CDs + Vinyl:
Alborosie – Sound The System Showcase CD (VP Records)
Alborosie is an accomplished composer, performer, producer and dubmaster. This album features 10 extended dub workouts on tracks from his 2013 album Sound The System. The album is a bridge between the 2013 album and a 2015 dub project with Alborosie and legendary producer King Jammy titled Dub Of Thrones.
Alphaville – So8os Presents Alphaville (Curated By Blank & Jones) 2xCD (Soulfood)
Alphaville, one of the most famous and successful German bands ever, are celebrating their 30th anniversary this year. For the first time ever So8os Presents Alphaville brings together all original 12” mixes from the ‘80s plus B-Sides.
Aphex Twin – Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments, Pt. 2 CDEP/12” (Warp)
New and unheard material from Richard D. James as Aphex Twin following his first new album in 13 years, Syro. Total runtime of over 28 minutes. Artwork by The Designers Republic
BC Camplight – How To Die In The North CD/LP (Bella Union)
New album from maverick songwriter BC Camplight (the alter-ego of Brian Christinzio). From dramatic, layered pop to a haunted take on ‘60s sunshine-pop, from blue-eyed soul to speedy surf-pop, from sparser piano balladry to psychedelic showstoppers and a grand finale that’s part Nilsson and part Broadway showtune, How To Die In The North is a stylistically diverse trip.
Belle & Sebastian – Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance CD/2xCD/2xLP/4xLP+MP3 (Matador)
Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance is the long-awaited follow-up to 2010’s Write About Love. Produced and mixed at Maze Studios in Atlanta by Ben H. Allen III, best known for his work with Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, and Raury, among others, the band — who have been listening vintage Detroit techno and Giorgio Moroder — have brought a dance party element into their gorgeous tales of sensitive souls navigating a world gone awry. (Vinyl edition is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe features four extra songs plus extended mixes of two album tracks and a poster. Packaged in an outer box with four individual LPs with unique album art. Includes a download card for all of the tracks.)
Betty Ford Boys – Retox CD/LP (Melting Pot Music)
The second album by the Austro-German producer super group consisting of Suff Daddy, Dexter and Brenk Sinatra. Their brand of instrumental hip-hop pairs low-tuned and bass-heavy stoner beats with moog-driven 808 workouts.
Billy Talent – Hits CD (The End)
Since the release of their self-titled debut in 2003, Billy Talent has cemented themselves as a generation-defining rock band.
Ryan Bingham – Fear And Saturday Night CD/LP (Axter Bingham)
Recorded mostly live with a brand new backing band, Fear And Saturday Night shows Bingham facing down his past with a poetic grace throughout. The lead single “Radio” is about coping with a darkness that does not want to let go, searching for a safe place to make sense of your life and the strength to stay on the right track through it all. Some of the most affecting moments on the album are in the harmonica-driven, wistful waltz “Broken Heart Tattoos,” a song written to an unborn child, and in the title track, “Fear And Saturday Night.”
Norman Blake – Wood, Wire & Words CD (Western Jubilee)
With a career that started in the mid-‘50s and continues to this day, Norman Blake continues to astound with his country-folk-bluegrass guitar technique that transcends genre, technological changes and the whims of pop culture.
Anthony Braxton – Trio And Duet CD (Delmark)
This 1974 session features Leo Smith (trumpet, flugelhorn) and Richard Teitelbaum (Moog synthesizer) on the one trio piece on the album. The remainder of the program is composed of duets with bassist Dave Holland playing jazz standards including two previously unissued songs, “I Remember You” and “On Green Dolphin Street.”
Andy Brown – Soloist CD (Delmark)
Praised by Just Jazz magazine as a “world-class guitarist who is more than capable of giving a clinic on solo guitar performance,” this recording captures Andy’s nuanced playing on a beautiful array of standard songs, bossa novas, and jazz tunes.
Jim Ed Brown – In Style Again CD (Plowboy)
The country singer returns with his first solo recording in three decades with the release of his debut project for Plowboy Records.
Alex Calder – Strange Dreams CD/LP+MP3 (Captured Tracks)
Alex Calder’s sophomore release with Captured Tracks is as familiar as it is foreign — bringing together both infectious melodies and texture to create tidy, acid-induced pop sequences. Strange Dreams takes a confident step forward from Calder’s previous release and brings the focus and ambition of Alex’s songwriting to all aspects of his music. This record delivers, while still maintaining the youthful humor that has become his trademark.
Cloakroom – Further Out CD/LP (Run For Cover)
Further Out, the debut full length from the reclusive Indiana trio Cloakroom, can be defined best as an exploratory sonic mission. From the album’s opener, “Paperweight,” the crushing force of a wall of distorted bass and pounding drumming collapses to uncover the airy, reverb-soaked vocals of guitarist Doyle Martin, who’s carrying a sullen burden that seems just as weighed down.
The Decemberists – What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World CD/LP (Capitol)
With their two most recent albums, The Hazards Of Love and The King Is Dead, the songs flowed out of an overall theme. Entering the studio in May 2013, The Decemberists reversed that approach. “Typically we book four or five weeks in the studio and bang out the whole record,” explains singer Colin Meloy. “This time, we started by just booking three days, and didn’t know what we would record. There was no direction or focus; we wanted to just see what would come out. We recorded ‘Lake Song’ on the first day, live, and then two more songs in those three days. And the spirit of that session informed everything that came after.”
Mac DeMarco – Demos, Volume 1 CD (Captured Tracks)
Available for wide release for the first time ever on one CD, Captured Tracks brings listeners the demos of Mac DeMarco’s latest record Salad Days, as well as the demos for Mac’s critically acclaimed ‘2’.
Disappears – Irreal CD/LP (Kranky)
Irreal, the fifth long player from Chicago’s Disappears, is another trip down the rabbit hole. The album plays out as a dream sequence—hazed dub landscapes give way to the groupʼs most experimental and open music yet. If their last album Era confirmed the fact that Disappears are on their own trip, then Irreal is where it kicks in. Eternalism, roboethics, identity—it’s a Ballardian mix of imperfect melodies, half thoughts and good ol’ dystopian modernity.
Mikky Ekko – Time CD/LP (RCA)
Solo album from the singer/songwriter and producer. Features the single ‘Smile’. Mikky Ekko has collaborated with likes of David Guetta, Ryan Tedder, Christina Aguliera, Rihanna, Clams Casino, just to name a few.
Hanni El Khatib – Moonlight CD/LP+MP3 (Innovative Leisure)
On his 2011 debut Will The Guns Come Out, Hanni El Khatib tried something he’d never tried before — making a bedroom-style recording of his then stripped-to-the-skeleton guitar-and-drums rock ‘n’ roll mostly for the sheer joy of making it. For his ferocious 2013 follow-up Head In The Dirt, he tried something new again, showing up at producer Dan Auerbach’s analog-dreamland Nashville studio with nothing but the clothes on his back and an open mind. For Moonlight, El Khatib spent 30 days locked in L.A. studio The Lair. The result is the rarest and most welcome kind of album, made at that perfect point in life where confidence, experience, and technique unite to help an artist do anything they want.
Eleh – Homage 3xCD (Important)
Important Records is proud to present Eleh’s Homage series remastered and on CD for the first time. Certain frequency combinations that were impossible to cut on LP are effectively presented in this digital edition. Eleh, an artist who flourishes in restraint, uses a reduced sonic vocabulary to highlight delicate intricacies in a logical path toward harmonious satisfaction. The organization of hypnotic square waves, rippling sine waves and triangle/saw tooth waveforms is a discourse in the infinity, rather than the limits, of reduction. By employing a natural practice of balanced interpretation, Eleh enables an individual reaction free of the clutter of white noise.
Elephant Micah – Where In Our Woods CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
For the past 14 years, Elephant Micah’s Joseph O’Connell has quietly self-released his music, sometimes collaborating with the psych-folk imprint Time-Lag Records or other very small labels. Despite the project’s almost secretive status, Elephant Micah has repeatedly caught the attention of NPR, and has been championed by an impressive cohort of like-minded artists including Jason Molina, Hiss Golden Messenger, Dark Dark Dark, and Hurray For The Riff Raff.
Enter Shikari – The Mindsweep CD (Hopeless)
On The Mindsweep you can hear the band display some of their rawest, angriest vocals as well as some of the most dulcet and delicate. Melody and aggression will always be an important side of what they do, but with this album there was also a concerted effort to concentrate on texture. Alongside the core of our guitar, bass, drums, electronics set-up, there’s new instrumentation and orchestration, including woodwind, brass and strings. Vinyl version due January 27.
Extreme – Extreme II: Pornograffitti [Reissue/1990] 2xCD (A&M)
Expanded edition of the million selling album with “More Than Words” and “Get The Funk Out” and a bonus disc of rare mixes and B-Sides, all re-mastered from the original tapes.
Raymond Fairchild And The Maggie Valley Boys – King Of The Smoky Mountain Banjo Players CD (Rural Rhythm)
Born near the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina in 1939, banjo master, Raymond Fairchild is one of the finest bluegrass banjoists who ever lived. Raymond’s style is mostly his own, using the best of both Don Reno and Earl Scruggs and adding his own talents to exhibit a discernible flavor to his banjo playing. King Of The Smoky Mountain Banjo Players was recorded in 1966 and produced by Clarence Jackson. The album contains the original mixes from the original master tapes and features Raymond Fairchild on five-string banjo, Willie Hester on rhythm guitar, Wilford Messer on mandolin and fiddle and Buck Duncan on acoustic bass.
Fallout Boy – American Beauty/American Psycho CD (Island)
New album featuring the song “Immortals” as featured in the motion picture Big Hero 6.
Lupe Fiasco – Tetsuo & Youth CD (Atlantic)
This is Lupe Fiasco’s fifth studio album with Atlantic Records. On Tetsuo & Youth you will be delighted to hear Lupe’s return to the sharp lyricism and soulful production that made him a fan favorite with his first two albums (Food & Liquor and The Cool). Producers include S1 (Kanye West), DJ Dahi (Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean) and guest appearances from Ab-Soul and Nikki Jean (“Hip Hop Saved My Life”).
Stewart Francke – Midwestern: The Very Best of Stewart Francke 1995-2015 CD (Blue Boundary)
Again produced with partner Bryan Reilly at Birmingham’s RMS Studio, Midwestern represents, in Francke’s words, “my best work over the last 20 years. I hope people hear the music’s accessibility and emotional variety in the songwriting.” Midwestern is a true collection of renowned Detroit rocker Francke’s finest songs. In addition to sweeping Heartland Rock and dashes of funky blue-eyed soul, the album features Francke’s poignant collaboration with Bruce Springsteen on “Summer Soldier” and another duet with the Motor City’s Mitch Ryder on “Upon Seeing Simone.” In addition to 16 of Francke’s greatest songs, there are also two new and unreleased songs to compliment and close out the set.
The Grannies – Ballsier CD (Saustex Media)
New album from Bay Area cross-dressing, geriatric superstars. Lead singer Bjorn Toulouse wails hard won lessons about dodgy friends, gentrification and love to the chaos while producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, The Gits, Valiant Thor) aptly synthesizes the bands well-fermented bile and grungy, virulent twin-guitar attack. Vinyl version due February 17.
Derek Grant – Break Down CD/LP (Red Scare)
Dark, new wave Americana. Imagine if Prince and Ryan Adams went on a road trip and confessed all their wrongdoings. It’d be cathartic and grim but it’d also be awesome and weird. Most people know Derek Grant as the ripping drummer in Alkaline Trio, but he’s been making music for years and can sing and play any instrument like a virtuoso.
Maxmillion Hecker – Spellbound Scenes Of My Cure CD (Eat The Beat)
New release from the German Indie singer/songwriter. Each song on the album is about a specific city, moving through Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, and New York, as Hecker searches for unattainable nymphs, for instants when time seems to stand still, for glamour, sex, and love. But it’s his visits to the remote villages of Kastrup and Hennigsdorf that seem to bring him salvation and deliverance at the end of his spiritual journey. Deliverance from the ghosts of his past, deliverance from his hated mirror image that he sees in the eyes of his fellow beings, deliverance from all social restraints.
Hypercolor – Hypercolor CD (Tzadik)
Hypercolor is a bizarre trio that blends Beefheart, Sonny Sharrock and ’80s punk with contemporary classical orchestral textures, spastic world music rhythms and noise improvisation.
Jellyfish – Bellybutton [Reissue/1990] 2xCD (Omnivore)
Jellyfish – Spilt Milk [Reissue/1993] 2xCD (Omnivore)
Jellyfish’s 1990 debut, Bellybutton, has been remastered for the first time for this deluxe reissue. The full-length is joined on the first CD of the set by ten live performances recorded during that album’s tour. These tracks include Jellyfish originals, as well as covers of songs from Paul McCartney & Wings and The Archies. The second disc of the set is composed of demos — nine that would end up on Bellybutton and one eventually recorded for Spilt Milk, as well as others of which studio versions were never cut, and a cover of Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch.” The band’s follow-up, Spilt Milk, is also treated to a revelatory remastering, with the first disc adding eight demos of songs considered for, but not recorded for the release. The second disc contains demos for the album tracks, four live performances from the tour, the last studio recording from the band (a cover of Harry Nilsson’s “Think About Your Troubles”), and a special message from Jellyfish recorded in the studio during the album’s creation and originally sent to fan club members.
Joey Bada$$ – B4.DA.$$ CD/LP (Cinematic Music)
Influenced by the indie yet street attitudes of crew like Black Hippy, rapper Joey Bada$$ rose to fame by releasing mixtapes and forming his own hip-hop collective, Pro Era. Born in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, Joey began performing under the name JayOhVee, but changed it to Joey Bada$$ before signing his Pro Era crew to the Cinematic Music label in 2012. It was the same year Joey made his solo debut with the mixtape 1999, which was followed in 2013 by the mixtape Summer Knights. Later that year he made his official debut when the Summer Knights EP landed, featuring four tracks from the mixtape of the same name. B4.DA.$$ is his debut album.
The Kandinsky Effect – Somnambulist CD (Cuneiform)
On Somnambulist, The Kandinsky Effect wields its musical power in a welcoming way. Their third album (and second for Cuneiform Records) isn’t form — eschewing free jazz, nor are the tonalities the trio employs particularly “out.” The real revelation – and revolution – comes simply in the way saxophonist Warren Walker, bassist Gael Petrina, and drummer Caleb Dolister organize sound.
King Crimson – Live At The Orpheum CD+DVD-A (Discipline Global Music)
Comprised of 41 minutes of material by the newest incarnation of the band fronted by the line-up’s formidable three-drummer setup, Live At The Orpheum has been mixed from 24bit multi-track performances recorded at the band’s two concerts at the Los Angeles venue. Featuring a mixture of new and old King Crimson material — some being performed live for the first time — the album makes an ideal recorded debut for the septet. Vinyl version due January 27.
Ledisi – Intimate Truth CD (Verve)
New album from the multiple Grammy award winner, critic darling and actress. Features “I Blame You” and “Lose Control.”
Local H – Local H’s Awesome Mix Tape #2 CD (G&P)
Two-man, Chicago band Local H release their second collection of covers.
Marilyn Manson – The Pale Emperor 2xCD/2xLP (Loma Vista)
Marilyn Manson’s ninth album does not just capture our cultural moment, but sinks swamp-deep into equally redneck, snake-handling Baptist-revival-tent terror. He shape-shifts vocally from preacher man to the fangs and venom of the serpent that he holds. Sounding like a conflicted black and blues combination of a life-lived, The Pale Emperor is a nod to Manson favorites like Tom Waits, David Bowie, Alice Cooper, Joy Division and T. Rex. In its use of space and texture, the album evokes shades of PJ Harvey, The Birthday Party and Bauhaus. The CD version is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe is packaged in an eight-panel soft pack with a sand paper-grit front and back cover. Features a black polycarbonate disc with thermographic reveal ink print. Includes three bonus tracks plus exclusive interior photos by Nicholas Cope. The vinyl edition is pressed on either black or limited edition white wax.
Makaya McCraven – In The Moment CD/2xLP (International Anthem)
In The Moment was pared from nearly 48 hours of live, improvised performance, recorded at one venue over 12 months and 28 shows. Makay culled, cut, rendered and remixed the mass of sounds into 19 potent pieces of organic beat music. From local luminaries of post-rock (Jeff Parker of Tortoise) to left-field hip-hop, the stage was made as a proving ground for style experiments based in jazz and hip-hop but faithfully receiving the spontaneous summoning of a host of subconscious influences. From free jazz to krautrock to downtempo house, what they arrived at was a new lexicon within an improvisational framework.
Mind Brains – Mind Brains CD (Orange Twin)
Mind Brains features former Olivia Tremor Control member Eric Harris. Their self-titled album runs the gamut from pretty and strange group vocal excursions to long, meandering electronic instrumental passages, at times reminiscent of the works of the Residents or Captain Beefheart.
Mystery Date – New Noir CD/LP (Pinata)
Debut album by this mod/punk band influenced by First Alert, Elvis Costello and The Jam.
Jack Name – Weird Moons CD/LP (Castle Face)
Jack Name’s genius is the listener can never anticipate his next direction. A change of trajectory is as likely a return to the beginning as it is a sharp upwards spike that pulls one deeper into one’s seat and threatens unconsciousness. Nothing here is concrete or predictable. Songs float, attract, repel, and rebound off each other like pitch black matter. A wonderful followup to 2014’s masterpiece Light Show (God?), Weird Moons was recorded in a room with mirrored walls, moth-eaten shades pulled low to block the sun’s brutal radiation and the howls of the urchins 60 stories below.
Franz Nicolay – To Us, The Beautiful! CD/LP (Silversprocket)
Franz Nicolay is that multi-instrumentalist and man-about-town peddling a modern vaudeville with full-throated songs and stories shamelessly strident, stentorian and more than a little sentimental. He’s been a member of cabaret-punk circus World/Inferno Friendship Society, world’s best bar band the Hold Steady, Balkan-jazz carnies Guignol, founded the outlaw orchestra Anti-Social Music, was a touring member of agit-punks Against Me! and recorded or performed with everyone from Leftover Crack to Bruce Springsteen.
Perfect Pussy – I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
Just over a year after playing their first show as a band, Perfect Pussy have quickly made a name for themselves as one of the most intense bands in the indie rock and hardcore punk communities, both live and on record. Their fast rise to success all stemmed from this four-track demo EP, originally released as a cassette only.
Phil Perry – Better Man CD (Shanachie)
Phil Perry needs no introduction; famous for his #1 R&B hit “Call Me,” his lead vocals with Foreplay and Najee and Phil’s legendary group the Montclairs, his distinctive background vocals with the likes of Anita Baker, Barbra Streisand, Patti LaBelle, Quincy Jones, and others and his electrifying live performances, Phil Perry is a soul legend.
Chris Potter Underground Orchestra – Imaginary Cities CD (ECM)
Imaginary Cities is the recording premiere of saxophonist Chris Potter’s new Underground Orchestra. At the core of this larger ensemble is the personnel of his long-established Underground Quartet with Adam Rogers, Craig Taborn and Nate Smith now joined by two bassists, a string quartet, and Potter’s old comrade from Dave Holland Quintet days, vibes and marimba man Steve Nelson. The title composition is a suite, panoramic in its reach, with movements subtitled “Compassion,” “Dualities,” “Disintegration” and “Rebuilding.”
Question Mark & The Mysterians – Cave Stomp Presents Question Mark & The Mysterians CD (Rockbeat)
An 18-track collection of garage rock greatness from these Michigan legends. John Lennon once said that “96 Tears” is the best rock & roll song ever. Anthony Bourdain has also praised the track, and it has been covered countless times. The hit went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over a million copies when released in 1966. This collection also includes “Can’t Get Enough Of You Baby” which also hit the Top 100 and was later a Top 20 hit for Smashmouth.
Schnellertollermeier – X CD (Cuneiform)
Schnellertollermeier’s fresh and uncompromising mix of rock, jazz, punk and improvisation, combined with great ensemble interplay and a lot of energy, has gained them notice in Europe and allowed them to play a large number of festivals, including major appearances in Switzerland, Scandinavia, England, Russia and beyond.
Shiny Two Shiny – When The Rain Stops CD/LP+MP3 (Captured Tracks)
Shiny Two Shiny were an amazing ‘80s English band on the UK’s Red Flame Records. Cited in The Beat Goes On: Liverpool, Popular Music and the Changing City as an important band making contributions to the post-punk era, Captured Tracks breathes new life into the Shiny Two Shiny catalog.
Sick Feeling – Suburban Myth CD/LP (Collect Records)
Debut album from Brooklyn punks Sick Feeling. The band consists of members of Ink & Dagger, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, and The Mongoloids. “Sick Feeling is one of the most aptly named bands out there because … well, listen and you’ll understand. The New York hardcore outfit’s blistering, raw energy is something that feels like it would shine in a live setting, and fares almost as well on the group’s debut LP.” – Stereogum
The Sidekicks – Runners In The Nerved World CD/LP+CD (Epitaph)
The Sidekicks possess a teenage affinity for playing propulsive punk rock. After nearly a decade of making noisy rock music, releasing albums on tiny local labels, and incubating in the Cleveland scene, they are ready to meet the waiting world with their Epitaph debut.
Siskiyou – Nervous CD/LP+MP3 (Constellation)
Siskiyou returns with Nervous, a majestic album of carefully constructed art rock built around songwriter and lead singer Colin Huebert’s stacked acoustic guitars and intimate, whispery vocals. Siskiyou’s sound has been previously dubbed a sort of ‘Northern Gothic’, conjuring cold winds and the life-saving warmth of temporary shelters and tiny hearth fires. With Nervous, the band continues to push beyond the crisp lo-fi intimacy of its early work.
Sleater-Kinney – No Cities To Love CD/LP+MP3/LP+12”+MP3 (Sub Pop)
No Cities To Love is the first album in ten years by Sleater-Kinney (guitarist/vocalist Carrie Brownstein, vocalist/guitarist Corin Tucker, and drummer Janet Weiss), who came crashing out of the ’90s Pacific Northwest riot grrrl scene, setting a new bar for punk’s political insight and emotional impact. Formed in Olympia, WA in 1994, Sleater-Kinney were hailed as “America’s best rock band” by Greil Marcus in Time Magazine, and put out seven searing albums in ten years before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006. No Cities To Love was produced by the band’s longtime collaborator John Goodmanson and is available on CD and in Regular (black) and Deluxe (HQ-180gm white) editions on vinyl. Deluxe also adds a bonus 12″, poster, and custom slipcase.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Euclid CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
Kaitlyn’s solo debut Euclid (primarily written on a Buchla Music Easel synthesizer) was inspired by her love of mbira music, early electronic music pioneers like Laurie Spiegel, Oskar Sala, and Terry Riley, and Euclidian geometry. Each of the first six songs on Euclid were initially structured using Euclidian geometry, an idea which Smith explored while attending a class at the San Francisco Conservatory.
The Smith Street Band – Throw Me In The River CD/LP+MP3 (Side One Dummy)
The third LP from Melbourne, Australia’s The Smith Street Band is full of their trademark earnest storytelling.
Sonic Youth – Sonic Youth [Reissue/1981] CD (Goofin’)
Sonic Youth’s eponymous debut 12-inch was recorded in late 1981 at Radio City Music Hall in NYC and originally released on composer Glenn Branca’s Neutral label. The album is loosely based on compositions the newly formed group had performed at that year’s weeklong Noisefest event (and remains the only recorded document of an early line-up featuring actor Richard Edson on drums). Back in print on CD, the Goofin’ Records edition also features extra live material from a 1981 gig and an outtake from an early studio session. Vinyl version due March 21.
Steve Stoll – Solo In Place CD (Psychonavigation)
Over the years, Steve has collaborated with the likes of Patrick Codneys (Front 242), Pete Namlook, Ken Ishii, and Damon Wild, to name a few. Solo In Place is the follow up to last year’s highly praised Praxis album, and features collaborations with Mike Olsen, cello player for Arcade Fire.
Tanya Tagaq – Animism CD/LP (Six Shooter)
Fearsome, strident and elemental, Tanya Tagaq’s music is a genre unto itself. Her unique vocal style may be rooted in traditional cultural form, but her expression also aligns with avant-garde improvisation, classical expressionism and electronica influences, which inform her startling and powerful creative vision. This Inuk punk is known for delivering performances that are visceral and physical, heaving and breathing and alive.
Tango Alpha Tango – Live From The Crystal Ballroom CDEP (Tango Alpha Tango)
Tango Alpha Tango is a Portland blues-based rock group and the brainchild of singer/songwriter/guitarist Nathan Trueb.
The Tree Ring – Ten Rivers CD/LP+MP3 (Hey Amigo)
This is the third full-length album by San Diego Americana/orchestral chamber pop group. Ten Rivers is an exploration of experience in America’s natural beauty. For those who like Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Rufus Wainwright, and Nickel Creek.
The Universal Togetherness Band – Universal Togetherness Band CD/LP (Numero)
Between 1979 and 1982, The Universal Togetherness Band tracked unearthly portions of their sprawling songbook for bewildered students in Columbia College’s audio engineering program. Storming the gates of Chicago’s premier recording studios, the erudite party band explored permutations of soul, jazz-fusion, new wave, and disco with little regard for studio rates or the availability of magnetic tape. Universal Togetherness Band captures the brightest, never-before-heard moments from this visionary group’s five-semester recording bender.
Until The Ribbon Breaks – A Lesson Unlearnt CD (1405)
“Pete Lawrie-Winfield’s studio project Until The Ribbon Breaks frequently nods to celluloid, with cinematic references underpinning many of the British producer’s gloomy tracks. Begun as a solo project while Winfield was still in film school (and providing his own soundtracks for his work), UTRB infuses its first single ‘Pressure’ with snippets lifted from David Lynch’s Lost Highway. In posting online a ‘re-imagining’ of The Weeknd’s ‘Wicked Games,’ Winfield set Abel Tesfaye’s twisted track to the sultry imagery of a blindfolded Kim Basinger in 9 1/2 Weeks. In recording its debut album, A Lesson Unlearnt, the band says it entered the studio with little more than a piano, a drum machine, a microphone and a film projector.” – NPR
Various Artists – Back From The Grave Volume Eight [Reissue/1996] CD/2xLP (Crypt)
Crypt’s eighth offering in their Back From The Grave series, features total cuts by The Groop, The Benders, Adrian Lloyd, The Chancellors, The Pseudos, The Painted Ship, The Merlynn Tree, Dave Myers & The Disciples, The Cindells, The Cavedwellers, The Ascendors, The Piece Kor, The Ravenz, The Dave Starky 5, The Sonics, plus more.
Various Artists – Back From The Grave Volume 9 & 10 CD (Crypt)
These ’60s garage rock gems are balls-out, cruder- than-hell, rarer than hens teeth rawness — 13 of which are the only copy in existence, five of which there are only two copies in existence. Contains 30 cuts from bands like Warlocks, Raevins, Emeralds, Why-Nots, Turncoats, Shakles, Knoll Allen & The Noble Savages, James Bond & The Agents, The Four, Orphans, It’s Them, Nobody’s Children, Hotbeats, GMC & The Arcells, Hard Times, John English III, Expressions, and others. Housed in deluxe triple-fold out digipak with two 24-page full color booklets crammed with liner notes, band photos, and label scans.
Various Artists – The Best Arizona Garage Bands 1967-1970 CD/LP (HDM)
“The Arizona music scene during the sixties can easily be likened to its desert surroundings: The monotony of average and sometimes even good bands writing less than good and even average songs. Then one day you hear a band that knocks you out. Those are the kinds of bands that I had the opportunity to discover and produce that suddenly emerged out of garages and other little holes in walls wherever they could find a place to converge and create their music. I now have the honor and the privilege to present to you the bands that I think are Arizona’s best garage bands from 1967 to 1970.” – Hadley Murell
Various Artists – Brownswood Bubblers Eleven (Compiled By Gilles Peterson) CD (Brownswood)
Gilles Peterson and Brownswood Recordings return with the latest installment of the much loved Bubblers series. Known as something of a musical clairvoyant Gilles Peterson has built an unparalleled reputation for unearthing hidden gems and new and exciting talent over the course of his amazing career. Bubblers has established a great reputation over the years for providing a platform emerging talent from the worldwide underground.
Various Artists – Fallin’ Off The Reel Vol. IV CD/2xLP+MP3 (Truth & Soul)
Truth & Soul is proud to present the fourth volume of their Fallin Off The Reel compilation series. 22 songs on the CD including tracks from Lee Fields & Expressions, Lady, Liam Bailey, Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, and more. Double vinyl version contains four bonus tracks.
Viet Cong – Viet Cong CD/LP (Jagjaguwar)
Debut LP from Calgary outfit Viet Cong, featuring former Women members Matt Flegel and Michael Wallace. Recorded in a barn-turned-studio in rural Ontario, the seven songs that make up Viet Cong were born largely on the road, when Flegel and bandmates Mike Wallace, Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen embarked on a 50-date tour that stretched virtually every limit imaginable. Close quarters hastened their exhaustion but also honed them as a group. You can designate records as seasonal, and you can feel Viet Cong’s bleakness and declare it wintry. But the only way you get a frost is when there’s something warmer to freeze up.
Wolfpack – Seen Not Herd CD (Sudden Death)
Seen Not Herd is a scathing, nine-track attack targeting consumerism, apathy and moral decay so genuine in its delivery it caught the attention of punk rock pioneer Joey Sh!thead of DOA fame, who releases the record via Sudden Death Records, home to some major punk stalwarts such as The Damned, Sham 69, Vice Squad, Mojo Nixon and The Real McKenzies.
John Zorn – Hermetic Organ Volume 3: St. Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield CD (Tzadik)
John Zorn – Olympiad Vol. 1: Dither Plays Zorn CD (Tzadik)
On Hermetic Organ Volume 3, Zorn’s organ improvisations are a shockingly dramatic world of bizarre sonorities, spectral experimentation, hypnotic moods and stirring melodies. Olympiad Vol. 1 presents three of his classic pre-Cobra game pieces in multiple versions by the fabulous Brooklyn-based guitar quartet Dither.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga –Cheek To Cheek Live! DVD/Blu-ray (Interscope)
Cheek To Cheek Live! was taped at Jazz At Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall on July 28, 2014 and premiered on PBS’s award winning series, Thirteen’s Great Performances this fall. The concert featured classic selections from the Great American Songbook, each handpicked by the artists, including “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” “Sophisticated Lady,” “Lush Life,” “Anything Goes,” and “Cheek To Cheek.” 120 minutes.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
6’10 – The Humble Beginnings Of A Rovin’ Soul LP (Ollie Mob Worldwide)
6’10 is the folk/bluegrass incarnation of Tobin Bawinkel, frontman for Celtic punk stalwarts Flatfoot 56. In comparison to the hectic sounds of his other outfit, this is a subtle journey through heartfelt and emotional journeys against the backdrop of ukulele, acoustic guitar, mandolin, and snare-brushed rhythms.
12 Rods – Lost Time [2002] LP (Jagjaguwar/Chigliak)
It’s been 12 years since the initial release of what would be the very last album by the late Minneapolis-based 12 Rods. Aptly titled, Lost Time, this last epic perfectly defines and captures how great this band was and how truly ahead of their time it’s members were.
Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun Rooms – From The Region LP (Delmark)
Features Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, Mike Reed on drums and Nate McBride on bass. This Chicago jazz trio formed in 2008, first experimenting as a free improvising trio, and later focusing its attention on arranging tunes written by Adasiewicz.
JM Airis – Wild Birds 2xLP (Totally Gross National Project)
JM Airis’s sophomore release continues an exploration of aural themes and tonescapes first introduced on Indian Summer, but the end result is a significantly stronger, more nuanced effort. Wild Birds is confident, bigger in its presentation than the rough edge of the first record, and Airis covers a lot of territory, crisscrossing from the swaggering to the solemn in the context of his continued odyssey into the darker psyche of Americana music.
Amen Dunes – Cowboy Worship 12” (Sacred Bones)
Amen Dunes’ Love took close to a year and a half, 16 musicians, and five different studios to complete. It was a song cycle that required broad experimentation before it was clear what was essential underneath the surface. In that process, much of the sound that might have made it onto the album was lost. There was just too much to say for one record. Cowboy Worship is an attempt to give life to some of the music that didn’t make it past the scalpel.
Asuna – 100 Keyboards b/w 100 Rock 7” (Meeuw Muzak)
A headscratcher from this Kanazawa-based sound artist and general experimental noise chef. Two pieces are sourced from a recent installation work of a hundred toy keyboards, with the A-side bearing the disassociated feel of a Super-8 footage loop—bleached colors, perhaps a lone bird wheeling in the sky, or a holiday fragment of a blinking child with an uncertain smile walking toward the camera, clutching an ice cream. A beautiful, nebulous, everything-and-nothing sound, while the noisier B-side maintains a sort of relentless calm, like the optimum flow of a factory environment that 19th century socialists might have shrugged at. A demonstration of the patterns that emerge from the balance of order and chaos. Subtly energizing.
Sir Richard Bishop/Bill Orcutt – Road Stories (Kali) LP (Unrock)
The first installment in Unrock’s new string wringer Saraswati Series presents two of today’s most extraordinary guitar maniacs captured on location. While Bill Orcutt, “Re-inventor Of The Blues,” falls from abstraction into acoustic hardcore serenade on his wooden four-string guitar, the Kali-inspired Sir Richard Bishop improvises elegantly and calmly through a feverish 17-minute variation of “Zurvan.” Limited edition of 500 numbered copies.
Chavez – Ride The Fader [Reissue/1996] LP+MP3 (Matador)
Back in print on vinyl after ten-plus years. “Probably weren’t the first mid-‘90s band to have their knotty guitar textures and algebraic time signatures called “math rock,” but they might have been the best.” —Entertainment Weekly
John Coltrane – Settin’ The Pace [Reissue/1958] LP (Fantasy)
Recorded in 1958, this session comes from a time when Coltrane had already played in the Miles Davis quintet and the Thelonious Monk quartet, and was frequenting Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio in recording sessions backed by the Red Garland Trio. This threesome — Garland, Paul Chambers, and Arthur Taylor — was a Prestige entity on its own, but had already released such albums with Coltrane as Traneing In and Soultrane. Settin’ The Pace, with its heady combination of seldom-done pop material and Jackie McLean’s intriguing “Little Melonae,” continued the excellent quartet series at a time when Trane was making jazz history at the head of yet another powerful foursome.
Dead Gum – Gainer LP+CD (Phase)
Guitar and voice through minimal effects to create instant songs, psychedelic collages and direct, stripped-down bursts by Panagiotis Spoulos. Partially improvised but fully psychographic, Gainer has anthropocentric characteristics and lo-fi character, and flirts with punk, bedroom pop and analog noise.
Die Form – Die Puppe [Reissue/1982] LP (Dark Entries)
Die Form is a French post-industrial and electronic band formed in 1977. The name ‘Die Form’ means ‘(the) form/shape’ in German, like the Bauhaus diary and is a play on the English homonym ‘deformed’ and on the French homonym ‘difforme’ (deformed). Die Form is the primary project of electronic musician and multimedia artist Philippe Fichot. He began by recording a number of experimental cassette releases in the late 1970s and formed the Bain Total label to release these early cassettes and various side projects including Krylon Hertz, Mental Code, Camera Obscura, Eva-Johanna Reichstag, Hurt and Fine Automatic. In 1982 Die Form released their debut vinyl album, Die Puppe.
D.O.A. – Positively D.O.A. [33rd Anniversary Reissue] LP (Sudden Death)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Reissue of this 1981 EP, released to coincide with the 33rd (?) anniversary of its first pressing. Originally released on Alternative Tentacles in time for D.O.A.’s first road trip to the United Kingdom, the five-track Positively D.O.A. was named ”Single of the Week” in the British press in October of that year. With five classic anthems packed into its grooves, the EP helped pave the way for Canada’s legendary punks to shake up the world musically and culturally. This is the first time this early DOA gem has been reissued since 1984.
Dosh & Ghostband – Def Kith 12” (Anticon)
Minneapolitan music men Martin Dosh and Jon Davis unite as Dosh & Ghostband. Together, they wreck speakers and minds with techno-addled, IDM-damaged, bass ’n’ bliss groove music.
Erase Errata – Lost Weekend LP (Under The Sun)
In 2012, the funky aunts of no wave psych rock Erase Errata reunited for a weekend in the Midwest to hang with old friends, play shows and record, all thanks to the Mission Creek Music Festival Artist-in-Residence program. Jenny Hoyston, Ellie Erickson and Bianca Sparta, who live in three different cities, arranged to meet in the sleepy, hawk-eyed town of Iowa City, where they took up residence at producer/engineer Luke Tweedy’s Flat Black Studios. After a day of improvising, the band selected seven pieces to flesh out for posterity. Lost Weekend is the result, the fourth full-length release for these spaced-out road veterans who’ve produced weirdo music since 1999.
Art Farmer/Jim Hall – Big Blues [Reissue/1978] 2xLP (Original Recordings Group)
Art Farmer and Jim Hall had a regular group for a time in the ’60s but (except for one occasion) had not played together since, until this 1978 LP. Since Farmer and Hall have very complementary styles, it is little surprise that this set is a complete success. Now this classic record gets ORG Music’s audiophile treatment with this HQ-180gm double LP 45rpm reissue, mastered from original tapes by Bernie Grundman and pressed at Pallas in Germany. Each copy of this limited edition release is individually numbered with a gold-foil stamp on the back of the case-wrapped Stoughton gatefold jacket.
Fellow Project – Basic Axemanship 10” (Dead Broke/Money Fire)
Brand new six-song EP from Long Island’s Fellow Project (ex-members of On The Might Of Princes and Bridge & Tunnel), who have been around for 13 years, released three full length albums and many singles and EPs.
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones – Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo [Reissue/1991] LP+MP3 (Warner Music Nashville)
Released in 1991, Flight Of The Cosmic Hippo was the second album by Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, and it reached # 1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. HQ-180gm vinyl reissue.
G.B.H. – Live At The Ace Brixton 1983 LP (Radiation)
Early pioneers of British hardcore and undisputed punk icons, G.B.H.’s early studio recordings were never able to do justice to the sheer violence of their live shows. Originally used for the soundtrack to a legendary Jettisoundz release on VHS, this raw 1983 recording is definitely not for the audiophile, but gives you an idea “of exactly what punk was in London in 1983. “Maniac,” “Sick Boy,” “Self Destruct,” “Give Me Fire, and more of their classics are played at the speed of light in front of an out-of-control crowd at the Brixton Academy March, 9th 1983.
Ghostface Killah – 36 Seasons LP (Salvation)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Tony Starks returns to Staten Island after nine years, like a man returning home from a war. He wants the company of old friends, to reunite with his girl, to live a quiet life. But New York has other plans for him. To visually flesh out the album s dark and twisted world, the CD’s packaging includes 20 pages of striking images from a host of stellar comic artists, curated by Matthew Rosenberg the creator of Ghostface’s 2013 six-issue comic mini-series, 12 Reasons To Die.
Guided By Voices – Bee Thousand [Reissue/1994] LP+MP3 (Scat)
Guided By Voices – King Sh!t & The Golden Boys [1995] LP+MP3 (Scat)
Arguably the best GBV album has been remastered and is back in print on vinyl. This new LP pressing, the first since the late ’90s, honors the album’s 20th anniversary. It features new (and definitely improved) mastering from John Golden, a substantial gatefold jacket with a previously unpublished Robert Pollard collage, and high-quality virgin vinyl from RTI. As a companion piece to the vinyl reissue of Bee Thousand, Scat Records presents a new edition of this finest compilation of Guided By Voices outtakes. Originally included with the multi-disc set Box, this issue of King Sh!t & The Golden Boys marks the album’s first release as a standalone piece.
Hallelujah The Hills – Have You Ever Done Something Evil? LP (Discrete Pagentry)
“#1 Overlooked Record of The Year” by PopMatters, and earned the band two Boston Music Awards, and was called “criminally underappreciated” by Spin. A stunning 50-minute feedback-slathered-psychedelic-pop-rock album that fully delivers on the promises and premises HtH have been moving around the chess board since 2006. Limited to 150 copies on 180-gram vinyl.
Hot Guts – Wilds LP (Avant)
Within a web minimal electronics, Wes Russel’s signature rich baritone and unorthodox guitar, and Void Vision’s Shari Wallin’s synths, drum machines, and backing vocals, the second full-length from this Philadelphia-based post-industrial duo hints at EBM, neofolk, and tribal industrial. Having evolved from raw and gritty post-punk, they now cross territories between the electronic and organic, the harsh and beautiful.
Isis – Panopticon [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Robotic Empire)
On Isis’ third-full-length album, Panopticon, the unblinking eye of counterinsurgency is exposed with mesmerizing stereophonic clarity. The perpetual collapse and crush of ultra-dynamic sound-design takes on the heightened dimensions of institutionally induced anxiety, and the carefully constructed artifice of an omniscient predatory apparatus becomes the paradigm of surveillance culture. Deluxe double-LP features a stunning gatefold jacket with different artwork than the CD version on Ipecac.
Etta James – Tell Mama [Reissue/1968] LP (4 Men With Beards)
Tell Mama by Etta James was originally released in 1968 and it put her back in the top 10 with the single “Tell Mama.” Produced by Rick Hall at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, this album is a stone cold soul/blues classic from start to finish. Standout tracks include the title track, a cover of Otis Redding’s “Security,” “I’d Rather Go Blind,” and “Don’t Lose Your Good Thing.” Easily one of the best albums of her long career it is now being reissued on HQ-180gm vinyl in glorious mono.
Etta James – Deep In The Night [Reissue/1978] LP (Pure Pleasure)
Originally released on Warners Brothers to scant acclaim in 1978, this Jerry Wexler-produced masterpiece finds James in astounding voice with a batch of great material to apply her massive interpretive powers to.
J Dilla – Beats Batch 1 10” (Yancey Media Group)
J Dilla – Beats Batch 2 10” (Yancey Media Group)
J Dilla – Beats Batch 3 10” (Yancey Media Group)
J Dilla – Beats Batch 4 10” (Yancey Media Group)
Each 10” contains ten untitled and unreleased Dilla creations.
Lead Belly – Lost Radio Broadcasts: WNYC 1948 LP (Origin Jazz)
This LP features two previously unknown radio programs hosted by blues/folk legend Huddie Ledbetter (AKA Lead Belly). The Story Of Folklore was a weekly radio program broadcast on Sunday nights on WNYC New York. The programs were recently discovered and acquired by OJL, with the assistance and cooperation of the Lead Belly Estate. Available in a 1950s-styled 10” LP with album notes by Lead Belly biographer Kip Lornell with song notes by Lornell and Cary Ginell.
Leftover Crack – F**k World Trade [Reissue/2004] LP (Fat Wreck Chords)
Originally released in 2004, Leftover Crack’s second album F**k World Trade is viewed as the band’s hallmark release. Built on the foundation of high-speed ska and thrash punk, the album saw the band take a freer approach both musically and lyrically, including longer songs, more varied details, and contributions from members of Anti-Flag, The Dwarves, and World/Inferno Friendship Society.
Less Than Jake – American Idle b/w Late Night Petroleum 7” (Fat Wreck Chords)
Vinyl single includes the title track (a popular standout from See The Light) and the B-side “Late Night Petroleum” (a brand new song that’s packed with as much fuel as the name implies).
Marcus Marr – Brown Sauce 12” (DFA)
A music obsessive all his life, Londoner Marcus Marr’s first encounters with dance music were acid house records which augmented his vinyl collection of rock and soul, and attending all night parties under Brixton’s St Matthews church. Traveling to the south of England to watch DJ Harvey play a lengthy set, he saw the kind of power a DJ can wield over a willing crowd.
Sean McCann – Ten Impressions For Piano & Strings LP+MP3 (Root Strata)
Slow-moving cloud forms over corporeal landscapes, these impressions whisper of McCann’s decisive lean toward classical and avant-garde musics. Less a final statement on ambient music, more a meditation on change, discovery and process.
McCarthy – I Am A Wallet [Reissue/1987] 2xLP (Optic Nerve)
Now recognized as an indiepop masterpiece I Am A Wallet has gone on to achieve cult status, receiving praise from the likes of Nicky Wire (Manic Street Preachers) as one of the most important albums of the ’80s. Known by today’s indie acolytes as the band that spawned Tim Gane and Leititia Sadier (who of course went on to form Stereolab). Limited double red vinyl LP pressing including 13 bonus tracks.
Meatwave – Brother LP (Brace Yourself)
Mini album from the Chicago-based punk/pop trio.
Dan Melchior – The Souls Of Birds And Mice LP (Siltbreez)
The Souls Of Birds And Mice isn’t composed of elements so much as it is composed of the composing of elements. This is the sound of the digital workflow, transparent composition; wrenching the processing of Muura or Doc Wör Mirran and dismantling the investigative passivity. One could draw a comparison straight to Cornelius Cardew or Li Daiguo, but that’s just because Melchior’s work is so laterally referential it slows down any pull to deconstructing the singular voice to simple candidness. And it all ends with some of the most perfect psychedelic guitar work ever paired with helicopter sounds.
Melvins – Ozma/Bullhead [Reissue/1989/1991] 2xLP (Boner)
Melvins – Eggnog/Lice-All [Reissue/1991/1992] 2xLP (Boner)
This pair of double-LP packages features four of the earliest releases from the often imitated but never duplicated Melvins. Formed in the early-’80s in the scenic wonderland known as Aberdeen, WA, the band took inspiration from Black Flag, Black Sabbath, Venom, Flipper, Stooges and other floggers of high-energy, low-velocity plod.
Hailu Mergia – Musicawi Silt b/w Tche Belew 7” (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
“Musicawi Silt” is the best-known Ethiopian song from Addis Ababa’s golden era of 1970s pop music. The insistent drive of the rhythm and the mighty blast of the horns — a sublime, angular burst — are unmistakable. Hailu Mergia’s concept for the Walias first LP Tche Belew was to include compositions by various band members. Since Girma Beyene, a member of the Walias, wrote this addictive song in the mid-70s and the Walias band began including it in their sets, it has spread around the world, receiving cover treatments by bands of all kinds.
Ennio Morricone – Big Gundown [OST/Reissue/1968] LP (Dagored)
Ennio Morricone’s legendary score for The Big Gun Down (Italian: La Resa Dei Conte) is so densely packed with pathos and drama that run so deep into the listener’s mind. Using almost the same great talents shown on Sergio Leone’s The Dollar’s Trilogy with the orchestra conducted by fellow Bruno Nicolai and the mighty twangin’ guitar of Alessandro Alessandroni, the maestro Morricone delivers similarly outstanding results.
Maria Muldaur – Richland Woman Blues [Reissue/2001] LP (Pure Pleasure)
A trip to Memphis Minnie’s gravesite in Walls, Mississippi inspired Richland Woman Blues, Maria’s second album for Stony Plain Records.
Nervs – Nervs 7” (Intercoastal Arts)
Nervs takes all the good parts from bands like Sonic Youth, Television, Mission Of Burma, and Slip It In era Black Flag while leaving out the sucky, ponderous parts. Strong dual Telecaster interplay with one of the Teles alternating between bass line parts and standard guitar lines, and even stronger drumming. The vocals are mixed way up as they should be.
Night Flights – Night Flights Vol. 1 LP (Agitated)
Night Flights is a recording project of lo-fi, ambient, synth-driven, soundscapes. Consisting of members of the band Carlton Melton and Mastered by John McBain, Night Flights is a collection of sounds prepared ‘for headphones only’. It is very much influenced in spirit by the 1980’s late night television series of the same name.
Ninos Du Brasil – Aromobates 12” (DFA)
Ninos Du Brasil are Nicolò Fortuni and Nico Vascellari, an Italian percussion duo with a background in visual art. Through their aptitude with drumming, they are masters at fusing the seemingly disparate influences of punk, tribal techno, and batacuda, emerging with a sound that is truly singular. The project takes its rhythmic backbone from Brazilian carnival music, and the duo injects each track with the frothy attitude of punk and the shuffling dancefloor domination of techno.
Nu-sound Crew II/Magnus II – Magnus II/Nu-sound Crew II [Reissue/1986/1993] LP (Dark Entries)
Dark Entries is excited to reissue a split EP of rare and out of print Detroit electro jams from Nu Sound II Crew and Magnus II. Both were projects of mastermind Sam Anderson aka DJ Maestro.
Doug Paisley – Until I Find You 7” (No Quarter)
A-side is a gorgeous duet with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, also featuring Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang) on guitar. B-side has the feel of an old spiritual.
Esther Phillips – From A Whisper To A Scream [Reissue/1971] LP (Pure Pleasure)
Justifiably hailed as her ‘career’ album. From A Whisper To A Scream re-established the late Esther Phillips as a prominent soul and jazz artist in 1972, starting her most fruitful period as an international chartmaker through her five-year association with jazz industry veteran Creed Taylor’s Kudu Records.
Pray For Sound – Dreamer LP (Science Of Silent)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Pray For Sound started as a solo studio project by Bruce Malley in late 2011. Earlier in Bruce’s life doctors discovered a large destructive cyst called a cholesteatoma growing inside his left ear. After repeated surgical removal of the cyst and reconstruction of his ear, he was left with severe hearing loss, tinnitus, and reoccurring pain. Inspired by this struggle, Bruce translated these emotional experiences into the music and artwork that made up Pray For Sounds debut album Monophonic. This time around, he took an ambitious approach by experimenting with more synth and keyboard sounds, as well as working with additional musicians to add vocals, violin, and viola.
Psychic TV – Alien Be-In Remix EP 12” (Dark Entries)
Dark Entries Editions is venturing into new waters with a remix EP of Psychic TV’s classic Acid House song “Alien Be-In.” For this reissue Fred Giannelli takes a stab at remixing the mono mix of the original sequence sourced from the Emax floppy discs. On the flip are two brand new mixes, the first from Los Angeles based producer, Silent Servant, who updates the classic with his modern brand of driving EBM techno. The second remix is a team effort from Silent Servant and veteran producer John Tejada that re-creates the original melody using a Roland TR-808 and TB-303, paying homage to early Chicago acid house artists like Lil Louis and Robert Owens.
Red Aunts – Come Up For A Closer Look 2xLP (In The Red)
The Red Aunts were an all-female punk band that formed in 1991 in Long Beach, California, when Terri Wahl (guitar/vocals) recruited friends Kerry Davis (guitar/vocals), Debi Martini (bass/vocals), and Lesley Ishino (drums). Their brand of unfiltered music is toxic, taking a sharp claw to every riot grrrl cliché it can shred. Come Up For A Closer Look is their “Greatest Hits” compilation, a gatefold-sleeve double-album complete with killer art and photos, plus liner notes by Red Aunts fan Sasha Frere-Jones.
Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross – Gone Girl OST 2xLP (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Gone Girl is directed by David Fincher. The music for the film is by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Trent and Atticus have worked with Fincher on two previous films, The Social Network, for which they won an Oscar for Best Original Score, and the critically acclaimed The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Gone Girl is a thriller based on the bestselling book of the same name and stars Ben Affleck, Rosamond Pike and Neil Patrick Harris.
Robert Robinson – Connecticut River LP+MP3 (Feeding Tube)
Debut solo LP by Sore Eros guitarist Robert Robinson. The music on Connecticut River is extremely wonderful and dizzying in its pure-pop/post-pop ramifications. Robinson seems to have grasped both genres by their most experimental nubs and given them the softest shake imaginable. The album is a swirl of instruments that alternately bear down on hooks and diddle off into river-bound mist. Vocals gang together into chorales of majestic mumblecore or stand like lonesome wolves howling in the hills.
Letha Rodman-Melchior – Shimmering Ghost LP (Siltbreeze)
This posthumous release, following last year’s Handbook For Mortals, presents the peak of Letha Rodman-Melchior’s compositional work. Traversing landscapes of affective registers with the organizational ability of Christine Sun Kim and the diversity and intimacy of Throbbing Gristle, Rodman-Melchior re-categorizes objects to find the foreign in the familiar. Moving in and out of focus, her musical patterns themselves grow and become more and more self-aware.
Rollins Band – Weight [Reissue/1994] LP (Imago)
The 20th Anniversary for Rollins Band most successful release. Featuring the alt rock opus “Liar,” known for it’s stylized video by Anton Corbijn. Limited edition on red HQ-180gm vinyl.
Sensations Fix – Time To Decide LP+CD (Mupymup)
A compilation of rare studio and live tracks circa 1978-1980, not on RVNG Intl.’s Music Is Painting In The Air (1974-1977). HQ-180gm vinyl with CD included.
Sick Llama – Surrounded By Gold And Dead LP (Premier Sang)
Eleven slashes of musique concrète, process theory, modal jazz, drone, punk aesthetics and a free approach to music. Amazing sounds never before imagined. Emotion trapping holes of sound. A fine line between composition and improvisation. Randomness gathers and swirls into patterns of recognition. The division of shadows.
Staple Singers – Hammer & Nails [Reissue/1962] LP (4 Men With Beards)
HQ-180gm vinyl reissue of classic 1962 album. Showcases the group in their Southern gospel prime.
Stay Clean Jolene – Stay Clean Jolene LP (Dead Broke)
Debut, 10 track album from Manchester veteran punkers. Ex-members of The Great St. Louis and The Leif Ericsson. Old school sounding melodic punk rock in the vein of Leatherface and Broccoli.
St. Lennox – Ten Songs About Memory And Hope LP (Anyway)
St. Lenox is the music project of Andy Choi. He takes his influences from classical music, pop, electronica, and jazz. As a teenager, he was a Juilliard-trained concert violinist, winning awards at the national and international level under his belt. However, he gave up music in college to pursue a degree in philosophy at Princeton University. While working on his PhD at The Ohio State University, he rekindled his interest in music by way of the Great American Songbook, which he learned through jazz jam sessions at in Columbus, Ohio’s dive bars.
Strange Wilds – Standing 7” (Sub Pop)
A taut, churning slice of Northwest punk fit for the ages. Anthems for the anxious.
To Destroy A City – Sunless 2xLP+MP3 (n5MD)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New release from the indie electronic/instrumental trio. At times Sunless is more electronic leaning than its predecessor, yet is still punctuated with sheets of glacially emotive guitar-work. Intricate electronic beats give way to propulsive live drumming. Red/orange/black splatter vinyl.
Charlie Tweddle – Fantastic Greatest Hits [Reissue/1974] 2xLP (Mighty Mouth Music)
Deluxe all-analog reissue of the 1974 private press classic cut direct from the master tapes. Born and raised in Kentucky but calling Northern California home for some time now, Charlie Tweddle is an outsider polymath: musician, artist, taxidermist, designer of cowboy hats. A beguiling patchwork of lo-fi country, warped folk, and way-gone found sounds, Tweddle’s 1974 self-released opus Fantastic Greatest Hits is back in print for the first time in decades.
Unexamine – Carnal Opponents No Brothers 7” (Oxen)
Sublimely merciless junk-scarring workshops in charred iron and static by Charlie Mumma and Danny Costa.
Various Artists – Back From The Grave Volume 7 [Reissue/1988] 2xLP (Crypt)
Fully remastered platters of ‘60s garage punk insanity!
Various Artists [NOFX & Friends) – Home Street Home: Seeping Beauty EP 7” (Fat Wreck Chords)
Seeping Beauty is a limited edition 7” featuring two songs from the upcoming full-length Home Street Home: Original Songs From The Sh!t Musical. The songs are part of a musical written by Fat Mike of NOFX, Tony Award winning writer Jeff Marx (Avenue Q), and Soma Snakeoil. Seeping Beauty’s impressive list of contributors includes members of NOFX, Descendents, Lagwagon, Mad Caddies, Old Man Markley, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, Bad Cop/Good Cop, Limp, and R.K.L.
Various Artists – The Brazilian Boogie Connection: From Rio To Sao Paulo (1976-1983) 2xLP (Cultures Of Soul)
This album is another chapter in the ongoing “there’s much more to Brazil than bossa nova” saga. It’s filled with disco-era tracks produced for the Brazilian domestic marketplace, some of which were hits, others that were quite obscure. What binds them all together – besides their common origins, time period a nd overall musical approach – is the fact that their reputation has been steadily transcending Brazil’s borders. This has allowed these tunes to find their place on set lists, want lists and in the crates of the world’s most discerning DJs and tastemakers.
Various Artists – Chicago Singles Club Vol. 1 2013-2014 LP (Chicago Singles Club)
First year of A-sides from the Chicago Singles Club’s sessions. Features tracks from My Gold Mask, Psalm One, Geronimo, Swimsuit Addition, Oshwa, Panda Riot, and more.
White Guilt – White Guilt 7” (Feeble Minds)
Four distorted tracks of spiteful vitriol from Syracuse’s most hated. A unique, violent take on today’s noise influenced hardcore punk.
Cassettes:
Facility Men – Demo/Futility Men (Black Dots)
Remnants from the bloated corpse of the once-beloved Plates, Facility Men provide the outside world a glimpse into the morose psyche of Buffalo, NY. The thinking man’s soundtrack for a workingman’s town. Much like the riff-driven, post-hardcore, alt-rock acts of the 1990s, they play fast and loose with a unique style of discordant-yet-melodic punk.
Sperm – Yahweh Brings Us To Hell (Black Dots)
Six new pieces of chaotic hardcore from Buffalo, NY’s Sperm. Progressive musical renderings from the darkest corners of the human psyche.
Tied Down – Demo+2 (Black Dots)
Tied Down is Buffalo’s premier youth crew hardcore and the standout act emanating from the Upstate and Western New York straightedge scene.
Viet Cong – Viet Cong (Jagjaguwar)
Debut album from Calgary outfit Viet Cong, featuring former Women members Matt Flegel and Michael Wallace. Recorded in a barn-turned-studio in rural Ontario, the seven songs that make up Viet Cong were born largely on the road, when Flegel and bandmates Mike Wallace, Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen embarked on a 50-date tour that stretched virtually every limit imaginable. Close quarters hastened their exhaustion but also honed them as a group. You can designate records as seasonal, and you can feel Viet Cong’s bleakness and declare it wintry. But the only way you get a frost is when there’s something warmer to freeze up.
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