New Releases - 4/2/21

Hitting The Racks

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

New Releases

Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms Sessions CD/LP (High Top Mountain)

Sturgill Simpson returns with the next installment of his bluegrass series, Cuttin' Grass Vol. 2: The Cowboy Arms Sessions. The genre-defying singer/songwriter reconvened an A-Team of acoustic players (now dubbed "The Hillbilly Avengers") for another round of reinterpretations of his catalogue, this time largely focusing on 2016's A Sailor's Guide To Earth, which won the Grammy for Country Album of the Year and was nominated for Album of the Year. This volume also includes "Jesus Boogie", originally performed by Simpson's first band, Sunday Valley, and two previously unreleased songs, "Tennessee" and "Hobo Cartoon", the latter of which was co-written with the incomparable Merle Haggard – who once said that Simpson was "about the only thing I've heard that was worth listening to in a long time." [A limited indie store exclusive opaque blue & white swirl vinyl pressing and standard black vinyl are available in the shop only, limit of 2 per customer on the indie exclusive color vinyl.]

Godspeed You! Black Emperor – G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END! LP+10” (Constellation)

The inimitable GYBE returns with another soundtrack for our times. As the heretical anarcho-punk spirit of the title implies, Godspeed harnesses some particularly raw power, spittle and grit across two riveting 20-minute side-length trajectories of noise-drenched widescreen post-rock: inexorable chug blossoms into blown-out twang, as some of the band's most soaring, searing melodies ricochet and converge amidst violin and bassline counterpoint. Field recordings and roiling semi-improvised passages frame these fervent epics, and two shorter self-contained 6-minute pieces find the band at its most devastatingly beautiful, haunting and elegiac. [Vinyl is available in the shop or online.]

Amulets – Blooming LP (The Flenser)

The prolific, Portland-based Randall Taylor is an audio/visual artist best known for his musical project, Amulets. Taylor's work uses analog tape and its imperfections to explore themes like degradation and nostalgia and their relationship to technology and to the self. By constructing and modifying tape loops and repurposing antiquated cassette players, Taylor creates dense, never-ending, looping soundscapes for both his live performances and sculptural sound art installations. Composed in early 2020 with widespread global pandemic and social distancing protocols in effect, Taylor would go on solo daily walks to clear his head and was struck by all of the blooming flowers surrounding him during springtime in Portland. Within that beauty came his realization that nothing lasts forever and that everything is cyclical -- ultimately resulting in themes of growth, decay, melancholy and beauty inherent throughout Blooming.

Michael Beach – Dream Violence LP (Goner)

Dream Violence, Michael Beach's fourth full-length, is an epic album that explores the duality of the human condition. Or, as Beach himself puts it, the album is about "human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration, and the struggle to maintain hope in a somewhat hopeless time." Dream Violence, then, addresses the existential crisis of being an artist in 2020 (and 2021). Known for his work touring with the Australian guitar pop band Thigh Master and the late, brilliantly eccentric Israeli guitarist Charlie Megira, Beach is the architect of a sound that is both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways. [Limited-edition blue/black/silver splatter vinyl.]

Black Twig Pickers – Friend’s Peace LP (VHF)

On their new album Friend’s Peace, Black Twig Pickers continue their charming and original take on old time and Appalachian-inspired string band sounds.

Cha Wa – My People CD/LP (Single Lock)

The future of New Orleans music is Cha Wa, a Mardi Gras Indian funk band that takes the music of the streets into the 21st century [Limited-edition ‘Mardi Gras splatter’ color vinyl.]

Crass – Normal Never Was IV 12” 12” (One Little Independent Records)

As part of their ambitious The Feeding Of The Five Thousand Remix Project, punk pioneers Crass return with another exclusive coloured 12 single featuring remixes by industrialists Test Dept and L.A.-based artist Maral.

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg CD/LP+MP3 (4AD)

Dry Cleaning - the South London indie rock/post-punk group of Nick Buxton (drums), Tom Dowse (guitar), Lewis Maynard (bass) and Florence Shaw (vocals) - release their debut album New Long Leg. The 10-track long-player, which includes "Strong Feelings" and "Scratchcard Lanyard", was recorded over two weeks last summer at Rockfield Studios in rural Wales with producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding). Following on from their thrillingly taut 2019 EPs Boundary Road Snacks And Drinks and Sweet Princess, New Long Leg is more ambitious and complex, with Shaw's spoken vocals tightly intertwined with the band's restless instrumentals. With lyrics preoccupied by themes like dissociation, escapism, daydreaming, complicated feelings of love, anger, revenge, anxiety, the kitchen, lethargy, forgetfulness, and survival, Shaw says, "the title is ambiguous; a new long leg could be an expensive present or a growth or a table repair."

John Dwyer, Ted Byrnes, Brad Caulkins, Greg Coates, Tom Dolas – Endless Garbage LP (Castleface)

“A cacophonous and glorious sketch of ourselves. For fans of Albert Ayler, ECM records, Gong, improvisation, sustainability and consumption.” – John Dwyer

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises CD/LP (Luaka Bop)

British musician/producer Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd), legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra join supreme forces for Promises, an album of nine movements for the ears, heart and soul. The first album Sanders has recorded in over a decade, the simply stunning 46-minute collection floats and melts and is as beautiful as it is mesmerizing.

Flock Of Dimes – Head Of Roses CD (Sub Pop)

On her second full-length record, Head Of Roses, Jenn Wasner follows a winding thread of intuition into the unknown and into healing, led by gut feelings and the near-spiritual experience of visceral songwriting. The result is a combination of Wasner's ability to embrace new levels of vulnerability, honesty and openness, with the self-assuredness that comes with a decade-plus career as a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and prolific collaborator. Showcasing the depth of Wasner's songwriting capabilities and the complexity of her vision, Head Of Roses calls upon her singular ability to create a fully-formed sonic universe via genre-bending amalgamation of songs and her poetic and gut punch lyrics. It's the soundtrack of Wasner letting go – of control, of heartbreak, and of hiding who she is. [Vinyl edition due April 30.]

The Fratellis – Half Drunk Under A Full Moon CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)

“If you thought you knew The Fratellis, think again. Half Drunk Under A Full Moon, the Glasgow band’s sixth album, is a kaleidoscopic delight full of surprises, from its flamboyant title track and lush songs steeped in brass and strings to twists on the stomping sing-alongs with which the trio first found fame. Following the UK Top 5 success of 2018’s critically-lauded In Your Own Sweet Time, which contained the Radio 2 playlisted single “Starcrossed Losers”, The Fratellis began work on its audacious follow-up in buoyant form. Recorded in L.A. with producer and long-time collaborator Tony Hoffer (Beck, Phoenix, Supergrass), Half Drunk Under A Full Moon boasts several firsts for a band that released their landmark debut, Costello Music, back in 2006. It is the first album where backing singers were brought in to bolster the huge choruses, and where the same characters from the last record return to stalk a lot of the lyrics. The most significant change though is in the style of the album, the result of a new approach to writing where the desired sound was decided upon first, which in turn dictated the songs.” – OriginalRock.net

Gazelle Twin & Nyx - Deep England LP (Nyx Collective Records)

Red vinyl version. Rooted in English pagan and sacred music, Deep England is an electronic-choral expansion of Gazelle Twin's 2018 album Pastoral. Here, tracks from Pastoral, an album whose political themes have only intensified since its original release, are radically reworked and presented alongside original compositions by NYX, Paul Giovanni, and William Blake. Originally created for live performance, a "spellbinding febrile techno-pagan pageant," Deep England was transferred to the studio soon after, and the resulting album shows a powerful and often dreamlike Jarman-esque depiction of a country divided by its many selves. "Here lies our ancient future, Deep England: our hope and compassion in the chokehold of power and glory. Hand in hand, here we cry our rage: summoning a lament into the ether, a divine androgynous force, a transcendental purge of the dizzying chaos of post-truth Britain."

Haunted Shed – Faltering Light CD/LP (Strolling Bones)

From start to finish, Haunted Shed's gorgeous debut album Faltering Light overflows with this complicated beauty – not just the glowing and radiant grace of their home in Athens, GA, but also its darker charms that occasionally bloom from the inherent shadows. Fronted by lifelong musician and songwriter Etienne de Rocher, Haunted Shed sometimes sounds like it evolved from the West Coast's lineage of late 20th century indie rock. Etienne was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama but came up in the San Francisco, Bay Area's vibrant 1990s music scene before relocating to Athens. His eponymous 2006 album has garnered a cult following. Etienne's songs have always blended the avant-sonicity of indie rock with the elegance of 1960s baroque pop. But with Haunted Shed, many of his lyrics conjure the specters of Southern Gothic tomes. He explains, "These themes are definitely a big part of how I saw the South growing up. And it was something I missed during my West Coast years. You can't escape it in Athens. It's steeped in the soil, trees, and buildings." [Limited-edition blue color vinyl.]

Hey, King! – Hey, King! CD (ANTI-)

Songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist Natalie London and her partner, vocalist and percussionist Taylor Plecity, approach music with a childlike curiosity and adventurous spirit – fitting for a band whose name comes from a Where The Wild Things Are line. The duo's self-titled debut album as Hey, King! was produced by 4x Grammy winner Ben Harper. The record is a dazzling 11-track collection that matches the overwhelming emotional intensity of the band's live show, a concert experience that Vancouver Weekly called "a powerhouse" and "quite possibly the music world's best kept secret." The arrangements on Hey, King! are muscular, driving, and anthemic, recalling the most fist-raising Arcade Fire offerings and the most ornate songs by Sufjan Stevens. [Vinyl due 4/09.]

Elizabeth King – Living In The Last Days CD (Bible & Tire Recording Co.)

Memphis soul gospel queen Elizabeth King recorded her first single in 1970, and if all had gone as planned, she would have made her first album a few years later. Instead, it took another half century, but Living In The Last Days captures King at the height of her powers, with the intervening decades only serving to stoke the flames of one of the most memorable voices in modern gospel music. Living In The Last Days is a triumph from the very first intimate vocal notes of the arresting opening track, "No Ways Tired", to the similarly moving closer, "You've Got To Move", dual studies in intensity that each build to a burning climax, bookending a searing selection of songs burnished by the down-home grooves of the Sacred Soul Sound Section. Additionally, the Sensational Barnes Brothers are on board for harmony vocals as are King's old D-Vine Spirituals label mates the Vaughn Sisters and the D-Vine Spiritualettes. [A limited-edition color vinyl pressing is also available to special order.]

La Femme – Paradigmes LP (Disque Pointu)

Within this album of beautifully-curated electropop you will hear everything from coldwave to yéyé, Kraftwerk to the Velvet Underground, all distilled and sequenced and psychedelicized so that it sounds uniquely La Femme.

Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge – Jazz Is Dead 6: Gary Bartz CD/LP (Jazz Is Dead)

There's early work with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Workshop, work with Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln, a stint in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and also one with Miles. There's his groundbreaking and highly influential Ntu Troop albums of the early ‘70s and his jazz-funk work including two classic albums with the Mizell Brothers, one of which supplied A Tribe Called Quest with a sample that was smooth like butter. That's not to mention appearances on beloved albums by Pharoah Sanders, Donald Byrd, Norman Connors, Roy Ayers, Gene Ammons, Phyllis Hyman, Jackie McLean and many others. This is what Gary Bartz brings to the Jazz Is Dead project and as can be expected, his questing spirit fits the JID style like a glove and has produced an album that's a cutting-edge addition to his immense canon as he effortlessly interfaces with a new generation.

No-No Boy – 1975 CD/LP (Smithsonian Folkways)

No-No Boy is the musical project of Vietnamese American singer and scholar Julian Saporiti. On his Smithsonian Folkways debut 1975, named after the year Saigon fell, Saporiti investigates his own family heritage as well as life in WWII Japanese internment camps, immigrant detention centers and refugee camps in 2020, and other stories of immigration that illustrate the complexities of becoming American. His songs are the epitome of folk storytelling in the modern era, as he interweaves histories with field recordings from the sites of collective trauma and fragments of Asian American musical tradition, from jazz to rock, to choral music). With his plaintive, direct voice, he takes listeners on a deeply human journey through the Asian American experience in the US.

David Olney and Anana Kaye - Whispers and Signs CD (Schoolkids Records)

On Whispers and Sighs, David Olney and Anana Kaye craft a journey that amounts to far more than just another Americana album. This is to be expected with Olney, an acclaimed Nashville songwriter responsible for more than 20 solo albums and songs covered by and/or co-written with the likes of Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and Linda Ronstadt, among others. Further, just as Townes Van Zandt reportedly saw something special in him, Olney felt a similar kinship towards Kaye, a smoky-voiced Americana darling whose star is on the rise in Nashville, and her husband and musical partner Irakli Gabriel, both of whom are originally from the country of Georgia. And while it’s hard to escape the seeming cosmic significance of the album as a posthumous Olney release, within it is an undeniable reminder that David Olney’s extraordinary legacy can never fade, while Anana Kaye’s star grows deservedly brighter by the day. [Available in the shop or online.]

Owen Pallett – Island 2xLP+MP3 (Domino)

Almost entirely acoustic, Island begins with 13 darkened chords, and was recorded live at Abbey Road Studios with the London Contemporary Orchestra. The introduction is sound of waking up alone, and on the shore of a strange land. What follows is a shimmering and luscious orchestral album that draws across the full breadth of Pallett's discography, from Heartland to the glittering, fingerpicked guitar that marked Pallett's first records with their trio, Les Mouches.

Luca Yupanqui – Sounds Of The Unborn CD/LP (Sacred Bones)

Luca Yupanqui was not yet born when she recorded her debut album. The music on the aptly titled Sounds Of The Unborn is the expression of life in its cosmic state - pre-mind, pre-speculation, pre-influence, and pre-human. It is the first album created by a person while they were still inside the womb, the expression of a soul that hasn't yet seen the light of day nor taken a single breath of air. It is a message that comes from a different realm, a sublayer of our existence. Sounds Of The Unborn was made with biosonic MIDI technology, which translated Luca's in utero movements into sound. With the help of her parents, Psychic Ills bassist Elizabeth Hart and Lee Scratch Perry collaborator Iván Diaz Mathé, Luca's prenatal essence was captured in audio. [Limited edition clear with green splatter vinyl.]

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

The Bangles ‎– Doll Revolution [Reissue/2003] 2xLP (Real Gone Music)
The Bangles ‎– Sweetheart Of The Sun [Reissue/2011] LP (Real Gone Music)

Limited white (Doll Revolution) and teal (Sweetheart Of The Sun) color vinyl reissues of the last two records by the pop rock band who peaked in popularity in the mid-late ‘80s with the hits “Walk Like An Egyptian”, “Manic Monday”, “In Your Room” and “Eternal Flame”. The band officially broke-up in 1989 but almost ten years later, in 1998, started drifting back together. In 1999, they officially re-formed to record a song for the soundtrack of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The reunion continued with a tour in 2000 and in 2003 they released, Doll Revolution, their first album since 1988's Everything.

Eagles – Eagles Live [Reissue/1980] 2xLP (Elektra)
Eagles – The Millennium Concert 2xLP (Elektra)
Eagles – Long Road Out Of Eden [Reissue/2007] 2xLP (Elektra)

Eagles Live provides a balanced document of the band's musical history, recorded in two phases. Five of the tracks were recorded in October 1976, during three performances at The Forum in Inglewood, California. The other 10 tracks were recorded in July 1980, from three shows at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and one at the Long Beach Arena in California. The Millenium Concert was recorded Jan. 31, 1999 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA and is, for the first time, available as a stand-alone vinyl edition. Long Road Out Of Eden is the band’s final album, originally released in 2007.

The Fall – Live At St. Helens Technical College LP (Castleface)

“Nothing but the hits here folks and as raw as you dig it. This one really is exceptional in terms of live sound for The Fall. All the stars were aligned over St. Helens that eve.” – John Dwyer

Allen Ginsberg – At Reed College: The First Recorded Reading Of Howl & Other Poems CD/LP (Omnivore)

Allen Ginsberg's first public reading of his epic poem Howl took place in October of 1955 at the famous Six Gallery in San Francisco. In attendance that night were Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Philip Lamantia, Michael McClure, Kenneth Rexroth, Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady. It was long thought that the first recorded reading of Howl was the March 1956 reading in Berkeley, California; however, prior to that evening, Ginsberg travelled to Reed College in Portland, Oregon, with Gary Snyder for a series of readings. Reed College, a small liberal arts college founded in 1908 and known for its academic excellence had been attended by the likes of Steve Jobs, Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento), Barbara Ehrenreich, Ry Cooder, Max Gordon (founder of The Village Vanguard), and poet Gary Snyder. Snyder and Ginsberg read at Reed on the nights of February 13 and 14, 1956. The Valentine Day's performance was recorded and then forgotten about until John Suiter, researching Snyder at Reed's Hauser Memorial Library, found it in a box in 2007. Having gotten the material required for his research, Suiter returned the tape to the box in the library and there it remained for another decade plus and is finally released: the first known recording of Ginsberg’s classic poem.

Panic! At The Disco ‎– Death Of A Bachelor [Reissue/2015] LP (Fueled By Ramen)

Limited silver color vinyl reissue of the fifth studio album by Panic! At the Disco – their first as a solo project.

Pylon – Pylon 4xCD (New West)

The Pylon box is now available on CD! A comprehensive look at the band that features their studio LPs Gyrate and Chomp, both of which have been remastered from their original tapes, the 11-song collection Extra which includes rarities and five previously unreleased studio & live recordings, as well as Razz Tape, Pylon's first-ever recording: a 13-song unreleased session that pre-dates the band's seminal “Cool” b/w “Dub” debut. The set includes a hardbound, 200 page full-color book featuring pieces written by the members of R.E.M., Gang Of Four, Steve Albini, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Interpol, B-52's, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, Mission Of Burma, Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening and K Records, Anthony DeCurtis, Chris Stamey of The dB's, Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and many more. [Also out: new indie exclusive color vinyl pressings of Gyrate & Chomp.]

Royal Headache – Royal Headache [Reissue/2011] LP (What’s Your Rupture)
Royal Headache – High [Reissue/2015] LP (What’s Your Rupture)

Limited-edition color vinyl reissues. People have dubbed Royal Headache “Motown-inspired garage” or even “rock 'n' soul” but fear not this isn't your blatant '60s revivalism or festival friendly gimmick rock. Royal Headache was a punk band.

Saigon Kick – Saigon Kick [Reissue/1991] LP (Real Gone Music)

Limited-edition white color vinyl reissue. The gleefully raucous 1991 self-titled debut from this Miami band covered all the alternative and heavy metal bases, and while it didn't score a commercial home run, it was still a prodigious clout (kick?) courtesy of guitarist/songwriter Jason Bieler.

Shakey Graves – Roll The Bones X 2xCD/2xLP (Dualtone Music Group)

In honor of the tenth anniversary of Roll The Bones, Shakey Graves presents Roll The Bones X. This reissue includes the original album paired with 15 Odds + Ends, a full second disc of never before heard songs, demos, and deep cuts. Shakey Graves brainchild Rose-Garcia released Roll The Bones on Bandcamp in 2011 without any promotion and little to no information about Shakey Graves. That year, Bandcamp made it a featured album for a month and from there it has stayed among the website’s top selling records. [A limited-edition gold and black color vinyl pressing is also available.]

Various Artists – The Devil All The Time (Music From The Netflix Film) LP (Abkco)

The Devil All The Time, directed by Antonio Campos (Christine, Simon Killer), is set in Ohio and West Virginia during the period between the end of World War II and the mid-1960s. In an explosive Midwestern Gothic tale spanning two decades, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell (Tom Holland) as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and everything he loves. Celebrated Americana music artist Pokey LaFarge is also in the cast and is heard on the soundtrack performing "Banks Of The Ohio" as well as "Washed In Blood" with fellow cast member Harry Melling. Numerous classic country recordings are also on the soundtrack: traditional folk song "Little Bessie" by bluegrass legends The Stanley Brothers, Billy Walker's original 1961 country hit version of Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and the 1946 King Records recording of "Hillbilly Boogie" by the Delmore Brothers, and more.