Ensemble, and featuring the amazing Yo-Yo Ma on cello, this completes the lengthy score which was begun for this film series with Koyaanisqatsi in 1982. The music is more in the traditional orchestral tradition than much of Glass's work as a familiar doorway to images so disconnected from the familiar world. One instrument, the cello, plays through much of the piece. Some unconventional instruments are used in addition to traditional ones, including a didgeridoo and an electronically-created jaw harp. Available now on vinyl for the first time.
Interpol – Our Love To Admire [Reissue/2007] CD/2xLP+MP3 (Matador)
Released in July 2007 on Capitol Records, Our Love To Admire marked a departure from Interpol’s indie beginnings. Armed with sleeker production (courtesy of producer Rich Costey) and more ambitious instrumentation featuring strings, horns and extended keyboard arrangements, the album was the fruition of all of Interpol's earliest efforts. It would also become one of the group's biggest selling albums, debuting in the Top Five charts both in the US and the UK thanks to compelling singles like "The Heinrich Maneuver" and "Mammoth". [Limited ‘blue sky’ colored vinyl.]
Mumford & Sons – Delta Tour EP 12” (Glassnote)
To commemorate the second anniversary of their fourth studio album Delta, Mumford & Sons is sharing the Delta Tour EP featuring live performances from the Delta World Tour. Features six tracks.
Music Makers Band – You Can Be Me CD (Now-Again)
Tucked in the back corner of a linen closet in Macon, Georgia since 1979 sat a box that very few people knew existed. Lost and presumed forgotten, this box contained reel-to-reel tapes of the lost album by the band that issued the lauded Black Gold as The Mighty Chevelles in 1977. By 1979, while transitioning to the name Music Makers Band, the band entered Capricorn Studios and recorded this previously unreleased disco funk opus, finally issued as You Can Be as part of the Now-Again Reserve series. [Vinyl is available for special order.]
John Prine – John Prine Live [Reissue/1988] LP (Oh Boy)
Limited colored vinyl LP pressing. Among the English language's premier phrase-turners with music relevant to any age, the late great John Prine delivered songs that are both literate and personal. The skilled and compassionate storyteller enjoyed widespread critical acclaim in the wake of his groundbreaking eponymous debut and continued to write and perform songs that became central to our American musical heritage for nearly five decades. Dedicated to his mother Verna Prine, the intimate and playful John Prine Live was largely recorded during a three-day stint at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano, California and released in 1988 on the
Singer-songwriter's own label Oh Boy Records.
Small Professor - A Jawn Supreme (Vol. 1-3) cassette (Beat Goliath / Coalmine Records)
A celebration of the lauded Philadelphia producer's incredible output over the years. Small Pro says of the series, “It is not only a demonstration of the different styles and techniques I've tried my hand at over the years, but also a great example of how hip-hop instrumentals can convey many different moods and emotions.” Those emotions range from the pure nostalgic joy of tracks like “INTJ” and “muggle struggle,” to straight-up slappers like “trouble don’t last,” to the somber sounds of standout single "wish cops would stop killing unarmed black people.”
McCoy Tyner – Tender Moments [Reissue/1968] LP (Blue Note)
On Tender Moments, pianist/composer McCoy Tyner explored the colors and textures available, with an all- star cast: Lee Morgan (trumpet), Julian Priester (trombone), Bennie Maupin (tenor sax), James Spaulding (alto sax/flute), Bob Northern (French horn), Howard Johnson (tuba), Herbie Lewis (bass). Reissued as part of The Blue Note Tone Poet Series: all-analog, remastered 180gm vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Various Artists – Sing Me Back Home: The Legend Of Merle Haggard 2xCD/2xCD+DVD (Blackbird Productions)
In a career that spanned over 50 years, Merle Haggard racked up an astounding 38 number-one country hits and every major award imaginable. Songs like “Mama Tried”, “Okie From Muskogee”, “I'm A Lonesome Fugitive” and “The Fightin' Side Of Me” continue to inspire new generations of artists and fans alike. Sing Me Back Home: The Music Of Merle Haggard captures the most iconic moments from a one-night-only concert event honoring Merle Haggard and his music on what would have been his 80th birthday. [Deluxe edition adds a DVD of the concert.]
Wooden Shjips – V. [Reissue/2018] LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Limited clear red vinyl reissue of the psychedelic rock band’s fifth album.
Neil Young – After The Goldrush [Reissue/1970] CD (Reprise)
Digitally remastered and expanded 50th Anniversary edition featuring new artwork and two bonus versions of “Wonderin’”. After The Gold Rush is cemented in the annals of music history-the album has often been rightly recognized as one of the finest ever made. The collection combined Young's poetic lyricism and wistful melodies, driven by both dreamy folk arrangements and ferocious rock 'n' roll.
Young Marble Giants – Colossal Youth [Reissue/1980] 2xLP+DVD+MP3 (Domino)
The 40th anniversary edition of Colossal Youth includes the titular album on transparent vinyl as well as songs from Salad Days, Is The War Over, the Final Daysingle and their Testcard E.P. as well a live DVD of their last ever US show at Hurrah in New York in 1980. Colossal Youth is the legendary debut album by Young Marble Giants; an album that has influenced the likes of Nirvana and Belle & Sebastian with its paradoxical combination of abstract, sparse electronica and warm, intimate introspection.