New Releases - 8/31/18
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New Releases Reissues and From the Vaults Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections and so forth
Interpol follow-up 2014's El Pintor with their sixth studio album, Marauder. For the first time since 2007's Our Love To Admire, the band has opened themselves up to the input of a producer. For two-week spells between December of 2017 to April of 2018, they traveled to upstate New York to work with Dave Fridmann - famed for recording with Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, MGMT, Spoon, Mogwai, and countless more. In the run up to writing and recording, Sam Fogarino found himself immersed in soul drummers such as Al Jackson Jr. (Otis Redding's drummer) and '80s funk producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. "How can I make sh*t swing?" was the question Sam repeatedly asked himself, and the answer is in the striding gallop of opener "If You Really Love Nothing", the embellished skip 'n' bounce of "Stay In Touch" and the R&B swagger of closer "It Probably Matters". Interpol have always been world-beaters at creating a feeling, but Marauder is where the feel is just as crucial. [Limited deluxe colored vinyl pressing.]
White Denim - Performance CD/LP (City Slang)
White Denim's new album, Performance, was mainly recorded over eight weeks at the band's new downtown Austin, TX studio, Radio Milk. Two new players were key in what James Petralli describes as "a super-collaborative record:" keyboardist Michael Hunter, a "young, humble genius with endless potential" and Conrad Choucroun, a "ridiculously solid" drummer with a long stint with NRBQ on his resume. Categorically speaking, White Denim is still impossible to narrowly pin down. There's the glam-rock strut of "Magazin" and "It Might Get Dark", the dueling guitars on the low-slung blues prog of "Moves On", and the sideways jazz of "Sky Beaming". There are plenty of pleasingly unexpected musical moments on the title track and the easy-rolling closer "Good News", along with some seriously distorted guitar. In many ways, White Denim is the flashing light in a dark and crowded tunnel of showbiz glop. [Limited clear vinyl pressing.]
The Devil Makes Three - Chains Are Broken CD/LP (New West)
The power of words isn't lost on longstanding Americana triumvirate The Devil Makes Three - Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean. For as much as they remain rooted in troubadour traditions of wandering folk, Delta blues, whiskey-soaked ragtime, and reckless rock 'n' roll, the band nods to the revolutionary unrest of author James Baldwin, the no-holds barred disillusionment of Ernest Hemingway, and Southern Gothic malaise of Flannery O'Connor. In that respect, their sixth full-length and first of original material since 2013, Chains Are Broken, resembles a dusty leather-bound book of short stories from some bygone era. As the band began writing ideas for the LP, they veered off the proverbial path creatively. Instead of their typical revolving cast of collaborators, The Devil Makes Three stuck to its signature power trio, with one addition. This time, they invited touring drummer Stefan Amidon to power the bulk of the percussion. Another first, they retreated to Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX a stone's throw from the Mexican border to record with producer Ted Hutt (Dropkick Murphys). [Limited blue and cream colored vinyl LP pressing.]
Murder By Death - The Other Shore CD/LP (Bloodshot)
The Other Shore is the eighth studio album from Louisville, KY-based indie Americana trailblazers Murder By Death. It's an epic space-western about a ravaged earth, it's fleeing populace, and a relationship in jeopardy. Here, the group explores untapped genres, dynamic and emotional touches, intersecting and introspective storylines, and remote edges of the galaxy. As trailblazers of the early 2000s indie-Americana style, Murder By Death finds a way of taking tried & true rock-and-roll and knocking it slightly off axis, into tottering revolutions of something eerie, emotional, immediate, lush, and uniquely theirs.
DeVotchKa - This Night Falls Forever CD/2xLP (Concord)
For more than a decade, Denver, CO four-piece multi-instrumental/vocal ensemble DeVotchKa has melded its influences from Eastern European wedding bands to Norteno ballads into an authentic and totally original blend of popular music. The band's haunting, romantic sound evokes timeless images and has proved particularly attractive to filmmakers, who have used DeVotchKa songs to score countless films and commercials, most famously Little Miss Sunshine, for which they received a Grammy nod. This Night Falls Forever is DeVotchKa's most ambitious album to date with more detailed arrangements and an overall bigger sound. From the record's first notes it's clear that This Night Falls Forever is a heartrending look backwards and forwards at once - the sound of searching within.
Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood - With Animals CD/LP (PIAS America)
Over the last decade, Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood have worked in tangent on 2013's Black Pudding as well as on Lanegan's solo records (Garwood contributed to 2012's Blues Funeral and 2017's Gargoyle after which he toured as part of Lanegan's band). Analogue and dust flecked, With Animals sounds like Lanegan and Garwood have been holed up in a '60s recording studio while the apocalypse rages outside. Tracks sit on loops that sound like they're straight out of There's A Riot Goin' On while sparse melodies nod in the direction of British electronic producers like Burial or Boards Of Canada. Which is not to say it sounds like any of those things - this is a weird world all of their own design. A ghost's whistle weaves itself around a pulsing single note on "Lonesome Infidel"; "Feast To Famine's" hard luck story floats above a guitar part so strung out and washed with distortion it's become barely recognizable. It's soul music for anyone who's long since left the crossroads.
Neil & Liam Finn - Lightsleeper CD/2xLP (PIAS America)
Recorded mainly in Neil Finn's Auckland studio, Lightsleeper bursts with melody and the trademark euphoric flips that are the Finn family trademarks. When Neil's iconic pop sensibility meets Liam's lo-fi atmospherics, it produces a feeling of intimacy and awe that makes it easy to wonder why the dynamic father and son duo haven't written together sooner. The simple Finn family ethos of making music with friends and family continues right through to the personnel recruited for the album. Lightsleeper features the touring band, Sharon Finn (Neil's wife, and Liam's mother) plays bass on two of the songs, Elroy Finn (Liam's brother) plays drums on seven, good friend Connan Mockasin returns for four and the legendary Mick Fleetwood turns up to play on "Anger Plays A Part", "Any Other Way" and "We Know What It Means".
Lucie Silvas - E.G.O. CD/LP (Thirty Tigers)
With a building sheath of synth and down on it groove, Lucie Silvas digs in on "Kite", the reckless kind of women who knows no fear. Pounding, pumping, thumping, this is a dance song about a woman getting gone, an admonition to a lover that shows the New Zealand/United Kingdom-grown songstress isn't afraid to throw down. Not that everything the dusty blond lifts her voice to lands that aggressive. For the irrepressible Silvas who can tempest and coo, it's about hitting the emotions bull's eye that lends an immediacy to the songs on E.G.O, the utterly independent project that follows her critically acclaimed Letters To Ghosts. Lucie Silvas will celebrate the release of E.G.O. with a free, all ages in-store performance at Grimey's this Friday, August 24th, at 5PM.
David Olney - This Side Or The Other CD (Black Hen Music)
"This durable troubadour's troubadour is back with another darkly expressive collection. As always, [David Olney] is a mountain of vocal charisma as well as a stunning song poet." ( Music Row Magazine). With more than 30 years in music, DAVID OLNEY's resume has expanded to include acting, poetry and a popular weekly streamcast called YOU NEVER KNOW. All of this adds to Olney's strength as a songwriter's songwriter (Emmylou Harris, Del McCoury, Linda Ronstadt, Steve Young, Wailin' Jennys, Tim O'Brien and many others), and one of Nashville's founding fathers of Americana music. This new full-length recording was co-produced by Juno award-winning producer/multi-instrumentalist Steve Dawson and features Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Charlie McCoy, The McCrary Sisters, Fats Kaplin, Anne McCue and Olney's regular band: Daniel Seymour, Ward Stout and Justin Amaral. While "This Side or The Other" is not a concept album, there are some recurring themes. The frequent reference to walls and borders in the songs on this new album - walls being built and tumbling down - are bound with a never-ending thread of hope, logic, and patience found in David Olney's extensive body of work.
Ryan Culwell - The Last American CD/LP (Missing Piece)
When Ryan Cullwell released his critically acclaimed 2015 album Flatlands, Rolling Stone hailed it as both "gorgeous and bleak," and the intervening years of the Texas native's life could be described in similarly contradictory terms. Culwell has touched the top and scraped the bottom, known true joy and faced pure sorrow, been blessed with luck and cursed by tough breaks. He welcomed daughters number three and four into the world, only to nearly lose his life working odd jobs just to make ends meet. It's been a beautiful, brutal time for Culwell, one that he's woven into the fabric of his most stunning songs yet with The Last American, his third album. Recorded in his adopted hometown of Nashville, the collection showcases Culwell at his finest, crafting poignant portraits of ordinary folks just trying to get by, men and women doing their best to make it through the day with dignity and self-respect in these trying times.
Candi Staton - Unstoppable CD/LP (Thirty Tigers)
Unstoppable is both a celebration of Staton's legacy and a bold step forward, with a sound that's funky and contemporary, but still steeped in the Southern soul and blues of her Alabama roots. Featuring an ace rhythm section made up of Staton's sons, bassist Marcel Williams and drummer Marcus Williams (Isaac Hayes, Pointer Sisters), the album reunites the singer with producer Mark Nevers (Lambchop), who helmed His Hands (2006) and Who's Hurting Now (2009), the critically acclaimed albums for London label Honest Jon's that reestablished Staton as a force to be reckoned with. But where those albums showcased Staton's skills as an interpreter of bluesy ballads, Unstoppable which Marcus Williams co-produced with Nevers is a more celebratory, uptempo set. 'It's my kind of music,' she says proudly. 'It's more of a happy record, a dancing record.'
Blood Orange - Negro Swan CD (Domino)
Producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and vocalist Devonte Hynes returns with his fourth album as Blood Orange, Negro Swan. "My newest album is an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color. A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all. The underlying thread through each piece on the album is the idea of Hope, and the lights we can try to turn on within ourselves with a hopefully positive outcome of helping others out of their darkness." [Vinyl edition due October 5.] Joey Dosik - Inside Voice CD/LP+MP3 (Secretly Canadian) Joey Dosik honed his craft as part of a burgeoning Los Angeles, CA scene that reinvents classic popular music to thrive in the present tense. With Inside Voice, Dosik delivers a level of depth rarely achieved in a debut, and the result is an instant classic by any standard. It's brimming with emotions that linger and hum. It's catchy as hell and can haunt you for days. [Limited white colored vinyl pressing.]
Steady Holiday - Nobody's Watching CD/LP (Barsuk)
Steady Holiday is an appropriate name for an artist whose music feels like the soundtrack to your fondest memory. Or your deepest heartbreak. Or the dream sequence from a David Lynch film. There's a nostalgia present in Dre Babinski's songwriting that leaves you longing for the familiarity of a bygone era - just not one you can necessarily pin down. Establishing a sound defined by her featherlight voice floating above sweeping strings, her 2016 debut Under The Influence led to opening for artists like Mitski, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Whereas the first record took us on a trip through the deeply personal, Dre's sophomore album Nobody's Watching zooms way out. From the sunny and observant to the dark and critical, the tone ranges from levity to paranoia through layers of analog synths and chilling strings played by Dre herself.
Justice -Woman Worldwide 2xCD/3xLP+2xCD (Caroline)
A new live studio recording of Justice's 2016 album Woman along with stand-out tracks from their 10-year career.
Bassnectar - Reflective (Part 3) CD (Amorphous)
The next chapter in the Reflective Series - sonic co-creations born from the exchange of ideas and inspirations, and an exploration of the interplay and ricochet that ensues. Each track has a rich story of collaboration, as ideas bounce back and forth to form these customized versions, remixes, edits, and re-imaginations.
Ólafur Arnalds - re:member CD/LP (Mercury)
"This is my breaking out-of-a-shell album," explains Icelandic BAFTA-winning artist, composer, musician and producer Ólafur Arnalds about his newest recording re:member. "It's me taking the raw influences that I have from all these different musical genres and not filtering them. It explores the creative process and how one can manipulate that to get out of the circle of expectations and habit."
Arianna Neikrug - Changes CD (Concord Jazz)
New album from the 2015 Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition winner. Produced by the Grammy-winning pianist and arranger Laurence Hobgood, Changes displays Neikrug's gift for interpreting tunes from the Great American Songbook and more recent pop and R&B classics from the '70s.
Rubblebucket - Sun Machine CD/LP (Grand Jury)
Co-produced by Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth, Sun Machine documents the pain of ending their romantic relationship yet emerges as an unbridled and often-euphoric celebration of their lasting connection. While the breakup inspired much of the record, Sun Machine is deeply informed by several other life-changing occurrences in recent years: Kalmia's diagnosis with ovarian cancer in 2013, Alex's decision to get sober after a long struggle with alcoholism, and the couple's three-year-long attempt at maintaining an open relationship. The result is a strange and beautiful paradox: a party album rooted in radical mindfulness, a breakup record imbued with each partner's palpable love for the other. With its airy melodies and lavish textures, dream-logic sensibilities and dancey rhythms, Sun Machine radiates the bright and joyful energy encapsulated in its title and finds Kalmia and Alex tapping into their creative instincts more freely and directly than ever before. Throughout the record, they adorn their exploration of love and sexuality and grief and healing with bursts of collage-like experimentation.
Nothing - Dance On The Blacktop CD/LP (Relapse)
Nothing's third full-length recording, Dance On The Blacktop, is the next chapter in the band's tumultuous story and like its predecessors, pulls from all corners of life with a focus on the bleak and despairing. Captured by renowned producer John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile) at Dreamland Studio in Woodstock, NY, Dance On The Blacktop is a stirring collection of songs accentuating the band's love for all sounds '90s from both sides of the pond; from alternative rock and shoegaze to the realms of pop and post-punk. Across the course of 45 minutes, Nothing weave together nine tales of heightened confusion, anxiety, paranoia, depression and chronic pain juxtaposed against angelic yet apocalyptic, reverberating walls of shimmering sound. Dance On The Blacktop is a fervent, emotional tour-de-force, the sound of a band at the peak of their individuality. [Limited white colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Impala - In The Late Hours CD/LP (Electraphonic)
Ten intoxicating guitar- and sax-driven instrumentals, born out of that golden era of Memphis music when rockabilly, rhythm and blues, jazz, garage and soul music collided.
The Frights - Hypochondriac CD/LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
The third full-length effort from San Diego, CA band is full of addictively catchy songs about fear and frustration. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Alice In Chains - Rainier Fog CD/2xLP+MP3 (BMG)
Rainier Fog marks a few firsts for Alice In Chains. Not only is it their first album in five years but it also found the band recording in their hometown of Seattle for the first time in more than 20 years (reflected in its title). Rainier Fog was recorded at Studio X, the same facility where they tracked their 1995 self-titled LP (back when the studio was known as Bad Animals). The Rainier Fog recording process also saw the band spend time at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles and at the Nashville studio of producer Nick Raskulinecz. It is the third straight Alice In Chains album recorded with Raskulinecz and engineer Paul Figueroa and was mixed by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool). Rainier Fog follows 2013's Grammy nominated The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and is introduced by the grinding singles "The One You Know" and follow-up "So Far Under".
Third Eye Blind - Thanks For Everything CD (Mega Collider)
New seven-track covers EP featuring songs originally by Tim Buckley, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bon Iver, Santigold, Chastity Belt, Happy Diving and Babyshambles. [Vinyl edition due September 7.]
Plain White T's - Parallel Universe CD/2xLP (Fearless)
Since emerging in 1997, multi-platinum Chicago quintet Plain White T's has amassed an enduring, engaging, and enigmatic catalog, spanning two gold-certified offerings All That We Needed (2005) and Every Second Counts (2006) and unshakable anthems such as the double-platinum "1,2,3,4" and platinum "Rhythm Of Love". Among the discography, "Hey There Delilah" went quadruple-platinum, topped the Billboard Hot 100, and earned a pair of 2008 Grammy Award nominations. After a whirlwind tour cycle supporting 2015's American Nights, the band hunkered down and began writing for would eventually comprise Parallel Universe. The band's endlessly hummable signature melodies still shine at the center of this galaxy, but their Universe morphed into an otherworldly atmosphere of ethereal electronic pop strengthened by lush guitar tones and synth transmissions.
Territories - Territories CD/LP+MP3 (Pirates Press)
New album from the Calgary, Alberta punk band featuring former members of Knucklehead. "Canadians bands are often the brunt of musical jokes thanks to the likes of Nickelback, Justin Bieber, and Avril Lavigne. But seemingly forgotten by the world, Canada has a lot of amazing artists that deserve to be recognized. Today I would like to draw your attention to one punk band in particular: Territories. Coming at you from Calgary Alberta, Territories are made up of four dudes who know what a solid punk sound is. And in true punk fashion, the entire album is about 30 minutes long." - The Punk Lounge [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Barstool Preachers - Grazie Governo CD/LP (Pirates Press)
Grazie Governo (Thank You Government) is the album that everyone angry and frustrated with the current political situation has been waiting for. The intelligent and passionate lyrics are backed by the unique, catchy, and creative songwriting that this band is becoming known for. It truly exemplifies the band's incredible talents and creativity, and the energy and commitment that these UK upstarts are turning so many heads with. While drawing from influences spanning traditional ska, dub and reggae to harder in-your-face ska-punk, this battery of tunes never loses its focus, nor the bands unique sense of composure and approach. The message is clear and mature, timeless and 100% on-point; and the music will have everyone dancing & singing along.
The Amity Affliction - Misery CD/LP+MP3 (Roadrunner)
For a decade and a half now Australian metalcore act The Amity Affliction has used music to entertain while simultaneously confronting the very darkest edges of existence. Their early records instantly established the group's twisted sound, all revved-up rhythms, soaring melodies, and full-bore vocals coming together to fashion something provocative and distinct. Following up 2016's This Could Be Heartbreak, Misery is the group's Matt Squire-produced sixth studio album overall and marks a mild departure from their previous efforts as heard on electrifying lead single "Ivy (Doomsday)".
Ancestors - Suspended In Reflections CD/LP (Pelagic)
Los Angeles' Ancestors create mighty, modern music that dovetails slow, heavy riffs and atmospheric, melodic instrumental passages, exuding a deep sense of melancholy.
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Kaya 40 2xCD/2xLP (Tuff Gong)
2018 marks the 40th Anniversary of Bob Marley & The Wailers' Kaya. Recorded in part during Marley's and the band's 1977 exile in London, Kaya is very much the sibling record to Exodus. Fittingly, as Ziggy Marley revisited the original session recordings for last year's Exodus 40 celebration, this year sibling Stephen Marley revisits the original session recordings to commemorate Kaya bringing a fresh perspective to this suite that's quietly referred to as the 'Peace Treaty' album.
Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections...
Various Artists - For Discos Only: Indie Dance Music From Fantasy & Vanguard Records (1976-1981) 3xCD/5xLP (Craft Recordings)
A comprehensive collection of the music that lit up a thousand dance floors in the mid '70s and early '80s, inspiring a revolution in the music world. For Discos Only pulls killer tracks from respected and influential independent record labels on opposite coasts - San Francisco's Fantasy Records and New York City's Vanguard Records - and is a veritable must-have for fans of the pioneering movement from which emerged the birth of the 'remix,' an innovative musical practice that prefigured house, techno and hip-hop.
Various Artists - High Times Presents: Smoke Signals Music From The Mother Plant-Volume 1 CD/LP (Palm Oaks Entertainment)
Cannabis culture gone mainstream with this collection of deep cuts from participating artists, with tracks from Snoop Dogg, Action Bronson, Ziggy Marley, Caligula and others.
New On Vinyl...
Sleep - Leagues Beneath 12" (Third Man Records)
On May 23rd the California stoner rock band surprised its legions of freshly-emerged-from-hibernation fans for the second time this year, following the April release of The Sciences, with a nearly 17 minute single of bonus, deep sea sludge as part of Adult Swim's ongoing Singles Program. The song is a testament to what has made The Sciences such a success: bottomless tone, spacetime-melting riffs and a unparalleled aural experience from start to finish. "Leagues Beneath," available now on black vinyl, featuring the full 17-minute hadal plunge on the A-side, with a tentacled aquanaut nightmare etching on the B-side. Grimey's was lucky enough to be included in stocking a select number of the very limited aquamarine special edition (also featuring B-side etching). The limited special edition is first-come, first-served, no holds or mail orders. We open at 10am on Friday.
Billy Gibbons - "Rollin' And Tumblin'" / "Hot Rod" 7" Single (Concord Records)
In advance the new full length record from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, this inexpensive 7" single features an album track as well as an unreleased, exclusive b-side. The single also includes a coupon good for $2.00 off purchase of The Big Bad Blues, due out September, 21st on CD, standard black vinyl and limited edition, red colored vinyl.
Mac DeMarco - 2 Demos LP (Captured Tracks)
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days Demos LP (Captured Tracks)
Two collections of demos on colored vinyl offer a rare insight into Mac's world and process.
Jeff Buckley - Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk [Reissue/1998] 3xLP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Buckley was dissatisfied with material recorded in the summer of 1996 and early in 1997 and continued working on demo recordings to refine his sound. The album was to be titled My Sweetheart, The Drunk, but was never finished, as the rest of the band were traveling to meet Buckley at the time of his death on May 29th, 1997. It was posthumously released as Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk - a collection of polished studio tracks and four-track demos.
Pedro The Lion - Control [Reissue/2002] LP+MP3 (Epitaph)
Vinyl reissue of Pedro The Lion's third full-length album. Anchored by trademark rolling, indelible hooks and Dave Bazan's vocals, which swing from sweet indictments to mournful mocking, Pedro The Lion digs deep here to examine the vast disparity between the "haves" and the "have-nots." In early 2006, Bazan retired the Pedro the Lion moniker to continue on with solo work under his own name. [Limited yellow colored vinyl pressing.]
Chromeo - Head Over Heels 2xLP+MP3 (Atlantic)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Chromeo is an electro-funk duo from Montreal, Quebec. Formed in 2002 by childhood friends Dave 1 and P-Thugg, the widely-renowned Funklordz grooved their way to fame after the release of their sophomore album Fancy Footwork, which was nominated for a JUNO in 2008. A decade later, the inseparable drops their fifth record, Head Over Heels. "It's our most collaborative and funk-centric album to date," explains Dave 1, born David Macklovitch, the singer and guitarist of the group. "It has the most muscular, concept-driven songwriting. At the same time, we hear other voices and other musicians. In a way, it's doubling down on the funk thing but also expanding the collaboration thing." The album's collaborators include an eclectic mix of modern-day pop artists as well as some admired stars from the era of 1970s funk, including: Jesse Johnson, guitarist of The Time, as well as Pino Palladino, who has offered bass duties for artists such as D'Angelo, John Mayer, Elton John, and the Who. Modern day stars who appear on the album include D.R.A.M., French Montana, and the-Dream.
Yungblud - 21st Century Liability LP (Geffen)
Recent released on CD - now available on vinyl. Frenetic debut album from English artist aka Dominic Harrison, inspired by pop, punk, hip-hop & garage.
Michael Jackson - Off The Wall [Reissue/1979] LP (Sony)
Michael Jackson - Bad [Reissue/1987] LP (Sony)
Michael Jackson - Dangerous [Reissue/1991] 2xLP (Sony)
Michael Jackson - HIStory: Continues 2xLP (Sony)
Michael Jackson - Invincible [Reissue/2001] 2xLP (Sony)
Limited picture disc vinyl LP pressings.
Notorious B.I.G. - Greatest Hits [Reissue/2007] 2xLP (Bad Boy)
Mighty 17-track anthology from 2007 includes team-ups with Eminem, Snoop Dogg, R Kelly, Faith Evans & Mary J. Blige, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and others.
Too Short - Shorty The Pimp [Reissue/1992] LP (Get On Down)
Too $hort's legendary 1992 effort Shorty The Pimp is back in effect on vinyl thanks to the hip-hop preservationist at Get On Down. Though many don't consider this to be one of Too $hort's strongest releases, the project did move well over 80,000 in its first week of release landing at Number 6 on the Billboard Top 200. Taking the title from the incredibly rare 1973 blaxploitation film, Too $hort does what he does best on Shorty The Pimp: funk beats, boastful braggadocio, a few conscious rhymes and layers of straight up pimp talk.
Wolfhounds - Hands In The Till: The Complete John Peel Sessions LP (Slumberland)
At the peak of media attention over the NME's C86 cassette, The Wolfhounds recorded three four-song sessions for the BBC's legendary John Peel Show between March 1986 and January 1987, capturing all the excitement and youthful exuberance of a band just catching the public imagination. With an energy born of sweaty, rammed gigs in London pubs and a willful experimentation nurtured in suburban bedrooms and garages away from watchful eyes, The Wolfhounds blasted their raw live sound straight to tape with little in the way of overdubs or the more considered studio polish of their excellent albums.
Le Shok - We Are Electrocution [Reissue/1999] CD/LP (Burger)
Le Shok is a new wave inspired garage punk band from Long Beach, CA. Originally formed in 1997 as a reaction to the sad and pathetic state of '90s punk, at a time when the majority of the band worked at the legendary Zed Records shop. With influences such as The Fall, Germs, and The Screamers, the group made their mark with a slew of outrageously wild live shows and a snotty, yet highly infectious lo-fi sound.
The Gist - Holding Pattern LP (Tiny Global Productions)
LP version. As Young Marble Giants imploded, Stuart Moxham started The Gist, a group more theoretical than real. Members included Vivien Goldman, members of This Heat, Swell Maps, Essential Logic, and various Cardiff pals. The Gist was an attempt to create another sonic world, influenced by travel, Eno, and dub. It was perplexing, and years passed before its originality was revered, via a lengthy Mojo piece, and reissues on Rykodisc, Cherry Red, and 1974 Records. The confidence of these tracks is bolstered by a closer adherence to pop song structure, despite the relentless sense of experimentation found in nearly every track.
Jack Rose - Luck In The Valley [Reissue/2010] LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Luck In The Valley is the 10th and final album by Jack Rose and is the yardstick by which many contemporary acoustic guitar albums are measured. The 2018 re-issue makes this contemporary classic available again for the first time since 2010. "Jack Rose, Versatile Master of the Guitar" - The New York Times
Sunny War - With The Sun LP (ORG Music)
Limited red colored vinyl LP pressing. Sunny War is more than just an artist; she is a force of nature that is tough to pin down. What exactly is her style? Blues or punk? Think Robert Johnson crossed with Bad Brains.
Glenn Jones - The Giant Who Ate Himself And Other New Works For 6 & 12 String Guitar LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
His unparalleled skill and creativity exhibit the mastery Jones possesses of his craft, further cementing his position as a pillar in Americasn Primitive guitar music. Recorded in New Jersey by Laura Baird and mixed by Matthew Azevado, The Giant Who Ate Himself And Other New Works For 6 & 12 String Guitar, make for an exceptional evening of listening. "His tunings are counterintuitive and mesmerizing; his use of partial capos and muted strings is novel and intriguing. But to Jones' great credit, those only feel like tools for telling stories." - Pitchfork [Limited frog green colored vinyl pressing.]
Alexander Tucker - Don't Look Away LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Alexander Tucker is a member of Grumbling Fur, his duo with Daniel O'Sullivan and has established his own comic imprint, UNDIMENSIONED. Tucker's music brings a distinct otherworldliness, bringing the listener beyond the confines of the physical world and collages together sound that both brings you outside the atmosphere whilst simultaneously connecting you more closely to the seeds of existence.
Midori Takada and Lafawndah - Le Renard Bleu LP (Midori Takada)
"On her first new release in almost 20 years, Japanese composer Midori Takada joins London-based musician Lafawndah on a short but fascinating multimedia project with mythical overtones." - Pitchfork
Biosphere - Substrata 2LP (Biophon)
2018 repress, gatefold double album featuring the bonus track "Laika" (14:35). Biosphere is widely-regarded as one of the legendary names in ambient/electronic music. Residing in Norway, near the Arctic Circle, he has created a self-contained aural universe, made up of reflective and immersive sound sculptures. 1997's Substrata, which marked Jenssen's embarkation toward an intensely minimal style, is often considered to be Jenssen's best work to date, as well as ranking among all-time classic ambient albums.
Pauline Oliveros - Early Electronic Works 1959-1966 2xLP (Sub Rosa)
A collection of Pauline Oliveros's early material, released as a part of the Sub Rosa's Early Electronic series. Oliveros was an important American composer, born in Houston, Texas on May 30, 1932; the music she produced in the latter part of her life is akin to the breath of life, notably, through her pieces for accordion (particularly those which she herself performed).
Jeff Beck - Wired [Reissue/1976] LP (Friday Music)
Audiophile 180gm translucent vinyl reissue of the third solo album by British guitarist.
The Beat - Here We Go Love! LP (Absolute UK)
Released last May on CD - now available on vinyl. The Beat starring Dave Wakeling return with their first studio album since 1982. 13 vital songs that have their feet in the here and now, but lose none of the fire and frenzy of those timeless immediate classics that made the band's name.
Livy Ekemezie - Friday Night LP (Odion Livingstone)
A reissue of the sought-after Nigerian disco LP rarity Friday Night by Livy Ekemezie, originally released in 1983. "I was just out of senior secondary school and I wanted to make an album," recalls Ekemezie. "I was into disco and funk at the time and I was looking for a bass-driven funky sound. The entire idea was to make an album that sounded like something made in London or the U.S. I tried to sound 'American' but we ended up with something else: a mix of American and Nigerian." The LP has been picked up by many in recent months as the demand for Nigerian disco originals has grown with the track "Delectation" receiving an unofficial edit and DJs like Motor City Ensemble dropping the album into their sets.
Various Artists - Ska & Reggae Classics 2xLP (Trojan)
To mark the 50th anniversary of Trojan Records comes this double-vinyl album comprising 24 of the most celebratory Jamaican music hits from the iconic label's legendary catalogue.
Lee Perry vs Bunny "Striker" Lee - Dub Soundclash LP (Jamaican Recordings)
What two great producers other than Lee Perry and Bunny Lee would be best suited for a Dub Soundclash? Both producers were integral at the birth of dub music and would share many rhythms and sessions -- their musical paths would cross all through their careers. It was in fact Bunny Lee's rhythm that provided the back drop to Lee Perry's "Shocks Of Mighty" cut. Jamaican Recordings have selected some of Lee Perry's rhythms, the first half of this set, against some Bunny Lee rhythm on the second half. You can hear the distinctive sound of Lee Perry's Black Ark studio with his echoplex giving his trademark whirling sound against Bunny Lee's rhythms cut at many different studios.
Barry Brown - Vibes Of Barry Brown [Reissue/1981] LP (Radiation Roots)
Barry Brown is one of the enigmatic roots reggae vocalists that rose up from the sound system circuit and talent shows of western Kingston, which has always formed the bedrock of Jamaican popular music. Horace Andy was an obvious vocal influence, but Brown's phrasing was distinctly different, his slurring interjections leaning towards the dancehall style of the future.
Alborosie - Unbreakable: Alborosie Meets The Wailers United LP (Greensleeves)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Enlisting The Wailers United (former members of Bob Marley and The Wailers with the addition of Aston Barrett Jr.) for instrumental backing, Unbreakable upholds the tradition of roots-rock reggae. While honoring traditional reggae sounds, the inclusion of Alborosie's re-visioning of the Metallica classic "The Unforgiven" featuring Raging Fyah adds an edge to the album that addresses contemporary issues with a thoroughly modern feel.
Various Artists: Fly Rocket Fly: From the Jungle to the Stars LP+CD (Bureau B)
Fly Rocket Fly - Mit Macheten Zu Den Sternen ("To The Stars With Machetes") tells the remarkable story of how a Swabian engineer by the name of Lutz Kayser and a dedicated band of Stuttgart engineers founded the world's first private space exploration enterprise. Fly Rocket Fly is a madcap mix of adventure, political thriller, farce and economic drama -- somewhere between Fitzcarraldo (1982), The Wages of Fear (1953) and Tintin: Explorers On The Moon. The documentary's soundtrack features songs by the likes of ESB, Camera, Conrad Schnitzler, Günter Schickert, Die Wilde Jagd, as well as new productions from film composer Heiko Maile. Also features Solyst, Dennis Young, Rolf Trostel, and Moebius Neumeier Engler.
Capitol K - Goatherder LP (Faith and Industry)
Goatherder is the seventh album from underground London producer Kristian Craig Robinson, AKA Capitol K. This latest work was developed and recorded in his native Malta, where he built a studio in a cave, formerly a goat stable. K gathered bamboo instruments collected around the world, including an ancient Quecha reed-pipe (his new-found lead instrument), and various resonating vessels and percussive objects including dry fennel storks collected from Punic troglodyte sites, and atonal flutes built from fresh cut farmland reed. Ritualistic improvisations took place over a series of seasonal visits, and back in London the tracks were interfaced and expanded with post-industrial machine beat and bass guitar lock down.
Carl Weingarten - Living in the Distant Present LP (Azure Vista Records)
Previously only released on cassette in 1985 on Weingarten's Multiphase Records. The album is a rare treat for fans of guitar-based ambient music, tape loops, and the experimental side of new age music. Slowly shifting synth patterns are blended with Weingarten's signature guitar playing -- a tranquil, stretched-out sound that blurs the lines between played and processed, occasionally sonically closer to violins or flutes than guitars, with a tasteful zen-like quality, timeless and tranquil. Living In The Distant Present bridges the gap between the cosmic krautrock of the 1970s, experimental American new age music from the 1980s, and modern day minimalism such as Windy & Carl and Christopher Willits.
Caterina Barbieri - Born Again in the Voltage LP (Important Records)
Barbieri follows her arpeggio-heavy album Patterns of Consciousness with Born Again In The Voltage is an astonishing collection of electro-acoustic pieces for Buchla 200 system, cello, and voice composed and produced by Caterina Barbieri at Elektronmusikstudion (SE) between 2014 and 2015. Shifting layers of cello abut clear synth tones and waves of distortion, while elsewhere dizzying synth melodies create an exhilarating effect.
Michuru Aoyama - Brilliant Days LP (Mirae Arts)
Michiru Aoyama is Japanese ambient producer from the quiet seaside city of Kamakura, just south of Tokyo. Michiru Aoyama's music was hand-chosen by legendary composer Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2006 for a Japanese radio audition, and he later flew out to Berlin in 2008 to further his studies in electronic music production. Brilliant Days contains two long tracks featuring untitled songs that weave in and out of each other, in which Michiru's signature guitar harmonics are treated with serene electronic filters and grounded with youthful layers of electronic experiments and glitchy backdrops. Instead of telling a story, Brilliant Days leaves the listener to ruminate on their own narrative of nostalgic youth, love, and memories.
Motohiko Hamase - Intaglio LP (Studio Mule)
Studio Mule present a re-recording of Motohiko Hamase's Intaglio, recorded in Japan, 2018. Originally released in 1986. While he started his career in in the jazz world, in the 1980s Hamase began to slowly drift away from jazz and drowned his musical vision in new age, ambient, and experimental electronic spheres in which he incorporated his funky meditative way of playing the bass above airy sounds and arrangements. His first solo album Intaglio is not only a milestone of Japanese new age ambient, it is also a fresh sonic journey in jazz that veers away from the normal understanding of 'jazz.' Hamase drifts around new age worlds with howling wind sounds, gentle bass pickings, and discreet drums that mind remind listeners of the power of Japanese taiko percussions.
Blue Chemise - Daughters of Time LP (Students of Decay)
Blue Chemise documents the hermetic sound world of Australia's Mark Gomes. Daughters Of Time is an elegiac set of vignettes recorded straight to dictaphone with minimal post-production. These pieces function in a manner akin to Loren Connor's evocative "airs", conjuring poignant, intangible senses of longing and nostalgia then disappearing well before overstaying their welcome. Regarding their genesis, Gomes points to a quote from Australian artist Robert Hunter: "It's like I'm external to them. They develop their own assertion and character; their becoming finished is a thing they decide themselves. It's unexplainable."
Daniel Schmidt & the Berkeley Gamelan - In My Arms, Many Flowers LP (Recital)
The first album of American Gamelan composer Daniel Schmidt (b. 1942). Schmidt, who emerged in the Bay Area music scene in the 1970s, wove the threads of traditional Eastern Gamelan music together with American minimalism (repetitive music). The recordings on Flowers date from 1978-1982, including two studio tracks and two live performances. with one track employing an early digital sampler and a string quartet, another featuring a rebab, a traditional bowed instrument, and the last two strictly performed on gamelan. In My Arms, Many Flowers is a unique document from an under-represented movement of American new music, and an account of the curious beauty and woven emotions hidden within resonating pieces of metal.
Ted Dicks - Virgin Witch OST LP (Trunk)
Unreleased baroque jazz horror score to controversial lesbian sex cult witchcraft exploitation drama from 1973, composed by Ted Dicks, the man who wrote the Catweazle theme. While not well-known as a composer these days, back in the mid-1960s Dicks was composing library music as well as penning some of the greatest comedy songs of the era, including "Hole In The Ground" and "Right Said Fred". Virgin Witch was his first brush with film scoring, one of only two he wrote. The racy film was turned down at least once for certification by the British Board of Film Classification, got an X rating for the uncut version in London, and then was cut for a general release. The score itself is a unique and quite beautiful pop baroque work, utilizing the cimbalom, an instrument more than likely played here by Ipcress File (1965) musician John Leach.
Lubos Fiser - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders OST LP (Finders Keepers)
2018 marks ten years since Finders Keepers Records first liberated Lubos Fiser's immaculate soundtrack for Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders from the vaults of the Barrandov Studio in Prague, as the inaugural release of an ongoing discography of previously unreleased scores from the hugely creative "Film Miracle" that occurred during and after the Czech New Wave (CNW). Having grown in status from an obscure and misunderstood socialist-era art house oddity, via the hands of risqué foreign fluff merchants, to finally find its rightful audience as a bona fide surrealist cinematic masterpiece of world class standards, this 1970 film adaptation of Vítezslav Nezval's 1935 avant-garde novella -- a film that literally cross-pollinated Max Ernst's A Week Of Kindness (1934) and Lewis Carol's Alice In Wonderland (1865) -- has garnered widespread critical acclaim.
Soundtrack - 13 Reasons Why Season 2: A Netflix Original Series 2xLP (Interscope) Includes tracks by Selena Gomez, OneRepublic featuring Logic, Billie Eilish featuring Khalid, Yungblud featuring Charlotte Lawrence, Colouring, Lord Huron featuring Phoebe Bridgers, and more.
Soundtrack - Deadpool 2 LP (Sony) This 12-track collection features many recognizable hit songs featured in the film, and original songs "Ashes" by Céline Dion and "Welcome To The Party" by Diplo, French Montana, Lil Pump and Zhavia Ward.
Soundtrack - Mean Girls [Original Broadway Cast Recording] 2xLP+MP3 (Atlantic) Double pink colored vinyl LP pressing of the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Mean Girls which has been nominated for 12 Tony Awards.