New Releases - 5/24/19
Hitting The Racks
Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's
Jump to… New Releases Reissues & From The Vaults Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections New on Vinyl
New Releases
Flying Lotus - Flamagra CD/2xLP+MP3 (Warp)
Enter Flamagra - a work that sweeps up every quantum advance and creative leap of the last dozen years of Flying Lotus' career and takes them even further; the Warp release encompasses hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, global dance music, tribal poly-rhythms, IDM, the L.A. Beat scene, but it soars above a specific vortex whose coordinates can't be accurately charted. Other than to say that it is a Flying Lotus record, perhaps the definitive one. An astral afro-futurist masterpiece of deep soul, cosmic dust, and startling originality. He's aided by a dream cast of collaborators: Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Yukimi Nagano of Little Dragon, Tierra Whack, Denzel Curry, Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces, Toro y Moi, and his telepathic kinsman, Thundercat. David Lynch even pops up for an eerie narration wherein he somberly warns that, "Fire is coming." But they all naturally bend to the magnetic warp of Lotus' spells - a transfixing hex unto themselves. [Deluxe vinyl edition features a pop-up gatefold jacket and mirriboard inner sleeves.]
Justin Townes Earle - The Saint Of Lost Causes CD/2xLP (New West)
The Saint Of Lost Causes is the eighth album from American roots troubadour, Justin Townes Earle. Earle's latest album finds a songwriter and artist who is unflinching and unequivocal in his truth. When writing this collection, Earle focused on a different America - the disenfranchised and the downtrodden, the oppressed and the oppressors, the hopeful and the hopeless. There's the drugstore-cowboy-turned-cop-killer praying for forgiveness ("Appalachian Nightmare") and the common Michiganders persevering through economic and industrial devastation ("Flint City Shake It"); the stuck mother dreaming of a better life on the right side of the California tracks ("Over Alameda") and the Cuban man in New York City weighed down by a world of regret ("Ahi Esta Mi Nina"); the "used up" soul desperate to get to New Orleans ("Ain't Got No Money") and the "sons of bitches" in West Virginia poisoning the land and sea ("Don't Drink The Water"). These are individuals and communities in every corner of the country, struggling through the ordinary - and sometimes extraordinary - circumstances of everyday life. [Double-LP vinyl edition features an etched D-Side. Also available on indie-exclusive color vinyl]
Mavis Staples - We Get By CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
A clarion call to love, faith, justice, brotherhood and joy lies at the heart of We Get By, Mavis Staples' spectacular twelfth studio album and first full-length collaboration with multi-Grammy Award-winner Ben Harper. Backed by her longtime touring band, Staples breathes extraordinary life into Harper's compositions on the record, delivering roof-raising performances with both a youthful vigor and a commanding maturity. The arrangements here are spare but weighty, matched by Harper's suitably lean and thoughtful production, and Staples seizes the opportunity to showcase her remarkable and continued evolution as an artist, one still growing and exploring more than half a century into her storied career.
Morrissey - California Son CD/LP (BMG)
The Britpop icon releases his new covers album, California Son. The 12-track collection traverses the sonic landscape of the '60s and '70s, covering untouchable luminaries like Joni Mitchell, Dionne Warwick, and Bob Dylan while also delving into more obscure musicians of the time, such as early gay icon Jobriath and political activist Phil Ochs. Paying equal tribute to the marginalized stars as he does household names - and taking on these covers with modern alt-rock royalty guests including Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), Ed Droste (Grizzly Bear), Sameer Gadhia (Young The Giant), and LP - California Son serves as a bridge between space, time, and rock music's past, present, and future. In line with a career marked by environmental advocacy and a groundbreaking soundscape of jangly alt-rock melancholia, we see Morrissey playing to his strengths while pushing his sonic limits. [Limited indie-store exclusive vinyl pressing.]
Cate Le Bon - Reward CD/LP (Mexican Summer)
Be it on her more minimalist, acoustic-leaning 2009 debut album Me Oh My or critically acclaimed, liquid-riffed 2013 LP Mug Museum as well as 2016's Crab Day, Cate Le Bon's solo work - and indeed also her production work, such as that carried out on recent Deerhunter album Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (2019) - has always resisted pigeonholing, walking the tightrope between krautrock aloofness and heartbreaking tenderness; deadpan served with a twinkle in the eye, a flick of the fringe and a lick of the Telecaster. The multifaceted nature of Le Bon's art - its ability to take on multiple meanings and hold motivations which are not immediately obvious - is evident right down to the album's very name, Reward. "Cate Le Bon writes songs in the absurdist tradition, as both as an escape and a mirror to the world. Her music is elliptical and sparse, using familiar sounds-chiming electric guitar, saxophone-to create her own alien landscape. 'Daylight Matters', the swooning first single from her new album Reward, isn't so much a reinvention as it is a grand unveiling." - Pitchfork [Limited indie-exclusive red vinyl & standard black]
Black Mountain - Destroyer CD/LP (Jagjaguwar)
Destroyer is structured around that first time behind the wheel of a hot rod, inspired by the crucial nexus of the early-to-mid- '80s Los Angeles when a war between punk and hair metal was waged. [Limited indie-exclusive white vinyl]
Sebadoh - Act Surprised CD/LP (Dangerbird)
Indie-rock pioneers Sebadoh return with their first new studio album in more than six years. Act Surprised continues the soulful collaboration that's defined the band since 1991's Sebadoh III and 1994's Bakesale. The new batch of songs reaffirms how vital the creative partnership is between members Lou Barlow, Jason Loewenstein, and Bob D'Amico. When Barlow recently moved back to his home state of Massachusetts following a series of personal changes, he pressed the restart button and, in time, felt the incentive to reach out to Jason and Bob again to reunite and start work on a new album. The trio convened and began recording in their original stomping grounds in Northampton, MA where they first formed back in 1988. Along with producer/sound engineer Justin Pizzoferatto, Sebadoh has delivered one of the best records of their career - a 15-song collection that's as dynamic and visceral as anything the band has ever committed to tape. [Limited indie-exclusive color vinyl]
Josephine Wiggs - We Fall CD/LP (The Sound Of Sinners)
Alt-rock icon Josephine Wiggs is best known as bassist in The Breeders, rising to stardom in the '90s and continuing to draw crowds and critical acclaim in the wake of their 2018 album All Nerve. But over the years, Wiggs has released several of her own albums, all of which delightfully defy genre. Her new solo record, We Fall, is both a departure and a distillation of an enduring personal aesthetic: moody and spare but also melodic, at once contemporary and nostalgic: moody and spare but also melodic, at once contemporary and nostalgic. Some influences are clear: We Fall is reminiscent of the experimentalism of Brian Eno's Another Green World (1975) and recalls the delicate, languid minimalism of Harold Budd. The album's classical inflections, sharpened by a dialog with electronic elements, evoke Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is an album of juxtapositions: minimalist at moments, richly layered in others; ambient while also sharply focused; melancholy yet resolute.
The Waterboys - Where The Action Is CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)
Following the acclaim of 2017's Out Of All This Blue, The Waterboys return with the new album Where The Action Is. Its title inspired by Robert Parker's 1960s mod/northern soul classic, Where The Action Is is a 10-song, genre-defying album, testament to the enduring talents of the band's founder and frontman Mike Scott. One of the finest British songwriters of the past four decades, his songs have been covered and recorded by artists as far and wide as Prince, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, Steve Earle, and Ellie Goulding (who had a number three hit with "How Long Will I Love You"). The title track's update of the Parker classic - with lyrics to reflect Mike's own preoccupations - is a cyclone of a song, all swirling Hammond, lead guitar solos played by Steve Wickham on his fuzzboxed-up fiddle, and female vocals provided by the band's fabulous Jess and Zeenie. More visceral rock 'n' roll follows on "London Mick", a tribute to legendary Clash guitarist, Mick Jones. Diverse in breadth, Where The Action Is is an album of incredible songwriting, experimentation and musical brilliance - one that will excite Waterboys fans and win new converts alike.
Stray Cats - 40 CD/LP (Surfdog)
The first new studio album 26 years from the rockabilly trio comprised of Brian Setzer (guitar, vocals), Lee Rocker (bass, vocals) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums, vocals).
Amyl and The Sniffers - Amyl and The Sniffers CD/LP (ATO)
Melbourne, Australia's Amyl and The Sniffers' self-titled debut album was produced by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, M.I.A) and comes with 11 blistering tracks boasting '70s throwback anthemic guitars and breakneck drumming with human firecracker Amy Taylor leading the 29-minute auditory assault. The Fader says that, "the Australian band recall the heady days of punk: spiky, wild, provocative, and a little dangerous with a fierce live reputation." Taylor explains that lead single "Got You" is "about that feeling you get when you first start seeing someone and you're excited to see them, no matter what sh!t they got. You just see them at the pub and it feels like the most exciting thing in the world, like you're so lucky they're even there. It's definitely one of the 'sweetest' songs on the album, and less punky. It was kind of inspired by Split Enz.'"
NOTS - 3 CD (Goner)
At first glance, 3 seems like a perfectly fitting title for a new Nots album. After all, it is the Memphis band's third full-length and their first as a trio. It is a dark, unpredictable, raucous, liberating, and bold tour de force of a third record from the Memphis three-along with a strong impression that the best still yet to come. [Vinyl edition due May 31.]
Mexico City Blondes - Blush CD/LP (Burger)
Mexico City Blondes is Allie Thompson and Greg Doscher. The two met in Santa Barbara, California and after bonding over mutual influences, decided to collaborate on a record. Allie was raised on American folk and grew up playing other peoples' music on her piano. Adulthood brought a desire to learn guitar and a fascination with synthetic sounds and dreamy, trip-hop vocals that she was eager to incorporate into her own compositions. Learning to play guitar led her to begin writing her own songs. Greg Doscher was previously a guitarist in Tripdavon with which he recorded and co-produced three albums touring in Asia, Europe and North America On break from this project, he had been eager to work with a broader range of sounds and Allie's unique voice proved to be an effective counterpoint to the blend of electronic and organic sounds in his productions.
Middle Kids - New Songs For Old Problems CDEP/12" (Domino)
New Songs For Old Problems comes hot on the heels of what was a massive 2018 for Middle Kids, including the May release of their critically acclaimed album Lost Friends - an impressive debut which saw the band tour worldwide, earned them a slew of US late night TV appearances, and back home in Australia snagged an ARIA nomination, and the Triple J Album of the Year prize. Lead single "Real Thing" is a soaring rock song mixed by the legendary Mike Spike Stent (Madonna, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Muse). [This title is shipping late and will arrive next week]
L'Eclair - Sauropoda CD/LP (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)
L'Eclair's Sauropoda LP was recorded in an undisclosed location in the mountains over the course of two days in October 2018. Captured live in the studio, the music is mega-organic and free with few overdubs. Think of it as a 2am YouTube rabbit-hole find, or that weird-looking Soviet prog funk private press that you knew you should've bought the one time you came across it in the bins. In fact, Sauropoda actually sounds more like a L'Eclair live show...blended with carefully crafted dance floor grooves, last-minute studio fantasies, and fully-faded late night jams. L'Eclair is all about the blending of things, and those things never sound the same twice; endlessly morphing like the human machine itself. Sauropoda is the way L'Eclair sounds right now in proto-groove's golden age. But don't let your head get in the way and try too hard to classify this music.
Com Truise - Persuasion System CD/LP+MP3 (Ghostly Int'l)
For nearly a decade the story of Com Truise has relied on science fiction and abstract fact. Seth Haley's singular style of melodic beat music subsists as hazy machinist nostalgia, a mainframe downloaded cosmology. Yet with each release, alongside sonic refinement, comes an increasingly visible vapor trail to Haley's own ontology.
J-E-T-S - Zoospa CD/LP (Innovative Leisure)
J-E-T-S is Jimmy Edgar and Travis Stewart (Machinedrum), two of the past decade's most versatile and protean producers, who have artfully glided through techno, house, IDM, bass, hip-hop, R&B, and pop without being pinned down to any one of them. They channel the two-heads-one-brain spirit of a more danceable Autechre or Outkast raised on the Belleville Three and first wave IDM.
Luka Productions - Falaw CD/LP (Sahel Sounds)
An innovative take on West African Hip Hop and sample-based folktronica.
Seba Kaapstad - Thina CD/LP (Mello Music Group)
Seba Kaapstad is a multi-national neo-soul quartet comprised of a South African, a Swazi, and two Germans.
Faye Webster - Atlanta Millionaires Club CD/LP (Secretly Canadian)
Atlanta Millionaires Club is in Faye Webster's feelings, and that's the way she likes it. Everything is way personal, Webster says. I have to write about very personal things for me to even want to write. On the 21-year-old Atlanta native's new album, the omnipresence of pedal steel eschews bluegrass trappings, flexible under Webster's genre-bending direction. Webster didn't set out to make it sound like any artist in particular, but she cites Aaliyah as her main musical inspiration for how she uses sound.
Chris Orrick - Out To Sea CD (Mello Music Group)
According to Detroit rapper Chris Orrick, his new album Out To Sea is "dedicated to the damage done by the 2016 United States Presidential Election, social media, and the 24-hour news cycle." Another exercise in introspection as much as it is a scathing indictment of the politically divided dystopia we lament and mock, the album finds Orrick once again writing and rhyming with the vein-opening honesty and unrestrained emotion of the best poets. [Vinyl due 5/31]
Melissa Aldana - Visions CD (Motema Music)
Multi-award-winning Chilean artist Melissa Aldana is recognized as one of the top tenor saxophonists in jazz and the first woman and the first South American to win the Monk Jazz Competition. On her first jazz quartet recording and third overall Visions, Aldana connects her work to the legacy of Latina artists who have come before her, creating a pathway for her own expression.
Earth - Full Upon Her Burning Lips CD/LP (Sargent House)
With their latest album, Full Upon Her Burning Lips, Earth has stripped away the layers and auxiliary instrumentation that embellished some of their previous records and have deconstructed their dynamic to the core duo of Dylan Carlson on guitar and bass and Adrienne Davies on drums and percussion. [Indie exclusive color vinyl]
Fleshgod Apocalypse - Veleno CD/2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
Italian grandmasters of orchestral death metal Fleshgod Apocalypse find spontaneity rewarding on their new album, Veleno. Over the past four records - including previous album, King (2016) - the Francesco Paoli-led trio have planned every step, discussed every note, and ensured every salutation to Paganini, Bach, and Mozart was met with an equally brutal death metal equivalent. On Veleno, which is Italian for "Venom", Fleshgod Apocalypse distanced themselves from distraction, unboxed the songwriting process, and let the inspiration flow freely. They've matured, blended more efficiently their musical vision, and walked away with 11 songs that sound like a new band with an insatiable prey drive. "Veleno is an interesting creature. It tries to accomplish a lot while at the same time making valiant attempts to avoid the usual Fleshgod Apocalypse tropes. To say that that the crew manning the good ship Fleshgod have developed a comfort zone in their branch of opera-infused death metal would be to put it politely, and it seems on Veleno that the group are aware of that, and tried to move outside those boundaries as much as possible." - No Clean Singing [Limited colored vinyl pressing.]
Nocturnus AD - Paradox CD/LP (Profound Lore)
Resurrected from the ashes of one of the most influential death metal bands of all time, Nocturnus, Nocturnus AD was initiated by founder/mastermind/death metal legend Mike Browning (also co-founder of Morbid Angel) to continue the path that was laid down, 28 years later, by the legendary Florida death metal band's seminal 1990 album The Key, an album recognized as one of the most important death metal albums ever released. Entitled Paradox, this debut album is the direct and proper follow-up to that album, musically and thematically, with the story and themes vocalist/drummer Browning laid out then continuing on through the lens of the occult.
Compilations, Best Of's & Sundry Collections
Sting - My Songs CD (A&M)
My Songs is an album comprised of the 17-time Grammy Award winner's most celebrated hits from his unparalleled career, each reshaped and reimagined for 2019. [CD is available in regular and deluxe editions. Deluxe adds four bonus tracks. Vinyl edition due June 7.]
Joan As Police Woman - Joanthology CD (PIAS America)
Joanthology spans the first fifteen years of Joan's remarkable musical output and includes new, rare and unreleased material alongside more than thirty of her most loved songs.
New on Vinyl
Thee Oh Sees - Hounds Of Foggy Notion LP (Castleface)
Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion/Live Performances Sans Stages And Whatnots With Thee Oh Sees (2008), is a film Thee Oh Sees made just over a decade ago, and this record is the soundtrack. [CD edition due May 31.]
Tim Hecker - Anoyo LP (Kranky)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Anoyo (the world over there) draws from the same sessions which led to the 2018 work Konoyo but rendered starker, solemn, and stripped back, with more of a naturalist tint. Tim Hecker's processing here moves in veiled ways, soft refractions and whispered shrouds woven within improvisational sessions of traditional gagaku interplay, evoking a sense of vaulted space, temples at dawn, shredded silk fluttering in the rafters. This is boldly barren music, skeletal and sculptural, shaped from wood, wind, strings, and mist. Modern yet ancient, delicate and desolate, Anoyo inverts its predecessor to compellingly conjure a parallel world of illusion, solitude, and eternal return.
Patience - Dizzy Spells LP (Winona)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Patience began as bedroom synth project for songwriter Roxanne Clifford after the break-up of her acclaimed indie pop band Veronica Falls. Born out of a desire to experiment with a new sound and analogue synthesizers, the project has since grown to become an all-encompassing persona and serves as the main vehicle for the full emotional spectrum always latent in Clifford's songwriting.
Walker Lukens - Adult LP (Modern Outsider)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Austin-based, Houston-bred singer/multi-instrumentalist Walker Lukens has been called "one of the best songwriters in Texas", "wonderfully inventive", "a non-sexually intimidating version of Prince", and a "veteran balladeer with sudden indie rock ambitions". Adult, Lukens' third full-length album, was produced by Jim Eno (Spoon) at this Public HiFi studio in Austin.
Steel Blossoms - Steel Blossoms LP (Billy Jam)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. Discovering the music of Americana duo, Steel Blossoms, is a lot like finding yourself at a party with trusted friends ... the kind who know all your secrets, share great memories and funny stories, poke fun at your foibles ... and their own. Steel Blossoms is the musical collaboration of Sara Zebley and Hayley Prosser, artists (and former elementary school teachers) who met by chance at a festival in their home state of Pennsylvania, where each was performing with separate groups. They recognized an instant chemistry and a shared perspective; an appreciation for life's moments, ironies and quirky little truths.
Laura Stevenson - The Big Freeze LP+MP3 (Don Giovanni)
Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. The Big Freeze is New York-based songwriter Laura Stevenson's fourth solo album and first full-length in four years. Recorded in her childhood home during the dead of winter, the record-named for the universe-chilling opposite the big bang-is a departure for Stevenson. Though her pedigree is in punk, Freeze has little in the way of distortion. The King Khan Experience - Turkey Ride LP (Ernest Jenning) King Khan's adventures almost 18 years ago in the cities of Bordeaux and Berlin, finely documented in music, get the vinyl treatment for the first time. These recordings were made while King Khan gallivanted through Europe's most hedonistic cities and collected a merry group of pranksters to make sweet, sweet rock 'n' roll with.
Anna St. Louis - First Songs 12" (Woodsist/Mare)
Released in 2017 on cassette - now available on vinyl. Anna St. Louis wears her influences well-think Patsy Cline singing over John Fahey-but has a style all her own.
Diplo - Europa 12" (Mad Decent)
The latest EP from Grammy-winning producer featuring collaborations with some of the biggest and most buzzing regional artists from across the continent of Europe.
Blu & Exile - True & Livin 12" (Dirty Science)
Blu & Exile's undeniable chemistry is yet again put on display. In Exile's words, "True and Livin might be the first hip hop braggadocio song that invites us all to feel the same about themselves as long as they connect to the spirit and truth that is inside this song and inside us all." Positivity and strength remain a theme on this EP, in "Spread Sunshine" and the stand out posse cut featuring most of the Dirty Science crew (Choosey, Johaz, Cashus King, and Aloe Blacc).
Abstract Orchestra - Madvillain Vol. 2 LP (ATA)
Abstract Orchestra take on the classic hip-hop album Madvillainy and add freshness and color. Madvillain Vol. 2 follows on from the 2018 release Madvillain Vol. 1 and further explores the jazz, TV soundtrack and film score aspect of the original work, combining it with classic big band writing and a focus on improvisation.
Les Yper Sound - Explorations in Drums & Sax LP (Figure & Ground)
All-instrumental beat tape from saxophonist Jas Walton and percussionist Miles Arntzen of Afrobeat band Antibalas, also feat. Beastie Boys' synth-master Money Mark + London/Sudanese artist Sinkane and incorporating woodwinds and everyday objects. "Jumping with pocket-groove drums, blended with kitchen-sink percussion, and topped with layered saxophone lines and bubbling electronics" - Afropop. "Part Yusef Lateef, part free jazz, and plenty funky ... intergalactic space travel without leaving our atmosphere." - Flea Market Funk
The Foreign Exchange - Leave It All Behind LP (Foreign Exchange Music)
Reissue of the second album from the North Carolina R&B/hip hop group. Producer Nicolay's mellow but moving productions have that lingering, memory-triggering effect mastered by the late J Dilla, and a multitude of shades is cast: dreamy folk-soul that ranks with the Beauty Room, lean and contemporary constructions that would fit within any adult-oriented R&B station's playlist, deceptively frictional backdrops that bridge hip-hop to West London broken beat, and even the intermittent unclassifiable moment, with several styles thrown into swirls of crescendo-enhanced dramatics.
Gloria Ann Taylor and Walter Whisenhunt's Orchestra - Deep Inside of You 12" (Ubiquity Recordings)
Gloria was a partial owner of the Selector Sounds label, along with her husband/producer Walter Whisenhunt (previously a right-hand man to James Brown). In the studio, Whisenhunt would work up a unique musical brew that mixed northern soul with exotic percussion and fuzzy psychedelic guitars, touching on disco and ballads and setting Gloria's gritty vocal performance to orchestral arrangements, creating a juxtaposition of grandeur and solace. The pinnacle of their collaborations has to be the epic EP version of "Love Is a Hurting Thing"; a chugging, string-laden disco track that sounds like proto-Theo Parrish.
Webster Station - Are You for Real 12" (Family Groove Records)
Webster Station, a boogie/funk & disco outfit from Dayton, Ohio, recorded a demo session for Warner Bros. in 1979. The demo was rejected for not being 'mainstream' enough for their label and the tape remained in an A&R office and dusty garage for over 30 years. Family Groove Records has faithfully restored the original 1/4" demo reel tape.
Betty Padgett - Betty Padgett LP (Luv n' Haight)
Few records encompass sweet soul, disco, dirty funk, and even reggae in one package, but Betty Padgett's captures the essence of that Miami sound of the mid-70s with a sampling of all the styles that made the region a musical hotbed. "There is a certain feeling that a beat digger gets when stumbling across what may be a Holy Grail, it's what keeps you going on the quest to unearth lost musical treasure." - DJ Sureshot
Alan Parker/Alan Hackshaw - Black Pearl [Reissue/1973] LP (Music De Wolfe)
Originally released in 1973, Black Pearl's overall sound is the epitome of cool, orchestral funk / dramatic styles of the 1970s, along with several more romantic, laid-back, emotive pieces. This record has been sampled by Beyonce, Drake, Jay Z, Lily Allen, Gorillaz, and Action Bronson, and many more. Founded in 1909, de Wolfe Music's legendary production music catalog has gained cult status among vinyl collectors and crate diggers worldwide. De Wolfe Music has provided the soundtrack to feature films such as Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Dawn Of The Dead, and many of the Shaw Brothers' Kung Fu classics.
Steve Marino - Fluff LP (Darling Recordings)
Over the last decade Steve Marino has recorded multiple solo albums (as Moor Hound), been in countless bands, and toured the country consistently, but his newest full-length, Fluff, is the first collection of songs he's released in his own name. In that sense it's his debut album. It is an album about home, and one's place in it, love, and intimacy, and it's the result of Steve marrying his direct, honest songwriting with a deeply collaborative process. The title track, "Fluff", with its precise drums, layered guitars, and visceral, emotive vocals, captures the power of this collaboration. [Limited coke bottle clear vinyl pressing.]
Röyksopp - Senior [Reissue/2010] LP (House Arrest)
Vinyl reissue of the fourth studio album by the Norwegian electronic duo. This chapter of Royksopp's career saw them move to instrumental tracks only; Senior has been described as more introspective and withdrawn than its predecessor, Junior (2009).
The Good Missionaries - Pylons LP (Color Disc/Lion Productions)
The hipness and success of London punk-explosion photocopy fanzine Sniffin' Glue was almost entirely due to the irreverent, pugnacious sincerity of its founder/spark-plug Mark Perry. That Perry should form a band (Alternative TV) seemed a natural progression; that it was any good at all a surprise; that it maintained a stance utterly disdainful of compromise a small miracle. The Good Missionaries emerged, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of Alternative TV (ATV). The band released several singles on their own Unnormality label, before splitting in 1982.
Mae - Multisensory Aesthetic Experience LP (Tooth & Nail)
2018 release - back in-print on vinyl. It's no accident that Mae's fourth studio LP bears the self-fulfilling prophecy of their namesake. Multisensory Aesthetic Experience, the band's first full-length release in nearly a decade, is the arguable realization of their aspirations since conception. From the DMT-infused retro-space odyssey groove of "Kaleidoscope", to the Byrne-esque mayhem of "The Overview", to the contemplative hypnosis of "Simple Words", it quickly becomes apparent that the heart-strings are no longer merely resonating; they're playing full melodies that deftly counterbalance the compositions.
The Steve Miller Band - Book Of Dreams [Reissue/1977] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Circle Of Love [Reissue/1981] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Abracadabra [Reissue/1982] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Italian X Rays [Reissue/1984] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Living In The 20th Century [Reissue/1986] LP (Capitol)
Steve Miller - Born 2 B Blue [Reissue/1988] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Wild River [Reissue/1993] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Bingo! [Reissue/2010] LP (Capitol)
The Steve Miller Band - Let Your Hair Down [Reissue/2011] LP (Capitol)
Limited 180gm vinyl reissues of The Steve Miller Band's 10th - 17th albums, plus Steve Miller's lone solo album from 1988.
Chocolate Watch Band - No Way Out [Reissue/1967] LP (Sundazed)
Limited yellow colored vinyl pressing. The thrilling debut album by the Chocolate Watch Band immediately finds that cosmic sweet-spot of perfect garage-rock.
Gene Clark - White Light [Reissue/1971] LP (Sundazed)
Gene Clark - Roadmaster [Reissue/1973] LP (Sundazed)
As a founding member of folk-rock pioneers the Byrds, Gene Clark emerged as a uniquely gifted singer/songwriter and master of the minor key melancholy ballad. His departure from the group in 1966 was met with critical anticipation and commercial indifference.
Dervish - The Great Irish Songbook 2xLP (Rounder)
As one of the world's most renowned and imaginative interpreters of Irish folk music, Dervish have devoted the last three decades to gently reinventing the traditional songs of their homeland. Featuring such beloved artists as Vince Gill, Steve Earle, and David Gray, The Great Irish Songbook brings new vitality to iconic traditional songs of their homeland.
Black Zone Magick Chant - Voyage Sacrifice LP (Shelter Press)
The latest liminal low-end odyssey from French shape-shifter Maxime Primault's Black Zone Magick Chant entity explores miasmic subterranean ritual. The three sprawling compositions comprising Voyage Sacrifice ooze in slow, smoke-choked darkness, awash with dungeon groans, insectoid noise, reverbed bells, molten bass, and distant demonic mumblings, entrancing the listener in their spiral sinkhole infinity: beatless, lightless, limitless. Occasionally a rusted, lurching metronome emerges, infusing a drugged sense of forward motion, but the essence of Voyage Sacrifice is textural and tantric. This is cultic, questing music, deprivation chamber hallucinations "beyond good and evil, beyond sense and non-sense."
Reissues & From The Archives
Emily A. Sprague - Water Memory/Mount Vision CD/2xLP (RVNG Int'l)
Previously self-released on cassette, Emily A. Sprague's Water Memory (2017) and Mount Vision (2018) albums are presented in new and complete detail. Emily's work concerns the connectedness of all things, giving living, core form to the mysterious forces that guide earthly activity and human contact with them. Memory and vision, ocean and mountains, question and answer, emotions and infinity. Sunshine, lizard, sea salt. Through sound and poetry, Emily focuses on fleeting moments of crystalline clarity and meditates on expanded lifetimes of intricate meaning-making.
Coil - Porto CD (Soleilmoon Recordings)
Porto is the only authorized live recording of a Coil live performance. Coil performed on 21 June 2003 at the Casa da Música Festival in Porto, Portugal. Present on stage that night were Peter Christopherson, Ossian Brown and Thighpaulsandra. Because of John Balance's absence, the music on this recording is entirely instrumental. The show was also notable for being Ossian's last appearance with Coil.