New Releases - 2/4/22

Hitting The Racks

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

New Releases

Animal Collective – Time Skiffs CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)

Time Skiffs' nine songs are love letters, distress signals, en plein air observations, and relaxation hymns, the collected transmissions of four people who have grown into relationships and parenthood and adult worry. But they are rendered with Animal Collective's singular sense of exploratory wonder. Harmonies so rich you want to skydive through their shared air, textures so fascinating you want to decode their sorcery, rhythms so intricate you want to untangle their sources. Here is Animal Collective's past two decades, still in search of what's next. [Indie store exclusive translucent ruby vinyl.]

Bastille – Give Me The Future CD/LP/Cassette (Republic)

Give Me The Future, Bastille's wildly-ambitious new album, is a tribute to tech times and a glimpse of what could be to come. Exploring both the opportunities of new technology and the dark side of lives lived online, it's as playful as it is thought-provoking, as dystopian as it is dancefloor-friendly and as electronic as Bastille have ever been. [Indie store exclusive translucent yellow vinyl.]

Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There CD/2xCD/2xLP+MP3/4xLP+MP3 (Ninja Tune)

Black Country, New Road release the second album, Ants From Up There. Following on almost exactly a year to the day from the release of their acclaimed debut For The First Time, the band have harnessed the momentum from that record and run full pelt into their second, with Ants From Up There managing to strike a skillful balance between feeling like a bold stylistic overhaul of what came before, as well as a natural progression. - For The First Time melded klezmer, post-rock, indie and an often-intense spoken word delivery. On Ants From Up There they have expanded on this unique concoction to create a singular sonic middle ground that traverses classical minimalism, indie-folk, pop, alt rock and a distinct tone that is already unique to the band. [An indie store exclusive autographed blue marbled color double-LP edition including a book is available. The deluxe double-CD and four-LP editions includes bonus live material, a booklet and a sticker. Unfortunately these vinyl versions shipped late and will not be here until next week]

Billy Bragg – The Million Things That Never Happened LP (Cooking Vinyl)

Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Billy Bragg returns with his tenth studio album, The Million Things That Never Happened. Featuring 12 soulful country rock gems, it's not only the first pandemic blues album of our times but also a heartfelt paean to human resilience. All the songs were written by Bragg apart from the final song ("Ten Mysterious Photos That Can't Be Explained"), which was co-written by Billy's son Jack Valero. Says Billy on lead single "I Will Be Your Shield": "To me this is the heart and soul of the album. I've concluded that empathy is the currency of music – that our job as songwriters is to help people come to terms with their feelings by offering them examples of how others may have dealt with a situation like that in which listeners find themselves. After what we've all been through, the idea of being a shield, physically, emotionally, psychologically, should resonate." [Indie store exclusive blue vinyl.]

Bvdub – Violet Oppression CD/2xLP (n5MD)

With Violet Opposition, Van Wey floats the project into murkier waters by adding a layer of overdriven gilding to his trademark sound. This sound is a texturally fibrous take on ambient that Brock has been experimenting with recently. As a result, the Bvdub peaks and valleys you know, and love, are even more arresting with the added grit and brume. Violet Opposition is four achingly impelling tracks, each song taking it's time to evolve and cradle you in sinewy tones. [Purple and yellow swirl vinyl.]

Cloakroom – Dissolution Wave CD/LP (Relapse)

Released last week on vinyl – now available on CD. Cloakroom celebrate their tenth anniversary as a band with their new album, Dissolution Wave. The eight-track collection is a concept - a space western in which an act of theoretical physics - the dissolution wave - wipes out all of humanity's existing art and abstract thought. In order to keep the world spinning on its axis, songsmiths must fill the ether with their compositions.

Cookie Jar - Cookie Jar LP (Official Memorabilia)

The hot fresh and electronic self-titled debut album from Music City funksters Cookie Jar, featuring the underground dance floor smash "Colorful Graffiti" plus seven new toothsome, earworms. Recorded at United Media Studios and the Ennis Sound Mobil Unit, Cookie Jar includes appearances from members of Cheap Time and Savoy Motel.

The Delevantes - A Thousand Turns CD/LP (Cosmo Sex School Records)

Two decades since their last album, brothers Bob and Mike Delevante are back! The Delevantes find themselves releasing new music into a thriving international scene of the roots-meets-rock-meets-country sound they helped pioneer. Rolling Stone once said: “The Delevantes deliver a broad view of the American musical crossroad where country and rock meet and, in this case, become one.” To put it simply, The Delevantes—along with contemporaries like Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Son Volt, the Jayhawks, and Whiskeytown—were right in the middle of it all when the term “Americana” started getting thrown around in regards to music. Their third album, A Thousand Turns, was produced by the band album alongside longtime production partner Garry Tallent (of E Street Band fame) and multi-instrumentalist Dave Coleman. Released by Cosmo Sex School Records, the album was recorded at famed Nashville studio, Blackbird Academy and features Tallent, Coleman and drummer Bryan Owings (Emmylou Harris). [All vinyl copies at Grimey’s are autographed by Bob & Mike Delvante and the whole band! Available in the shop and in the Grimey’s webstore.]

Face To Face – No Way Out But Through LP (Fat Wreck Chords)

Released last September on CD – now available on vinyl. Face To Face’s new album brims with arena-sized choruses and big guitars.

Grayscale – Umbra LP (Fearless)

Released last August on CD – now available as a limited marbled vinyl pressing housed in gatefold jacket. In a celestial sense, Umbra is the area of complete darkness in an eclipse. It's a shadowy interior that would otherwise be surrounded by light. The sound of the record is pop/rock on the outside, but when you listen to the lyrics, the stories on the inner core are sexual, vindictive, and wicked. That's the concept. It reflects the authenticity of who they are as an East Coast rock band.

Hippo Campus – LP3 CD/LP/Cassette (Grand Jury)

In the years between 2018's Bambi and LP3, Minneapolis, Hippo Campus has grown up and into itself. Although the five-piece has been friends since middle school and put out several studio releases since its inception, it's the new record, LP3, that's the most honest portrait of who Hippo Campus is. It's also a study in the nuances of growing up - coming to terms with mortality, the confusing journey of sexuality, bottoming out, seeing decisions from the night before in the harsh morning light; finding your identity as a person and as an artist -- how that can be a collision of elation and shame, painful and joyful all at once. LP3 marks a sort of ego death - and ultimately feeling okay with that. [Indie store exclusive translucent purple swirl vinyl.]

Hollis Brown – In The Aftermath CD (Mascot Label Group)

Hollis Brown's latest album, In The Aftermath, is the deliciously depraved outcome of an all-night rock 'n' roll riot. The Queens, New York-based quintet escaped to the Poconos to record with a few handles of whiskey, and, in one 24-hour session, ran down the Stone's seminal first album of all originals, 1966's Aftermath. Tracked live in the studio with minimal overdubs, In The Aftermath is potent proof the five-piece group is one of the last great American rock 'n' roll bands. The album is the second in a casual homage series. Previously, Hollis Brown issued, Gets Loaded, saluting Velvet Underground's Loaded. This new album directly follows the band's most successful release yet, 2019's Ozone Park, which earned rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Billboard, Paste Magazine, Pop Matters, Relix, and Goldmine.

Mason Jennings – Real Heart LP (Loosegroove Inc.)

New release produced by Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam. "I'm very excited to be working with Loosegroove Records and to have had Regan Hagar and Stone Gossard produce this album. We made the unabashed folk record that I have been wanting to make for years. Kind of a love letter to the acoustic guitar and to musical intimacy. It was recorded in Minnesota and Seattle and features some rich and wonderful instrumentation including horns and strings. The cover art is a woven wall hanging that my wife Josie made that is hanging on our lake house wall. That sets the tone: warmth, home, and intimacy. Hope you enjoy!" – Mason Jennings

Korn – Requiem CD/LP/cassette (Loma Vista)

Korn follows-up their critically acclaimed 2019 release, The Nothing, with fourteenth album Requiem. Because of Covid and the inability to play live shows for the first time in the band's illustrious career, Requiem was conceived out of very different circumstances than the majority of the band's catalogue. It is an album born of time and the ability to create without pressure. Energized by a new creative process free of time constraints, the band was able to do things with Requiem that the past two decades haven't always afforded them, such as taking additional time to experiment together or diligently recording to analog tape – processes which unearthed newfound sonic dimension and texture in their music. [Three indie store exclusive versions are available: A CD featuring a patch; a clear vinyl pressing; and a cassette version.]

Lady Gaga – Dawn Of Chromatica LP (Interscope)

Limited clear vinyl pressing. A reinvention of Lady Gaga's album Chromatica, Dawn Of Chromatica is executive produced by BloodPop® and features new collaborations and remixes of the original album from Ashnikko, Bree Runway, Charli XCX, Chester Lockhart, Clarence Clarity, Coucou Chloe, Doss, Jimmy Edgar, Lil Texas, LSDXOXO, Mood Killer, Mura Masa, Planningtorock, and Shygirl. Many of the collaborative artists were sourced by publicly asking fans who they would like to see on this project.

Cate Le Bon – Pompeii CD/LP (Mexican Summer)

Pompeii, Cate Le Bon's sixth full-length studio album and the follow up to 2019's Mercury-nominated Reward, bears a storied title summoning apocalypse, but the metaphor eclipses any “dissection of immediacy,” says Le Bon. Sonically minimal in parts, it's lyrics jog between self-reflection and direct address. Written primarily on bass and composed entirely alone in an “uninterrupted vacuum,” Le Bon plays every instrument (except drums and saxophones) and recorded the album largely by herself with long-term collaborator and co-producer Samur Khouja in Cardiff, Wales To leverage visionary control, Le Bon invented twisted types of discipline into her absurdist decision making.

Raul Malo - Quarantunes Vol. 1 3xLP (Mono Mundo)

From the home studio of Mavericks frontman Raul Malo, comes the long-awaited pressing of his signature Quarantunes series on stunning colored vinyl. This special triple disc LP features the 30 recordings that entertained millions around the globe in the darkest days of the pandemic, plus bonus track ‘To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before’ duet with the legendary Jamey Johnson. This beautiful edition is limited to only 500 autographed copies (only 200 available at indie retail!), on Mono Mundo Recordings.

Mitski – Laurel Hell CD/LP+MP3/cassette (Dead Oceans)

With Laurel Hell, Mitski cements her reputation as an artist in possession of such power - capable of using her talent to perform the alchemy that turns our most savage and alienated experiences into the very elixir that cures them. [Limited-edition opaque red vinyl. All formats available in the shop and in the Grimey's webstore.]

Night Crickets – A Free Society CD (Omnivore)

Debut release from David J (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets), Victor DeLorenzo (Violent Femmes) and multi-instrumentalist Darwin Meiners. Iconic and foundational bands in the history of alternative music certainly include Bauhaus, Love And Rockets, and Violent Femmes. San Francisco born artist Darwin Meiners was a fan of all three. A chance meeting 13 years ago with David J (Bauhaus, Love And Rockets) grew into a friendship, and Darwin not only became a bandmate, but David J's manager. After reaching out to Victor DeLorenzo through e-mail, Darwin met the Violent Femmes drummer after the Femmes' Coachella set in 2013. Soon after the three collaborated on Darwin's 2014 release Souvenir.

Partner Look – By The Book LP (Trouble In Mind)

Partners, sisters and friends. Partner Look is a Melbourne-based band made up of German sisters Ambrin (Cool Sounds) and Anila Hasnain (Studio Magic), who are joined by their partners Dainis Lacey (Cool Sounds) and Lachlan Denton (The Ocean Party). The members also share a history of friendship and musical bonds. By The Book - the band's debut – is a twelve-track charmer that swoons and smirks with a scrappy, yet sophisticated take on sparkling indie pop. [Limited-edition baby blue vinyl.]

Poppy – Flux LP (Sumerian)

Release last September on CD – now available on indie store exclusive clear w/ blue & black. Flux marks yet another artistic leap for the ever-evolving musician, featuring a stream-lined songwriting approach that puts her indelible earworm melodies at the foreground of a kaleidoscopic mosaic of overdriven guitars. Flux was produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (M83, Air, St. Vincent), who had Poppy and her band record live to tape, resulting in an organic feel that lends a decidedly personal touch to the new set of material.

Erin Rae – Lighten Up CD/LP (Good Memory)

Produced by Jonathan Wilson (Dawes, Father John Misty, Conor Oberst), Erin Rae's highly anticipated album Lighten Up is a timeless amalgam of classic pop, cosmic country and indie rock, recorded in 2021 in California's Topanga Canyon. Three years have passed since the release of her critically acclaimed debut Putting On Airs, which drew high praise from publications from Rolling Stone to NPR Music. She mostly spent her time on the road, performing at Newport Folk and Red Rocks, sharing stages with Iron & Wine, Jason Isbell, Jenny Lewis, Hiss Golden Messenger and Father John Misty, before her touring came to a sharp halt at the start of the pandemic. The solitude of the road and then the pandemic created space for Rae to undergo a sonic and philosophical shift where she found personal catharsis in creating an album that reflected on her newfound lessons of self-acceptance, alongside finding the confidence to offer social commentary on the environment, gender identity and equality. [All vinyl and CD copies at Grimey’s are signed by Erin! Available in the shop or in the Grimey’s webstore.]

The Rave-Ups – Tomorrow CD (Omnivore)

The Rave-Ups return with first new album since 1990. The band’s three previous albums—1985’s independently released Town + Country, along with 1987’s The Book Of Your Regrets and 1990’s Chance—established the group as one of the pioneers of the cowpunk genre that eventually transformed into Americana, following in the footsteps of L.A.-bred country-rock groups from The Flying Burrito Brothers and The Byrds through contemporaries like X, The Blasters, and Rank + File.

Saxon – Carpe Diem CD/LP (Militia Guard Music)

New album from the seminal British heavy metal band.

Third Eye Blind – Our Bande Apart LP (MRI Associated)

Released last September on CD – now available on blue color vinyl. Third Eye Blind follow-up 2019's Screamer with their seventh studio album, Our Bande Apart. Written and recorded in the last days of the lockdown, lead single “Box Of Bones” concerns itself with the ambivalence and stakes of relationships under pressure. It was the first recording session for the band since before lockdown, and one can hear their exuberance of playing together in the same room again.

Venom Prison – Erebos CD/LP (Century Media)

Led by the unique lyrical and vocal talents of Larissa Stupar, Venom Prison's rise to prominence has been swift and exhilarating. Both 2016 debut album Animus and its 2019 follow-up Samsara received widespread praise from media and fans alike, while the band's ferocious live shows notched up acres of wide-eyed acclaim. Venom Prison's third full-length, Erebos, is a giant leap forward and deafening confirmation that they are the real, ground-breaking deal. A thrilling explosion of artful savagery, warped melodies and tumultuous atmospherics, Erebos is a powerful, defining statement from one of the most exciting bands of the modern era. [Indie store exclusive ivory color vinyl.]

Wild Rivers – Sidelines CD/LP (Nettwerk)

Indie trio Wild Rivers (Khalid Yassein, Devan Glover, and Andrew Oliver) has a gift for penning introspective lyrics and genre-fluid melodies that transmit wisdom beyond their years. Their anticipated full-length album, Sidelines - co-produced by Peter Katis (The National, Interpol, Sharon van Etten) and Wild Rivers and recorded in Connecticut, Los Angeles and Khalid and Devan's college town of Kingston, Ontario (where the two originally met and began making music together) - touches on coming-of-age themes and embracing the unknown. [Limited-edition bone color vinyl.]

Yeule – Glitch Princess CD/LP (Bayonet)

Glitch Princess opens a channel to the in-between spaces: error messages and broken computer code where soothing un-melodies rest comfortably among the jagged edges of feedback loops. Video game scores, experimental shoegaze sounds, and ethereal whispers come together to build an underworld with the occasional erratic dance beat to guide users deeper into the fever dream. Yeule invites us to transcend into a post-human world where expression is no longer bound by identity, but rather we are free to assemble ourselves along lines of affinity. [Limited-edition ‘antifreeze green’ color vinyl.]

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

Ryan Adams – Big Colors LP+7” (Pax Americana)

Released last summer on CD – a limited-edition 180gm red color vinyl pressing + bonus 7" single is now available. "Big Colors is the soundtrack to a movie from 1984 that exists only in my soul. It's a cliché inside a watercolor painting of neon blue smoke rising off summer streets in the night. It's the most New York California album I could cut loose from my musical soul, and for me as both a guitar player and songwriter, this is the zenith point dream time. While I won't be able to match this album for its depth and broad color forms in the future, this is the sound of my soul and a door to a place I'll be returning to again. The treasures in our past are the shamanic visions of the future when the destination is dream zone 3000. This is that. I'm only dreaming in Big Colors now." – Ryan Adams

Benighted – Carnivore Sublime [Reissue/2014] CD+DVD (Season Of Mist)

Benighted’s 2014 album is Carnivore Sublime is a blistering display of modern extreme death metal, With a relentless vocal onslaught, bulldozer-heavy riffs that swarm the listener, and close-to-inhuman drumming, the album beats you into submission over its 15-tracks. [Vinyl edition due March 4.]

Ceptic Frog – Ceptic Frog LP (Lion Productions)

Ultra-rare rehearsal sessions from 1969 by this South African heavy psych/acid rock band, mastered from a tape transfer - and yet still doom-laden, dark, heavy, and as messy as can be, in all the right ways. Influences from heavy bands of the time, such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Steppenwolf are noticeable, with proto-doom and psych/funk undercurrents.

Natalie Cole – Unforgettable… With Love [30th Anniversary Edition] CD (Craft Recordings)

Digitally remastered edition including two bonus tracks. Unforgettable... With Love was legendary singer and songwriter Natalie Cole's biggest selling album. Since its initial release in 1991, it has sold over seven million copies and won Cole seven Grammy Awards. The album's title track, an interactive duet with her father, would go on to be one of her most memorable recordings. [Vinyl edition due March 25.]

Joe Ely – Silver City CD (Rack’em)

Joe Ely celebrates the release of his book Bonfire Of Roadmap with the release of Silver City which contains some of Joe's earliest songs.

The Flamingos – Flamingo Serenade LP (Real Gone Music)

Limited powder blue color vinyl to match the tuxedos the group is wearing on the front cover. This 1959 album doesn't just include the greatest doo wop single of all time, “I Only Have Eyes For You”; it also stakes a fair claim to being the greatest doo wop album of all time.

The Goo Goo Dolls – Greatest Hits Volume One, The Singles [Reissue/2007] LP (WB)

This 2007 collection includes 12 of the band’s 13 Top 10 Hot AC/Adult Top 40 hits, including "Before It's Too Late" from the Transformers soundtrack.

Harms Way – Isolation – Redux 2xLP (Closed Casket Activities)

Double color vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Disc One features a remaster of Isolation (2011) by Colin Jordan while Disc Two features select tracks remixed and reimagined by Justin Broadrick (Godflesh, Jesu, JK Flesh), Andrew Nolan (Intensive Care, The Endless Blockade), Dylan Walker (Full of Hell, Sore Dream) and Petbrick (Igor Cavalera and Wayne Adams).

High On Fire – De Vermis Mysteriis [Reissue/2012] 2xLP (MNRK)

180gm ‘black ice’ double vinyl reissue of HOF's sixth studio album. The album's title (translation: "The Mysteries of The Worm,") is a nod to a fictional grimoire conceived by the late, great Psycho author Robert Bloch in 1935 and later incorporated into horror master H.P. Lovecraft's renowned Cthulu Mythos.

Don Julian And The Larks – Super Slick [Reissue/1974] LP (Real Gone Music)

Limited blue color vinyl pressing of one of the holy grails of ‘70s funk/soul.

Kool And The Gang – Kook And The Gang [Reissue/1970] LP (Real Gone Music)

Limited purple color vinyl pressing. The 1970 debut album from Kool and the Gang scored a couple of hits with “The Gangs Back Again” and the title cut, but more importantly, it heralded the arrival of what was to become a juggernaut on the R&B scene. This all-instrumental record is years away from the commercial successes of “Jungle Boogie” and “Celebration”, and a few light years away stylistically, too. Their unique mixture of jazz, funk, and R&B punctuated by those tremendous horn arrangements (and some great drum breaks) debuted at full force.

Curtis Mayfield – The Very Best Of Curtis Mayfield LP (Rhino)

Vinyl pressing of this collection from the soul/R&B legend.

Prince – For You [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Prince [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince & The Revolution – Around The World In A Day [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Dirty Mind [Reissue/1980] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Controversy [Reissue/1981] CD/LP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – 1999 [Reissue/1982] CD/2xLP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Sign O The Times [Reissue/1987] 2xCD/2xLP (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Lovesexy [Reissue/1988] CD (Sony Legacy)
Prince – The Hits 1 [Reissue/1993] CD (Sony Legacy)
Prince – The Hits 2 [Reissue/1993] CD (Sony Legacy)
Prince – Come [Reissue/1994] CD (Sony Legacy)
Prince – The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale [Reissue/1999] CD (Sony Legacy)

CD and vinyl reissues of a wealth of classic albums by the R&B, funk, soul, and rock icon.

Lonnie Liston Smith And The Cosmic Echoes ‎– Astral Traveling [Reissue/1973] LP (Real Gone Music)
Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes ‎– Cosmic Funk[Reissue/1974] LP (Real Gone Music)

Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes' groundbreaking albums for the Flying Dutchman label don't get the attention from jazz fans that they should. In fact, among the many distinguished alumni of Miles Davis' fusion bands, keyboardist Smith and his cohorts arguably ran with Davis' stylistic breakthrough the farthest. In five albums stretching over four years, Smith and the Cosmic Echoes stretched the fusion aesthetic to embrace post-bop modal and spiritual jazz, funk, rock, pop, and even the smooth jazz, quiet storm, and crossover genres. And if those latter styles raise your traditionalist hackles, Smith imbued all of his records with integrity, vision, and his unique spacy sensibility; instead of playing it safe or commercial, he fearlessly paved a path for modern jazz musicians to follow (Kamasi Washington, for one, no doubt listened to these records at length).

Stanley Turrentine – Rough & Tumble [Reissue/1966] LP (Blue Note)

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Stanley Turrentine's 1966 soul jazz classic finds a deep, bluesy groove that doesn't let up from start to finish. Joining him are trumpeter Blue Mitchell, baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams, alto saxophonist James Spaulding, and drummer Mickey Roker. Highlights include soulful covers of Ray Charles' "What Could I Do Without You," and "Feeling Good", which Nina Simone recorded the year before. This reissue is part of Blue Note’s Tone Poet Series features all-analog, remastered sound.

Various Artists – The French Dispatch Original Soundtrack 2xLP (Abkco)

Double-vinyl edition. The Franco-centric original soundtrack to Wes Anderson's latest film The French Dispatch features an original score by Oscar-winner Alexandre Desplat and music by Georges Delerue, Grace Jones, Charles Aznavour, and more. The original soundtrack also includes a new version of the French pop hit “Aline”, originally performed by Christophe, recorded by Jarvis Cocker.

Vory – Vory [2020] 2xLP (DreamChasers)

Limited double black and yellow color vinyl pressing. With Meek Mill and the DreamChasers team backing him, Vory released his self-titled album in winter 2020. Boasting features from Meek, Landstrip Chip, BEAM and others, the 15-track body of work showcases his relatable lyrics and his genre-bending versatility.