New Releases - 7/12/19

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 New on Vinyl Live & in Concert Soundtracks Compilations/Collections

New Releases

Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)

He's back! After a decade in the wilderness, David Berman has returned to record-making - this time around as Purple Mountains, leaving his iconic Silver Jews brand to history. Fortunately for all the fans, he's retained his iconic songwriting style, with a new batch of tunes conveying an astonishing variety of 21st-century mid-life crises.

Lizzo - Cuz I Love You [Deluxe Edition] CD (Nice Life/Atlantic)

Deluxe edition includes three bonus tracks. Channeling boundless self-confidence through a downright earth-quaking voice, colorful persona, and undeniable star power, Lizzo struts into the spotlight and steps up with a whole lot of sass, spirit, and soul. Embracing her vocal range like never before and celebrating herself to the fullest, she speaks her mind, censors nothing, and delivers an enviable level of honesty, pure passion, and fresh fire. Like a diamond, she's multi-faceted, and Cuz I Love You reflects all her sides; the broken-hearted ballad ("Jerome"), the dance club banger ("Tempo"), the sisterhood anthem ("Like A Girl"), the cocky ode to loving yourself ("Soulmate"), a gospel song that will take you to the church of Lizzo ("Heaven Help Me"), and a sexy slow jam tossed in for good measure ("Lingerie"). Every song is infused with her high-voltage personality, making each song feel like a secret message sent just to you.

Tycho - Weather CD/LP (Mom + Pop)

Tycho is the Grammy-nominated electronic music project led by Scott Hansen as primary composer, songwriter and producer. Respected for both their musical output and Scott's graphic design work under the ISO50 moniker, Tycho has drawn comparisons to of Boards Of Canada, Ulrich Schnauss and Jon Hopkins. Weather is an exciting progression from his previous output, with most of the new tracks featuring vocals.

Bleached - Don't You Think You've Had Enough? CD/LP/Cassette (Dead Oceans)

Don't You Think You've Had Enough? is what Jennifer Clavin asked herself when she hit a turning point in her life. It's also the title of the new record from Bleached, Jessie and Jennifer Clavin's first LP written from a place of sobriety. That newfound perspective serves as the guiding force, yielding a courageous, honest, and sonically ambitious album. It's a record about fighting both literally and figuratively for your life - and the clarity born from that struggle. The album glimmers with inspiration found in touring with the likes of The Damned and Paramore. That arena- ready pop, incisively catchy, was a palpable influence helping to push Bleached's sound in a new direction. [Limited colored vinyl pressing.]

Kyle Craft - Showboat Honey CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)

There is this curious equilibrium to existence: In order to create balance, the universe must giveth, and the universe must taketh. Kyle Craft, along with his now solidified backing band dubbed Showboat Honey, know this all too well. And therefore, their self-titled album - the contemplative yet restless Showboat Honey - reflects that sturm und drang. "This is basically an album centered around bad luck and good fortune hitting at the same time," Craft explains. "Then, out of nowhere, I find love. Everything went to shit except that. I guess that's how life works." Though aesthetics veer from song to song, Showboat Honey's steadfast formula remains the same. Drummer Haven Mutlz holds down the machine with a '60s/'70s fast-molasses groove that locks in with the slinky rolling bass of Billy Slater. When Kevin Clark isn't bouncing across the piano, his mellotron strings swell in and out of frame. Jack of all trades Ben Steinmetz's organ parts well up from the deep of the songs, while lead guitarist Jeremy Kale's solos rip through them like electricity.

Gauche - A People's History Of Gauche CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)

Washington, DC's Gauche present A People's History Of Gauche, a collective catharsis of anger, frustration, and trauma through creativity. Jason P Barnett, Adrienne CN Berry, Mary Jane Regalado, Pearie Sol, and Daniele Yandel find their agency and joy through creating and performing music together in 36 minutes of groove-filled power punk. Gauche bring us music and movement and struggle and light, and now it is our job to dance.

The Gotobeds - Debt Begins At 30 CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)

"'Go big or go home' is a phrase that is seldom heard in indie/punk circles. Generally, it's the opposite that is true. There has been a history in indie/punk of this feeling unauthentic, as authenticity only involves who plays on the album instead of what you're saying/sound like. Pittsburgh's The Gotobeds have decided to ignore this maxim on their third album, Debt Begins At 30. Instead of getting into a studio with each other again, they decided to invite some friends along. On every track. Yup. That's right. Every track on Debt Begins At 30 features a guest spot. This idea is generally used in hip-hop, jazz and electronic circles, but here it works incredibly well. Musically it's business as usual from The Gotobeds. The guitars are slightly abrasive but catchy. The bass is right where you need it and holds each track to the group, and the drums sound flawless. Overall all there is a spiky, Sonic Youth vibe but with a brash optimism that is hard to ignore." - New Noise

Imperial Teen - Now We Are Timeless CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)

Imperial Teen includes members of Faith No More (Roddy Bottum), The Dicks (Lynn Perko Truell), Hey Willpower (Will Schwartz) and The Wrecks (Jone Stebbins). Their releases over the past 20+ years have been pointed and specific diaries of musical celebration, windows into the hypersensitive personal drama of relationships within the band, individual conquests and failures, and collective, aspirational hopes, dreams, and perspectives. Roddy Bottum, Will Schwartz, Jone Stebbins, and Lynn Perko Truell- who they've become, how they are dealing, and what their lives are in 2019-all of this is on Imperial Teen's new release Now We Are Timeless. Themes of time and movement, averting and succumbing to crisis, dealing with loss and pain are all represented on the record, but what rings triumphant is the undeniable joy and catharsis that come from the band's spontaneous and improvisational approach to making music together.

Cave In - Final Transmission CD/LP (Hydrahead)

Recently released on vinyl - now available on CD. Originally intended as demos, Final Transmission marks the first Cave In album in eight years and the band's last with bassist and vocalist Caleb Scofield, who was killed in a car accident last year. The opening title track is a voice memo of a song idea he sent to his bandmates the last time they saw each other. All proceeds from Final Transmission will be given to Caleb's wife and children.

Uzeda - Quocumque Jeceris Stabit CD/LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)

Uzeda - a national treasure of Italy's underground rock scene, and one of the longest-running punk bands on the planet - returns with their first new album in 13 years. The album's title, Quocumque Jeceris Stabit comes from the famous inspiration phrase that loosely translates in English to "Wherever you throw it, it will stand" - a testament to the resilience and adaptability of the band. Drab Majesty - Modern Mirror CD/LP (Dais) Drab Majesty's third album, Modern Mirror, is a journey of self-reflection, nostalgia, love, beauty, and heartbreak told across eight addictive and emotional synth pop anthems - a seemingly classic tale delivered unblinkingly through the frame of the modern world.

Clare Bowen - Clare Bowen CD (BMG)

Clare Bowen best known for her popular portrayal of Scarlett O'Connor as the female leading role in the ABC/CMT Nashville TV series has already hit the country charts with her incredibly unique vocals with many of the songs taken from the popular series mostly accompanied by her co-star Sam Palladio.

Ed Sheeran - No.6 Collaboration Project CD/2xLP (Atlantic)

"Before I was signed in 2011, I made an EP called No.5 Collaborations Project," Ed Sheeran notes on his newest release, No.6 Collaborations Project. "Since then, I've always wanted to do another, so I started No.6 on my laptop when I was on tour last year. I'm a huge fan of all the artists I've collaborated with and It's been a lot of fun to make." The 15-track offering features collaborations with Khalid ("Beautiful People"), Camila Cabello & Cardi B ("South Of The Border"), Chance The Rapper & PnB Rock ("Cross Me"), Stormzy ("Take Me Back To London"), YEBBA ("Best Part Of Me"), Justin Bieber ("I Don't Care"), 50 Cent & Eminem ("Remember The Name"), J Hus & Young Thug ("Feels"), Ella Mai ("Put It All On Me"), Dave & Paulo Londra ("Nothing On You"), H.E.R. ("I Don't Want Your Money"), A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie & Meek Mill ("1000 Nights"), Skrillex ("Way To Break My Heart"), and Chris Stapleton & Bruno Mars ("BLOW").

BANKS - III CD/LP (Harvest)

The result of a self-imposed period of quiet and reflection, brooding pop singer Banks returns with her third album III and first full-length effort since 2016's The Altar. "This album is an ode to my journey," the artist explains. "It documents a major growth spurt. Of self-acceptance, letting go, forgiveness, and deep love. It has been painful to realize that life is not black and white. Romanticism leads to fierce reality checks, which leads to wisdom, which leads to deeper empathy which leads to greater love. This album documents the cycle." The album's first single "Gimme" "feels kind of like a slap in the face," she says, explaining that it's "about having no shame in who you are and being proud of your own desires." Banks' music has always been bold, shadowy and self-empowering, but "Gimme" is a decidedly more aggressive beast than any of her previous songs, from its wobbling bass bombs to its unapologetically direct lyrics.

Glitterer - Looking Through The Shades CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)

Looking Through The Shades is Glitterer's debut full-length album and features Ned Russin, bassist/vocalist of Title Fight. This is Glitterer all glown up. Now there are live drums (twin brother Ben did the honors) and dopamine-releasing fuzzy guitars to go with the synths, the bass, and the voice. Now there's a full 14-song tracklist to luxuriate in. Produced by Alex Giannascoli and Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip, Sumerlands) the album delivers Glitterer's best-yet sonics and songs. The lyrics are still insouciantly tortured, in a reluctant-college-boy kind of way, the choruses are still obscenely catchy, and the arrangements still carry not so much as an ounce of excess fat. From the saturated distortion of the opener "The Race" ("I wish I could look at your life and know it's mine"), through the road-weary "1001" ("I sang 1,000 songs / didn't want to sing again") and the vox-and-bass-only Side B outlier "The News" ("I used to be original"), the listener is simultaneously satiated and left wanting more.

Bones UK - Bones UK CD (Sumerian)

For London-bred band Bones UK, every song is a chance to speak their minds, and to shed light on the disconnect between the status quo and the far more glorious world inside their heads. On their self-titled debut album, vocalist Rosie Bones and guitarist Carmen Vandenberg confront everything from the beauty industrial complex to toxic masculinity to music-scene sexism, embedding each track with choruses primed for passionate shouting-along. Bones UK offer up an album that's both provocative and endlessly exhilarating, even in its most outraged moments. True to the L.A.-based band's anti-conformist spirit, Bones UK unfolds with an entirely uncontainable sound, a riff-heavy collision of rock-and-roll and rough-edged electronic music. On opener "Beautiful Is Boring", Bones UK bring artful riffs and sinister grooves to a feverish statement against societal expectations of beauty. [Vinyl edition due August 2.]

Ranky Tanky - Good Time CD (Resilience Music)

On the follow up to their wildly successful debut album, Ranky Tanky explores more of the Gullah culture that makes their musical story so compelling. Numerous originals also color this spectacular collection of iconic regional favorites.

Africa Express - EGOLI CD/LP+MP3 (Africa Express)

Hailed as the most revolutionary force in popular music for two decades, music collective Africa Express was founded in 2006 and brings together musicians from different cultures, genres and generations to break boundaries and offer a new perspective on Africa and its music. Each record and event is unique, based upon on-the-spot collaboration and filled with unique moments of magic; the collective have hosted trips and concerts in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali and UK to date.

Dean Hurley - Anthology Resource Vol. II: Philosophy Of Beyond CD/LP+MP3 (Sacred Bones)

The second volume in sound supervisor Dean Hurley's Anthology Resource series continues Hurley's experimental soundscape work into more ethereal and celestial territory. 12 tracks weave together a rich sonic tapestry built in part from comb-filtering experiments, tape loops, and sampled excursions into unique acoustical environments. [Limited gold colored vinyl pressing.]

Kaina - Next To The Sun CD/LP (Sooper)

In Chicago, cutting edge hip-hop and R&B artists are forging influential new sounds and catapulting one after the other into the national spotlight. City native Kaina has been at the periphery of many of these successes and is one of the most prominent Latinx voices in this developing story. [Limited pink colored vinyl pressing.]

Kate Tempest - The Book Of Traps And Lessons CD (American)

Limited deluxe edition. A handful of words often tell you everything you need to know. When asked, who is Kate Tempest? "Kate Tempest is the words," she responds. For a woman whose public life remains rooted in poetic magnetism, five words serve as an apropos summation. Yet, her actions beg you to surmise so much more. That's because you haven't ever seen, heard, or experienced anyone quite like her. Tempest uncovers the missing link between the Golden Ages of literature and hip-hop.

Torche - Admission CD/LP (Relapse)

Fifteen years into their career, Torche has established themselves as a cornerstone of American heavy rock. On new album Admission, the band's unforgettable vocal harmonies are met with hook-driven, pop sensibilities that propel the music to new heights.

Live & in Concert

Jerry Garcia Band - GarciaLive Volume 11: November 11th, 1993 Providence Civic Center 2xCD (Rounder/ATO)

The next installment of the Jerry Garcia live archival series GarciaLive features a performance from the final Jerry Garcia Band East Coast tour. The concert from Providence finds Jerry Garcia backed by keyboardist Melvin Seals, bassist John Kahn, drummer David Kemper and vocalists Gloria Jones and Jacklyn LaBranch. This long-running Jerry Garcia Band lineup provided a bevy of gems from the group's repertoire including Garcia/Hunter standouts "Cats Under The Stars" and "Mission In The Rain" as well as covers of Norton Buffalo's "Ain't No Bread In The Breadbox", Peter Rowan's "Midnight Moonlight", The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" and Jesse Stone's "Don't Let Go". GarciaLive Volume 11 contains a pair of rarities: the infrequently played by JGB renditions of Van Morrison's "He Ain't Give You None" and Smokey Robinson's "When The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game".

Foreigner - Live At The Rainbow '78 CD/2xLP (Rhino)

Live archive release. On April, 27 1978, Foreigner played a sold-out show at London's celebrated Rainbow Theatre. 40 years later, the memorable performance by the original band has been restored from the original film reels, remixed and remastered.

Soundtracks

Little Steven and The Interstellar Jazz Renegades - Lilyhammer: The Score - Volume 1: Jazz CD/LP (UMe)

Little Steven and The Interstellar Jazz Renegades - Lilyhammer: The Score - Volume 2: Folk, Rock, Rio, Bits And Pieces CD/2xLP (UMe)

The soundtrack to Little Steven's acclaimed Netflix TV series, Lilyhammer. For the series, Little Steven Van Zandt created many songs and scores ranging from traditional Norwegian folk, rock to mambo.

New on Vinyl

Khruangbin - Hasta El Cielo LP (Dead Oceans)

Globetrotting Texan trio Khruangbin release a dub version of their second album Con Todo El Mundo. The band's exotic, spacious, psychedelic funk aligns with the dub treatment particularly well. Includes h two bonus dubs by renowned Jamaican producer Scientist. [Limited yellow colored vinyl pressing also available.]

Grateful Dead - Fillmore West, February 28, 1969 5xLP (Grateful Dead)

The Grateful Dead's four night stand at The Fillmore West from Thursday February 27 through Sunday March 2, 1969 stands as one of the premier events in Grateful Dead history. For once, The Dead played at their creative best when state-of-the-art recording equipment was hooked up and rolling.

Sanford Clark - They Call Me Country [Reissue/1968] LP (Numero)

Propelled by his 1956 Lee Hazlewood- produced hit The Fool, Sanford Clark was already a rockabilly legend in his own right by the time he swapped his hair gel and switchblade for a pair of cowboy boots on They Call Me Country. Recorded between 1965-67 and originally released as a series of singles for Phoenix's Ramco label, the 12 tracks on this LP borrow Bakersfield's outlaw sound and ignore Nashville's countrypolitan flair, standing as a true lost masterpiece of country music's third generation. Clark's booming baritone tells tales of bar fights, heartaches, and drinking 'til you can't stand, while Waylon Jennings provides a backdrop of fuzzed out guitar twang.

Various Artists - Brought To Light LP (FatCat)

FatCat has a long tradition of supporting new artists and treating demos with an open mind. This new collection of songs, the first in a trilogy of such releases, is demonstrable to the eclectic taste the label has always possessed. FatCat has always been a label that comfortably straddles the line between guitar music and electronica. For this release, the focus is on the sort of DIY guitar sound of which Paws and TRAAMS fans might enjoy. Away from the FatCat roster, fans of Yuck, Cloud Nothings, Drenge and Girl Band will also find plenty in which to immerse themselves.

Honey Radar - Ruby Puff Of Dust LP (What's Your Rupture?)

Ruby Puff Of Dust is the fifth full-length overall for the Philadephia-based outfit, sitting atop a body of releases that swells every time you check back in with them. It's got twelve songs and stands as one of the most pop-oriented Honey Radar releases - all killer, all signal, Roger McGuinn playing 12-string with a glasscutter, Buffalo Springfield eating the draft, mysterious psychoactive compounds found in the bottom of a cardboard box in storage...

Mal Blum - Pity Boy CD/LP (Don Giovanni)

Blum has become one of Don Giovannis most popular artists. They've toured relentlessly, both solo and with a band, most notably this year traveling in support of Lucy Dacus as well as the live show of popular podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It's impactful to listen to these songs through a transgender lens and some of the songs do touch on Blums experience coming out as non-binary and transgender, a never-ending project in a starkly binary world - but truthfully, all these songs offer crashes of loneliness and sparks of euphoric recognition that will feel familiar to anyone surviving in 2019.

Body Type - EP1 & EP2 LP (PTKF)

Body Type patched themselves together in Sydney in 2016, and found they each contained pieces that perfectly complemented one another's. They soon set about articulating their ideas through jangling guitars and scuzzy, lo-fi production, and found that audiences at home and around the country were eager to get sucked in. Following the debut release of EP1 in late 2018, and the sophomore release of EP2 in May 2019, both Body Type EPs are presented together on vinyl for the first time.

Lee "Scratch" Perry - Makumba Rock 10" (On-U Sound)

A follow-up EP to Perry's recently released and Rainford LP. The A-side of this EP serves up an extended version of album highlight "Makumba Rock", vocal mashed into dub in classic Jamaican discomix style. On the flip is the non-album track "Heaven & Hell", a psychedelic funk shuffle with decaying horns disintegrating into the fog of effects and relentless Upsetter wisdom.

Universal Togetherness Band - Dreamality b/w Lucky Stars 7" (Numero)

Two brilliant, previously unissued modern soul discoveries from the archive of U.T.B. mastermind Andre Gibson. "My Lucky Stars" rides the 120 BPM crest, with sharp horns, handclaps, triangle, and a wild guitar solo filling out the four-and-a-half-minute ride. "Dreamality" cops a Steve Miller vibe and goes on a spaced-out future funk adventure.

Bobbi Humphrey - Blacks And Blues [Reissue/1973] LP (Blue Note)

Flutist Bobbi Humphrey found wide success with Blacks And Blues, her breakout third album for Blue Note, working with the Mizell Brothers (who had recently hooked up with Donald Byrd to produce the trumpeter's landmark album Black Byrd) to create a jazz-funk classic for the ages featuring the standout track "Harlem River Drive". Humphrey's alluring flute and breezy vocals paired with Larry Mizell's compelling R&B jazz fusion compositions and production proved a winning combination.

Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield [Reissue/1966] LP (Atlantic)

Buffalo Springfield - Buffalo Springfield Again [Reissue/1967] LP (Atlantic)

Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around [Reissue/1966] LP (Atlantic)

When Canadian transplants Neil Young and Bruce Palmer intersected with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Dewey Martin on the Sunset Strip in 1966, one of the truly great Los Angeles bands was born: Buffalo Springfield. Taking their name from a steamroller they'd seen parked on a street, the quintet emerged as folk-rock/country-rock leaders during their tumultuous two-year existence.

Cortex - Spinal Injuries [Reissue/1983] LP (Sacred Bones)

Informed by deep and enthusiastic underground music knowledge, Cortex were key in the ongoing musical narrative of Swedish punk and post-punk. The late frontman of Cortex, Freddie Wadling (1951-2016) is a legend of enormous stature in Sweden: he is revered on the level of, say, Captain Beefheart or Serge Gainsbourg, and has been a key influence for generations of Swedish artists over the past four decades. His work ranges from proto-punk to equilibrist jazz vocals, and the trajectory of his cultural life from the Swedish underground of the early 1970s to his final years as an iconic interpreter of the Swedish songbook in the mainstream has to include a discussion and the experience of what many consider his greatest album: Cortex's debut LP Spinal Injuries. [Limited clear vinyl pressing.]

We Were Promised Jetpacks - These Four Walls [Reissue/2009] 2xLP (FatCat)

To celebrate their debut album's 10th birthday, and just in time for their upcoming US tour this summer, We Were Promised Jetpacks release an expanded anniversary gold colored vinyl edition of These Four Walls, including eight previously unreleased tracks.

Nick Murphy/Chet Faker - Run Fast Sleep Naked LP (Downtown)

Recently released on CD - now available on vinyl. The new release from Nick Murphy, the artist formerly known as Chet Faker, Run Fast Sleep Naked is the follow-up to his 2014 debut Built On Glass which was released under the Chet Faker moniker, and 2017's Missing Link EP. Co-produced by Dave Harrington, the vocals for the collection were captured all around the world during the last four years. For the record, Murphy found "spaces and environments that most inspired him," ranging from his grandmother's living room to a studio in Tokyo to a New Zealand rental home while on vacation with his family. During this period, the musician began a process of intense self-examination, using Joseph Campbell's writings to question his role as an artist in modern society. The instrumentation for the album was later recorded at Brooklyn, New York's Figure 8 with help from over 15 musicians and a full orchestra.

Nicolas Jaar - Space Is Only Noise LP (Circus Company)
2019 repress of the producer's debut full-length album. Second edition with amended tracklisting. Few are the producers of any age with the guts to ride a sub-100-bpm tempo at peak-time in the techno Mecca of Berlin, and fewer still are those who receive an ecstatic hands-in-the-air response for their precocious efforts. It is precisely this sense of risk which elevates Space Is Only Noise beyond the realm of valiant first effort or crossover dance music oddity. Those looking to wade through the sea of Jaar's potential influences will quickly find themselves in the deep waters of golden age Factory records, the home-spun digitalism of Mille Plateaux, Endtroducing-era DJ Shadow and Eric Satie.

Coil - Theme from the Gay Man's Guide to Safer Sex OST CD/LP
Now available on vinyl. Coil's unreleased 1992 soundtrack for the VHS only, pre-internet, sexual education documentary entitled The Gay Man's Guide To Safer Sex. Members for this project were John Balance, Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson, and Danny Hyde. According to Balance, the OST "is [a] slightly new age-y, progressive house type thing". Another way to approach it is as a delightful collection of Balearic beats, smoking jazz not far removed from Badalamenti's work with David Lynch, somewhat of an ambient house album for your home listening and early morning sunrise dances. Bonus tracks "Nasa-Arab" and "Omlagus Garfungiloops" are taken from the 1992 CD-only release Stolen And Contaminated Songs, both being original versions of the radically reworked (for the OST) "Nasa-Arab 2" and "Exploding Frogs."

Banshee - Thought Bubbles EP 12" (Goon Club Allstars)
Independent London label Goon Club Allstars present Banshee, a producer plucked from the murky internet landscape and a perfect fit for their undefined club world. Following on from his sold-out white label High Let Me Fly, Banshee takes remembered fragments of singers found in deep YouTube wormholes, and loops them to transcendent effect, both hi-def, hi-gloss but othered, with new meanings bubbling out of the fissures at the points where they've been reassembled.

Isaac Delusion - Midnight Sun/Early Morning LP (Cracki Records)
French dream-pop group, crafting wistful compositions based around samples of artists such as Joanna Newsom ("Purple Sky"). Isaac Delusion drew their imagination from trips to Iceland and experiences elsewhere. The group is apart, it wanders while preserving its identity -- the spirit of Cracki Records hovers over the project. The dream sticks to their skin, in fact. Just as when trying to catch one, it flies away, their music is elusive. The first disc spoke of a sun at midnight, the second is dawn.

Harry Partch - Delusion of the Fury 2LP (Columbia)
2019 repress, originally released in 1971. "In this long-awaited masterwork, Harry Partch rises above all attempts at descriptive containment and becomes quite simply heroic. Delusions Of The Fury, proceeding from tragedy to comedy, is nothing less than the full, ritualistic expression, in vocal instrumental and corporeal terms, of the reconciliation by the living both with death and with life. It is a total Partch statement, incorporating voices, mime, his celebrated instruments, dance, lighting and staging, all working to express this philosophical concept. Delusion Of The Fury, as is to be expected, is not cast in the common dramatic/musical mold." -- Eugene Paul

Sadaf - History of Heat LP (Blueberry Records)
Sadaf H Nava is an Iranian composer, violinist, and visual artist. History of Heat is an experimental narrative and cinematic pastiche of all original and self-recorded material. A chaotic mix of sounds, both analog and digitally produced, recalling a warlike interpersonal breakdown. The album is framed within a discursive love story which reflects larger relational problems and interpersonal traumas. Looped vocals act as incantations woven in and out of lyrical singing and spoken word. The instrumentals embrace chaos and intensity. Improvised violin and broken-down beats complement and balance the melancholic overtones which flutter above off the grid rhythms in this charged ficto-personal account.

Umm Kulthum - The Twinkling Star LP (Fantome Phonographique)
Originally released in 1961. Kalthoum is a legendary Egyptian vocalist and one of the biggest celebrities of the 20th century Arab world, considered a national treasure and known as "the voice of Egypt" and "Egypt's fourth pyramid." This 1961 album originally released on Parlophone is one of the finest examples of her vocal ability and a beautiful example of mid-20th century Egyptian popular music. Kalthoum counts among her legion of fans none other than Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Bono, and Youssou N'Dour, along with most of the Arab speaking world, and this LP is one of the finest of her career. An absolute legend!

Martin Rev - Clouds of Glory LP (Bureau B)
Second solo album from one-half of seminal synth-punk duo Suicide (with Alan Vega), originally released in 1985. Suicide mirrored the reductive and radical traits of the contemporaneous punk scene that was in the process of emerging, but their electronic, minimalist form of language was so unique, so innovative, that they would become a major influence on the likes of Daft Punk, Air, and Aphex Twin. In spite of Clouds of Glory having been recorded with the same equipment as the Alan Vega/Martin Rev Suicide album (1980), it occupies a completely different space, evoking the solemnity of religious music through its underlying meditative tone. "I look now upon the album as part of a personal journey into the frontier of music; a process which is never ending in its revealing of possibilities to satisfy my musical aspirations."

Oren Ambarchi - Simian Angel LP (Editions Mego)
After a trilogy of explorations of relentlessly driving rhythms, Simian Angel finds Ambarchi returning in part to the spacious electric guitar-based canvases of his classic releases and features the remarkable percussive talents of Brazilian legend Cyro Baptista. While the rich, swirling harmonics of Ambarchi's guitar performance are familiar to listeners from his previous recordings, the subtly wavering, synthetic guitar tone you hear is quite new, coming across at times like an abstracted, splayed-out take on the '80s guitar synth work of Pat Metheny or Bill Frisell. His playing also leaves behind the minimalist simplicity of much of his previous work for a constantly-shifting play between lush consonance and uneasy dissonance. Subtle yet complex, fleeting yet emotionally affecting.

Reissues & From The Archives

Paul McCartney & Wings - Wings Over America [Reissue/1976] 2xCD/3xLP (Capitol)

Paul McCartney - Choba B CCCP [Reissue/1988] CD/LP (Capitol)

Paul McCartney - Paul Is Live [Reissue/1993] CD/2xLP (Capitol)

Paul McCartney - Amoeba Gig (Live In Los Angeles) [Reissue/2010] CD/2xLP (Capitol)

Remastered CD and vinyl reissues of four McCartney live albums, including his unannounced performance at Amoeba in L.A. on June 27th, 2007.

Joe Satriani and Squares - Squares CD/LP (earMUSIC)

Satriani has often mentioned in interviews the musical trio that launched the next step in his musical career, his first band, the Squares, formed in Berkeley, CA in the late '70s. Until now, no recordings of the inception of the legendary Satriani sound were available.

Compilations, Best Of's, & Sundry Collections

Various Artists - Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit's The Midnight Organ Fight CD/LP (Canvasback Music/Atlantic)

Recorded in 2018 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the acclaimed Scottish band Frightened Rabbit's seminal album The Midnight Organ Fight, friends - including The National's Aaron Dessner and Chvrches' Lauren Mayberry, The Hold Steady's Craig Finn, Katie Harkin & Sarah Silverman, Manchester Orchestra, and Death Cab For Cutie's Benjamin Gibbard, among others - contributed their own renditions of every track on the original 2008 release.

METZ - Automat CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)

A collection of non-album singles, B-sides, and rarities dating back to 2009. METZ, the delightfully noisy three-piece punk band from Toronto, have been laying waste to stages around the globe for over 10 years. During that tumultuous chunk of time the band has cemented their reputation as one of the planet's most exhilarating live acts and trusted providers of bombastic outsider rock.

Various Artists - Red Gold Green & Blue CD/2xLP (Trojan Jamaica)

The conceptual adventure that became the compilation, Red Gold Green & Blue calls on the black cream of Jamaican artistry, generations of talent spanning decades. Completing a circle, the classic American blues songs performed here, bring out an intriguing tonality in this record's top-notch selection of already flavorful voices, familiar and brand new. This modern anthology throws down a creative challenge: how will today's great Jamaican artists, themselves descendants of captured Africans, reinterpret African American blues songs written and sung by artists who are effectively their own long-lost family? Red Gold Green & Blue is a missing link that helps to try and bind a fractured African diaspora. Each of the idiosyncratic tracks reborn here represents the sort of pan-African vision that fired Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley and Angela Davis. Wherever they came from, stolen Africans had no control over where the slave ships would make them disembark. But whether it was New Orleans or Kingston, Jamaica, the music they brought with them would survive, against all odds, evolve, elevate and change global culture. This record is in some measure a tribute to their resilience and brilliance.

Various Artists - Digital Kabar: Electronic Maloya from La Reunion Since 1980 CD (InFine)
A compilation of electronic music from Reunion, an island in the Indian Ocean. Combining tropical sounds, sunny moods, and créole dialect, Digital Kabar is the perfect summer-opening compilation for both rare groove diggers and DJs in search of the best tropical beats. A moment of life and sharing where handcrafted instruments, neighborhood meetings, ritual dances and lyrical demands are mixed, a meeting. Born from the musical union of maloya and electronic music, Digital Kabar is a compilation at the crossroads of cultures, porous to all sound experiences.