New Releases - 2/19/21

Hitting The Racks

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

New Releases

Edie Brickell & New Bohemians – Hunter And The Dog Star LP/CD (Shuffle)

Hunter And The Dog Star is Edie Brickell and New Bohemians' fifth studio album and their first since 2018's Rocket – a record that marked a major return for the group following a 12-year hiatus and was released to widespread critical acclaim. Returning to Arlyn Studios in Austin, TX to record with producer Kyle Crusham, Brickell and the New Bohemians – Brandon Aly (drums), John Bush (drums, percussion), Brad Houser (bass, synthesizer) and Kenny Withrow (bass, guitars, synthesizer) – once again put forth a collection of diverse musical ideas and styles on Hunter And The Dog Star, as they have continuously done for the past three decades. Reflecting on the album, Brickell shares, "Hunter And The Dog Star is a collection of songs reflecting the mystery of self-expression, loyalty, companionship and love in the darkest sky just before dawn."

M. Caye Castagnetto – Leap Second LP (Castleface)

Influenced by a life split between Lima, London, and Twentynine Palms, Peru-born M. Caye Castagnetto's Leap Second is an intriguingly personal and hard to classify debut album. The album is a thick collage of samples Caye recorded with different artists and musicians, including Beatrice Dillon and the late Aileen Bryant, that spans five years in the making. There is something in Leap Second that tracks the speed of bodies, how they approach and retreat. The ten tracks are speedy and languid, thick ruffles, and dirges. In parts it feels like one's stumbled upon a forgotten incredible '70s folk record but that feeling gets broken quickly by clever sleights of hand. Caye's balladry is angular, time is elastic.

Sarah Mary Chadwick – Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby LP (Rice Is Nice)

Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby is the latest full-length from New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, Sarah Mary Chadwick, whose brutally honest songwriting has cast her contrary to the gentleness of most current music. Comprised entirely of minimal solo piano arrangements, the album is despondently clear-eyed and smirkingly self-deprecating, completing a trilogy of records that started with The Queen Who Stole The Sky recorded on Melbourne Town Hall's grand organ, and her only outing to date featuring a full band, Please Daddy.

The Dead South – Served Live LP (Six Shooter)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The Dead South, a gold rush vibing four-piece acoustic set from Saskatchewan, infuse the genre's traditional trappings with an air of frontier recklessness, whiskey breakfasts and grizzled tin-pan showmanship. Their sound, build on a taut configuration of cello, mandolin, banjo and guitar, speeds like a train past polite definitions of acoustic music into the grittier, rowdier spaces of the bluegrass world. [Limited edition 180-gram gold metallic vinyl.]

The Hold Steady – Open Door Policy LP (Positive Jams)

"We recorded Open Door Policy in two different sessions in the back half of 2019. Once again, we teamed with producer Josh Kaufman and engineer Dan Goodwin, this time at the Clubhouse studio in upstate NY. Our intention was to create an album that worked as a grand piece, rather than a collection of songs. 2019 was an active year for The Hold Steady – our writing was consistent, and new songs were coming in pretty regularly. The recording process was creative, open and fun. The songs on Open Door Policy are about power, wealth, and mental health. They're about technology, occupation, consumerism, freedom, fandom and escape. And although the album was written and recorded in 2019, the themes of this record seem to be underscored and highlighted by this year of virus and quarantine." – Craig Finn [Limited-edition indie store only peach color vinyl.]

Valley Maker – When The Day Leaves LP (French Kiss)

We have all become experts in the imbalance of uncertainty these days, newly accustomed to canceling plans and tentatively rescheduling them for some future we can only imagine. For Austin Crane – the ruminative songwriter, riveting guitarist, and singular voice – such a sense of uncertainty has emerged as his steadfast companion these last few years, a period of profound transition. This flux is the anchor for the gorgeous and felicitous When The Day Leaves. Driven as it is by departure, When The Day Leaves marks the arrival of Valley Maker as a trustworthy narrator for these shaky times. Crane synthesizes these complex feelings into single, "No One Is Missing". All these thoughts are rendered with newfound lyrical richness, balancing intimate tidbits with universal ambiguity. For 46 minutes, you feel like you're sitting with Crane in an intricate, unified sound-world of his design. He offloads his observations about our tangled thicket of hope and fear, aspiration and exasperation. [Limited sky blue vinyl.]

Koe Wetzel – Sellout LP (Columbia)

The Texas-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer continues to unapologetically trail blaze between grunge, country, Americana, and damn near everything else under the sun on Sellout.

Wild Pink – A Billion Little Lights LP (Royal Mountain)

On Wild Pink's third album, A Billion Little Lights, frontman John Ross explores the dichotomy of finally achieving emotional security - of accepting the love and peace he deprived himself of in his twenties - while also feeling existentially smaller and more directionless than ever before. The record is a two-pronged triumph: an extraordinary reflection on the human condition presented through the sharpest, grandest, and most captivating songs Wild Pink have ever composed. [Indie exclusive glow in the dark vinyl.]

Reissues, Compilations, Live Recordings & Vault Excavations...

Wilson Pickett ‎– The Best Of Wilson Pickett LP (Friday Music)

180gm color vinyl pressing. One of the most popular singers of the '60s, Wilson Pickett helped introduce the aggressive, rhythmic style of soul music. Aided immeasurably by the excellent studio bands backing him at the Stax Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, and the Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals Alabama, Pickett scored a series of timeless R&B and pop hits throughout his substantial career. Jam packed with the original recordings of solid senders like his classics In “The Midnight Hour”, “Mustang Sally”, “Funky Broadway,” and “Land Of 1000 Dances”.