CDs + Vinyl:
Anubis Gate – Covered In Black CD (Nightmare)
Ranging from classical chamber music, ‘70s prog and extending to thrash, with very eastern influences popping up, this is an album that is best heard as one piece, even if the individual tracks can stand on their own.
The Babe Rainbow – The Babe Rainbow CD/LP+MP3 (30th Century/Columbia)
Australia’s The Babe Rainbow have signed to 30th Century Records, the label spearheaded by Danger Mouse, for the release of their debut self-titled album. Recorded in “magicland” Byron Bay where the band is based, and produced by Stu Mackenzie of King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard, The Babe Rainbow’s first LP is The album is a psychedelic feel-good romp that occasionally crosses over into strangeness and then back into a generally uplifting vibe.
John Beasley – MONK’estra, Vol. 2 CD (Mack Avenue)
Composer-arranger-pianist John Beasley uses Monk’s spontaneous movements and experiences as the basis for conducting radically reconceived versions of the late composer’s music for his critically acclaimed big band project, MONK’estra.
Blindwish – Good Excuses CD (Rise)
Blindwish is a new up and coming post hardcore band from Dallas.
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Wind River [OST] CD (Lakeshore)
Written and directed by Taylor Sheridan, Wind River is a chilling thriller that follows a rookie FBI agent (Elizabeth Olsen) who teams up with a local game tracker with deep community ties and a haunted past (Jeremy Renner) to investigate the murder of a local girl on a remote Native American Reservation in the hopes of solving her mysterious death. The film features a sublime original motion picture soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Hell Or High Water, Lawless, The Assassination Of Jesse James). [Vinyl edition due September 8.]
Cloud Control – Zone CD (Votiv)
“While all the haircut bands and leg-shaving electronic ‘artistes’ might be spiritually at home in the neon of Sydney, Cloud Control’s disregard for pop conventions and deeply rooted psychedelic leanings can only come from the Blue Mountains. So now you know.” – Tiny Mix Tapes
The Convalescence – This Is Hell CD/LP (Unique Leader)
New album from the symphonic death metal unit.
Dälek – Endangered Philosophies CD/2xLP (Ipecac)
Pioneers of alt hip-hop, Dälek (pronounced “die-a-lek”) features rapper/producer MC Dälek, producer/live electronics Mike Manteca, and turntabilist DJ Rek. With roots in the mid-’90s DIY scene, Dälek has been delivering groundbreaking albums for over 20 years. “Endangered Philosophies is Dälek’s signature sound pushed in new directions. Re-sculpted to say all that needs to be said today. It is no one element, but rather an amalgamation of the lyrics, sonics, drums, noise, melody, bass, and turntablism,” explains MC Dälek of their newest work.
The Domestics – Little Darkness CD/LP+MP3 (Tender Loving Empire)
For the 11-track Little Darkness, the Portland duo—Michael Finn and Leo London—collaborated with hometown producer Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Decemberists); Finn and Martine have also worked together on records by the likes of Neko Case/k.d. lang/Laura Veirs, Bill Frisell and Darlene Love at Martine’s Flora Recording studio.
End Christian – Energy & Strength CD (Translation Loss)
End Christian consists of members from Brutal Truth, Starkweather and Hex Inverter. Recorded by Alap Momin (Dalek, Bkgd Audio), the band’s debut album, Energy & Strength, serves up an eclectic mix of electronic pop, ambience and drum & bass.
Mary Epworth – Elytral CD/LP (PIAS America)
Elytral sees Mary Epworth arriving with greater ferocity and a letting loose of her darker instincts through grinding, splintered soundscapes, electronic experimentalism, prog, psychedelia, free-jazz and more.
Bill Evans – Another Time: The Hilversum Concert CD (Resonance)
A rare, never-before-issued recording of the legendary Bill Evans trio featuring Eddie Gomez
on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums captured live at the Netherlands Radio Union Studios on June 22, 1968.
Raymond Fairchild – Bluegrass Banjo Collection 3xCD (Rural Rhythm)
92 tracks of classic bluegrass.
Fantastic Negrito – The Last Days Of Oakland CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)
This reissue of 2017 Grammy-winning artist Fantastic Negrito’s critically acclaimed 2016 debut album The Last Days Of Oakland (recipient of a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy Award) with two new additional tracks. The new tracks – “Push Back” and “The Shadows” – were both produced by Xavier Dphrepaulezz (aka Fantastic Negrito) and feature Masa Kohama and Tomas Salcedo (guitars), Cornelius Mims (bass guitar), Lionel Holoman Jr. (piano and organ), with vocals, additional piano, additional guitar, drum programming andclaps by Dphrepaulezz.
“…Last Days Of Oakland is among the rawest pieces of music – sonically and emotionally – you’ll hear all year. But it’s also the work of a craftsman, full of subtlety and sophistication, along with the kind of scars that only a survivor can flaunt” (Jason Heller, NPR). “The first great album of the post-Prince/post-Ali world…Tremendous” (The Mirror).
The Grascals – Before Breakfast CD (Mountain Home)
“As soon as Before Breakfast hit my speakers, I recognized the prestigious pickin’ of guitar, banjo, fiddle, and mandolin the way I remembered it from my childhood.” – Nuts About Country
Impaled Nazarene – Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz [Reissue/1992] LP (Osmose Productions)
Impaled Nazarene – Ugra-Karma [Reissue/1993] CD/LP (Osmose)
Extreme Finnish black metal trailblazers Impaled Nazarene’s scorching first two albums second are back in-print.
Inheaven – Inheaven CD/LP (PIAS America)
Produced by Tom Dalgety (Royal Blood, Pixies, The Maccabees) and recorded at Rockfield Studios, Inheaven kicks off with the thunderous “Baby’s Alright,” and includes “Regeneration” and “Vultures,” the band’s doomy, metallic new single. Interview Magazine writes, “it’s shoegaze-y British punk rock with ’90s American influences: Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Hole, to name a few. Little and Taylor both lend genuinely powerful voices to already amped up tracks.”
Insane Clown Posse – The Great Milenko (20th Anniversary Edition) 2xCD+DVD (Island)
Includes the 16-track Island edition of the album as well as a 16-track ‘Bonus Spells’ disc of rarities and remixes. Additionally, there are five previously unreleased tracks and the brand-new song “Black Blizzard,” recorded specifically for this 20th anniversary edition. The long out of print, ICP story documentary Shockumentary makes its DVD debut as well.
Boney James – Honestly CD (Concord)
“Now, there’s probably not a soul who’s listened to music in the last quarter century that doesn’t know of the thunderous impact one particular saxophonist – Boney James — has had on not just the world of smooth or contemporary jazz but R&B, as well. Album after album has been a smash, increasing his fan base to some crazy, almost infinite, number. It’s all been very justified, and that justification is advanced by the release of his 16th album, Honestly, an inferno-hot masterpiece of jazzy, soulful, funky, in-your-face tracks guaranteed to cause some to offer that this may well be his hottest to date. With not a single filler tune or mediocre track on the album, Boney explodes on this one in a way that most certainly should land this project at Number 1 on the charts in no time flat. Full of that signature Boney groove that captured so many back in 1992 with Trust and has kept on trucking through the hearts of who-knows-how-many with every CD since, he pours it on thick with this release…” The Smooth Jazz Ride
Jan & Dean – Filet Of Soul Redux: The Rejected Master Recordings CD (Omnivore)
A live cutting-edge comedy album with great music interspersed with sound effects, studio skits and comic banter.
The JT Project – Another Chance CD (Trippin’ & Rhythm)
The JT Project has exponentially expanded into a musical collective, incorporating the most talented jazz and soul musicians in New York City.
Madeline Kenney – Night Night At The First Landing CD/LP+MP3 (Company)
Madeline Kenney begins her new album with a helpful reminder: “Don’t forget, there’s room for you.” The declaration is meant to lay to rest unnecessary competition. The universe is pretty large. It’s a fitting welcome to Kenney’s debut full-length, Night Night At The First Landing. The record is framed by meditative, repetitive recordings that each offer some kind of encouragement. “Don’t you worry about a thing, you’re fine.” “I won’t give up on anything now.” The trip on Night Night is deciding whether the narrator is full of confidence or talking to themselves privately. Kenney began working on the record immediately after completing her first EP, 2016’s Signals. As with Signals, Company Records label head Chaz Bundick (Toro Y Moi) was on hand as producer, but with Kenney as the arranger and key creative force, Night Night reveals more of the artist. The album is unavoidably dreamy, dipping into sweet fuzz while usually sailing through smooth, crystalline production. The songs are about people, and though people sometimes disappoint, this record is meant to comfort. Fall into it and imagine the clouds scooping you up, or the changing tide’s ripples gliding you past a gentle moon’s new reflection. [Limited purple color vinyl pressing also available.]
King Tubby – King Tubbys Presents Soundclash Dubplate Style: Part 2 CD (Dubstore)
The legendary Sound Clash Dub Plate Style album deconstructed by King Tubby – a late ‘80s masterwork which fuses Tubby’s mythical dub techniques with the nascent sounds of ragga dancehall. This album was the first of its kind. Its purpose was to give those people who didn’t attend dances a feel of what happening inside the dance hall and also to be used in sound system clashes. All of the tracks from the album are specials. Specials are recordings which were made from rhythm tracks rented from the producers who take along an artist of their choice to do a recording. [Vinyl edition due September 8.]
LCD Soundsystem – American Dream CD/2xLP+MP3 (Columbia)
“American Dream is a gorgeous f**king record. Compared to the other three LCD albums, I expect that it’ll be a slow-bloomer; there’s very little of the sharp, immediate urgency that you could hear in some of those older records. The frenetic clatter of ‘Movement’ or ‘Us V Them’ is almost entirely gone. Instead, it’s an album of textures and sighs. It’s not a slow or pretentious or boring album; Murphy wouldn’t allow himself to make one of those. Murphy’s control-freak tendencies are well-documented; his whole career is almost a fascinating thought-experiment about what might happen if a bandleader as stubborn and dictatorial as, say, James Brown applied himself fully to making record-nerd esoterica. So he makes good and certain that every sound on American Dream is fully on-point. Every drum kicks hard, every synth hums with physical electricity, every guitar twitches just so. But American Dream is still a heady, expansive album. No song is shorter than five minutes. And it sounds like he’s pursuing infinity on some of these tracks — like he’s actually setting controls for the heart of the sun, not just singing about it.” – Stereogum
Monster Magnet – 25… Tab [Reissue/1991] CDEP/12” (Napalm)
Monster Magnet – Spine Of God [Reissue/1991] CD/LP (Napalm)
The stoner-rock band channel Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Hawkwind on their early recordings – two of which are back in-print on CD and vinyl.
Ms. Jody – Thunder Under Yonder CD (Ecko)
Ms. Jody is one of Southern soul’s premier performers and a mainstay on the soul blues circuit. Now the Queen of Southern Soul returns with her 12th CD release of all-new material – 12 cuts of pure smokin’ Southern soul.
Nine Inch Nails – Add Violence CDEP (Capitol)
Add Violence marks the second EP in a proposed trilogy following the 2016 release of Not The Actual Events. Five tracks, including the singles “Less Than” and “This Isn’t The Place.”
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark – The Punishment Of Luxury CD/LP (White Noise)
“OK, let’s get this out of the way: anyone expecting a new Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark full-length filled back to front with songs tailor-made for radio are going to be sorely disappointed. However, if you are looking for a classic OMD album that blends commercial pop smarts with their darker experimental side are going to be over the moon. The Punishment Of Luxury is that album and so much more! While their 1983 release Dazzle Ships may have pushed the experimental envelope too far for some of their fanbase, TPOL strikes the perfect balance between synthpop maestros and electronic music pioneers. Leaders Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys are smart chaps, and on TPOL they go full-frontal experimental on nearly half the album without losing any of their knack for a keen melody. For a band that hit their commercial peak some 30 years ago, OMD remains one of the most vital pop bands of our time. As I said in my review of English Electric, ‘This is not a band trying to break away from their past – OMD are a band embracing everything that came before and reminding us why they mattered then… and now.’ Still taking chances nearly 40 years into their career, one can only hope OMD continues to make music for 40 more.” – Discussions Magazine
Joan Osborne –Songs Of Bob Dylan CD/LP (Womanly Hips)
On Songs Of Bob Dylan, Joan Osborne unleashes her sizable gifts as a vocalist and interpreter upon The Bard’s celebrated canon. With performances honed by the time Osborne spent polishing them during Joan Osborne Sings The Songs Of Bob Dylan – two critically acclaimed two-week residencies she performed at New York City’s Café Carlyle in March 2016 and 2017, the seven-time Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum-selling singer and songwriter, whom The New York Times has called “a fiercely intelligent, no-nonsense singer,” winds her supple, soulful voice around Dylan’s poetic, evocative lyrics, etching gleaming new facets in them along the way. The album spans Dylan’s beloved standards from the ’60s and ’70s (“Masters Of War,” “Highway 61 Revisited,” “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” “Buckets Of Rain,” “Tangled Up In Blue”) to some of Osborne’s favorites from his later albums, including “Dark Eyes” (from 1985’s Empire Burlesque), “Ring Them Bells” (from 1989’s Oh Mercy), “Tryin’ To Get To Heaven” (from 1997’s Time Out Of Mind), and “High Water” (from 2001’s Love And Theft).
Paradise Lost – Medusa CD/LP (Napalm)
Medusa serves as Paradise Lost’s heaviest full-length release of the past 15 years, melding crushing doom metal with Holmes’ harsh death growls and raw organic sounds, heralding a new era of pure Northern misery. [Two limited colored vinyl pressings also available: purple and purple and bottle green splattered.]
Penny And Sparrow – Wendigo CD/LP (I Love You)
Texas-born duo Penny And Sparrow have a musical maturity that has been honed over half a decade and hundreds of live shows. Kyle Jahnke and Andy Baxter are presenting their most ambitious album yet in their new album Wendigo. Rejoined by Chris Jacobie (producer and engineer of their previous albums Creature, Tenboom, Struggle Pretty, and Christmas Songs), Penny And Sparrow delve into numerous new and diverse soundscapes throughout Wendigo, without sacrificing the sharp honesty that’s accompanied their career thus far. They expand their musical palette both poetically and sonically via their hypnotic arrangements, as Baxter delves into themes of love, darkness, urban legends (“Wendigo”) and an ambitious trilogy of songs featuring an unusual take on humanizing the Grim Reaper (“Part 1 Visiting,” “Part 2 Smitten” and “Part 2 Moniker”). Throughout the album is an underlying theme of unearthing fear, and discovering the unexpected beauty, strength and hope that lies within.
Rehab – Million Dollar Mug Shot CD (Average Joe’s Ent.)
A collection of previously unreleased songs from the iconic southern rock/rap band.
The Script – Freedom Child CD/LP (Columbia)
Freedom Child sees The Script presenting a collection of urgent, timely, future-facing anthems that speak of both real-life events and real-time sonic adventurism.
John Sebastian – Stories We Could Tell: The Very Best Of John Sebastian CD (Varese Sarabande)
As the leader of The Lovin’ Spoonful, John Sebastian was responsible for a string of hits including, “Do You Believe In Magic,” and “Summer In The City.” This new ‘best of’ his solo years includes the #1 hit “Welcome Back,” as well as new versions of the Spoonful classics “You’re A Big Boy Now,” and “Didn’t Wanna Have To Do It,” and live versions of “Nashville Cats,” “Darling Be Home Soon,” and others.
Septicflesh – Codex Omega CD (Prosthetic)
Primordial, menacing and majestic, the gods of orchestral extreme metal return with the new album. [Vinyl edition due September 15.]
Starsailor – All This Life CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)
Ushered in by triumphant opener “Listen To Your Heart,” All This Life finds Starsailor re-energized and in outstanding form, having recently played a packed Big Top Stage at 2016’s Isle Of Wight Festival. Lead singer and guitarist James Walsh says of the album and recording process – “Recording the album was an intense and rewarding experience and we’re excited to get it out there. There’s a good mix of the aspects of the band people know and love, and a few changes in direction.”
Pete Townsend –Scoop [Reissue/1983] 2xCD (UMe)
Pete Townsend – Another Scoop [Reissue/1987] 2xCD (UMe)
Pete Townsend –Scoop 3 [Reissue/2001] 2xCD (UMe)
Three volumes of assorted demos from The Who songwriter/guitarist, back in-print on CD.
Walter Trout – We’re All In This Together CD/2xLP (Provogue)
We’re All In This Together features Walter with a different guest on each track, including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Sonny Landreth, Robben Ford, Warren Haynes, Eric Gales, Joe Louis Walker, John Mayall and Joe Bonamassa.
The Verve – Urban Hymns [Reissue/1997] CD/2xCD5xCD+DVD (Virgin)
Deluxe digitally remastered version of The Verve’s third studio album. Available in Regular, Deluxe and Super Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds a bonus CD containing the previously unreleased Live at Haigh Hall 5.24.98 concert, while the Super Deluxe includes B-sides, unreleased live tracks and BBC sessions, promo videos, a 56-page hardcover book, five postcards, and a poster.
Steve Winwood –Winwood: Greatest Hits Live 2xCD/4xLP (Wincraft)
Winwood: Greatest Hits Live is a new collection sourced from Steve’s personal archives of live performances. With a 23-song tracklist handpicked by Steve, featuring his best-loved songs, the set offers fans a definitive musical portrait of his five-decade career. The package features rare, previously unreleased material touching on all aspects of Winwood’s extensive catalog, including contemporary arrangements of the music he created with the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, and on his classic solo recordings. The collection channels R&B, jazz, funk, folk, classic rock, pop, and Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian rhythms, highlighting Winwood’s unique ability to fuse multiple genres into a singular, cohesive musical expression. The record not only demonstrates Steve’s mastery of the Hammond B3 Organ, but also showcases his remarkable guitar skills.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Agents Of Oblivion – Agents Of Oblivion [2000] 2xLP (Rotten)
Originally issued on Rotten Records in 2000, Agents Of Oblivion is the lone album from the Louisiana rock group of the same name featuring Dax Riggs and Mike Sanchez of Acid Bath. A noticeable departure from their former group, Riggs and Sanchez implement ’70s influences here like T. Rex (down to a cover of “Cosmic Dancer”), David Bowie, Iggy Pop, The Doors and Neil Young to great effect and offer up a fine cross-section of rock ‘n’ roll from straight-forward tracks to psychedelic numbers to ballads and everything in between. Limited green 180gm vinyl pressing.
Black Crowes – Warpaint [Reissue/2008] LP (Silver Arrow/MRI Associated)
2008’s Warpaint served as the seventh studio album and first in seven years from the retro blues-rockers. The album features 11 songs, all of which were written by the Robinson Bros. except “God’s Got It” by the Reverend Charlie Jackson, and builds compellingly on the band’s trademark adventurous brew of rock, blues, country, soul and gospel.
Joey Cape – One Week Record LP (One Week Records/Fat Wreck Chords)
Joey Cape has releases a covers album through his own One Week Records, which features him playing Lagwagon and Bad Astronaut songs acoustically.
Fifteen – Buzz [Reissue/1994] LP (Real Gone Music)
Jeff Ott, the leader of Fifteen, is one of punk-rock’s most intriguing figures. Sexually abused as a child and homeless in his teens, Ott brought a personal perspective to such topics as pacifism, drug addiction, and racism that was a refreshing break from the doctrinaire rant ‘n’ cant that marred many a punk song, and his voice—while definitely untrained—lent his music a vulnerable, everyman touch. Buzz, the third by his band Fifteen, is reckoned by most to be their finest. Limited maroon colored vinyl pressing.
The Haunted – Strength In Numbers LP (Century Media)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Launched in 1996 by guitarist Jensen, bassist Jonas Björler and drummer Adrian Erlandsson, The Haunted has enjoyed cult status in the metal world.
HVMM – Talk To Me Like I’m Dead LP+MP3 (Independent Label Alliance)
HVMM is a band out of the UK who draw comparisons to Nick Cave and Royal Blood. This is their debut album.
Impaled Nazarene – Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz [Reissue/1993] LP (Osmose Productions)
Vinyl reissue of debut full length album from extreme Finnish black metal trailblazers.
Kitty In A Casket – Rise LP+CD (Rodeostar)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. This Austrian band takes a firm stand with their melodic punk rock, from radical to emotional, from undaunted to sensitive, from fast and hard to tender and susceptible. Limited pink colored vinyl pressing.
Nightbringer – Terra Damnata 2xLP (Season Of Mist)
Limited transparent red gatefold double LP pressing. The enigmatic black metal band returns.
Omnium Gatherum – Stuck Here On Snakes Way [2007] 2xLP (Spinefarm)
Omnium Gatherum – The Redshift [2008] 2xLP (Spinefarm)
From the northern parts of the globe, Finland’s Omnium Gatherum is a melodic death metal band known for its fierce live performances and fresh ingenious sound. The sextet delivers sophisticated but aggressive metal that is catchy yet original in its composition and arrangements. Limited ultra-transparent and transparent red colored vinyl pressings (respectively).
Sisters Of Mercy – Some Girls Wander By Mistake [Reissue/1992] 4xLP (Elektra)
The Sisters Of Mercy continue to spotlight different eras of its acclaimed discography with this expanded quadruple 180gm vinyl box set edition of 1992’s Some Girls Wander By Mistake, which focuses on the band’s early years, as well as includes their last officially released studio recordings.
Slightly Stoopid – Meanwhile… Back At The Lab [Reissue/2015] 2xLP (MRI Associated)
The sessions for Ocean Beach, CA based group Slightly Stoopid’s 2015 musical experiment began in late 2012, shortly following the band’s seventh studio release Top Of The World. The album was recorded at the band’s studio, as well as at Platinum Sound, NYC; Rivas Studios, L.A.; Mixdown Town LBC, Long Beach, CA; and was self-produced by the band along with The Lab’s in-house audio engineering maestro James Wisner.
Slits – Return Of The Giant Slits [Reissue/1981] LP (Real Gone Music)
Recently reissued on CD – now available on vinyl. Already far removed from the male-dominated, louder-faster ethos of punk rock, The Slits, with new drummer Bruce Smith of The Pop Group and multi-instrumentalist Steve Beresford in tow, added world music and free jazz to Ari Up’s Ono-esque ululations, Viv Albertine’s skittering guitar, and Tessa Pollitt’s dubwise bass riddims. Predictably, Sony dropped the record like a hot potato, not even bothering to release it in the U.S., and it has only been intermittently available on CD in the 35-plus years since. Limited fluorescent yellow colored vinyl edition.
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