New Releases - 12/13/19
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 New on Vinyl Soundtracks Compilations
New Releases
Harry Styles - Fine Line CD/2xLP (Sony)
Sophomore solo album from the British artist best known for his work with One Direction. Includes the singles "Lights Up" and "Watermelon Sugar". A McCartney-esque vibe runs throughout with Pino Palladino providing the muscular basslines while Lucius bring the harmonies. Dad rock for girls? Styles has admitted to taking mushrooms and listening to Ram during the sessions and sticks to his instincts rather than cave to pressure for big pop moves.
Tool - Fear Inoculum CD (RCA)
Expanded book edition includes five 3D lenticular cards featuring exclusive graphics, 56-page booklet with additional art and an access card to download the groundbreaking immersive visual experience, Recusant Ad Infinitum.
Anyway Gang - Anyway Gang CD/LP (Royal Mountain)
Anyway Gang is a new Canadian indie-rock supergroup featuring Sam Roberts, Menno Versteeg of Hollerado, Dave Monks of Tokyo Police Club and Chris Murphy of Sloan. Building off the band motto of three chord maximum, their nine-track eponymous collection is introduced by the catchy lead single "Big Night" with the members trading off on lead vocals.
Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent CD (Capitol)
The debut album by Scottish singer-songwriter includes the Top 10 singles "Grace", the UK and US #1 single "Someone You Loved" and "Hold Me While You Wait". Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent peaked at #1 in the UK and Ireland, becoming the fastest-selling album of the year. It is an ironically titled, charismatically defining album that's lyrically candid and a realistic snapshot of the ups and downs of growing up. Lewis' stunningly identifiable voice, coupled with its turbulent themes of love, loss and heartache, make it a debut album that is both poignant and unequivocally relatable. TIME proclaims, "Lewis Capaldi has the kind of deep, textured voice that you could listen to for hours. He finds expressive rough edges, then smooths them out into the sweetest of notes."
Soundwalk Collective & Patti Smith - Mummer Love CD/LP (PIAS America)
A sonic cross-continental experience, Mummer Love is the second album in the Perfect Vision triptych collaboration between Soundwalk Collective and Patti Smith. For this body of work, Soundwalk Collective journeyed to Africa to explore the intricacies of Arthur Rimbaud's most obscure period. After leaving France and what he deemed the 'western stagnation', Rimbaud found himself in Harar, Ethiopia - an epicenter of Sufism in Africa.
Slow Hollows - Actors CD/LP (Danger Collective)
Los Angeles genre-benders Slow Hollows' third album Actors is the sound of a band and its songwriter unburdening themselves of their previous restraints - the fears and insecurities knocking around in any creative person's head while making work that will eventually be consumed by others. A lush, complex album spanning the dusky warmth of indie, the rubbery bounce of dance music, and R&B's soft-focus sensuality, Actors also carries an immediate streak imbued by songwriter/lead singer Austin Anderson and his compatriots, a wide-open exploration of sound as generous as it is intricate.
Daniel Caesar - Case Study 01 CD/LP (Golden Child)
The second studio album by Canadian singer and songwriter Daniel Caesar. Case Study 01 features guest appearances from Brandy, Pharrell Williams, John Mayer, Sean Leon and Jacob Collier.
Moon Tooth - Crux CD/LP (Pure Noise)
Moon Tooth's unmistakable vibe flourishes on Crux: soaring vocals, fleet-fingered axe-slaying, and muscular rhythms (and polyrhythms) combine into glorious, hard-rocking hymns. Crux shows a deep respect for classic rock and heavy metal - Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Rush, and Judas Priest are starting points from which the band zooms into outer space, leaving a trail of vivid, heavy, modern rock.
Marillion - With Friends From The Orchestra CD/2xLP (earMUSIC)
Recorded at The Racket Club and Real World Studios, With Friends From The Orchestra features nine classic Marillion tracks re-imagined and accompanied by the In Praise Of Folly String Quartet with Sam Morris (French horn) and Emma Halnan (flute). [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
The Warriors - Monomyth CD/LP (Pure Noise)
12 songs juxtaposed against Eastern philosophies and meditative transcendental teachings that reverberate even louder when placed atop the band's caustic brand of hardcore.
Soundtracks
Daniel Lopatin - Uncut Gems - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack CD/LP (Warp)
Daniel Lopatin (aka Oneohtrix Point Never) returns with his latest score for A24/The Safdie Brothers' Uncut Gems. Rapturously received by critics and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Uncut Gems features token pulp action, starring Adam Sandler (in an outstanding career performance) as well as NBA star Kevin Garnett, Lakeith Stanfield, The Weeknd and more. The hypnotic crime thriller follows Sandler's Howard Ratner in a twisted odyssey through the New York jewelry market, a charismatic man on the brink always on the lookout for the next big score.
Compilations, Best Of's, & Sundry Collections
Pink Floyd - The Later Years 1987-2019 5xCD+5xDVD+6xBlu-ray+2xLP+2x7" (Legacy)
Super Deluxe box set includes remixed and restored studio albums A Momentary Lapse Of Reason, The Division Bell as well as two live albums, Delicate Sound Of Thunder, and Pulse (restored and re-edited), plus unreleased concerts, the unreleased Endless River film, 5.1 mixes, two 7" sings, a 60-page book and more. Over 13 hours of unreleased audio and audiovisual material total.
Various Artists - Mogadisco: Dancing Mogadishu Somalia 1972-1991 CD/LP (Analog Africa)
Tales of Dur-Dur Band's kidnapping, movie soundtracks recorded in the basements of hotels, musicians getting electrocuted on stage, others jumping from one band to another under dramatic circumstances, and soul singers competing against each other, are all stories included in the massive booklet which accompanies this compilation of rare Somalian disco.
The Prime Movers Blues Band - The Prime Movers Blues Band CD/LP (Modern Harmonic)
Formed in the summer of 1965 by brothers Michael and Dan Erlewine, The Prime Movers Blues Band's dedication was the stuff of legend. Refusing to adopt a faux British Invasion look and turning down an offer from Motown, they played their style of Chicago-inspired blues relentlessly around the Detroit area. Featuring the 'raw power' of a young James Osterberg on drums (who also lends vocals on their sizzling styling of "I'm A Man"), this is the first-ever collection of The Prime Movers Blues Band's recordings.
Coil - Stolen & Contaminated Songs CD (Cold Spring Records)
Stolen & Contaminated Songs was recorded and produced by Coil in 1992, comprised of over 60 minutes of outtakes and unreleased songs, evolved during the recording sessions for their prior album, Love's Secret Domain (1991). A wealth of superb material showcasing the diversity of Coil: dark, violent, vivid, and fractured, yet cohesive and beautiful. Combined with the latest studio technology and Coil's ever-evolving production skills, S&C Songs walks a fine line between tradition and innovation, continually creating semi-abstract soundscapes with a cinematic quality.
New on Vinyl
Jimi Hendrix - Songs For Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts 8xLP (Sony Legacy)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Live archive release. Songs For Groovy Children assembles all four historic debut concerts by Jimi Hendrix's newly assembled Band Of Gypsys at New York's Fillmore East on New Year's Eve 1969 and New Year's Day 1970. Presented in their original performance sequence and encompassing 43 tracks, the set boasts over two dozen tracks that have either never been released commercially. Newly mixed and restored in sequence without edits, fans can finally hear Hendrix, Cox and Miles blast through their genre-defying sets.
Jonathan Fire*Eater - Wolf Songs for Lambs LP (Third Man Records)
The first vinyl issue of the NYC band's final full-length since its release in 1997. Some of the band's best work exists in these songs like the wrist-breakingly beautiful drum work of "When the Curtain Calls for You" or the twisted carnival organ figures carved in "These Little Monkeys." The album explores emotive depths in the haunting corners of "Everybody Plays the Mime" or the plaintive simplicity of "A Night In the Nursery" through the charming, doo wop-styled backing vocal "ooh oohs" of "Inpatient Talent Show"...all of which seem to presage the slightly different downtempo direction band members Paul Maroon, Walter Martin and Matt Barrick would employ upon their formation of the Walkmen years later. Cut directly from the original 1/4" analog master tapes.
Lizzo - Coconut Oil 12" (Atlantic)
Lizzo's first EP, originally released in October 2016 and featuring the No. 1 hit single "Good As Hell", comes to vinyl for the first time complete with a coconut-scented scratch and sniff insert. Channeling boundless self-confidence through a downright earth-quaking voice, colorful persona, and undeniable star power, Lizzo strutted into the spotlight with a whole lot of sass, spirit, and soul.
Nia Andrews - No Place Is Safe LP (World Galaxy/Alpha)
Debut full-length from the singer-songwriter whose unique vision and expressive aesthetics fly high over her undeniable legacy in the artistic culture of Los Angeles. The daughter of music educator and philanthropist Reggie Andrews, Nia grew up immersed in the vibrant sounds of the rich musical community that he championed - including The Pharcyde, Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, and Terrace Martin. Revealing an innate sense of musicality, Andrews' intimate release balances between lush instrumentation and the raw beauty of her unadorned voice. She transforms sounds into symbols that augment her lyrical narrative: broken dreams, mental chaos, yearning and forgiveness.
Angélique Kidjo - Remain In Light LP (Kravenworks)
The global pop star's full circle re-imagining of Talking Heads' 1980 landmark album Remain In Light features appearances by Alicia Keys, Questlove, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, Blood Orange, Tony Allen, Angelique's longtime guitarist Dominic James, and Magatte Sow (percussionist for the 'Black Panther' film score). Released last year on CD - now available on vinyl.
MF Doom and Damu The Fudgemunk - Coco Mango Sliced & Diced 7" (Redefinition)
Limited orange colored vinyl pressing. MF Doom is a name you can't go wrong with. Pop aficionados and underground hip hop purists alike have been far from shy when giving the man his due praise during his 30-year career.
Jonathan Hay, Benny Reid, & Mike Smith - Follow the Leader: Eric B & Rakim Re-imagined as Jazz LP (SMH Records)
The difficulty of reimagining Eric B. and Rakim's 1988 classic was twofold. One, Follow the Leader is a revered and iconic hip-hop album and had to reflect its adoration. Two, how can it be translated to a jazz style, especially omitting the centerpiece, Rakim's voice? Reid (lead instrumentalist - tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, bari saxophone, flute) and Hay's (producer) initial strategy of replaying Rakim's extended, rhythmically intricate rap verses organically morphed into a more improvised, classic jazz style. The emcee vocal style and flow along with Eric B.'s through-composed instrumentals, served as a model for Hay, Reid, Smith and musician Mani Ajami to draw inspiration.
Lee Konitz & Brad Mehldau & Charlie Haden - Alone Together [Reissue/1997] LP (Blue Note)
In December 1996, as Lee Konitz approached his 70th birthday, the great alto saxophonist brought a unique multigenerational trio with pianist Brad Mehldau (then 26) and bassist Charlie Haden (then 59) into the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles for an engagement that resulted in this sublime live recording.
Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 10: Prestige Records 1961-73 2xLP (Jazzman Records)
The tenth edition of Jazzman Records' Spiritual Jazz series takes a closer look at the music Prestige was recording at the start of the 1960s, when the modal jazz sound pioneered by Miles and Coltrane was starting to percolate through the jazz underground. Founded as New Jazz in 1949 by 20-year-old jazz fan and entrepreneur Bob Weinstock, Prestige was the only other imprint besides Blue Note to capture the iconic jazz sounds of the 1950s. If Blue Note documented the sound of hard bop in its most carefully crafted form, the low-key, jam-session approach that Weinstock preferred meant that the music captured by Prestige has a tough, unfiltered energy, sounding much closer to the way it was being played live, night after night, by New York's most prominent jazz musicians. Featuring Afro-Eastern visions from Yusef Lateef and Ahmed Abdul-Malik, deep modal excursions from Mal Waldron and Walt Dickerson, and essential spiritual jazz grooves from Gary Bartz and Idris Muhammed, Spiritual Jazz 10 documents the sound of modal jazz in full flight, unabashed and authentic from the pioneers!
Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 1: Esoteric, Modal, and Deep Jazz from the Underground 1968-77 2xLP (Jazzman Records)
Remastered limited repress; originally released in 2008. Jazzman Records presents the sound of the unsung musicians who, in the midst of the Vietnam War and the fallout of the Civil Rights struggle, created some of the most beautiful spiritual and meditative music of the era. Sometimes funky, sometimes mellow, but existing completely under the critical radar and largely ignored or unknown by music fans and critics alike. Here Jazzman Records evaluates spiritual jazz in a snapshot of the era after Coltrane, a time which saw the evolution of an underground jazz that spoke about the reform of the soul, of the spirit, and of society. The music on this album reflects the social and historical forces at work during the closedown of the '60s dream; music made by close-knit collectives and individual visionaries, by prisoners and eccentrics, by mystics and political radicals. It is the jazz music of America in the age of civil rights, brutal repression, political assassination and war; a music that would guarantee the survival of the spiritual dimension in a society that was angry and traumatized, but nevertheless had seen hope of better days to come. Soul jazz; Black jazz; Spiritual jazz.
Royal Trux - Cats And Dogs [Reissue/1993] LP (Fat Possum)
Cats And Dogs hit the street in June of '93 and represented a quantum leap from everywhere Royal Trux had previously broadcast from. Their innate feel for disparate styles had been demonstrated over the course of three wildly diverse albums, but Cats And Dogs wove diversity expertly throughout its eleven songs, all united by an interest in rhythmic rock and roll. There was the mulch of grunge, a lean stand of retro-soul, plumes of psychedelic vapor and a thudding post-garage all of which was flung out venomously as if owed to no-one.
Daughter - You Don't Get What You Want 2xLP (Ipecac)
Vinyl repress of Daughter's 2018 album. By titling their fourth full-length You Won't Get What You Want, Daughters send a crystal-clear message. The quartet once again follow the same internal compass that guided them to blur the lines of fickle heavy music sub-genres in the first place and quietly ignite a cult fervor typically reserved for grindhouse phenomena. In fact, the best way to describe the philosophy and the sound of the quartet is simply: rock 'n' roll. The minimal wail of first single "Satan In The Wait" belies Alexis's intense spoken word-style delivery as gothic keys magnetically draw the spotlight. Follow-up "The Reason They Hate Me" hinges mechanized riffing and glitchy electronics as the frontman's haunting and hypnotic intonation curls around the hook. Elsewhere, "Less Sex" dips into a bluesy guitar that could've easily soundtracked a dark moment of True Detective Season 1, while the seven-minute "Ocean Song" spirals into numbing noise oblivion.
Miquela - I A De Sars LP (Finders Keepers)
Mesmerizing minority language acid folk and wayfaring world music forges a river of revolution between langue doc and Côte d'Azur with this stunning seldom spoken 1978 intimate community pressing. Weaving a fragile thread through collectible outsider genres such as acid folk, French jazz, and Braziliana, it is virtually incomprehensible that this incredible one-off solo album by mononymous Occitan language singer, songwriter, and activist Miquela has managed to evade notoriety and wider affection over five decades. Not shying from ambitious small string arrangements and intimate Gallic jazz infusions, this LP represents the quiet storm erupting from the pride and protection of the ancient "Romance" language known as Occitan, spoken by less than 1.5 million people in Southern France (as well as parts of Italy and Spain).
The Field - Yesterday and Today 2xLP (Kompakt)
2019 repress. A digital trip through ambient, dance and drone, gently pulsating and washing over you. The Field is Axel Willner, and his debut ambient techno full-length Here We Go Sublime was one of the most acclaimed releases of 2007. Willner expands his palette on his 2009's Yesterday and Today, continuing the oblique sampling strategy of his debut while building up the rhythmic architecture, as this album also features playing from an assortment of live musicians, such as Battles drummer John Stanier on the title track. Since startling the world with his debut, Willner has been highly in demand as a remixer, with tracks from Thom Yorke to Battles to Maps raising his profile.
Gas - Pop 3xLP (Kompakt)
Pop -- the album that has become widely recognized as the defining moment in which Wolfgang Voigt brought his listeners into a clearing of his deep, psychedelic forest. A landmark release in the GAS odyssey that drew international attention, Pop was originally released in 2000 on the iconic Frankfurt imprint, Mille Plateux. Pop was heralded by Pitchfork at the time of release as being "an exercise in sonic texture... pure sonic velvet, the layered drone radiating a palpable warmth." First time on 180 gram, triple-LP vinyl; includes original artwork.
Gavilán Rayna Russom - The Envoy LP (Ecstatic)
After decades exploring her sonic personality through deep immersion in NYC's club and avant-garde scenes, as well as membership in LCD Soundsystem, the transdisciplinary artist firms up her personal conclusions on intersections of gender and electronic music with The Envoy. Enriched with complex human experience and key influence from sci-fi writer Ursula K. Le Guin, the album is intended to realign misconceptions of Russom's prescient early work, which arguably foreshadowed a rise of beat-less and more ambiguous urges commonplace in contemporary dance music. Practically devoid of percussion, but full of body-moving polyrhythmic patterns, the pieces find Russom smudging a blend of analog and digital synths to connote an elusive sense of self, employing the fluid potential of electronic music at its most fundamental in a way that loops right back to the gliding suspense of her prized early work. Features vocals from Cosey Fanni Tutti.
Madteo - Dropped Out Sunshine 2xLP (Demdike Stare)
NYC mutant Madteo's new album of trigger-happy club graffiti on Demdike Stare's DDS, splitting at the seams with deviant funk and irrepressible attitude, and forming a fractal, mixtape-like mosaic of asymmetric techno informed by skewed traces of rap, house, R&B, and dancehall. Dropped Out Sunshine is a masterpiece of cut-up sampledelia in the Italian-American's nonchalant, freehand signature style, crammed with sawn-off edits that never lose the thread. Its wild and effortlessly inventive turns of phrase are anathema to linear club music convention, generating fizzing alchemy from mutually exclusive bedfellows such as dancehall and techno, or R&B and noise that could really only be executed by a producer of Madteo's caliber. Fragments of gospel blues noise intersect gauntlets of filtered house fuckery, while restless Autechrian electro rubs up against uncoiled trap and needle-worrying levels of textured bass turbulence. RIYL: Andy Stott, Mica Levi, Demdike Stare, Moodymann.
Shasta Cults - Shasta Cults LP (Important Records)
The musical project of Canadian electronics technician Richard Smith, who for almost two decades was the official Buchla & Associates go-to repair person for studios, collectors, and musicians around the world, leading him to work with artists such as Aphex Twin, Suzanne Ciani, Mort Subotnick. "Recording demonstrations of the rare equipment that found its way on to my work bench," is how Smith describes the origins of Shasta Cults. His latest album was programmed using the only fully-functional Buchla Touché, which was developed in the early 1980s and features waveforms generated internally by twenty-four digital oscillators, using frequency modulation along with sophisticated digital and analog signal processing to produce complex timbres. The album is a collection of sonic experiments, hypnotic drones, and heavily-modulated explorations drenched in effects, showcasing not only the incredible fidelity of the Touché, but also Smith's evolution as an audio engineer.
Ambienti Coassiali - Dream Rooms LP (99Chants)
Dream Rooms, the new release from the shadowy Italian project Ambienti Coassiali, is an organic development rising out of the ashes of the surreal synthesized tone poems they released in the late 1980s, developing into cult favorites, spoken of with quiet reverence. Spread out over two sides, Dream Rooms is an immersive listen, ambience that's frigid but not dark; a cold morning in the valleys. Recorded with a vintage EKO Ranger guitar from the early 1970s, loops extend to infinity, echoing into the distance and melting into themselves, over and over again. Over their three decades of creating music, Ambienti Coassiali show that, whether synthesized or organic, they are able to construct complex atmospheres out of the ether, all parts in their place; music for the conscious, and the subconscious. Diabolical Masquerade - Ravendusk In My Heart [Reissue/1996] LP (Peaceville) From Katatonia mastermind Anders 'Blackheim' Nyström, Peaceville reissues the debut album from his symphonic extreme metal solo-project, Diabolical Masquerade, which launched onto the scene in 1996 with the release of Ravendusk In My Heart.
Öxxö Xööx - Y LP (Blood Music)
The unique French avant-garde/experimental doom metal unit returns with another triumphant masterwork. Numenorean - Adore LP (Season Of Mist) Three years in the making, Adore is a towering work of lustrous metallic art. It's deeply nuanced tracks weave ferocity and beauty into sweeping pieces that are as haunting as they are cathartic. Numenorean place themselves at the fore of the genre's evolution with this profoundly moving work of modern, post-black metal brilliance.
What We Do In Secret - Repose LP (Facedown)
Between the dichotomies of life - aggression and peace, darkness and light, love and chaos - sits a dissonant space where the truth exists, for those who have the courage to find it. Positioned right in the middle of that dissonance is What We Do In Secret, a Memphis metalcore band that has leveraged aggression to find peace, explored darkness to find light, and committed to love in a world drenched in chaos.
Reissues & From The Archives
Warren Haynes - Warren Haynes Presents The Benefit Concert Vol. 16 CD+DVD//2xLP (Evil Twin)
Warren Haynes Presents The Benefit Concert Vol. 16 collects select recordings from Warren Haynes' 2014 Christmas Jam Benefit Concert, featuring Jason Isbell, Bill Kreutzmann (of the Grateful Dead), Gov't Mule, Hard Working Americans (Todd Snider, Neal Casal, Dave Schools & Duane Trucks), Paul Riddle (Marshall Tucker Band co-founder), Jack Pearson (Allman Bros.), Oteil Burbridge (Allman Bros., Dead & Co.), Jackie Greene, and American Idol winner Caleb Johnson, plus members of JRAD, Disco Biscuits and Tea Leaf Green. [Stand-alone Blu-ray edition also available.]