New Releases - 2/11/22
Hitting The Racks
Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's
New Releases
alt-J – The Dream CD (Atlantic)
The Dream is an album of intrigue, beauty and humanity - a coalescence of everything that has made alt-J a global band with true staying power. True-crime inspired stories and tales of Hollywood and the Chateau Marmont rub shoulders with some of the band's most personal moments to-date. The album was created after a period of rest for the band following their seismic world tour in support of previous record Relaxer. It is a record that is the sound of a band growing as songwriters and storytellers. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive vinyl pressing is due 2/18.]
Dan Andriano & The Byegones – Dear Darkness LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Multifaceted singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio) delivers the debut album from his new project Dan Andriano & The Bygones featuring Bay Area musicians Randy and Dylan Moore and Nick Kenrick. The self-produced project finds Andriano venturing into deeply personal lyrical territory while also pushing the limits of just what his unclassifiable sound can be. Andriano first began work on what would become Dear Darkness during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, writing demoes and raiding his archives of unfinished ideas, doing so more out of a deep-seated need to create than with any true end project in mind. Having spent so much of his life touring and making music, the time off forced by the pandemic was foreign to Andriano, who, at moments, struggled with how to use this newfound freedom, but also found it to be fruitful for his creative process.
Author & Punisher – Krüller CD/2xLP (Relapse)
Author & Punisher returns after a three-year gap with a mind-blowing album in Krüller. Wielding upgraded machines, a new sensory stratagem, and a crafty curation of top-tier collaborators, proprietor Tristan Shone emerged from the time off refined and re-tooled. [Limited edition double pink and orange vinyl pressing is available.]
Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You CD/2xLP+MP3 (4AD)
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is a sprawling double-LP exploring the deepest elements and possibilities of Big Thief. To truly dig into all that the music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia desired in 2020, the band decided to write and record a rambling account of growth as individuals, musicians, and chosen family over four distinct recording sessions. In Upstate New York, Topanga Canyon, The Rocky Mountains, and Tucson, AZ, Big Thief spent five months in creation and came out with 45 completed songs. The most resonant of this material was edited down into the 20 tracks that make up DNWMIBIY, a fluid and adventurous listen. [Limited-edition indie store exclusive ‘eco-friendly’ vinyl.]
Priscilla Block – Welcome To The Block Party CD (Mercury Nashville)
Listed as a MusicRow 2021 Next Big Thing Artist and a 2021 CMT Next Women of Country inductee, Block is undoubtedly the breakout female country star of the past year and is poised to become one of Nashville’s acclaimed truth-tellers with a voice for her generation.
Body Void – Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth LP (Prosthetic)
Limited pink, white, and blue color vinyl pressing. Bury Me Beneath This Rotting Earth is both a clarion call and the sound of devotion. The expansive sounds and sludgy atmospherics make this a definitive doom record but with a progressive edge that hints at noise, punk and black metal.
Boulevards – Electric Cowboy: Born In Carolina Mud CD/LP (Normaltown)
"I was born in the North Carolina mud," says Jamil Rashad, better known as Boulevards, one of the most idiosyncratic artists making music in the Tarheel State. His fourth album, Electric Cowboy: Born In Carolina Mud, is caked in the soil where he grew up, mired in the muck of this place – not stuck but freed. Grounded in personal experience and haunted by personal demons, Electric Cowboy is an album that reaches out, that embraces the world, that mixes the confessional and the communal. But the dominant sound – the dominant mindset – is funk: gritty, warm, weird, charismatic. [Limited-edition indie store exclusive signed red & black swirl vinyl.]
Boy Harsher – The Runner (Original Soundtrack) LP (Nude Club)
Augustus Muller and Jae Matthews' fifth release entitled The Runner (Original Soundtrack) is not a traditional album. Rather, it is the soundtrack to a short film, also entitled The Runner. The film, written, produced, and directed by the duo, is a searching horror film, attached to a meta-style 'documentary' about Boy Harsher's recording process. The album includes several distinct components: cinematic arrangements, vocal features, and of course classic Boy Harsher dark pop. [Indie store exclusive translucent violet vinyl.]
Cult Of Luna – Long Road North CD/2xLP (Metal Blade)
For more than two decades, Sweden's Cult Of Luna has forged a sound that has grown incomparable to that of others. As soon as listeners hit play, they are in familiar yet refreshingly new Cult of Luna territory, the pulsating rhythms of "Cold Burn" pummeling, and Persson's savage roar tearing through the layers of guitar. As is the case with every album from the band in recent years, there is a lot of shifting of dynamics and sonic density, and perhaps more so than usual on The Long Road North. [A double transparent white color vinyl pressing is available to order.]
Empath – Visitor CD/LP (Fat Possum)
On Visitor, Empath sought to one-up the range of sounds heard on their previous album. During what he calls West Philly Christmas (the week undergrads at UPenn move out and leave piles of high-quality garbage out on the street) Randall Coon recovered a suitcase organ with a sound bank from a Jamiroquai record preset on it, which he later played on the album, in addition to running samples on Ableton and acquiring a brand new synth; Jem Shanahan, who plays a ‘90s children’s keyboard, had Portrait filter it in such a way that it sounded “less childlike”; Catherine Elicson’s vocals, buried deep in the mix on “Active Listening: Night On Earth”, take center stage; and Garrett Koloski’s drums are as capacious as they might be in a live set. [Indie store exclusive bone color vinyl.]
Fort Romeau – Beings Of Light LP+MP3/Cassette (Ghostly Int’l)
After a run of critically acclaimed singles and EPs, British producer Michael Greene, aka Fort Romeau, returns to the full-length format with Beings Of Light, the long-awaited follow-up to 2015's Insides. While a prolific DJ who orients many of his productions for the dancefloor, Greene still sees the album as the ultimate statement of intent, "a space to stretch out, to speak in full paragraphs rather than stunted sentences." [Limited-edition silver halide color vinyl.]
Holy Hive – Holy Hive LP (Big Crown)
Released last September on CD – now available on vinyl. In 2020 Brooklyn's Holy Hive introduced us all to something we didn't know we needed. Homer Steinweiss' thickly pocketed drumming paired with Paul Spring's floaty falsetto vocal produces a sound that's like a salve. It's been dubbed folk soul and Holy Hive not only expertly overlay the more apparent musical aspects of folk and soul – but they also draw from the more profound: being able to pull traditions from the past and make them their own. [Limited-edition indie store exclusive translucent pink w/ blue splatter vinyl.]
Ethan Iverson – Every Note Is True CD (Blue Note)
Pianist and composer Ethan Iverson makes his Blue Note debut with the remarkable Every Note Is True, an engaging and evocative date featuring a masterful new trio with bassist Larry Grenadier and legendary drummer Jack DeJohnette. The album is an opportunity for Iverson to look back at and expand upon his own musical history as he revisits the pop/rock influenced jazz style of The Bad Plus, the influential trio that the pianist co-founded in 2000.
Jail Socks – Coming Down LP (Counter Intuitive)
“If you’re tuned into the emo scene you may well have heard the buzz behind the Charlotte, North Carolina-based band Jail Socks. The band first made waves in 2018 with their debut EP, No Promises, and then followed quickly with their 2019 EP It’s Not Forever. Those two years already showed a band growing by leaps and bounds. The riffs got tighter, the hooks catchier, and their energy was undeniable. Coming Down, the band’s debut album only continues the trend with what is easily Jail Socks’ most potent set of songs yet.” – Under The Radar
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio – Cold As Weiss CD/LP (Colemine)
Over the course of the last five years, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio has established themselves as the world's premier funky organ trio. The organ trio, along with founder and manager Amy Novo, continues to devise the perfect blend of raw, passionate music and engaging industry practices. [Indie store exclusive translucent blue vinyl.]
LANNDS – lotus deluxe LP (Run For Cover)
Pink color vinyl pressing. Rania Woodard is a queer, black woman living in the south. North Florida isn't known for its progressiveness, but that's where she and Brian Squillace formed LANNDS, a dreamy, psychedelic take on electro-pop that pushes back at the environment it's created in.
Le Butcherettes / Death Valley Girls – The Universe b/w When I’m Free 7” (Run For Cover)
Clear w/ opaque pink splatter color vinyl. Le Bucherettes takeon one of Death Valley Girls' most cosmic numbers, the kaleidoscopic centerpiece off Under The Spell Of Joy album, "The Universe". Death Valley Girls offer up a new tune-the deliciously ecstatic "When I'm Free". Like every great Death Valley Girls song, it's a celebration of life bolstered by rock 'n' roll riffage, spiritual organ, dizzying sax, and Bonnie Bloomgarden's de‑ant and triumphant vocals.
Amos Lee – Dreamland CD/LP (Dualtone)
With one foot in the real world and the other in a charmed dimension of his own making, Amos Lee creates the rare kind of music that's emotionally raw yet touched with a certain magical quality. On his eighth album Dreamland, the Philadelphia-born singer/songwriter intimately documents his real-world struggles (alienation, anxiety, loneliness, despair), an outpouring born from deliberate and often painful self-examination. But, thanks to a palpable sense of playfulness, Dreamland embodies an unpredictable and endlessly imaginative sound – a prime showcase for Lee's warmly commanding voice and soul-baring songwriting. With the release of Dreamland, Lee hopes that his songs might inspire others to live more fully and free of fear.
Dusty Locane – Untamed CD (Empire)
Having quickly risen to the top of the New York hip-hop scene, the mercurial Brooklyn-based drill rapper, Dusty Locane, drops his debut album, Untamed. At 20 tracks, the album showcases Dusty's lyrical chops as an emcee and star power and versatility that makes him a unique artist. Working with fellow New York artists Rah Swish, KG More Breesh, 8anditt & 3Kizzy, as well as rising labelmates OBN Jay & Yung Bleu, Dusty speaks on how he became king of the streets and looks to prove why he deserves to stay on top for years to come.
Los Retros – Looking Back LP (Stones Throw)
Los Retros is the young Mexican American singer-songwriter whose music has captured the hearts of fans around the world. He broke onto the scene with the viral single “Someone To Spend Time With” in 2019. Looking Back is his third EP. Los Retros was just sixteen when he first began recording in his family's living room on an old four-track. The recordings comprising Looking Back grew out of these early sessions. Fan favorite, they are now officially released for the first time. [Indie store exclusive yellow w/ green & pink vinyl.]
Moonchild – Starfruit LP+MP3 (Tru Thoughts)
Starfruit is the fifth album from L.A. trio Moonchild (Amber Navran, Andris Mattson, and Max Bryk). The result of ten years spent working and growing together, Starfruit showcases the respect, musical understanding, and love the trio have, both for each other and for the noteworthy list of collaborators featured on the album. Bringing a host of beautiful melodies and personal lyrics, Starfruit beholds offerings from Lalah Hathaway, Alex Isley, Tank and The Bangas, Rapsody, Ill Camille, Mumu Fresh, Chantae Cann and Josh Johnson.
Paper Route Empire – Long Live Young Dolph CD (Empire)
The second Paper Route Empire compilation and tribute album to the late Memphis legend, Young Dolph. Featuring PRE label members Key Glock, Snupe Bandz, Big Moochie Grape, Kenny Muney, PaperRoute Woo, Chitana & Joddy Badass, as well as singer Ricco Barrino, the 8-track album illustrates the magnificent impact and legacy Dolph left behind and looks to see the silver lining in the loss of a man that was loved and admired by people all over the world. [Vinyl edition due August 5.]
Pedro The Lion – Havasu CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
After a 15-year hiatus, Seattle, WA's David Bazan reformed his legendary project Pedro The Lion with the release of 2019’s Phoenix, its first new album in over a decade. Phoenix became an instant critical darling, with publications such as NPR saying "It's a feat to reignite an old flame after 15 years; it's another thing altogether to make it burn brighter than ever," and Vulture calling it "Bazan's best work in years and a worthy successor to a back catalog beloved by indie rock and emo fans for over 20 years." With Havasu, Bazan continues his prolific trajectory while planting the seeds for darker stories ahead. [Limited-edition translucent peach vinyl pressing is available.]
Rivers Of Nihil – Work 2xLP (Metal Blade)
Limited yellow & aqua color vinyl pressing. Reading, Pennsylvania's Rivers Of Nihil has never fit neatly into a box, but with 2018's Where Owls Know My Name, they transcended all labels applied to them. Returning in 2021 with The Work, they have forged further into new territory, delivering an album that is as cerebral as it is visceral, and that covers a staggering sonic range, definitively placing them in a category of their own.
Shame – Drunk Tank Pink 2xLP (Dead Oceans)
Deluxe double-LP edition on limited-edition silver vinyl. There are moments on Drunk Tank Pink where you almost have to reach for the sleeve to check that this is the same band who made 2018's Songs Of Praise. Such is the jump Shame has made from the riotous post-punk of their debut to the sprawling adventurism and twitching anxieties laid out here. The South Londoner's blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it's just that it's grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.
Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators – 4 CD/LP (BMG)
4 is Slash's fifth solo album and fourth overall with his band featuring Myles Kennedy (vocals), Brent Fitz (drums), Todd Kerns (bass & vocals) and Frank Sidoris (guitar & vocals). A vibrant rock album fueled by memorable guitar hooks and compelling melodies, big choruses, and even bigger riffs; 4 builds on the legacy of Slash (Feat. Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators)'s prior work. For 4, Slash and the band traveled across the country together to Nashville, TN, and recorded the new album at the historic RCA Studio A with producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, John Prine, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), revealing a stunning new sound and style all captured live in the studio. Cobb shared the band's desire to lay down the tracks live, in the studio including guitar solos and vocals - a first for the group. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive purple color vinyl pressing is available. Also available for special order: A deluxe four-CD box set including the cassette Live Rehearsal Tape 5/28/21, a 36-page photobook, a poster, patch, and guitar pick. The deluxe vinyl box set edition is due March 4.]
Spirit Was – Heaven’s Just A Cloud CD/LP (Danger Collective)
When his primary music project, LVL UP, stopped working together in 2018, prolific multi-instrumentalist and illustrator Nick Corbo began working on a new body of music and visual art as Spirit Was. On his debut studio album Heaven's Just A Cloud, haunting, beautiful scenes of the natural world feel just as represented in the warm, classic, wooden floors of country rock as they do in the dark, droning, shadows of doom and black metal. [Limited-edition coke bottle green vinyl.]
Spoon – Lucifer On The Sofa CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
Spoon's tenth album, Lucifer On The Sofa, is the band's purest rock 'n' roll record to date. Texas-made, it is the first set of songs that the quintet has put to tape in its hometown of Austin in more than a decade. Written and recorded over the last two years – both in and out of lockdown – these songs mark a shift toward something louder, wilder, and more full-color. Lucifer On The Sofa was co-produced by Spoon and Mark Rankin (Adele, Queens of the Stone Age), with contributions from Dave Fridmann and Justin Raisen. Britt Daniel describes the album as, "the sound of classic rock as written by a guy who never did get Eric Clapton...I spent a lot of 2018 and 2019 listening to ZZ Top." [A limited-edition indie store exclusive orange vinyl pressing will be available 2/25. Black vinyl available now.]
Urge Overkill – Oui CD/LP (Omnivore)
Nash Kato and Eddie "King" Roeser met at Northwestern University, formed Urge Overkill (named after a George Clinton/Parliament lyric), and soon released a Steve Albini produced EP on Restless Records. After a string of acclaimed releases on Touch & Go Records (including the Stull EP, containing their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon", which became a hit after being featured in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction), the band moved to Geffen Records and issued a pair of albums which took over alternative radio. It wasn't until 2011 that Urge Overkill released new music, when they returned with Rock & Roll Submarine. Now, a decade later, Urge Overkill release Oui. The new album features twelve new tracks from Kato and Roeser – eleven are Urge originals, with the opener (and first single) being a cover of Wham!'s "Freedom!". [Limited-edition indie store exclusive splatter vinyl.]
Various Artists – Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2 CD (Oh Boy)
Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs Of John Prine Vol. 2, the follow up to the original 2010 tribute record, adds to an esteemed legacy for Oh Boy Records which celebrates its 40thanniversary in 2021. Featuring your favorite artists interpreting their favorite John Prine songs, including Brandi Carlile, Nathaniel Rateliff, Amanda Shires, Tyler Childers, Margo Price, Valerie June, Jason Isbell, Bonnie Raittr, John Paul White, Iris DeMent, Emmylou Harris, and Sturgill Simpson, proceeds from each track will go to a charity of the respective artist's choosing. [Vinyl edition due April 29.]
Spirit Was – Heaven’s Just A Cloud CD/LP (Danger Collective)
When his primary music project, LVL UP, stopped working together in 2018, prolific multi-instrumentalist and illustrator Nick Corbo began working on a new body of music and visual art as Spirit Was. On his debut studio album Heaven's Just A Cloud, haunting, beautiful scenes of the natural world feel just as represented in the warm, classic, wooden floors of country rock as they do in the dark, droning, shadows of doom and black metal. [Limited-edition coke bottle green vinyl.]
Eddie Vedder – Earthling CD (Republic)
The new solo album from Eddie Vedder includes the tracks "Long Way", "The Haves", and more. It was produced by Andrew Watt and features special guest artists Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr and Elton John. [CD only for now. Vinyl is ‘due’ 12/31/22, which seems suspect to me.]
Emily Yacina – Remember The Silver LP (Danger Collective)
Remember The Silver is the debut studio album by New York by-way-of Pennsylvania musician Emily Yacina. Written over the span of two years and recorded/co-producer with Eric Littmann (Julie Byrne, GABI, Yohuna) Remember The Silver represents a fundamental shift in Yacina's approach and method to bringing her songs into the world. Across its 12 songs, the album weaves an intimate and prismatic picture of the spark of new love, the way grief clings to the spirit and the small moments where magical things still feel possible.
Reissues, Compilations, Live Recordings & Vault Excavations...
Ashford & Simpson – So So Satisfied [Reissue/1977] LP (Rhino)
Limited green color vinyl pressing of this 1977 album from the soul duo.
Brandy – The Best Of Brandy [Reissue/2005] 2xLP (Atlantic)
Limited color vinyl pressing of the first greatest hits album by R&B singer Brandy. The album comprises nearly all of Norwood's 1994-2004 singles, compiling her first four studio albums Brandy (1994), Never Say Never (1998), Full Moon (2002) and Afrodisiac (2004), as well as songs she contributed to film soundtracks such as Waiting To Exhale (1995) and Set It Off (1996).
William S. Fischer – Circles [Reissue/1970] LP (Real Gone Music)
Limited black ice color vinyl pressing. An utterly mind-blowing mix of Sly Stone funk, heavy Hendrix-y metal, Southern soul, jazz fusion, and Stockhausen-esque explorations on the Moog synthesizer.
The Glands – The Glands [Reissue/2000] LP (New West)
Limited green color vinyl pressing. The critically acclaimed eponymous middle record, The Glands has been remastered and features the band's definitive sequence including five rare songs. There is an enormous and curiously shaped hole in the story of The Glands, the on-again/mostly off-again duo or quartet or sometimes quintet but let's just say band from Athens, Georgia, who released only two albums of weird, irascible, irresistible indie rock before band leader Ross Shapiro died in 2016.
Grouplove – Never Trust A Happy Song [Reissue/2011] LP (Atlantic)
It's been ten years since Grouplove met on a commune in Greece and brought the idea of forming a band back to California. They'd never have anticipated making it this far: five albums, multiple chart-topping singles across alternative and pop formats, a Grammy nomination, and critical acclaim from outlets such as Rolling Stone, which heralded the group as "a band who have perfected big, radio-friendly rock songs." As their debut album Never Trust A Happy Song approaches its tenth anniversary, Grouplove is ready to celebrate with the fans by releasing a limited edition vinyl, pressed on 180gm green vinyl.
Katatonia – Brave Murder Day [Reissue/1996] LP (Peaceville)
Katatonia – Dethroned & Uncrowned [Reissue/2013] LP (Peaceville)
Katatonia was formed in 1991 by Anders Nyström and Jonas Renkse. Their debut album, Dance Of December Souls was released in 1993, gaining the band recognition for their eclectic brand of gothic doom/death metal and joining acts such as Paradise Lot and My Dying Bride as one of the genre's defining bands. Originally released in 1996, second album Brave Murder Day is a true classic. Dethroned & Uncrowned is a radical reinterpretation of 2012’s Dead End Kings.
Fenne Lily – On Hold [Reissue/2018] LP (Dead Oceans)
On Hold, a tender collection of expressive, open-hearted songs, was Fenne's first foray into songwriting, written during her teenage years. Writing her own songs was initially a "therapy exercise" for Fenne, who is normally reserved when it comes to talking about her feelings. The album, self-released in 2018, organically found a large audience online, which grew after she opened for Lucy Dacus and Andy Shauf's North American tours last spring. Surrounding it's release, The Line of Best Fit deemed Fenne "a new and extraordinary voice capable of wringing profound and resonant moments out of loss." [Limited-edition lime green vinyl.]
Matrimony – Kitty Finger [Reissue/1989] LP+MP3 (Kill Rock Stars)
Matrimony emerged from the scrum of yobbos making noise in late-'80s Australia (Cosmic Psychos, Lubricated Goat, etc.), a nearly all-female band of punk-pop minimalists as raw emotionally as musically. Building songs around simple, repetitive bass lines and the languidly morose vocals of one Sybilla, the band reveals its disaffection more through what it doesn't say than what it does.
Nino Palladino and Blake Mills – Notes With Attachments LP (Impulse)
Vinyl edition of the 2020 album from renowned bassist Pino Palladino and celebrated multi-instrumentalist and producer Blake Mills. The record was recorded in stages over the course of two-plus years. It features drummer Chris Dave, saxophonists Sam Gendel, Marcus Strickland and Jacques Schwartz-Bart and keyboardist Larry Goldings, among others.
Joe Pass – For Django [Reissue/1964] LP (Blue Note)
For Django, recorded for Pacific Jazz in 1964, has long been considered a classic by jazz guitarist Joe Pass. He pays tribute to Django Reinhardt without attempting to emulate him in any way. Rather, he honors him by using his own style with fellow guitarist John Pisano as well
as bassist Jim Hughart and drummer Colin Bailey. Highlights include Rosetta, Nuages, and Fleur D' Ennui. Part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet Series featuring all-analog, remastered sound.
Nina Simone – Feeling Good: Her Greatest Hits And Remixes 2xCD (Verve)
This new album gathers the most iconic songs recorded throughout her career and includes seven remixes by some of the hottest, in-demand DJs worldwide. The first single from the set is a remix by English DJ/producer Joel Corry (Charli XCX, Ed Sheeran) of the timeless classic "Feeling Good". The album includes seminal songs such as "Mississippi Goddam", "Strange Fruit", "I Loves You Porgy", "I Put A Spell On You", and Nina Simone's timeless version of "Feeling Good".
Cat Stevens – Harold And Maude (Original Soundtrack) CD/LP (A&M)
Timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the landmark film's release, this new CD and 180gm version of the soundtrack combines nine Cat Stevens originals as well as - for the first time - additional dialogue and instrumental music from the film. This new edition will also feature enhanced packaging including liner notes, lyrics, transcription of movie dialogue, and photos from the 1972 Paramount Pictures production.
Kanye West – Donda 2xCD (Def Jam)
Deluxe Edition of the record-shattering Donda, featuring four bonus tracks plus fan-favorite verses from Andre 3k, Kid Cudi and more.
Kiyoshi Yamaya - Wamono Groove: Shakuhachi & Koto Jazz Funk '76 LP (180g)
Following the already classic Wamono A to Z trilogy, an exceptional collection of jazz funk / rare groove tunes recorded in the mid-seventies at the Nippon Columbia studios by three giants of Japanese music: arranger Kiyoshi Yamaya, koto legend Toshiko Yonekawa and shakuhachi master Kifu Mitsuhashi. Born in 1932 in Tokyo, Kiyoshi Yamaya started his musical career in 1953 when he played in various jazz bands in town. He became a key jazz figure in Japan in the sixties together with Norio Maeda and Keitaro Miho, both jazz pianists, composers and arrangers, by forming the Modern Jazz Three Association – which aimed at improving the level of Japanese jazz composition and arrangement. In the mid-seventies, his Contemporary Sound Orchestra explored jazz funk fusions with traditional Japanese melodies and instruments such as the shakuhachi, koto, biwa, and shamisen. These works were recorded for a series of panoramic Japanese albums released domestically on Denon and Nippon Columbia, from which the tracks on this compilation are taken.