New Releases - 7/14/23
Hitting The Racks
Here's your weekly rundown of what's hitting the new release racks at Grimey's
New Releases
Being Dead – When Horses Would Run LP (Bayonet)
Garage-y psychedelic outsider pop band Being Dead should be considered in the same category as rainbows and finding $60 in the pocket of a winter coat: incontrovertibly lovable. [Limited edition creamsicle color vinyl.]
Duane Betts – Wild & Precious Life CD/2xLP (The Royal Potato Family)
Wild & Precious Life offers up a timeless version of American music - a mix of blues, rock, folk, and country that could've blanketed the FM radio airwaves during any number of decades. It's a modern album inspired by some of the best parts of the past, full of sharply crafted songs written in a state of deep reflection and Duane's journey toward sobriety.
Sam Burton – Dear Departed CD/LP (Partisan)
Dear Departed, the second album from Sam Burton, arose from a time of rebirth. In the last few years, Burton basically started over. He temporarily abandoned the life he'd built in Los Angeles and spent time with friends and family friends in rural Utah and California. After all that time wandering, couch-surfing, and writing, Burton emerged with more than enough material for his sophomore outing. He joined up with producer Jonathan Wilson to craft a more intricate, layered sound that recalled the lived-in yet immediate singer-songwriter albums of the '60s and '70s. Together they achieved a sound that didn't descend into retro pastiche, but rather became an evocative echo, a dream of the past. In scope, Dear Departed finds Burton using a far bigger canvas than on his debut, giving the emotions therein a new sense of urgency and intensity. But the album still has an intimacy to it, like Burton and his backing musicians are crammed onto the corner stage of a smoke-filled bar in a long-lost time. [Limited edition white vinyl.]
Cafuné – Running LP (Elektra)
Running is the debut album by Cafuné. During the five years after Noah Yoo and Sedona Schat graduated from college together in the mid- 2010s, the duo continued to write songs and play shows in New York as they worked around their day jobs. One of the songs on the album is "Talk"; it's about the tension between feeling alone and alienated while also wanting to feel better and needing to open up to people. Improvised around the clanking pipes of Yoo's apartment, the atmosphere on the track is spectral, glowing with the distortion of an old heater and the digital haze of manipulated drum breaks.
Chamber – A Love To Kill For CD/LP (Pure Noise)
Second album from the Nashville-based metalcore band. [Indie store exclusive electric blue w/ white & black color vinyl.]
Clark – Sus Dog CD/2xLP (Throttle)
Clark recruits none other than Thom Yorke as exec producer for his first album centered on his own singing. It combines his trademark searing synth melodies and beats with vocal hooks. Thom says "the way he approached it all wasn't the usual singer songwriter guff thank god; it mirrored the way he approached all his composition and recording, but this time it had a human face. His face." Chris says, "I kept on thinking what it would sound like if The Beach Boys took MDMA and made a rave record."
Claud – Supermodels CD/LP/Cassette (Dead Oceans)
No matter your age or station, Supermodels is the sort of record you can hear yourself in. Claud's engrossing and poignant second album is a confident diary of the mercury of life and love in one's early 20s, whether it's the self-doubt that creeps through its tunes or the place of compromise they try to find. It's an exacting map of the emotional and logistical vicissitudes they'd encountered in their early 20s. Fissures in romances and friendships, pressures of recording careers, the casualties of growing up: Each of these 13 songs is another articulated diary entry, threaded together with scant regard for genre and with the roller-coaster of feeling that gives each tune such specific gravity. [Limited-edition ‘cloud’ color vinyl.]
End Reign – The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay CD/LP (Relapse)
Baltimore’s End Reign make their Relapse Records debut with their explosive album, The Way Of All Flesh Is Decay. Masterminded by underground music fixture Domenic Romeo (Integrity/Pulling Teeth/A389 Recordings) and featuring an all-star cast of musicians and contributors, End Reign fuses apocalyptic hardcore with vicious metal in a deadly collision of the classic and the modern.
glaive – i care so much that i don't care at all CD/LP (IGA)
Produced with previous collaborators Jeff Hazin and Ralph Castelli, alt-pop prodigy glaive's debut album - i care so much that i don't care at all - finds him turning inward, reflecting with blunt honesty about growing up and outgrowing his North Carolina hometown. Glaive recorded the 13-track collection in a windowless garage in L.A. with a dog and no air conditioning. Featuring the singles "as if" and "i'm nothing that's all i am." His three EPs to date have received widespread critical acclaim, landing him at the top of best-of lists from The New York Times, The Fader and more. [Limited-edition coke bottle clear vinyl.]
Bana Haffar - Intimaa' LP (Touch)
Bana Haffar is an electronic music composer working with the materiality of sound. Through research-creation, she works with sound design and sample-based music sequencing as they relate to various non-musical systems. Intimaa' ("belonging" in Arabic), is a documentation of pieces composed for Touch's 40th anniversary celebrations in Los Angeles and Santa Cruz in the Spring of 2022. Pulling from ongoing research in weaving and textiles, the pieces are informed by the interchangeability of the weaver's process with the sequencing of sound -- from sourcing and preparing materials to be woven (recording, editing, and formatting samples), preparing the loom (programming the sequencer), and finally, weaving the cloth (playing back, manipulating, and recording the sequence). In contrast to her previous work with modular synthesizers, Intimaa' was composed on a music tracker sequencer.
Shafiq Husayn - So Gold LP (Nature Sounds)
Acclaimed producer, songwriter, and vocalist Shafiq Husayn has been a vital force on the Los Angeles music scene for decades. A member of trendsetting trio Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Shafiq has produced tracks for a staggering spectrum of talent, including Erykah Badu,Ty Dolla $ign, Pharoahe Monch, Robert Glasper, Ice T, Bilal, Jurassic 5, and many more. So Gold is an eclectic masterpiece emerging from sessions Shafiq describes as “pure love, magic, inspiration!” A worthy follow-up to Shafiq’s acclaimed 2018 opus The Loop, the album features contributions from Anderson .Paak, Syd (of The Internet), Peyton, Thurz,Jimetta Rose, Speed Walton, and many more. Bursting with the kinetic energy of vibrant creative collaboration, the album synthesizes disparate styles into a cohesive tapestry of lush cosmic soul. “It’s new age everything and above,” Shafiq explains.“Focused and direct in the songwriting and production, but still adventurous and refreshing.”
Joe P – French Blonde 12” (Atlantic)
When New Jersey artist Joe P's band Deal Casino decided to call it quits during the early stages of the pandemic, frontman Joe Parella started posting nightly performances on TikTok. His videos began to take off, earning him hundreds of thousands of followers on the app, as well as the attention of entertainers such as Zane Lowe. French Blonde is his latest EP.
Killer Mike - Don’t Let The Devil 7” (Loma Vista)
Killer Mike has a new solo album coming on vinyl on September 15th. In the meantime we’ve got this limited edition 7” single for only $2.99 which comes with a coupon for $3 off the LP in September. Get a taste for your turntable now and then get your money back with you buy the whole LP!
Maggie Lindemann – Paranoia LP (Swixxzaudio)
Maggie Lindemann's 2021 debut Paranoia launched her as one of pop's most subversive forces. With "Knife Under My Pillow", "GASLIGHT! (feat. Siiickbrain)", "Scissorhands", "Loner", and "Crash And Burn" the EP revealed her progression as an artist coming into her own with a darker alt/punk/pop sound.
Lindstrøm – Everyone Else Is A Stranger LP (Smalltown Supersound)
Lindstrøm returns with his sixth studio album Everyone Else Is A Stranger, and the first since 2019's On A Clear Day I Can See You Forever. The title of the album was inspired by John Cassavetes' original title for his 1984 film Love Streams and contains four tracks of his signature chord-stacking disco epics and freeform cosmic voyages, stretching across nearly 40 minutes. An album that in many ways sums up his career and gathers his different musical paths into one sound and one album.
Mahalia – IRL CD (Atlantic)
British R&B singer/songwriter Mahalia drops the new album IRL which includes the singles "Terms And Conditions", "Cheat", and "In My Bag" and boasts features from the likes of Stormzy, JoJo, Joyce Wrice and Kojey Radical. Aptly titled IRL, Mahalia is particularly incessant on doubling down on vulnerability, internal reflection, and a desire to feel, in the realms of love specifically as demonstrated on her last project. Standing as one of British R&B's most successful contemporary faces, Mahalia continues to grow and establish herself in both her tact as an artist, but in building more robust ruminations sonically.
Charif Megarbane - Marzipan CD/LP (Habibi Funk)
As a composer and producer, Charif Megarbane touts hugely versatile musicianship—his 100+ catalogue of projects (including legendary groups like the Cosmic Analog Ensemble, Free Association Syndicate, Monumental Detail, etc.) cover an enormous range of sonic directions. On Marzipan, Megarbane finds a sonic through-line in his surrounding soundscapes as he draws on the chaotic energy of the crowded Beirut metropolis (“Souk El Ahad”), the warm atmosphere of the Lebanese countryside (“Chez Mounir”), or the lushness of a Mediterranean beach resort (“Portemilio”), and his instrumental catalogue is vast: toy glockenspiel, harpsichord, pedal steel, a classic Wurlitzer, et al are used liberally on the record. In many ways, Marzipan is a cartographic feat—it travels and traces a journey across many dimensions, both sonic and physical.
Blake Mills – Jelly Road CD/2xLP (Verve Forecast)
Blake Mills returns with his first solo record since 2020's Mutable Set. Co-produced by Blake and experimental artist Chris Weisman, this release highlights Mills' impeccable songwriting and unique voice on guitar as well as many other instruments. Key musicians on this release include Wendy Melvoin, Sam Gendel, Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and a co-write with Cass McCombs.
Lukas Nelson + Promise Of The Real – Sticks And Stones CD/LP (6ace)
Self-produced by Lukas Nelson + Promise Of The Real, Sticks And Stones was written solely by the Grammy Award-winning artist with the hope of bringing people together at the forefront of his mind, bringing upbeat energy and a sense of fun. Sticks and Stones captures the band's musical power and fits perfectly alongside the canon of the electric live performances they're known for. These twelve songs are both spirited and heartfelt, as Nelson explores the universal human experiences of love, heartbreak, celebration, longing, and self-reflection through his singular and thoughtful perspective. [Limited-edition clear w/ white & blue vinyl.]
Night Beats – Rajan LP (Suicide Squeeze)
As Night Beats, Texas-born, L.A.-based artist Danny Lee Blackwell creates music like one might assemble a puzzle. The Western psychedelic auteur builds his work from one moment, an initial spark that must fit a certain criterion: it must give him goosebumps. If that sensation arrives, Blackwell will pursue the idea relentlessly until he has a new song; if not, he moves onto the next moment, constantly looking for the perfect molecule of a song. On his new Night Beats album, Rajan, the songwriter is at his strongest, creating works that shine with captivating melodies and hypnotic rhythms, but are underscored by subtle choices of craftsmanship that can only be achieved after countless hours in the studio. [Limited-edition ‘red clay’ color vinyl.]
Rita Ora – You & I CD/LP (BMG)
Following on from her 2018 album Phoenix, Rita Ora returns with her 2023 album You & I which features the singles "You Only Love Me" and "Praising You". With a co-writing credit on every track, You & I is Rita's most diaristic project yet and pays homage to her own eclectic tastes. At its core, You & I is a high-spirited record about what it feels like to fall in love and enter a new stage of life. [A deluxe CD ‘zine’ version is available.]
Palehound – Eye On The Bat LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
With their latest album, Eye On The Bat, Palehound has unleashed a sonic tour de force that cements their status as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking artists in indie rock. Recorded with Sam Owens (Big Thief, Cass McCombs) at Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskill Mountains, the album is a breathtaking showcase of artistic growth and evolution, with primary songwriter El Kempner (as well as multi-instrumentalist Larz Brogan) delivering a stunning batch of new songs that brim with energy, vulnerability, and raw emotion. [Limited edition translucent orange vinyl.]
Pressing Strings – …And I For You CD (Evil Teen)
…And I For You is the new album from the acclaimed Annapolis, Maryland-based trio Pressing Strings, whose influences range from folk, blues, rock, funk, soul, and reggae. Album single “Carousel” is an older catalog selection the band revamped for the new album as it highlights their strengths of groove and blues inspired songs. The electrifying new rock track follows the release of the band’s infectious single “Your Love”, currently impacting Triple A and Americana radio. …And I For You, the seventh full-length album from Pressing Strings, is available via Warren Haynes’ Evil Teen Records.
Pvris – Evergreen CD/LP (Hopeless)
Having felt caged in the machine of modern-day society, Pvris sought to fight back the only way they knew how, through innovative interpretation of the rock resurgence in music today and flipping it on its head. [Limited edition olive green vinyl.]
Ramona Lisa – Arcadia LP (Caroline Polachek)
Over the last year, Chairlift's Caroline Polachek was playing secret shows and debuting new material under increasingly inventive, singer-songwriterly pseudonyms such as Ramona Lisa, the name under which she’s presented her solo debut, Arcadia. The album is a quiet curiosity, a quirky side project that’s mostly a labor of love. Arcadia was composed and recorded entirely on tour and on laptop with MIDI instruments, but the music’s not too recognizably lo-fi or idiosyncratic, especially when compared to some of Chairlift’s past work. There are reprises and recurring motifs that lend Arcadia a conceptual coherence, but Polachek’s songwriting is as broad as it is pared-down.
Raveena – Asha’s Awakening 2xLP (WB)
Asha's Awakening is the second studio album by singer-songwriter Raveena, originally released in 2022. Asha's Awakening is a concept album from the point of view of a Punjabi space princess called Asha.
Lauren Spencer Smith – Mirror CD/LP (Republic)
Multiplatinum singer-songwriter Lauren Spencer Smith releases her debut album; 15 deeply moving, personal songs which tell a story filled with autobiographical ups and downs. It’s an album that promises depth, range, and narrative [Limited-edition clear vinyl.]
Snõõper - Super Snõõper CD/LP (Third Man)
Snõõper is a fast, highly synchronized, and immersive band that was formed in Nashville during the start of the pandemic by musician Connor Cummins and visual/ video artist Blair Tramel. The full band made its live debut in September 2021 and has been on the go ever since. They won crowds over at Gonerfest 18 and 19, SXSW, Mosswood Meltdown and Music Frozen Dancing. They have toured across the US, in addition to supporting dates with Amyl and the Sniffers, Lil Ugly Mane, Cobra Man, Pissed Jeans, Uranium Club and Snail Mail. Snõõper integrates many different artistic mediums (music, video art, puppetry, assemblages, etc.) into their live shows to create a unique experience for viewers. [Limited-edition translucent green vinyl.]
Temple Of Angels – Endless Pursuit LP (Run For Cover)
Cloudy clear vinyl pressing. Temple Of Angels' debut full-length, Endless Pursuit, is a towering and stunning album of gothic beauty that heralds the proper arrival of one of the most dazzling bands performing right now. Shaped by the ghosts of the past and the wonder of the present, the release is dream pop at its most striking, using the haze and beauty of the genre not to blur songs until they are impenetrable in every sense, but rather to capture the fleeting wonder of new love and emphasize the confusion and disorientation of loss.
Tigercub – The Perfume Of Decay LP (Loosegroove Inc)
Tigercub return with their highly anticipated new album The Perfume Of Decay via Loosegroove Records (the label co-founded by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard). With The Perfume of Decay — Tigercub' third record of nocturnal, hard-hitting rock — frontman Jamie Hall draws the curtains shut and embraces a moody, melancholic sound that's every bit as cinematic as Hollywood itself. It's an album about counterpoint and opposites, stacked with songs that contrast overdriven guitars with whispered vocals, tight grooves with shoegazing swells of noise, sonic experimentation with sharp songwriting. [Indie exclusive gold vinyl.]
Don Toliver – Love Sick LP (Atlantic)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Hip-hop soul artist Don Toliver is proud to announce the release of his new album Love Sick. The highly anticipated collection arrives with a self-written short film, Love Sick, presented by Rotation. Love Sick includes the brand new single "Slow Motion (Feat. Wizkid)" and such scintillating new tracks as "Leave The Club (Feat. Lil Durk &GloRilla)", and "4 Me (Feat. KaliUchis)".
Colter Wall – Little Songs CD/LP (RCA)
On Little Songs, fans of Colter Wall will find the same hardscrabble voice they've loved over the years connecting the contemporary world to the values, hardships, and celebrations of rural life. From the titular track he sings, "You might not see a soul for days on them high and lonesome plains. You got to fill the big empty with little songs." The ten-song LP features eight originals inspired by – and written in – Wall's home of Battle Creek, Saskatchewan, along with the Hoyt Axton cut "Evangelina" and a cover of Ian Tyson's "The Coyote & The Cowboy." Recorded with his longtime touring band, Little Songs is an upbeat, sometimes somber glimpse into the rural work and social life of the Canadian West, and, more so than with previous albums, opens emotional turns as mature and heartening as the resonant baritone voice writing them. [Limited-edition blue vinyl.]
Ylia - Ame Agaru LP (Balmat)
The second album from Susana Hernández's project Ylia is a clear continuation of the ambient investigations of her debut Dulce Rendición, but swaps that faintly cosmic atmosphere for a melancholy sense of stillness, reflecting a year of grief following the release of her debut. Ylia has also folded in a number of acoustic elements: her partner, Alejandro Lévar, lends fingerpicked acoustic guitar to the glowing dronescapes of "Todos los Cuerpos"; multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Tete Leal adds flutes, clarinet, and soprano saxophone to the opening track with a moment of contemplative calm. One track, the dub techno-influenced "Flowers in June," grew out of Ylia's live sets, but the rest are the fruit of improvisational sessions at home in Málaga, five minutes from the beach -- jamming and then refining, searching for the ideal expression of a feeling as it was first captured.
Reissues, Comps, Live Recordings, Vault Excavations...
5 Seconds Of Summer – The Feeling Of Falling Upwards – Live From The Royal Albert Hall LP (BMG)
A live recording of 5 Seconds Of Summer's 2022 one-of-a-kind performance at the world-famous Royal Albert Hall in London, a venue the band busked outside of when they moved to the UK to write for their very first album 10 years ago. The performance included reimagined versions of songs from their 11-year catalog and brand-new songs from their critically acclaimed fifth studio album 5SOS5, accompanied by a 12-piece string orchestra and a 12-member gospel choir.
Aerosmith – Aerosmith [Reissue/1973] LP (Capitol)
Remastered reissues of Aerosmith’s catalog are coming on their new label, Capitol Records. Their debut LP is out this week.
Caterina Barbieri - Ecstatic Computation CD/LP (light-years)
Three years after the original release of Caterina Barbieri's career-defining album Ecstatic Computation, the Italian artist reissues the record on the label she recently founded, light-years. Barbieri's work explores themes related to machine intelligence and object-oriented perception in sound through a focus on minimalism with modular synthesizers. Her latest album revolves around the creative use of complex sequencing techniques and pattern-based operations to explore the artefacts of human perception and memory processes by ultimately inducing a sense of ecstasy and contemplation. Computation is turned from being a formal, automatic writing technique into a creative, psychedelic practice to generate temporal hallucinations. A state of trance and wonder where the perception of time is distorted and challenged. Equally nervous and ecstatic, the fast permutation of patterns can create a state where time stands still whilst simultaneously being in motion. [Limited edition silver vinyl.]
The Beat Farmers – Poor & Famous [Reissue/1989] LP (Curb)
The Beat Farmers – Loud And Plowed And…Live!! [Reissue/1990] LP (Curb)
The Beat Farmers' third album for MCA/Curb is also their most glossily commercial, a transparent attempt to dress up their rough-edged roots rock in more commercially presentable duds. The fact that the subterfuge doesn't work not only isn't a failing, it's what gives the album its tension and makes it the most musically interesting and satisfying studio album since their indie debut, Tales Of The West. Loud And Plowed And... Live!! is a best of live collection that shows the Beat Farmers at the height of their powers in their best environment.
Ahmed Ben Ali - Subhana LP (Habibi Funk)
Libyan Reggae at its peak grooves courtesy of Benghazi-born Ahmed Ben Ali. After working with Ahmed in 2020 on the 12” hit “Subhana” Habibi Funk is back with a full length release focusing on Ahmed’s releases from the mid 2000’s. The tracks on the LP represent a blisteringly deep collection of heavy reggae rhythms and synthesized grooves from a singular creative force, inspired as much from Jamaican sonics as from Libyan folkloric styles, as Ahmed says, “it’s the Libyan style, not some bullshit.”Comes with an extensive booklet featuring background on Ahmed, including unseen photos, scans and more.
George Benson – Live At Montreux 1986 2xCD+DVD (Mercury Studios)
A frequent visitor to Montreux, George Benson has selected this show from 1986 as the first he would like released. Taken from the height of his commercial success, the concert includes classics and hits throughout the set, such as "Lady Love Me (One More Time)", "Love Ballad", "In Your Eyes", "Love X Love", "20/20", "On Broadway", "Turn Your Love Around", "Never Give Up On A Good Thing", and more.
Charli XCX – Pop 2 [Reissue/2017] LP (Atlantic)
Limited fifth anniversary pink color vinyl pressing. The 2017 album, which contains collaborations with Caroline Polachek, Kim Petras, Carly Rae Jepson and Tove Lo, is a firm fan favorite and features popular Charli XCX cuts "Out Of My Head" and "Unlock It".
Eric Clapton – Unplugged [Reissue/1992] 2xLP (Surfdog)
A three-time Grammy winner, diamond-platinum certified record, and the album that marked Eric Clapton's creative and personal comeback, 1992's Unplugged remains one of the most emotional, transfixing acoustic performances of all time. Backed by an excellent ensemble (featuring Nathan East on bass and the legendary Andy Fairweather-Low on rhythm guitar) the album contains acoustic versions of both traditional covers and originals that span Clapton's unsurpassed career.
John Coltrane – Evenings At The Village Gate: John Coltrane With Eric Dolphy CD/2xLP (Impulse!)
In August of 1961, the John Coltrane Quintet played an engagement at the legendary Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York. 80 minutes of never-before-heard music from this group was recently discovered at the New York Public Library. The recordings were made by engineer Rich Alderson as part of a test of the Village Gate's then-new sound system. The tapes seemed to have been lost, were found, but then disappeared again into Library's vast sound archives. Coltrane played his month-long Village Gate residency with a quintet featuring a revolving cast of musicians. The new album comprises unheard music and provides a glimpse into the powerful but sadly all-too-short musical partnership between Coltrane and Eric Dolphy, who died three years later. This is the only recording of their vaunted Village Gate performances.
Mike Cooper – Life & Death In Paradise + Milan Live Acoustic 2018 LP+CD (A Paradise Of Bachelors)
Mike Cooper wrote his final songwriter record, a suite of gloaming glam-rock anthems performed with a spiritual jazz trio, while living on the Costa Tropical of Granada, Spain, an era when he was considering retiring from music altogether. A chance encounter and a last-ditch record deal convinced him to make one last album, which he recorded in 1974 at Pathway Studios in London, with "The Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World," featuring the inventive South African jazz rhythm section of Louis Moholo and Harry Miller with UK saxophonist Mike Osborne. This first-ever reissue includes a bonus CD of Milan Live Acoustic 2018, a previously unreleased solo set that represents Cooper's return, after forty-four years pursuing free improvisation and electronics, to a new, deconstructed approach to singing, steel guitar, and songcraft. [A stand-alone CD version is available.]
Marshall Crenshaw – Marshall Crenshaw [Reissue/1982] CD/LP+12” (Yep Roc)
Marshall Crenshaw's self-titled album has been called one of the greatest albums of the 1980s by Rolling Stone, Spin, MOJO, Paste and others. It includes his breakthrough hit, "Someday, Someway", and many other classic pop rock songs. Remastered by Greg Calibi, this 40th anniversary remastered reissue includes the original album + 7 bonus tracks, 5 previously unreleased.
Death Cab For Cutie – Narrow Stairs [Reissue/2008] LP (Barsuk)
Death Cab For Cutie – The Open Door [Reissue/2008] 12” (Barsuk)
Vinyl reissues now available. Released in the spring of 2008, Narrow Stairs is the follow-up to the band's classic major-label debut Plans. The Open Door four-track EP is a companion Narrow Stairs.
Deftones – Deftones [Reissue/2003] LP (Maverick)
Limited ruby red color vinyl pressing of Deftone’s self-titled 4th studio album, featuring the songs "Hexagram" and "Minerva".
Jack DeJohnette – Sorcery [Reissue/1974] LP (Craft Recordings)
Sorcery finds DeJohnette teamed up with a tight crew of virtuosic bandmates, including veterans like Dave Holland and Bennie Maupin. Discursive, meditative, trippy but grounded in tasty grooves, Sorcery is laced with flurries of Hendrix-on-jazz-steroids guitar tones and the ahead-of-its-time electronic processing of DeJohnette.
Eiafuawn – Birds In The Ground [Reissue/2006] LP (Numero)
While Duster went into hibernation in the year 2000, Clay Parton's four-track never stopped rolling. Recorded alone at home over several years, Birds In The Ground is an album of 30-something, post-9/11 malaise. Under his Eiafuawn (Everything Is All F***ed Up And What Not) acronym, Parton hides beneath layers of fuzzy and clean guitars, his hesitant, cottony vocal disappear into noise. This deluxe pressing is packaged in a gorgeous tip on sleeve and includes the complete lyrics for this cryptic entry of the Dusterverse.
Sam Gendel - Fresh Bread 2xLP (Leaving Records)
Initially quietly published then deleted via the 2020 pandemic-obscured Fresh Bread website - this all-genre Sam Gendel anthology showcases unreleased tracks collected from Gendel’s personal archive of home recordings and public performances spanning the years 2012-2020. Comprising predominantly solo works, contributing players on select tracks include Carlos Niño, Jamire Williams, Daniel Aged, Gabe Noel, and Philippe Melanson. This 2LP edition was specifically curated by Sam Gendel to highlight Fresh Bread moments across two LPs, and includes 18 of the 52 tracks from the digital release, at a total runtime of 1hr 24 minutes.
The Kinks – Preservation Act 1 [Reissue/1973] LP (Sanctuary)
The Kinks – Preservation Act 2 [Reissue/1973] LP (Sanctuary)
The Kinks – Soap Opera [Reissue/1975] LP (Sanctuary)
The Kinks – Schoolboys In Disgrace [Reissue/1975] LP (Sanctuary)
Vinyl reissues The Kinks 14th – 16th albums.
Yusef Lateef – Psychicemotus [Reissue/1965] LP (Verve)
This excellent 1965 album from the always versatile Lateef runs the gamut musically, from the Coltrane influenced "Semi-Octo" to soulful reads of standards from Hammerstein/Kern, Fats Waller and Erik Satie, and a beautifully rendered original "Bamboo Flute Blues".
Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek - A-Sides & Besides (5th Anniversary Edition)
As part of new reissue campaign for Adrianne Lenker’s earlier work, this compilation sees the vinyl debut of these tracks with Buck Meek.
Booker Little – Out Front [Reissue/1961] LP (Candid)
Out Front is probably the greatest realization on record of trumpeter Booker Little's scope as a musician and composer. It is also one of only five sessions led by Little as a band leader before his premature death at the age of 23 in 1961. The fact that this is only Little's third outing as a leader is further testament to the talents of this young artist. Arguably, the seven original compositions here might be more widely known today had his life not been so tragically cut short. Little is mostly known for this association with Max Roach, who he began playing with as early as 1955. But it was not until 1958 that he officially joined Roach's outfit and began recording with him.
Little Richard – The Complete Atlantic & Reprise Singles LP (Real Gone Music)
Red color vinyl pressing. Little Richard's one-of-a-kind career veered wildly from the sacred to the profane, but everything he did was profound; he was one of the greatest gospel and rock ‘n’ roll singers of all time. And you can scale the dizzying heights of both sides of the man's mountainous talent on this 15-track collection, which brings his Atlantic and Reprise singles back to vinyl, almost all for the first time since they originally came out on 45s.
Joni Mitchell – Song To A Seagull [Reissue/1968] LP (Rhino)
Joni Mitchell – Clouds [Reissue/1969] LP (Rhino)
Joni Mitchell's songs were already popular with the likes of Tom Rush and Judy Collins when David Crosby saw her potential as a performer and brought her to Reprise Records. Released in March 1968, Mitchell's Crosby-produced debut Song To A Seagull features relatively simple instrumentation, but the dense, sophisticated songwriting showed Joni was already looking beyond the folk idiom for inspiration (hints of classical composition can be heard here). Featuring "Chelsea Morning", "The Fiddle And The Drum" and one of Joni Mitchell's best known songs "Both Sides, Now", the accomplished singer/songwriter's second album Clouds won the 1969 Grammy (her first of nine) for Best Folk Performance.
Idris Muhammad – Black Rhythm Revolution! [Reissue/1971] LP (Craft Recordings)
Black Rhythm Revolution! is the first solo album from jazz-funk legend Idris Muhammad, a New Orleans-bred percussion wizard. Here we catch him accompanied by virtuosos Kenny Barron, Ron Carter, Melvin Sparks, who came together for sessions overseen by legendary producer Rudy Van Gelder.
R.E.M. – Around The Sun [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Craft Recordings)
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now [Reissue/2011] LP (Craft Recordings)
Vinyl reissues of R.E.M.’s thirteen and fifteenth studio albums.
Rolling Stones – Metamorphosis L[Reissue/1975] LP (Abkco)
The first official Rolling Stones rarities collection, Metamorphosis, was originally released in June 1975. The release combines legendary outtakes, rarities, and a wealth of demos that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards composed for other artists, which were subsequently re-recorded by the Stones themselves. The collection includes an orchestrated version of "Out Of Time", featured in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.
Pharoah Sanders – Black Unity [Reissue/1971] LP (Verve)
For 1971's Black Unity, Pharaoh Sanders added groove to the foundation of spiritual and free jazz he had explored on his previous Impulse! Albums. The result is a piercing and emotive 37-minute title track exploration of African, Latin, aborigine and Native American sounds, driven by rhythm.
Ravi Shankar – Shankar Family & Friends [Reissue/1973] CD/LP (BMG)
Shankar Family & Friends is an album by Indian musician Ravi Shankar, originally recorded primarily in Los Angeles during the spring of 1973, but not released until late 1974. It was produced by Shankar's friend George Harrison and is one of the first releases on the ex-Beatle's Dark Horse label.
Smashing Pumpkins – Monuments To An Elegy [Reissue/2014] LP (BMG)
Vinyl reissue of the Smashing Pumpkins’ ninth album.
Southern University Jazz Ensemble - Live at 1971 American College Jazz Festival LP (Now Again)
At the time of their release, the Southern University albums Alvin Batiste offered the world were seen as novelties, not worthy of serious consideration, a moment captured, but not necessarily worthy of being collected or preserved by anyone not immediately involved in its creation. That changes now. With this reissue, Now-Again continues a conversation begun with the late Kashmere Stage Band director Conrad O. Johnson and the issue of his high school students’ music as Texas Thunder Soul, and the continued belief that beautiful music created by youth even under the most adverse circumstances can always inspire us.
Leon Spencer – Where I’m Coming From [Reissue/1973] LP (Craft Recordings)
Where I'm Coming From has all the hallmarks of Prestige Records at its finest, with an all-star cast of sidemen who brought down Rudy Van Gelder's studio with electrifying grooves from top to bottom. Featuring scorching hot covers of Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, Leon Spencer's rippling organ lines sear this prime example of groove jazz.
Various Artists - Child of Nature LP (Forager Records)
Child Of Nature is Forager's latest sonic confluence of self-released tracks from the loners, hippies and outsiders of the 70s and early 80s. A collection of privately pressed music, able to breathe and be created free from the constraints of heavy handed commercialism, yielding a pure vision of artistic expression. Child Of Nature features ten songs of brooding soft rock and psychedelic folk steeped in melancholia. Some ache for better times or past lovers, while others seek spiritual fulfilment or social progress. Recorded on the north coast of California, Luellen Reese’s ethereal “Silvery Waterfalls” drifts and swirls with electric guitar as her unearthly vocals transcend across a seven minute opus, fit for the golden age of labels like 4AD or Dedicated. “The flowers are dancing just for you …”, Reggie Russell croons over glistening Key Of Creek’s title track “Child Of Nature”, evoking a utopian world of natural harmony free from the present day realities of industrial decay. Tap into your inner primal being, to embrace wholeheartedly, with frivolity and without reserve, your own child of nature.
Various Artists – Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Album LP (Many Hats Dist.)
To commemorate 25 years of their iconic record, Dig Me Out, Sleater Kinney gathered artists across genres to reimagine the 13 original tracks. Artists include Courtney Barnett, St. Vincent, Wilco, The Linda Lindas, Nnamdï, Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, Low, and more.