CDs + Vinyl:
Edip Akbayram & Dostlar – Nice Yıllara Gülüm [Reissue/1982] CD/LP (Pharaway Sounds)
Remastered reissue of the third album by Turkish psychedelic singer Edip Akbayram, originally released in 1982. At this point in his career Akbayram really ramped up the silly synthesizers. Hear whooshy ’80s Rolands, vocals run through a harmonizer, and tons of totally tubular bass popping—it’s easy to hear the boundaries of the western intros and breaks. Ever wish Knight Rider’s KITT could drive to İstanbul? Take a ride on cheesy synthesizers with Edip at the wheel.
Fatima Al Qadiri – Brute CD (Hyperdub)
“After releasing an album with her underground supergroup Future Brown last year, the New York-based, Kuwait-bred musician returns as a solo artist for Brute, a follow-up to her sinogrime-inspired 2014 debut album Asiatisch. Brute explores themes of authority and ‘the relationship between police, citizens and protest worldwide, particularly of her adopted home in the United States,’ according to the label; concerns made visible in the album’s cover art, which depicts the Josh Kline sculpture ‘Po-Po’ heavily altered by art director Babak Radboy. The album ‘teeters between rage and despair,’ heard through ‘restrained percussion, sampled and processed recordings of urban protest, and [Al Qadiri’s] signature minor progressions,’ the label adds” – Fact Mag. Vinyl edition due April 1.
The Algorithm – Brute Force CD (Fixt)
The brainchild of talented French DJ, producer, and guitarist Rémi Gallego, The Algorithm infuses modern metal riffs and rhythms with a menagerie of electronic sub-genres such as IDM, chiptune, drum & bass, and trap, concocting his own style of fiercely heavy and individual music.
American Babies – An Epic Battle Between Light And Dark CD/LP (The Royal Potato Family)
American Babies is the pseudonym under which Philadelphia-based songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Tom Hamilton can be found creating his most personal and idiosyncratic work. Known for his relentless creative drive, Hamilton also shares his time with bands including Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Billy & The Kids (featuring Grateful Dead drummer Billy Kreutzmann) and Electron. It’s American Babies, however, that’s the home to which he always returns. And thus Hamilton is back once again with American Babies’ fourth studio album, An Epic Battle Between Light And Dark. True to its title, the songs assembled for this latest effort seem to define epic in sound and spirit. The opening track “Synth Driver” is a sprawling, seven minute-plus, War On Drugs-meets-Springsteen surge that’s spills over with despair, but finds hope in its darkest hours.
Guy Andrews – Our Spaces CD (Houndstooth)
Renowned electronic music producer Guy Andrews presents his debut album. Ignoring previously used DJ-friendly structures, tempos, and mixdowns, Our Spaces breathes a new power and directness; this paradigm shift is evident throughout the album, with its emphatic percussion, reeling distortions, and rare sensitivity.
Karl Appel – Musique Barbare [Reissue/1963] CD/LP (Sub Rosa)
First reissue of Dutch abstract expressionist painter Karel Appel’s 1963 masterpiece of musique concrète. A fantastic mix of electric organ fumblings, full-on riots of distorted kettle drum, and assorted percussion-room filigrees assembled into an extremely edit-heavy suite with significant tape-speed manipulation.
B-Legit – What We Been Doin’ CD (Black Armor)
Fourth album by the West Coast rapper – featuring guest appearances by Ric Roc & Harm, Young Buck & Skip, E-40, Too $hort, Suga Free, J’Rilla, Yountie, Ray J and Levitti.
B-Movie – Climate Of Fear CD/2xLP (Cleopatra)
UK new wave icons, B-Movie, best known for their 1982 international smash hit single “Nowhere Girl,” return with a brand new album, Climate Of Fear, featuring all four original founding members.
Baauer – Aa CD/LP (LuckyMe)
Aa (pronounced ‘double a’) is a record that could only be made by a kid born of New York inspired by rap and dance music culture, traveling the globe sampling and processing found sounds. This is bright, stadium, urban dance music from the 26-year-old Portuguese New Yorker (via London and Philadelphia) known as Harry Rodrigues. With special guests Future, Pusha T, M.I.A, Novelist, Leikeli47, Rustie and Tirzah, also continuing his visual collaboration with multi-medium artist, Jonathan Zawada.
Bitchin Bajas and Bonny Prince Billy – Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties contains moments of tranquility and trance, with the players integrating their separate ways, vibing off each other, making songs together. Bonny is at his spirit-melting celestial best wandering through a lifetime of fortunes that amount, when incanted, to a prayer to the god of many names. The Bajas access to the universal aural paintbox is unparalleled; their reach is deep. And it all went down onto a two-track reel-to-reel in primitive left-right seps that helped to define their ability to finish it in mixing.
The Body – No One Deserves Happiness CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
On No One Deserves Happiness, The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford set out to make “the grossest pop album of all time.” The album highlights The Body’s musical adaptability as they swiftly combine and bend genres, taking their signature doom heaviness and incorporating electronic and dance elements.
The Bonnevilles – Arrow Pierced My Heart CD (Alive)
Great garage punk blues in the style of Left Lane Cruiser, Black Keys, and James Leg. Vinyl edition due April 15.
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho 2xCD (Relapse)
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho – Part One 2xLP+MP3 (Relapse)
Boris with Merzbow – Gensho – Part Two 2xLP+MP3 (Relapse)
Named after the Japanese word for “phenomenon,” Gensho is a unique release featuring over 150 minutes of new music spread across two CDs and four LPs (available as two separate double LP sets). The Boris songs are completely new, percussion-less reinventions of classic tracks from the band’s storied catalog, while Merzbow’s songs are entirely new compositions.
Ulli Bowmans – Sort By Dragging CD (Shitkatapult)
German artist Ulli Bomans presents the immense, gloomy, captivating Sort By Dragging, his second album under his given name. The dense arrangements of noise, rhythm, and traces of acoustic melodies recall Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis, while also bearing parallels to Bomans’s sculptural and visual art in the album’s passage from Bremen to Detroit and back.
Peter Brötzmann/Fred Hopkins/Peter Rashied Ali – Songlines [Reissue/1994] CD/2xLP (Trost)
Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, tárogató; Fred Hopkins: double bass; Rashied Ali: drums. Recorded by Holger Scheuermann and Jost Gebers, October 30 and 31, 1991, in Berlin.
Dennis Brown – Dubbing At King Tubby’s CD (Jamaican Recordings)
Dennis Brown has always been cited as Jamaica’s favorite singer. While Bob Marley set out to conquer the world, Brown’s popularity on the island grew with every year. His most prolific period is said to be with producer Niney the Observer, who led the singer down a more roots-oriented avenue and put Brown on some of his heaviest rhythms, which were then mixed by the Dub Master himself, King Tubby. Dubbing At King Tubby’s collects tracks from this period, when the Crown Prince of Reggae met Niney the Observer at King Tubby’s.
Circus Maximus – Havoc CD/2xCD (Frontiers)
Fourth studio album from the prog metal band. Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds a bonus disc featuring a live set recorded in Japan, 2012.
Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen – Roll Your Own CD (Klondike)
Commander Cody’s Ann Arbor hippie-billies always combine and convey a sense of maturity, finesse, and creativity in their performances. On a cold night in November 1975, New York’s famous Bottom Line bore witness to the legendary Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen as the bare-faced facts of professionalism met intense artistry. Commander Cody’s industrialized powerhouse unit provide more than enough flare to match any E Street or Asbury Juke, as George Frayne IV (alias Commander Cody) revels in madcap monologues and rockabilly country-swing throughout, with stinging piano and an acute sense of frivolity intact. So throw some Cody on the player and pop open a beer. Make that two. Klondike presents the entire original WNEW-FM broadcast of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen in performance at New York City’s legendary Bottom Line on November 3, 1975.
Daddy – Let Me Get What I Want CD (We Are Daddy)
Daddy is an art rock duo comprised of actor/filmmaker James Franco and composer/producer/DJ Tim O’Keefe. The project features The Smith’s Andy Rourke on bass guitar. Inspiration for Let Me Get What I Want came from a book of poetry James recently published. The motivation behind Daddy is to push beyond “…the sonic space of music into the surrounding ecology.” Daddy investigates the territories of film/video, installation, and performance while simultaneously exploring the connections that form between them. While sampling has been an established and prevalent method of modern music making, Daddy’s approach moves beyond the art of sampling into the act of appropriation. Not just appropriating a genre of music, but the moments it inhabits, and the characters that embody it. Drawing from the individual practices of both Franco and O’Keefe, Daddy brings together the interests and talents of these two artists. Franco continues his exploration of identity. Through appropriating and re-contextualizing material from his work as an actor, director, and individual, he questions the existing boundaries between. O’Keefe brings his imaginative sense of sound and play, creating evocative arrangements that merge together the assumed separations between time, space, and cultures.
Drinking Flowers – New Swirled Order CD/LP (Manifesto)
The Drinking Flowers aesthetic: The bones of glam, boiled in the blood of disco. The Drinking Flowers mission: To be a crystal podium towering over the dancefloor of pop politique. With an ethos so fundamentally rooted in rhythm that the “music with a message” paradigm is shattered into a thousand shimmering pieces. It’s no wonder that the group exudes the confidence of political emissaries from some undiscovered nightclub planet.
Eek – Kahraba CD (Nashazphone)
Kahraba is the debut studio album of Islam Chipsy’s Eek. Recorded in late 2014 in downtown Cairo, it contains four tracks perfectly representing Chipsy’s wild and inimitable artistic spectrum, ranging from the frenzied sound signature technique that brought him his fame (Trinity and Kahraba) to the band’s individual maneuverings of typical Egyptian standards such as the Northeastern Nile delta Simsimiyya in El-Bawaba or Upper Egypt’s traditional Mouled Saidi in Mouled El-Ghoul. Made in Egypt.
(Van Dyke Parks presents) The Esso Trinidad Steel Band –Esso [Reissue/1971/2009 CD+DVD (Minky)
The legendary 1971 Warner Brothers album, produced by Van Dyke Parks, back in print on CD with the original art. This package includes vintage promotional newsletters and photos, plus the classic Calypso recording of the Jackson 5 tune “I Want You Back.” Bonus DVD features the 30-minute 1971 self-titled documentary, a film by Van Dyke Parks and Bud Smith. The film follows The Esso Trinidad Steel Band from Carnival Trinidad through their historic 1971 tour of America.
The Falcon – Gather Up The Chaps CD/LP (Red Scare)
New album from the rock ‘n’ roll band featuring Dan Andriano (Alkaline Trio), Neil Hennessy and Brendan Kelly (The Lawrence Arms), and Dave Hause (The Curse, Paint It Black, The Loved Ones).
Fluxion – Vibrant Forms II [Reissue/2000] 2xCD (Subwax Bcn)
Widely considered one of the landmark releases of dub-infused electronic music, as well as an endless resource of inspiration and awe for generations of electronic music artists and enthusiasts, Vibrant Forms II by Fluxion was originally released on Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald’s revered Chain Reaction label in 2000; this cavernous masterpiece now receives its long-awaited first-ever reissue from Barcelona imprint Subwax Bcn, with newly remastered sound and new artwork.
Gloria Morti – Kuebiko CD (Willowtip)
New album from one of Finland’s premier death metal bands.
The Goon Sax – Up To Anything CD (Chapter Music)
Brisbane trio The Goon Sax present their debut album, Up To Anything. Louis Forster, James Harrison, and Riley Jones are all 17-18 years old at the time of this release. They make pop music. They have refined tastes — they love The Pastels, Talking Heads, Galaxie 500, Bob Dylan, and Arthur Russell. Here they capture the awkwardness, self-doubt, and visceral excitement of teenage life while still in the thick of actually living it.
Gun Outfit – Two Way Player CD/12” (Wharf Cat)
Enigmatic and spacious guitar music. Abstracted legends of the American West, fortunes gained and lost, tragic songs of life rendered in deep focus — all portrayed through mysterious and dense compositions that recall the lonely expanses and warm intimacies of the films of Bruce Baillie and Gunvor Nelson.
HÆLOS – Full Circle CD/LP+MP3 (Matador)
Every generation has their own version of the blues, music that captures a sense of melancholia and provides a sonic reflecting pool for young lovers, old souls, and the eternally heartbroken. For their darkly shaded and radiant debut album Full Circle, HÆLOS have found their blues where others go to find pure, uncut joy: the dancefloor. The London trio’s version of a night out is a million miles away from mirror balls and sweaty bodies, their rippling electronic pop conjuring the exhilarating privacy of a cavernous club’s dark pockets and the introspective comedowns that accompany rainy 5 A.M. cab rides. Throughout the album, HÆLOS reconstruct the firmament of dance sounds past and present to construct an exquisitely elegiac mood that retains a sense of presence as it conveys the pain of emotional distance.
The Hanging Stars – Over The Silvery Lake CD (Crimson Crow)
London-based psych folk outfit The Hanging Stars present their debut album, Over The Silvery Lake. Blending folk pastorals with swampy ’60s Americana, they sound like the missing link between the California desert sun and the gray skies of London.
John Hartford/Joni Mitchell/Pete Seeger – Gentle On My Mind 1970 CD (Air Cuts)
On October 18, 1970, John Hartford, Joni Mitchell, and Pete Seeger shared the stage for the TV special Gentle On My Mind, broadcast on KCOP-TV in Los Angeles. The 12 tracks on this CD include five spotlighting Hartford, five featuring Mitchell, and a couple sung by Pete Seeger. Of special interest is a six-minute version of “Both Sides Now” that includes a verse Seeger wrote and sang especially for this performance, as well as a rare Mitchell cover of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man.” The complete audio from the broadcast is presented here in professionally remastered sound with background liners and rare archival photos.
Heiress – Made Wrong CD/LP (The Mylene Sheath)
Heiress is fronted by John Pettibone, a veteran of the Seattle music scene with previous stints in Undertow and Himsa, “It has become increasingly difficult to sum up Heiress‘ sound in simple genre terms as it has evolved, and that’s likely to become even more of a challenge after people hear Made Wrong. It’s dark, heavy as hell, emotionally intense, and memorable. It’s an album you don’t want to miss.” – No Clean Singing
Cory Henry – The Revival CD+DVD (Ground Up)
New album from the songwriter, producer and organist. Cory Henry has been wowing audiences with his virtuosic playing since the tender age of two. With influences by everyone from Oscar Peterson to Billy Preston and his playing with stars from Bruce Springsteen to Yolanda Adams, Revival returns Cory to his upbringing and roots in American gospel and soul, with covers of classics by Stevie Wonder, Bobby McFerrin, John Coltrane, Mom Winans, Ben Harper, and others. (Accompanying DVD highlights a full concert of Revival, with devastating solos by Cory.)
Peter Hollens – Misty Mountains: Songs Inspired By The Hobbit And Lord Of The Rings CD (Masterworks)
Hollens is a one man Pentatonix — he sings all parts of every song then layers and blends them together.
Ital Tek – Hollowed CD/LP+MP3 (Planet Mu)
With Hollowed Ital Tek’s Alan Myson has gone far beyond his earlier more dance-genre based work, leaving just the footprint and especially the sonic weight and space of dubstep. But the sound here is designed from the ground up and carved into something much more abstract, impressionistic and elegant. As Alan puts it “I’m moving away from dance music and letting sound inhabit a space without shoving everything at the listener in the first few bars.”
The Jagger Botchway Group – Odze Odze CD/LP (Cultures Of Soul)
Jagger Botchway is most famous for his work with the Hedzoleh Soundz and Hugh Masekela. Jagger was also the driving force behind the highly sought-after Ghanaian Afro-funk masterpiece Moving World by the Kelenkye Band. Deano Sounds, along with Voodoo Funk’s Frank Gossner, teamed up to release the Kelenkye Band’s later material, Jungle Funk, back in 2012. Jagger went back into the studio with a group of musicians he had played with from various points in his career to record an album of unique soca and highlife sounds.
Jaheim – Struggle Love CD (BMG Recorded Music)
“Veteran crooner Jaheim is still a major player in the R&B game. With soulful horns, upbeat hand claps, and harmonious vocals, [title track] ‘Struggle Love’ reminds you of an old school jam, that makes you want to vibe and grind with your bae.” – This Is RnB
James – Girl At The End Of The World CD (BMG Recorded Music)
“There are plenty of bands doing the rounds at the moment that began their career several decades ago. The nostalgia trip is a profitable one for some. There are fewer of those bands who are still making new music, and even less that are making music that is fresh and enjoyable. It’s easy to trade on past glories and regurgitate a sound that can be sold easily. James has always been the outsiders when it comes to that commercial aspect. Despite the hit singles and ferociously supportive fan base, they never quite get the respect they deserve. To prove their worth far above a legacy band, James [has just released] their fourteen studio album. While 2014’s La Petite Mort featured a smorgasbord of styles and a common theme through many of the songs, Girl at the End of the World steps up a gear and unleashes a powerhouse of keyboards and dance-fuelled beats that will take many by surprise” – Louder Than War. Vinyl edition due April 1.
Jazz At Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis – The Abyssinian Mass 2xCD+DVD (Blue Engine)
In 2008, nine-time Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem’s Abyssinian Baptist Church. The result was a sacred celebration: a sweeping composition for a big band and 70-piece gospel choir. In 2013, award-winning recording artist Damien Sneed and his choir, Chorale Le Chateau, joined the Jazz At Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on a 16-city, 19-show tour across the American south and into deep dialogue with the African American history. Now, The Abyssinian Mass — Marsalis’ first original recorded composition in six years — documents this piece’s immense power to make audiences clap their hands and sing along to its joyous spirituality, its profound swing, and its bluesy swagger.
Glenn Jones – Fleeting CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Glenn Jones is a master of American Primitive Guitar. On Fleeting he brings his own made-up tunings, the use of custom-crafted partial capos, and a highly skilled picking style on both banjo and guitar, to create personal compositions that are lyrical, emotive and elegant. What sets him apart from the myriad guitarists playing today is his ability to tell stories with the guitar and banjo, and to convey a range of emotions. Fleeting was recorded in a house on the banks of the Rancocas Creek in Mount Holly, New Jersey. Cozy, cluttered with artifacts of a life well-lived (by its owner Bill Bolger), the house struck the right note for Jones and his recording engineer, Laura Baird.
Damien Jurado – Visions Of Us On The Land CD/2xLP+MP3/3xLP+MP3 (Secretly Canadian)
Providing the ideal entry point for neophytes and an intoxicating aural high for the faithful, Damien Jurado’s new opus extends the hot streak ignited by 2012’s Maraqopa and its 2014 follow-up Brothers And Sisters Of The Eternal Son. Cut once again with label mate and super producer Richard Swift at the latter’s National Freedom recording facility in rural Oregon, Visions Of Us On The Land completes the tale of an individual who has had to disappear from society in order to discover some universal truths. Lead single “Exit 353” “ambles along on guitars that recall the rambling psychedelic rock of the ’70s, while strings and piano notes harken to the baked desert scores of Hollywood Western. It’s a blurred, reverberating expanse of sound, once again proving how successfully Jurado has transitioned through genres, reaching a point where it all comes together in one powerful, evocative track” – Consequence Of Sound. (Regular and Deluxe vinyl editions available. Deluxe adds the bonus LP Far Out To Where We Were Then, pressed on white vinyl, which is a collection of demo versions of songs from the album as well as two unreleased tracks.)
King Tubby vs Channel One – Dub Soundclash CD/LP (Jamaican Recordings)
Anyone who knows anything about dub will know that the names King Tubby and Channel One are synonymous with the finest deep-grade dub. Dub Soundclash delivers just what it promises as the two institutions go head to head. Available on vinyl or CD (six bonus tracks have been added to the CD edition).
Thomas Köner – Tiento De La Luz CD (Denovali)
Thomas Köner’s second piano-centered album features a diverse range of classical instruments in addition to his distinct live electronics. Claiming that music does not exist, he focuses on tone color, which he considers to be the luminous resonance of sound.
Steve Kuhn – At This Time CD (Sunnyside)
Kuhn’s current trio features a contemporary and an important innovator of a later generation: Steve Swallow has been at the forefront of contemporary music for decades. Whether performing alongside Jimmy Giuffre, Paul Bley or Carla Bley, Swallow has been one of the most important figures on both the acoustic and electric bass. Though twenty years younger than Kuhn and Swallow, drummer Joey Baron has cemented himself as one of the most well rounded musicians, at home in the most classic of jazz ensembles and in the most raucous of the avant-garde.
Lengualerta – Aurora CD (Echo Beach)
Mexican vocalist Lengualerta presents Aurora, showcasing his protest cumbia dub sound. Alongside other artists, Lengualerta frequently appears in the front line of protests against the corruption that has infiltrated every level of the public services in Mexico.
Licht-Akiyama Trios – Tomorrow Outside Tomorrow CD (Editions Mego)
Alan Licht (USA) and Tetuzi Akiyama (Japan) have each explored the lines that divide improvisation, composition, folk, blues, and experimental music. It was inevitable that their careers and styles would cross paths. Tomorrow Outside Tomorrow captures a meeting of minds and techniques in the form of two extended works that blur genre, with Licht on guitar and electronics and Akiyama on guitar. Also features Oren Ambarchi on the track “Blues Deceiver.”
Lifetones – For A Reason [Reissue/1983] CD/LP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)
Political post-punk trio This Heat dissolved at a turbulent time in the UK. Margaret “The Iron Lady” Thatcher was in power, and her budget-cutting, ultra-conservative influence was felt strongly in-among many other places-the cultural melting pot of Brixton, South London, where This Heat had their origins. Dusting himself off after the collapse of the band in 1982, guitarist/vocalist Charles Bullen united with Julius Samuel to form Lifetones and embraced the sounds of the local West Indian community to fuse reggae flavor to the kind of propulsive, rhythmic, and experimental music made by This Heat.
Liima – ii CD/LP+MP3 (4AD)
Liima brings together the talents of Finnish percussionist Tatu Rönkkö with Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen and Rasmus Stolberg of Danish indie rock band Efterklang. Translated from Finnish as ‘glue’, Liima is an autonomous unit where boundaries are blurred and roles are fluid. The idea for Liima began in July 2014 when Brauer, Clausen and Stolberg (founding members of Danish act Efterklang) were invited to be artists-in-resident at Our Festival, Finland. Joined by Finnish native Rönkkö, the group were tasked with creating new material to be performed at the end of a ten-day residency. Naturally drawn to the possibilities an informal electronic live set-up could deliver, the four found the spontaneity of songwriting and performing in a limited time frame hugely liberating. With hours of music created and performed live, the band returned to Berlin to record ten songs over four days at Vox-ton studio with producer Jonas Verwijnen. (Limited green color vinyl pressing also available.)
David Lindley & El Rayo-X – Live At The Bottom Line, New York City, 1981 CD (Air Cuts)
Having made his name with psychedelic fusion pioneers Kaleidoscope in the late- ’60s, this virtuoso guitarist played with Terry Reid and Jackson Browne the following decade, before embarking on a solo career as the ’80s dawned. Broadcast on WNEW-FM, this brilliant live set with his band El Rayo-X includes “Brother John,” his tribute to John Lennon, as well as two tracks featuring his longtime collaborator Jackson Browne. The complete broadcast is presented here in digitally remastered sound with background notes and images.
Lords Of Black – II CD (Frontiers)
Lords Of Black is the band formed by Ronnie Romero (the singer handpicked by Ritchie Blackmore to front Rainbow at their summer 2016 reunion shows), together with guitarist Tony Hernando and drummer Andy C. II is an album which should please fans of modern melodic metal.
Lust For Youth – Compassion CDLP (Sacred Bones)
“Lust For Youth’s bloom of synthpop has grown wildly in recent years, from Hannes Norrvide’s bedroom ambiance to bubble-glum growths of lush, exuberant new wave. The inclusion of live collaborator Loke Rahbek (Sexdrome, Vår) and producer Malthe Fischer on 2014’s International vaulted the project from bedroom-synth haze through a pulsing joyride of dizzying attraction and euphoric adoration, soundtracking a Cimmerian club life with bright light and glamor. With Compassion, Norrvide and co. are again out to quench an existential thirst, this time armed with stadium-sized pop and more anthems for inner youth.” – Slug Magazine
The Magnetic North – Prospect Of Skelmersdale CD/LP+MP3 (Full Time Hobby)
The Magnetic North is a British band made up of Erland Cooper, Hannah Peel and Simon Tong (formerly of The Verve, Blur and The Good, The Bad & The Queen). Their 2013 acclaimed album, Orkney Symphony was a soundtrack and homage to the landscape and folklore of the Orkney Islands, home to the band’s singer, Erland Cooper. Their follow-up is a collection of songs and music based around the town of Skelmersdale in Lancashire.
Tom McDermott – Bamboula CD (Minky)
Tom McDermott, a pianist and composer from St. Louis who settled in New Orleans more than 20 years ago, steeped himself in the local lore from the classical compositions of Louis Moreau Gottschalk to the Mardi Gras mambos of Professor Longhair. He also delved further into Latin America — to Argentine tango and to Brazilian choro, a cousin of ragtime — and elsewhere. Bamboula is a compilation drawn largely from Mr. McDermott’s previous albums.
Chris McGregor & The Castle Lager Big Band – Jazz/The African Sound [Reissue/1963] CD (Jazzman)
One of the most important African records of all time released worldwide for the first time. Chris McGregor’s Jazz/The African Sound is a lost global jazz classic, and a true holy grail for collectors of Afro-jazz. Assembled in 1963, The Castle Lager Big Band was a multi-racial group, a risky endeavor in apartheid South Africa.
Blue Mitchell & Sonny Red – Baltimore 1966 CD (Uptown Jazz)
Trumpeter Blue Mitchell and alto saxophonist Sonny Red lead their quintet of pianist John Hicks, bassist Gene Taylor and drummer Joe Chambers on this live date from the Crystal Ballroom in Baltimore, Maryland on March 20, 1966. Featuring six previously unissued tracks with liner notes by Bob Blumenthal and mastered by Doug Benson.
Mob Rules – Tales From Beyond CD/2xLP (Steamhammer/SPV)
The German band’s new album is a familiar, melodic mix of progressive and power metal.
North – Light The Way CD/LP (Prosthetic)
Crawling from the thresholds of Tucson, Arizona come atmospheric driven sludge trio North.
Cullen Omori – New Misery CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Sub Pop)
Cullen Omori knows it’s a false cliché to say there are no second acts in American lives, but, after the 2014 breakup of his acclaimed band the Smith Westerns, living that cliché was his greatest fear. His solo debut, New Misery, is a direct challenge to that anxiety: an album that goes beyond the glam punch of the Smith Westerns to new sounds, new sources of inspiration, and greater self-awareness.
Grant-Lee Phillips – The Narrows CD/LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)
The concentrated nexus of romance, recollection, historic struggles and tragedies, and peerless craftsmanship coupled with the hopes, fears, and isolation that accompany transition formed the backdrop of The Narrows. Bathed in a woody, warmly reverberating sonic signature, the album’s thirteen songs are marked by longing and a resolute sense of purpose: As though hurling yourself full-force into the unknown is as sensible as any other more commonly prescribed course. After all, what feels unknown may be residing just below the surface — should you be willing to dig for it and be open to discovery.
Poirier – Migration CD (Nice Up)
Montréal-based DJ and producer Poirier has covered a lot of ground since emerging in the early- ‘00s, from frenetic soca and hyped-up dancehall to rootsy reggae and cinematic sounds. Previous releases on Ninja Tune and Mixpak have seen a wide array of fans come flocking to his sound. Constantly evolving and shifting, Migration is an album that draws all of it together, moving through inspirations and genres, pulling them apart, and putting them together again to fluidly build Pourier’s truly distinct sound. Electronics meld with acoustic instrumentation while warm tropical sounds rub up against stark digital soundscapes, disparate sounds and styles flowing easily into each other.
Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression CD/LP+MP3 (Loma Vista/Concord)
Iggy Pop’s 17th album, co-created with producer Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age, Eagles Of Death Metal) began with a succinctly worded text from Iggy to Joshua, and was realized in seclusion with Homme’s enlisted aid of his Queens Of The Stone Age bandmate and Dead Weather-man Dean Fertitia and Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders. “I wanted to be free,” recalls Iggy of the earliest germ of the partnership with Homme that culminated in Post Pop Depression. “To be free, I needed to forget. To forget, I needed music. Josh had that in him, so I set out to provoke an encounter-first with a carefully worded text, followed by a deluge of writings all about me. No composer wants to write about nothing. He got revved up and we had a great big rumble in the desert USA.” “This was to go where neither of us had gone before,” adds Homme. “That was the agreement. And to go all the way.” “[Post Pop Depression] sounds like a perfect mixture of the QUOTA’s edgy desert rock and Iggy’s late- ’70s heyday—an example of a ‘supergroup’ that actually works. Iggy has said that Post Pop Depression is a spiritual sequel to his 1977 collaboration with David Bowie, Lust For Life” – Paste. [Regular and Deluxe vinyl editions available. Deluxe is pressed on HQ-180gm vinyl and is limited to 2000 copies.]
Henri Pousseur – Early Experimental Electronic Music 1954-61 CD (Sub Rosa)
Henri Pousseur was 25 when he composed his first piece of electronic music in 1954, in the Cologne radio studios where Karlheinz Stockhausen (with whom Pousseur had a close relationship) had created most of his famous pieces. Early Experimental Electronic Music 1954-61, the seventh and penultimate installment in Sub Rosa’s Early Electronic Series, features Pousseur’s earliest works — his first steps. Pousseur studied at the Academies of Music in Liège, Belgium, and in Brussels, from 1947 to 1953.
Elvis Presley – The RCA Albums Collection 60xCD (Sony Legacy)
Limited 60 CD deluxe edition celebrating RCA Victor’s signing of Elvis Presley. Features mini LP CD replicas of all the albums Elvis recorded and RCA released in his lifetime — studio, soundtrack and live. It also includes tree compilations featuring rare and unreleased tracks. The set also also includes a 300-page deluxe fully illustrated hard cover book with complete insightful commentary, discography and recording session data.
Primal Scream – Chaosmosis CD/LP (First International/Ignition)
The 11th full-length release for the veteran Scottish rock band features guest appearances from Haim, Sky Ferreira, and Rachel Zeffira. “When Primal Scream truly hit their groove, there’s no resisting the overpowering engulf of their omnipresent psychedelic disco. Bobby Gillespie and co. are masters of hypnotics at this point, their immersive signature baggy tumult as undeniable as it is effortless. Pop music seems to have the same effect on even the musicians most estranged with commercial ethos. The allure of primitive, infectious pop songs is undying, and the Primals have finally been utterly consumed by feel-good pop on Chaosmosis.” – Under The Radar
Public Memory – Wuthering Drum CD (Felte)
“Robert Toher is best known for his work with ERAAS, the Brooklyn-based electronic project whose last full-length, Initiation, came out in 2013. Aside from touring, the duo has been fairly quiet since, but recently, Toher announced that he’s been working on a new project called Public Memory. ‘Lunar’ is the album’s first single, and though it initiates with a droning, static wall-of-sound, Toher’s falsetto is a faint light that dampens those early nocturnal vibes. In sporadic moments, ‘Lunar’ absolutely glimmers.” – Stereogum
Ernest Ranglin – Softly With Ranglin [Reissue/1969] CD/LP (Dub Store)
Ernest Ranglin is a Jamaican guitarist and composer who established his career while working as a session guitarist and music director for various Jamaican record labels including Studio One and Island Records. Ranglin played guitar on many early ska recordings and helped create the rhythmic guitar style that defined the form. Ranglin has worked with Theophilus Beckford, Jimmy Cliff, Monty Alexander, Prince Buster, the Skatalites, Bob Marley and the Eric Deans Orchestra. He is noted for a chordal and rhythmic approach that blends jazz, mento and reggae with percussive guitar solos incorporating rhythm ‘n’ blues and jazz inflections.
Redfoo – Party Rock Mansion CD/LP+MP3 (Party Rock)
Stefan Kendal Gordy, better known by his stage name Redfoo, is a rapper and record producer who was one half of the musical duo LMFAO. Party Rock Mansion is his debut solo album. (Limited animal print color vinyl LP pressing also available.)
Revolutionaries – Dub Out Her Blouse & Skirt Volume 1 [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (Bond Export)
A super rare late- ‘70s dub set reissued.
Rexy – Running Out Of Time [Reissue/1981] CD/LP (Lucky Number)
Originally released in 1981 and long since out of print, Rexy’s only LP has become a coveted find for fans of leftfield pop. It has been championed by current artists such as Ariel Pink, Joey Negro, and MGMT. Rexy included members Rex Wayman and Vic Martin (who went on to play with Eurythmics and Boy George).
Max Richter – Songs From Before [Reissue/2006] CD/LP+MP3 (Deutsche Grammophon)
Back in-print on CD; first-time vinyl edition. Beautifully recorded and cinematic in scope, Songs From Before carries a pensive, emotionally resonant tone. Punctuated by Robert Wyatt’s distinctive readings of Haruki Murakami’s text, the music evokes forgotten memories or lost histories, bittersweet articulations suspended between a dreamy sense of awe and melancholia. Richter’s compositions, created over a long period, draw from pieces ranging between 5 and 300 years old.
Todd Rundgren – Box O’ Todd 3xCD (Cleopatra)
Three-disc box set featuring previously unreleased recordings from the early ‘70s: Live From Philadelphia 1971, Ultrasonic Studios 1972, and Counterpart Studios Cincinnati 1973.
She Is We – War CD (Vanguard)
She Is We is fronted by alternative singer/songwriter Rachel Taylor (formerly of the duo He Is We).
Silk – Quiet Storm CD (Shanachie)
New album from the veteran R&B band. “When Silk takes the stage, the five-man R&B harmony group makes it a mission to electrify the crowd with their dynamic vocal abilities and thrilling stage presence-an all too rare commodity on the contemporary R&B scene. Always on their A-game, Silk is a constant reminder of just how thrilling a male R&B vocal group can be, in a musical style perfected by a number of great talents ranging from The Temptations to Boyz II Men.” – Urban Bridgez
Jordan Smith – Something Beautiful CD (Republic)
Debut album from The Voice Season 9 victor.
Sølyst – The Steam Age CD/LP+CD (Bureau B)
The third album from Sølyst, Düsseldorf-based Kreidler drummer Thomas Klein’s hypnotic solo project. Sourcing sounds from the body and strings of an abandoned piano and a table percussion setup of everyday objects, Klein blends alienated patterns and sequences with the typical Sølyst percussion groove to evoke an intoxicatingly atmospheric pre-digital machine aesthetic of dusty, rusted gears and pistons that remains accessible despite its experimental basis.
Soul Asylum – Change Of Fortune CD/LP (eOne Music)
“Soul Asylum always seemed to be one of the grunge era bands that got lost in the shuffle. Sure they had a handful of popular singles on the radio like ‘Runaway Train,’ ‘Misery’ and ‘Somebody To Shove’ but they were always overshadowed by the behemoths of the time. They were never the type of band that changed their sound to mimic what was going on at the time. They also continued to release new music fairly consistently since the height of their popularity in the ‘90s. Change Of Fortune is the bands’ 11th studio album and it finds them embracing the kind of music that they want to play. What I like about Change Of Fortune is the abundance of rock influences found on the album. There are songs like ‘Moonshine’ and ‘Don’t Bother Me’ that remind me of Tom Petty while ‘Can’t Help It’ reminds me of a Jackyl song. You’ll also find a heavy dose of hard rock, blues and soul scattered throughout the album. Mix that with some more modern pop rock sounds and you have a perfectly blended mix of musical harmony.” – Read Junk
Soundtrack – Born To Be Blue CD (Rhino)
Director Rob Budreau’s Born To Be Blue loosely plays with the biography of noted jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, the creator of the cool west-coast sound, while focusing in on his post 1967 comeback. The soundtrack features a Toronto- based group of players, led by noted Canadian jazz musician David Braid, along with Ethan Hawke on vocals on two tracks, creating a stunning set of songs that evoke the spirit of Baker’s take on West coast cool. The soundtrack album features a number of Chet Baker standards, newly recorded by Braid and Hawke, along with period pieces by the likes of Charles Mingus and Odetta, and liner notes by noted music writer Rob Bowman.
Soundtrack – Batman Vs Superman CD/2xCD/3xLP+MP3 (Watertower Music)
The original soundtrack to the 2016 feature film — a collaborative effort by ubiquitous film composers Hans Zimmer and Junkie XL (aka Tom Holkenborg). (Deluxe edition on both CD and vinyl features six bonus tracks. Vinyl is a trifold package with exclusive full size poster, etched art, and download card.)
Spacemen 3 – Live At The New Morning, Geneva, Switzerland, 18.05.1989 CD (Space Age)
Live set Recorded during Spacemen 3’s 1989 European tour, while the band was in sublime form, Live At The New Morning further cements their reputation as one of the most influential and seminal bands of the space rock and drone rock worlds. Originally released in 2014 as a limited vinyl-only release, it is now available on CD for the first time.
Starwalker – Starwalker CD/LP (Prototyp)
Starwalker is a collaboration between electropop innovators Jean-Benoît Dunckel (Air, Tomorrow’s World, Darkel) and Barði Jóhannsson (Bang Gang, Lady & Bird). “It’s synthy, spacey, and very, very chill.” – Noisey (Music By Vice)
Gwen Stefani – This Is What The Truth Feels Like CD (Interscope)
Third solo album by the No Doubt vocalist. Inspired by the end of her marriage and the roller coaster of emotions she experienced during the time, Stefani returned to feeling inspired and started writing new and meaningful songs. Stefani wrote the whole album in a few months and described it as a “breakup record,” with the songs having a “sarcastic” and dark-humor vibe, as well as having realness and a few being joyful and happy as well. Includes the singles “Used To Love You” and “Make Me Like You.”
St. Francis Duo – Peacemaker Assembly CD/LP (Trost)
Stephen O’Malley (cult-guitarist of sunn O))), KTL) teams up with one of the leading UK drummers of the avant-garde scene, Steve Noble, to build hypnotic sound-sculptures and drones.
Tanita Tikaram – Closer To The People CD/LP (EarMusic)
The UK singer returns with rootsy, blues-inspired new album.
The Treatment – Generation Me CD (Frontiers)
Generation Me is the third album from British hard rockers The Treatment.
Underworld – Barbara Barbara, We Face A Shining Future CD/LP (Astralwerks)
Underworld return with their ninth studio album (their first since 2010’s Barking). “Underworld have emerged from a period of looking back – they celebrated the 20th birthday of their classic debut Dubnobasswithmyheadman by touring it – and decided to focus on the path ahead. As its title suggests, the dance duo’s seventh studio album is a forward-thinking affair, referencing things such as ‘celestial techno’ and ‘South American acoustics.’ Over seven tracks, Rick Smith and Karl Hyde restate their case as dance pioneers.” – The Guardian
Various Artists [My Nu Leng] – FabricLive 86 CD (Fabric)
Deeply rooted in UK bass culture, Bristol-based duo My Nu Leng reimagine grime, dubstep, house, and garage on FabricLive 86, as they deliver an eclectic continuous mix of underground anthems meshed with previously unreleased material, covering a multitude of shades and color.
Various Artists [Southern Family] – Southern Family CD (Low Country Sound/New Elektra)
A new project from producer Dave Cobb, Southern Family unites some of country and Americana’s biggest names, including Miranda Lambert, Zac Brown, Jason Isbell, Brandy Clark and Morgane Stapleton with Chris Stapleton. For the album, Cobb asked the artists to either write new songs about growing up in the south or perform songs that were important to them. As Cobb recently told Rolling Stone: “Everybody has a great story, about their parents, their grandparents, brother, sister,” he explains. “Everybody has an intimate story and it was something that everybody could relate to. I wanted to have really talented artists custom write and do songs that mean a lot to them, and also just make the song that maybe they wouldn’t put on their record: the deep song, or the song that doesn’t fit in the queue or wouldn’t be a single. I wanted them to do the most honest song they could possibly do.”
Various Artists [Tapper Zukie Productions] – Stars Ah Shine: Hits From The Stars Label 1978-1982 CD/LP (Kingston Sounds)
Tapper Zukie is not only a successful recording artist in his own right, but a well-respected producer as well. In the mid- ‘70s he set up his own record label, Stars, to help nurture the many artists who were rising in Kingston, Jamaica. In doing so he created a great catalog of reggae music that few artists have bettered. For this release — with the help of Tapper Zukie himself — Kingston Sounds has selected the highlights of the Stars label.
Various Artists – Aloha Got Soul CD/2xLP (Strut)
Aloha Got Soul encompasses a vibrant era of contemporary music made in Hawaii during the ‘70s to the mid- ‘80s as jazz, rock, funk, disco and R&B co-existed alongside Hawaiian folk music.
Various Artists – The Beat from Badsville Vol. 3: Trash Classics From Lux & Ivy’s Vinyl Mountain CD (Stag-O-Lee)
The third installment in The Beat From Badsville series, collecting music from the American ghoul-rock scene of the 1950s and 1960s, drawn from The Cramps’ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy’s personal collection. (First time on CD.)
Various Artists – Blues For Big Walter CD (Ellersoul)
Tribute to blues harpist Big Walter Horton features Kim Wilson and Big Jon Atkinson, Mark Wenner, Sugar Ray & The Bluetones, Bob Corritore with Jimmy Rogers and Robert Lockwood Jr, Mark Hummel, Steve Guyger, Lil Ronnie Owens, Kurt Crandall and Andrew Alli.
Various Artists – Christophe Lemaire Presents: Can’t You Hear Me?: African Nuggets & Garage Rock From Nigeria, Zambia & Zimbabwe CD/2xLP (Now-Again)
Can’t You Hear Me comes from a track by charismatic Zamrock icon Paul Ngozi, a Lemaire favorite. Ngozi’s title track sets the tone for a drastic selection of seventeen songs with rebellious undertones, riddled by an infectious groove, the forsaken writing about a forgotten chapter in the history of music. Ngozi, WITCH, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Amanaz, Wells Fargo, Eye Q and the Funkees represent a generation fighting for their freedom, armed with fuzz guitars, symbolic objects of a new movement. They played in Fela’s kingly shadow, were influenced by Hendrix’s psychedelic solos, Jefferson Airplane’s penetrating chords and Cream’s repetitive melodies. The music of their colonial oppressors they reassembled and reinterpreted with pure energy, without nod to hymn or flag.
Various Artists – Kev Beadle Presents The Best Of Inner City Records CD/2xLP (BBE)
Created by industry legend, MMO Music Group founder and true godfather of karaoke (but that’s another story) Irv Kratka alongside producer Eric Kriss, Inner City Records was formed in 1976. During its decade or so in existence, the label put together a formidable catalog of jazz music and was voted Record Label Of The Year in 1979 by the International Jazz Critics Poll. As well as ‘classic jazz’, the label also gave a platform to more avant-garde material and dabbled in the emerging ‘jazz fusion’ sounds of the day. This is the first ever retrospective of Inner City Records with the full support of Irv Kratka.
Various Artists – Punk 45: Chaos In The City Of Angels And Devils CD/2xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
Subtitled: Hollywood From X To Zero & Hardcore On The Beaches: Punk In Los Angeles 1977-1981. The sixth instalment of Soul Jazz Records’ Punk 45 series features an array of first generation Los Angeles punk bands including X, The Germs, The Zeros, The Urinals, The Weirdos through to second generation hardcore groups like The Circle Jerks, Adolescents and T.S.O.L.
Various Artists – Star Wars Headspace CD (Hollywood)
Guided by studio Jedi Rick Rubin, a host of dance and electronica producers have been let loose in the Star Wars archives to build music from sound effects and dialogue snippets. The results stretch from Breakbot’s tasteful droid disco (“Star Tripper”) and Flying Lotus’s hypnotic, low-key jazz-hop (“R2 Where R U?”) to GTA imagining the Dark Side finding the light in a warehouse rave (“Help Me!”). Crucially, everything is done with a sense of adventure and imagination worthy of the Star Wars name. Other contributing artists include: Kaskade, TroyBoi, Baauer, Shag Kava, Claude VonStroke, Rick Rubin, Bonobo, Röyksopp, Attlas, Shlohmo, Rustie, and Galantis.
Various Artists – Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music CD/2xLP (Numero)
Twang reigned, the sh*tkickers kicked sh*t, and the vaguely western-sounding guitar records piled up. Country-rock became “the dominant American rock style of the 1970s,” as Peter Doggett’s comprehensive Are You Ready For The Country put it much later. Wayfaring Strangers: Cosmic American Music picks up and dusts off golden ingots from the dollar-bin detritus of that domination, to reconstruct events as seen from the genre’s real Wild West — America’s one-off private press label substructure.
Jennifer Warnes – Well [Reissue/2001] CD (Sanctuary)
Reissue of the acclaimed vocalist’s 2001 album. Well includes solo compositions as well as covers from Arlo Guthrie, Billy Joel, Allen Toussaint and Tom Waits, and features guest appearances from Arlo Guthrie, Doyle Bramhall II, Vinnie Colaiuta and others.
Sean Watkins – What To Fear CD (Single Lock)
Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sean Watkins has long been known for his work as one-third of the Grammy Award-winning Nickel Creek and, more recently, for helming, with sister Sara, the itinerant, genre-hopping Watkins Family Hour ensemble. But in the last year he has more assertively — and impressively — taken on the role of solo artist. What To Fear is a follow-up to 2014’s acclaimed All I Do Is Lie, which had been Watkins’ first solo effort in nearly a decade, ten years that had been jammed with collaborative projects and a herculean amount of touring. On his own, Watkins displays tremendous warmth and soulfulness as a singer, a refreshing candor and humor as a lyricist, and prodigious skill as an arranger.
Andrew Weatherall – Convenanza CD/2xLP (Rotters Golf Club)
Convenanza is the sound of Andrew Weatherall (Two Lone Swordsmen, The Sabres Of Paradise, etc.) looking back at the clutter of a life thoroughly lived and realizing it’s too late to tidy it up in any meaningful way. Many years of listening to music with a unique ear has resulted in the disordered cabinet of highlights, touchstones, revelations and half recalled good times that make up being Lord Sabre. On Frankfurt Advice,” post funk punk rhythm takes a deep breath but soldiers on when the disquieting sound of the trumpet playing in the next room intrudes and remains firmly in control despite momentarily stumbling over an unruly guitar. On “The Confidence Man,” self-assured top line collapses in on itself and the loosened beats enjoy a gentle unrestrained boogie atop the solid bassline before the vocal’s final hymnic retreat.
Winter Pills – Love Songs CD (Signature)
The Winterpills are back with their first album of original material in four years. Love Songs is full of those gorgeous chamber-pop songs the band has perfected over the course of their six album career. Vinyl edition due April 15.
Word Alive – Dark Matter CD (Fearless)
New album from the experimental metalcore outfit. Vinyl version due April 15.
Wyrd – Death Of The Sun CD (Moribund)
Ninth album from the Finnish pagan metal band.
Yeti Lane – L’Aurore CD/LP (Sonic Cathedral)
Parisian psych duo Yeti Lane present their third album, L’Aurore, perfectly balancing their love of analog electronics with huge waves of guitar. The duo’s core influences remain the same — The 13th Floor Elevators, Neil Young, The Flaming Lips, Spacemen 3 — but it was their rediscovery of the French scene of the late- ’60s and early- ’70s that inspired Benyoucef to try writing the lyrics in French. (He cites a number of artists from the Saravah label, such as Brigitte Fontaine, Jacques Higelin, and Areski, as well as Obsolete (1974), Dashiell Hedayat’s largely improvised record made with Gong.)
Yndi Halda – Under Summer CD/2xLP+MP3 (Sounds Familyre)
First new album in ten years from the Brighton, UK-based post-rock instrumentalists. Under Summer finds the band honing their musicianship with fuller, more expansive arrangements, larger-scale compositions, and the incorporation of vocals for the first time. (Limited copies also available on cream & black marble color vinyl.)
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Dewi de Vree and Jeroen Uyttendaele – Ground DVD+Book (Audiomer)
Ground is an audiovisual performance in which Dewi de Vree and Jeroen Uyttendaele use graphite drawings as a control interface for several electronic instruments, thus rendering the acoustic tactile. Fascinated by ways of rematerializing an increasingly dematerialized and idealized world, they produce work that can be seen as an attempt to approach electronic music in a more intuitive, engaging manner. NTSC region-free DVD.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Belly – Star [Reissue/1993] LP (Plain)
Plain’s second HQ-180gm vinyl repress of Belly’s debut (originally released on 4AD in 1993). This time on blue color vinyl.
Birth Of Joy – Get Well 2xLP+CD (Long Branch)
Get Well starts off right where Dutch psychedelic rockers Birth of Joy’s debut full-length album Prisoner (2014) ended. The band stepped further away from the standard ‘60/’70s rock & roll sound and again renewed themselves by – maybe even more than ever before – incorporating stoner, punk and now also prog-rock influences.
Blodad Tand – Conrol Alt Delete 7” (Dirt Cult)
Debut five-song 7” from this straight forward, no bullsh*t hardcore band from Sweden.
Bloodbath – Bloodbath Over Bloodstock 2xLP (Peaceville)
2010 live set from the Swedish death metal band, now available on vinyl.
Blue Oyster Cult – Agents Of Fortune [Reissue/1976] LP (Friday Music)
HQ-180gm translucent blue vinyl reissue. Blue Oyster Cult’s fourth album, Agents Of Fortune, was originally released in 1976 and went on to achieve platinum sales status on the strength of the hit single “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” which was the band’s biggest hit.
Booker T. & The M.G.s – Green Onions [Reissue/1962] LP (Rumble)
Rumble joins Stax, DOL, Music On Vinyl, Wax Time, and Sundazed with a hot-off-the-press vinyl reissue of Booker T. & The M.G.s 1962 classic.
Breakbot – Still Waters 2xLP+CD (Ed Banger)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “It should come as no great shock that Still Waters, the second album from French producer and Ed Banger resident Breakbot, isn’t a particularly surprising or challenging listen. That’s by no means a criticism — the producer and his label mates have consistently created some of the best French house and modern disco of the last decade. But if you weren’t expecting groovy basslines, disco synths and feel-good funk, then we’re not sure you’ve been paying attention. The new album from the French producer, real name Thibaut Berland, doesn’t deviate drastically from the formula, but would you want it to?” – Clash Music
James Brown – Live At The Apollo [Reissue/1963] LP (Rumble)
Latest vinyl reissue of one of the most famous live recordings of all time; nearly all teenagers from the post-war boom, from California to Maine and beyond, had this 1963 LP on the stereo at parties. From the classic MC introduction (“Are you ready for star time?”) to The Famous Flames’ final note, this is a soul and R&B album without equal.
Johnny Cash – The Fabulous Johnny Cash [Reissue/1958] LP (Rumble)
Johnny Cash – Sings The Songs That Made Him Famous [Reissue/1958] LP (Rumble)
Two early Cash LPs repressed and ready to roll.
Mary Clarke – Take Me I’m Yours [Reissue/1980] 12” (P&P)
Up there with Gloria Ann Taylor’s “Deep Inside Me” as one of Discogs’ most wanted rare soul 12”s, Mary Clark’s Patrick Adams-produced “Take Me I’m Yours” has finally received its first official reissue via P&P Records, 36 years after it was originally released. The seven-minute soul-meets-gospel disco track had previously only been available on short-lived NYC label La Shawn and has been the subject of the odd unofficial, poor-quality press with the original practically unattainable, with rumors suggesting only 200 of the originals were ever pressed.
Alice Cooper – No More Mister Nice Guy – Live! 2xLP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
A recording of Alice Cooper’s annual Halloween show at Alexandra Palace on October 29, 2011.
Miles Davis – Sun Palace, Fukuoka, Japan October ’81 LP (Hi Hat)
Following a six-year absence from music while he rebuilt his health, Miles Davis erupted back onto the live scene in 1981 with a new, young band comprising Bill Evans (sax, flute), Mike Stern (guitar), Marcus Miller (bass), Al Foster (drums), and Mino Cinelu (percussion). This incendiary set was taped for FM radio broadcast at the Sun Palace in Fukuoka, Japan, on October 11, 1981.
Diminished Men – Vision In Crime LP (Abduction)
Distorted through a shattered lens, Diminished Men refocus hard-boiled cinema and classic instrumental music into something entirely unique. Vision In Crime, their third LP on Sun City Girls’ Abduction label, unfolds like a paranormal detective story full of delinquent exotica, deranged noir, hyperventilating surf, and shortwave radio nightmares.
Tinsley Ellis – Tough Love LP (Heartfixer Music)
Released early last year on CD – now available on vinyl. An all-new set of soulful originals from veteran Georgia blues rocker.
John Fahey – Blind Joe Death [Reissue/1964/Clear] LP (4 Men With Beards)
John Fahey – Death Chants, Breakdowns & Military Waltzes [Reissue/1965/Blue] LP (4 Men With Beards)
John Fahey – The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death [Reissue/1965/Purple] LP (4 Men With Beards)
John Fahey – The Dance Of Death And Other Plantation Favorites [Reissue/1965/Green] LP (4 Men With Beards)
John Fahey – The Great San Bernardino Birthday Party [Reissue/1966/Orange] LP (4 Men With Beards)
John Fahey – Days Have Gone By [Reissue/1967/Gold] LP (4 Men With Beards)
Latest round of limited color vinyl reissues of Fahey’s landmark early work. Essential.
Flamin’ Groovies – Shake Some Action [Reissue/1976] LP (4 Men With Beards)
Limited edition red color pressing. Recorded in Great Britain and produced by Dave Edmunds, Shake Some Action marked a departure for Flamin’ Groovies from the blues based/garage rock sound of the earlier records to a more power pop/British invasion direction. This was due to the departure of lead singer Roy Loney, the ascendance of guitarist Cyril Jordan, and the fact that the band moved to England in 1972 and was building a large following there.
Flying Saucer Attack – Further [Reissue/1994] LP (Drag City)
Flying Saucer Attack – Chorus [Reissue/1995] LP (Drag City)
Reissued on vinyl last year via Domino (UK), these quintessential space rock albums are back in print domestically courtesy of Drag City.
Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – The Rarity Of Experience 2xLP (No Quarter)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. After a year of touring, The Solar Motel Band returned to the studio last spring with Jeff Ziegler (War On Drugs, Kurt Vile) to put to tape the massive and immense The Rarity of Experience. This double album (officially The Rarity Of Experience Part I & II) sees Forsyth and his band stretching out their sound beyond anywhere they’ve gone before, touching on all corners of progressive, psychedelic and post-rock.
Funkadelic – Funkadelic [Reissue/1970] LP (4 Men With Beards)
Limited edition [500] red and blue vinyl reissue of the Funkadelic’s 1970 debut.
Glitterbust – Glitterbust 2xLP/Cassette (Burger)
New project from Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and Alex Knost (Tomorrows Tulips). “The collaboration between Kim Gordon and Alex Knost called Glitterbust is the type of music you would wish for a legend like Gordon to be involved in during her post Sonic Youth career. It is experimental, improvisational and exciting.” — Janky Smooth
Googoosh – Googoosh [Reissue/2011] LP (Finder’s Keepers)
Despite being a national treasure to generations of free-thinking Iranians and one of the most well-known and loved songbirds from the East, Faegheh Atashin (most famously known as Googoosh or Gougoush) is ironically also the performer of some of the rarest unheard pop music in the world. Originally pressed on the diminishing vinyl format in the mid- ‘70s her songs and performances were banned after the Iranian revolution of 1979 resulting in her records, and millions of others, being forbidden, hidden and destroyed. Preserved in some part via the rise of global compact cassette culture in the ‘80s, some of Googoosh’s most famous songs have become anthemic amongst international Iranian communities whilst in darker contrast dozens of 45 B-sides and commercially stunted album tracks remain as distant and nonexistent memories in the mind of the most devout fans and fastidious vinyl librarians. Finders Keepers’ first Googoosh release focuses on a handful of these lesser-spotted tracks – the ones that didn’t get away.
Billy Green – Stone [Tenth Anniversary Edition/OST/1974] LP (Finder’s Keepers)
To mark its 2015 ten-year anniversary, the Finders Keepers label presents a remastered, repackaged repress of its 2010 reissue of Billy Green’s soundtrack to the 1974 Australian biker film Stone. Features updated liner notes and an alternative sleeve design based on the original Japanese theatrical poster. A 45-minute program of skewed, forward-thinking avant-pop.
The Gun Club – Danse Kalinda Boom LP (Bang)
The Gun Club’s live album Danse Kalinda Boom, recorded in 1984, is available on vinyl for the first time, featuring remastered audio and liner notes by founding member Jeffrey Lee Pierce.
Hawkwind – Warrior On The Edge Of Time [Reissue/1975] LP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Hawkwind – Levitation [Reissue/1980] LP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Hawkwind – Distant Horizons [1997] 2xLP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Assorted Hawkwind vinyl reissues now available – the band’s fifth, tenth, and twenty-first albums, respectively.
Ayako Hosokawa – A Whisper Of Love [1993] LP (Impex)
Returning to her early Three Blind Mice period form, Ayako Hosokawa delivered one of her most popular albums ever in 1993 with A Whisper Of Love. Working with a fine ensemble of American jazz players (along with pianist Shota Osabe on two tracks), her delivery had developed a quiet confidence: relaxed and playful. Available for the first time ever on audiophile 180gm vinyl, this great set of classic torch songs gives Ms. Hosokawa a matchless showcase for her melodious tone and buttery delivery.
Jóhann Jóhannsson with Hildur Guðnadóttir and Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe – End Of Summer LP+MP3 (Sonic Pieces)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. End Of Summer captures Jóhann Jóhannsson’s journey to the Antarctic Peninsula to discover the calm scenery of a landscape changing seasons, barely influenced or even noticed by humanity. The Super 8 film is a comforting study of a peaceful setting in one of the most crucial and endangered areas of our planet. Accompanied by rich and detailed field recordings of the surroundings, this footage forms a perfect foundation for Jóhannsson’s musical compositions, performed together with fellow musicians and friends Hildur Guðnadóttir and Robert A. A. Lowe. The varying use of cello, voice, synthesizer, and electronics creates a listening experience that reflects both the vast beauty of the quiet scenery and the necessary caution of its inhabitants. (While the CD edition included the DVD of the film, this LP edition features only the soundtrack as well as the film’s sound design on the B-side, which is exclusive.)
B.B. King – Mr. Blues [Reissue/1963] LP (Rumble)
A stylistically diverse LP from B.B. King, drawn from three different sessions dating from 1962 to 1963, the year of its original release. The blues legend is backed by a variety of groups, the most thrilling of which is The Maxwell Davis Orchestra, which cut countless sessions for L.A.-based labels Aladdin and Modern Records (two of the premier West Coast rhythm and blues labels of the ’50s and ’60s).
Lemonheads – It’s A Shame About Ray [Reissue/1992] LP (Plain)
Limited edition green color vinyl LP pressing. After numerous line-up changes and independent releases Boston’s Lemonheads signed to Atlantic Records for 1990’s Lovey. It was with that record that Evan Dando began to move from Replacements style punk-pop into more gentle and jangly territory, and it’s here, on It’s A Shame About Ray, that he perfects his vision and launches The Lemonheads into international stardom. Featuring Blake Babies member Juliana Hatfield, It’s A Shame About Ray is one of the hookiest and catchy records of the alternative era and holds up now as a jangle-pop classic alongside anything from Eight Miles High to Life’s Rich Pageant.
Lock – The Cycle 7” (Iron Lung)
This L.A. band plays a muscular style of hardcore with ferocious intensity.
Buz Ludzha – Basslines For Life 12” (100% Silk)
Buz Ludzha belongs to the “tape throb” lineage Andrew Morrison more prominently pioneers as The Cyclist, but filtered through an even more blasted, resinous speaker cone. Last year’s debut single on All City, Love Repetitive Rhythmics (aptly named, btw), traced the template but his newest EP, Basslines For Life, delivers on its title, going harder and stretching further into his unique splinter mode of wrecked EQ’s: grainy drum machinery, gain-streaked synths, decayed soul samples, motorik dancefloor manoeuvres in the dark.
Eleanor McEvoy – Naked Music LP+CD (Diverse)
Irish star Eleanor McEvoy’s new album, Naked Music, was recorded alone in the studio to create an intimate collection of her music at it’s most raw — one instrument, one voice, performed live. “It’s a collaboration with the wonderful British artist Chris Gollon. I’ve revisited songs from my catalogue, with a couple of new ones, and recorded them as live, one woman, one voice in the Grange studio in Norfolk. It’s very exposed intimacy and Chris has continued this theme in his magnificent paintings. He’s painted a picture for every song on the album. We are launching the album and the exhibition in Gallery Different in London in January.”
Mean Jeans – Nite Vision 7” (Fat Wreck Chords)
Since forming in 2006, Mean Jeans have become one of the better-known bands of the Pacific Northwest punk scene for their chaotic but relentless attack, raucous live shows, and fierce commitment to the art of partying.
Mmoths – Luneworks LP+CD (Because Music)
Irish electronic musician Jack Colleran aka Mmoths created his debut album, Luneworks, during a period of personal upheaval. He headed out to a friend’s tiny spare room in L.A. with only a laptop and a few changes of clothes for an intense month of nocturnal 12-hour writing and recording sessions. Colleran isolated himself in order to keep the songs as pure as possible; the quiet of the city at night was a real inspiration, and the constraints of an alien environment proved something of a liberation. The ancestral, ethereal spirit of Ireland is also present throughout Luneworks. Kevin Shields (of My Bloody Valentine), one of Dublin’s most famous sonic outliers, is a noted influence — another musician who has wrung sweet emotion out of chaotic noise. Luneworks is a fully immersive head-trip; an album that is at times brutal and at others unbearably beautiful, sometimes within a single track.
Mountain – Nantucket Sleighride [Reissue/1970] LP (Friday Music)
Limited HQ-180gm clear audiophile vinyl repress in a gatefold jacket. Includes 12” x 24” lyric/photo insert. After a blistering performance at Woodstock in 1969 and a great chart run with “Mississippi Queen” and their first album Climbing!, Mountain roared back a year later with Nantucket Sleighride.
Mr. Oizo featuring Charli XCX – Hand In The Fire 12” (Ed Banger)
“Charli XCX has been teasing a song with French electronic producer Mr. Oizo for a few weeks now, and it’s finally here: It’s called ‘Hand In The Fire,’ and it leads off Oizo’s new EP of the same name, which also features two solo tracks and an instrumental for their collaboration.” — Stereogum
My Golden Calf – Perfume Brute LP+MP3 (Austin Music Distribution)
My Golden Calf was formed by principal songwriter Dabney Swelle (ex-Quien Es Boom!) as a vehicle to break the mold for how he approached songwriting. Ditching the guitar (his primary instrument) for a Wurlitzer electric piano, Dwelle and his band experiment with intricate layers, while leaving enough space to breathe, on Perfume Brute, combining raspy yet approachable vocals and swirling guitar and keyboard melodies with a syncopated and driving rhythm section, all buttoned up with dashes of reverb soaked harmonies and production by Erik Wofford (Black Angels, Bill Callahan, Okkervil River).
Augustus Pablo – Original Rockers [Reissue/1979] LP (VP)
Recently reissued on CD – now back-in-print on vinyl. Roots reggae/dub man Augustus Pablo was first introduced to the wider (read: outside Jamaica) world in 1979, with the Original Rockers compilation. Pablo’s melodica sits well with the dubbed rhythms of these tracks. This reissue presents the whole lot again, this time with some rare and heavy extra cuts added into the mix.
Pinkshinyultrablast – Grandfeathered LP (Shellshock)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “Like early-’00s bands like Asobi Seksu, Serena-Maneesh, or Mahogany, Pinkshinyultrablast are rooted in shoegaze while maintaining a basis in electronic noise. The effect is like getting showered with a firehose pumping spangly glitter.” – Pitchfork
Primal Scream – Screamadelica [Reissue/1991] 2xLP (Plain)
Red & yellow color vinyl reissue of this classic dance and indie-pop album that transcends its time and influence. Winner of the first Mercury Prize (1992).
Public Image Ltd. – The Flowers Of Romance [Reissue/1981] LP (4 Men With Beards)
Another set of harsh, avant-garde, post-punk from John Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols group. While Metal Box/Second Edition was characterized by throbbing bass tones and violent guitar scrapes, The Flowers Of Romance is much more drum and synthesizer heavy. This was the result of bassist Jah Wobble getting kicked out of the band before recording the third record (for stealing PiL rhythm tracks for his own solo recordings) and guitarist Keith Levene more and more obsessed with synths. Perhaps the most uncompromising PiL album and another classic post-punk title.
Ramayana Soul – Sabdatanmantra LP (Guruguru Brain)
Jakarta, Indonesia’s Ramayana Soul create new musical colors by blending the sound of the East with the psychedelia & soul rock of the ’60s, and Sabdatanmantra is more than just a newfound romance of psychedelia—vocals broken by rhythmic shouts echoing their punk influence, tempo changes, chanting vocals dissolving into sitar and/or guitar freak-outs, this is a synthesis of new global sounds.
Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – All Souled Out [Reissue/1991] 12” (Get On Down)
In honor of the 25th anniversary of their debut EP All Souled Out, legendary New York duo Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth have reissued the collection on clear vinyl for the first time.
Rusalnaia – Rusalnaia [2007] LP (Feeding Tube)
Originally issued on CD in 2007 by the late Tony Dale’s superb Camera Obscura label, the debut album by Rusalnaia is one of the lost classics of contemporary folk music.
Bruce Russell – Howling And Instability At High Volume Settings LP (Feeding Tube)
If ever there was an album by NZ’s great Bruce Russell (Dead C) whose title carried the essence of his genius, this is it. The title Howling And Instability At High Volume Settings comes from the manual of the amp that Bruce uses to create his special brand of guitar havoc, and its wording could not be clearer. Naturally, Mr. Russell takes great delight in pushing the poor thing beyond its stated limits as often as possible. The results almost always possess a strange majesty.
Selda – Selda [Reissue/1976] LP (Finder’s Keepers)
Bearing all the aesthetic watermarks of a private-press country LP, Selda Bağcan’s 1976 debut long-player is a stunning work of space-age Anatolian electronic, progressive protest-psych-folk-funk-rock; a delectable hybrid concoction, presented with the utmost authenticity and conviction, which has never been replicated or equaled in the decades since its recording.
Sham 69 – Shams Last Stand [Reissue/1989] LP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Live/compilation album by Sham 69 and Sham Pistols, recorded in 1977-1979 at Rainbow Theatre, London, England.
Linda Sharrock – In The Abyssity Of The Grounds/Gods 3xLP (Golden Labs)
A massive triple-LP set of all-new material from a legendary voice. In The Abyssity Of The Grounds/Gods finds Linda’s wails backed by biting free jazz explosions from her band The Antique Gods. High-energy stuff over the course of two hours.
Carly Simon – Boys In The Trees [Reissue/1978] LP (Friday Music)
Simon’s seventh album, Boys In The Trees, was originally issued in 1978 on the heel’s of the success of the James Bond The Spy Who Loved Me theme song “Nobody Does It Better,” the year prior. HQ-180gm.
Sky – Sky 3 [Reissue/1981] LP (Let Them Eat Vinyl)
Limited 140gm blue color vinyl LP pressing. Sky 3 is the third album by the English/Australian instrumental progressive rock band, originally released in 1981.
Elliott Smith – Heaven Adores You Soundtrack 2xLP (UMe)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Heaven Adores You is the soundtrack to the 2014 documentary about the life and music of indie singer/songwriter Elliott Smith. In addition to having at least one song from each of his albums, the track listing contains over a dozen previously unreleased Elliott Smith songs, spanning the length of his career.
S.P.K. – S.P.K. Dokument: Recordings 1979-1983 7xLP+7” (Vinyl On Demand)
Epic boxed set crammin’ stacks of early recordings, albums, compilations cuts and single tracks by industrial agitators S.P.K.
Starchild & The New Romantic – Crucial 12”+MP3 (Ghostly Int’l)
“Champion Music for the Heartbroken” is how Bryndon Cook, who records as Starchild, describes Crucial, his first EP for Ghostly. It’s easy to hear what he means: Starchild creates songs that draw equally on electro and R&B, and at the center of every one of them is an undeniable twinge of sadness.
Stepdad – Masterbeast Theatre 12” (Quite Scientific)
“Late in 2014, Stepdad’s tour van was broken into and several things were stolen, the most important of which was the hard drive that contained a good chunk of what was to become their new full-length album. Many a tasty jam and critical banger were lost in what we’ve come to call ‘The Great Banger Heist of 2014.’ Despite what was lost, four of the songs were already finished, and made it out alive. These are the survivors.”
Strategy – Information Pollution LP (Further)
Like some ingenious combination of John Cage’s chance operations and the numbers station data stream captured on The Conet Project, Strategy’s new album immerses listeners in baffling sonic waters. It’s a riveting work that converts the enigmatic effluvia of shortwave and dispatch radio chatter into thrumming, static-riddled clouds of ambience. An undercurrent of unease wafts through Information Pollution’s four lengthy tracks, as barely audible molecules of aural junk never meant for public consumption get repurposed into an unsettling strain of inverted chillout music. With this album Strategy has shaped the random output of radios into a gripping document. As Dickow puts it, “This is the audio equivalent of photographing the oil slicks that appear in the puddles of parking lots.”
Sun Ra And His Arkestra – Jazz In Silhouette [Reissue/1959] LP (Rumble)
Vinyl reissue of the album considered by many to be one of the best records from Sun Ra’s Chicago period.
Garry Tallent – Break Time LP (D’ville)
As a founding member of The E Street Band, Garry Tallent has spent a considerable portion of his life touring the world and playing for legions of fans. In between these musical campaigns, the question fans most often ask is, “So, what do you do in your break time?” With his new album, Garry now has the perfect answer. Break Time is a wonderfully raucous collection of twelve original songs, all written or co-written by Garry. Reaching back to the sounds that initially inspired him; the songs on Break Time use the music of the ’50s as a framework.
Big Mama Thornton – In Europe [Reissue/1966] LP (Arhoolie)
Limited edition blue color mono vinyl LP pressing. In Europe was recorded on October 20th, 1965 while Big Mama Thornton was part of the Folk Blues Festival revue that was touring Europe at the time. The sessions find her in great form with an ace backing band offering killer support on tracks such as “Little Red Rooster,” “Unlucky Girl” and “Hound Dog.” The band consists of Buddy Guy (guitar), Fred Below (drums), Eddie Boyd (piano and organ), Jimmy Lee Robinson (bass), and Walter “Shakey” Horton (harmonica).
Tombstones – Vargariis 2xLP (Soulseller)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The Norwegian doomheads return with their fourth full-length album.
Twins Crew – Veni Vidi Vici LP (Inner Wound)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New album from the Swedish heavy/power metal band — for fans of Sabaton, Helloween, Hammerfall and Gloryhammer.
Various Artists – Beat From Badsville 4: Even More Trash 2×10” (Stag-O-Lee)
The fourth and latest installment in The Beat From Badsville series, gathering more music from the American ghoul-rock scene of the 1950s and 1960s, drawn from The Cramps’ Lux Interior and Poison Ivy’s personal collection.
Various Artists – Pomegranates [Reissue/2009] 2xLP (Finder’s Keepers)
Pomegranates collects some of the finest Persian pop songs ever recorded. Many are acknowledged classics within Iran and throughout the Iranian Diaspora. Some are obscure. This collection is a trove, ripe for discovery and rediscovery, and worthy of inclusion in the canon of idiosyncratic musical gems from the global south. Most of contemporary Iran’s artistic and creative leanings, and its grapples with history and identity, are loosely and mystically conjoined and contested in memory. Iran is marked by the complex interplay of diverse constituencies, philosophies, and influences — ethnic, religious, political, geopolitical, and historical.
Various Artists – Relax LP (Warner Classics/Parlophone)
Scientists at Oxford University conducted a series of experiments before announcing it to the world in June 2015. You, however, will know it instinctively: the right kind of classical music can lower our blood pressure and heart rate. The Oxford team also discovered that rock and pop just don’t have the same effect, so — take some time to enjoy the sequence of music on Relax as it wends its leisurely way through some 250 years of classical music history.
Various Artists – The Sound Of Durban 1 2xLP+MP3 (Gqom Oh!)
The first full-length compilation collecting the sound of the suburbs and townships of Durban, South Africa, a music known as gqom. Taking its name from an onomatopoeic Zulu word signifying a drum, this extraordinary, apocalyptic bass music encompasses many influences. Each polyrhythmic track draws on the darker side of electronic music, hip-hop, sound system culture, kwaito, UK funky, and deep African vibrations.
Various Artists – Tessellations CD (Houndstooth)
In February 2016 the Houndstooth label celebrated its third anniversary, an occasion marked by the label’s 50th release, Tessellations. A compilation of brand-new, exclusive tracks from each of the 14 artists to have released on the label, the album serves to simultaneously trace common threads and highlight tensions within such a stylistically extensive roster. Tessellations charts a path from Guy Andrews and Aïsha Devi’s widescreen soundscapes and the offbeat electronic pop of 18+ and Snow Ghosts through the analog 4/4 pulse of Marquis Hawkes and Shift Work to Akkord and Special Request’s visceral reimagining of hardcore.
Various Artists – Thai? Dai! – The Heavier Side of the Luk Thung Underground [2011] LP (Finder’s Keepers)
Fourteen slabs of the heaviest Thai funk and psych rockers ever committed to vinyl. The styles featured on this compilation fall somewhere between luk thung (“song of the countryside”) and luk krung (“song of the city”). Bangkok was a melting pot for the evolution of these two genres, the former alluding to musical themes and lyrics aimed at the wider national population and the latter looking westward with a more urban audience in mind.
Violent Femmes – We Can Do Anything LP+MP3 (PIAS America)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Two pressings: HQ-180gm black and limited translucent gold color vinyl with bonus track. “After 16 years, Violent Femmes’ singer and guitarist Gordon Gano and bassist Brian Ritchie have put aside their creative differences and made a full-length album, We Can Do Anything. It features the influential Milwaukee-born folk punk band in its finest form since — well, the beginning. he album was produced by Jeff Hamilton, a Milwaukee native and touring multi-instrumentalist with the band. Despite reportedly having hundreds of songs to pull from Gano’s archives, Hamilton smartly kept the album to 10 tracks, totaling 31 minutes of music. It was largely recorded with the full band performing together and with minimal post-production touches. The result is a livewire listen that doesn’t lag for a second. It’s reminiscent of the scruffy sound from its breakthrough self-titled album three decades back. On this long overdue album at least, the Femmes do give it their all.” – The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Wainwright Sisters – Songs In The Dark 2xLP+MP3 (PIAS America)
Released last November on CD – now available on vinyl. After collaborating with members of Cibo Matto and the Dirty Three for 2012’s Come Home To Mama, folk artist Martha Wainwright is taking a more familial approach to her next LP. Specifically, she’s teamed up with sister Lucy Wainwright Roche to release an album called Songs In The Dark as, fittingly enough, the Wainwright Sisters. In addition to their own musical family tree, the folk-flecked album also includes the Wainwright Sisters’ “dark, mysterious, and beautiful” take on number made famous by Woody Guthrie and Jimmie Rogers.
Ween – God Ween Satan – The Oneness [Reissue/1990] 2xLP (Plain)
Ween – 12 Golden Country Greats [Reissue/1996] LP (Plain)
Opaque pink & blue (God Ween Satan) and marbled brown (12 Country Greats) color vinyl reissues back in print for a limited run.
White Hills – No Game To Play LP (300mics)
No Game To Play is the White Hills’ debut album, originally released only as a limited CDR before they signed to Thrill Jockey Records. 300mics now presents a first time vinyl edition, which includes two unreleased tracks from the same era.
Wicked Lady – Complete Recordings, 1969-1972 4xLP (Guerssen)
The stuff of legend, Wicked Lady were the legendary UK power trio led by Martin Weaver. They played raw, unadulterated, psychedelic hard rock; their sound is a real fest of fuzz and wah-wah.
Zoom – Sweet Desperation LP (Ugly Pop)
Toronto proto-punk, recorded 1976-1980. Formed in 1976, Zoom was inspired by such pre-punk touchstones as the Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Bowie and Sparks. The band quickly set to gigging locally, but were soon caught up in the punk scene that exploded to life around them. An obscure but seminal 1976 7” single—arguably Toronto’s first punk record—was their sole release before the band dissolved as Haight joined The Viletones and Hamilton began drumming for The Diodes. This LP collects previously lost recordings sessions, professionally restored.
Cassettes:
Bitchin Bajas and Bonny Prince Billy – Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties (Drag City)
Epic Jammers And Fortunate Little Ditties contains moments of tranquility and trance, with the players integrating their separate ways, vibing off each other, making songs together. Bonny is at his spirit-melting celestial best wandering through a lifetime of fortunes that amount, when incanted, to a prayer to the god of many names. The Bajas access to the universal aural paintbox is unparalleled; their reach is deep. And it all went down onto a 2-track reel-to-reel in primitive left-right seps that helped to define their ability to finish it in mixing.
Glitterbust – Glitterbust (Burger)
New project from Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth) and Alex Knost (Tomorrows Tulips). “The collaboration between Kim Gordon and Alex Knost called Glitterbust is the type of music you would wish for a legend like Gordon to be involved in during her post Sonic Youth career. It is experimental, improvisational and exciting.” — Janky Smooth
Cullen Omori – New Misery (Sub Pop)
Cullen Omori knows it’s a false cliché to say there are no second acts in American lives, but, after the 2014 breakup of his acclaimed band the Smith Westerns, living that cliché was his greatest fear. His solo debut, New Misery, is a direct challenge to that anxiety: an album that goes beyond the glam punch of the Smith Westerns to new sounds, new sources of inspiration, and greater self-awareness.
Pleasure Model – Kendo Dynamics (100% Silk)
Bristol giallo disco meta-morphist Antoni Maiovvi flexes a fresh facet of his production arsenal as Pleasure Model, mapping leaner schematics of vintage cybernetic dread through stark drum machinery and cold fluorescent synthwork.
Potions – Pushing The Cuboid (100% Silk)
Eight new nubby acid permutations by Chicago’s premiere liquid electric projectionist.
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