CDs + Vinyl:
Allman Brothers Band – Filmore East, February 1970 CD (Allman Brothers Recording Company)
On Valentine’s weekend 1970, the Allman’s shared the stage with the Grateful Dead and Love at The Fillmore East along with Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac who’d showed up as they’d been sharing the bill with the Dead the previous week.
As It Is – The Great Depression CD/LP (Fearless)
As It Is take the listener on a journey which delves into every aspect of arguably the most prevalent social ill of our time across their third studio album, The Great Depression. From public perception, to internal war, the quartet unflinchingly confront the most difficult questions around depression, the value of life over death, and whether the rhetoric around ‘reaching out to talk’ is ostensibly hollow, if no one is prepared to hear those words. But if the four-piece have delved into brave new territory conceptually on The Great Depression then the sonic leap forward that runs in tandem with it signals this record as not just a landmark release for the band, but for the scene as a whole. The album, produced by legendary producer Machine (Lamb Of God, Every Time I Die), is comfortably As It Is’ most layered, technically accomplished and certainly most aggressive record to date. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
David Axelrod – Songs Of Experience [Reissue/1969] CD/LP (Now-Again)
Songs Of Experience (1969) is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod’s second album; it was recorded after the death of his beloved son Scott. Experience is an ominous affair, an album concerned with mortality and spirituality – the solitary, pastoral musings of William Blake set to the urban bombast of a full Los Angeles orchestra, with Wrecking Crew vets grounding the proceedings with dark funk.
Count Basie – At Carnegie Hall CD (Rockbeat)
Count Basie, undeniably one of Jazz music’s greatest legends, delivers a spectacular show live from Carnegie Hall, recorded on March 20, 1981 in one of his last televised performances.
The Beths – Future Me Hates Me CD/LP+MP3 (Carpark)
The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album, Future Me Hates Me, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Pavement’s Slanted And Enchanted or The Breeders’ “Cannonball”. Front and center on these 10 infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland’s rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. From the irresistible title track to future singles “Happy Unhappy” and “You Wouldn’t Like Me”, Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me’s dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R&B of the ‘60s, while inverting the trope of the “sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.”
Bird Streets – Bird Streets CD (Omnivore)
There is a grand tradition of “one-man bands” in the world of power pop. From Todd Rundgren, to Emitt Rhodes, to Jon Brion—the genre has produced many of the best. There’s another name to add to that list: John Brodeur. Releasing his own recordings at the beginning of the 21st century, multi-instrumentalist Brodeur has shared the stage with acts like Fountains Of Wayne, They Might Be Giants, and Gavin DeGraw. In between playing on and/or producing a bevy of other acclaimed artists like Freedy Johnston and White Hills, he’s also produced music that has been used on television networks like NBC, A&E, VH1, and Discovery Channel. So, it’s likely you’ve heard John Brodeur already, even though his name may be new to you. Bird Streets is a collaboration between Brodeur and Jason Falkner (Jellyfish, Beck, and another member of the “one-man band” club.) Bird Streets contains 11 tracks written and performed by Brodeur (in conjunction with Falkner), with guest appearances by Miranda Lee Richards and Luther Russell (The Freewheelers, Those Pretty Wrongs). It’s a walk down a boulevard filled with harmonies and hooks that is completely new but invokes everything you love about your journeys—past, present, and future.
Liz Cooper and The Stampede – Window Flowers CD/2xLP (Sleepyhead)
There is a collective energy in Nashville, one that Liz Cooper has poured herself into for the past six years. Liz remarks that the energy in Nashville today is akin to that of Greenwich Village in 1960s New York or the Laurel Canyon days in the 1960s and 1970s and is a product of a collaborative approach to music and art. This community has allowed Liz to be part of many magically haphazard nights, where the movers and shakers of the Nashville music world, such as Okey Dokey, Becca Mancari, Rayland Baxter, Desert Noises, Morning Teleportation, Erin Rae, Brittany Howard, Cage The Elephant, Michael Nau and many more converge to make music and art and lose track of time. Her latest album is a product of that pulsating energy in Nashville that has had some of the greatest influence in her work.
Cordovas – That Santa Fe Channel CD/LP (ATO)
Rooted in triple-stacked harmonies, southern storytelling, and cosmic country twang, Cordovas create their own version of American roots-rock with That Santa Fe Channel. The album arrives after more than a half-decade’s worth of international touring, communal living, and shared songwriting sessions. It’s a timely – and timeless – version of a sound that’s existed for 50 years, ever since pioneers like the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band blurred the lines between rock, country, and amplified folk music. If That Santa Fe Channel nods to the band’s influences, though, it’s still a fiercely unique album, recorded in a series of live takes that shine a light not only on Cordovas’ songwriting chops, but their strength as a raw, rugged live band as well. Their sound has earned praise from NPR Music and Rolling Stone, who described the group as “the harmony-heavy, guitar-fueled house band at a Big Pink keg party in 1968.” [Limited orange colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Deathgrips – Year Of The Snitch CD (Harvest)
Year Of The Snitch is the sixth studio album by experimental the hip-hop group comprised of Stefan Burnett (aka MC Ride) and production team Zach Hill and Andy Morin. “In the process of trying to sabotage their career at every turn, Death Grips became career artists. Regardless of how you classify their prolific output thus far, the noise-rap art project has averaged one album per year, with enough variation and quality control to make their ‘will they or won’t they break up’ shtick background noise. They’re industrious, downright reliable, even. So, on their 10th release in seven years, Year Of The Snitch, Death Grips stay politically agnostic, persistently agitated—in a word, noided. It’s kinda quaint. Maybe even comforting.” – Pitchfork [Vinyl edition – including limited indie-only clear pressing – due September 7.]
Delta Sleep – Ghost City CD/LP (Big Scary Monsters)
Born in January 2010, Brighton’s Delta Sleep is driven by a desire to create fun and original, forward-thinking music. Their guitar driven melodies are held together by jazz influenced percussion and relentless bass, topped off with sprinkles of passionate shouts and lulling chants. Following on from their widely acclaimed 2015 debut Twin Galaxies, Delta Sleep are back with their eagerly anticipated second record Ghost City. Not content to be defined by sub-genre or category, the band have tweaked and perfected their sound, drawing in influences from punk, indie and electronic music. The result is an album that goes beyond the label of just math-rock.
Derez De’Shon – Pain CD (Commission)
Derez De’Shon’s Pain mixtape gets the deluxe treatment with the addition of six brand new tracks. Available on CD for the first time.
Dropout Kings – AudioDope CD (Nuclear Blast)
What could hip-hop fans and metal heads possibly have in common? Actually, the chasm between the two isn’t as wide as it seems, at least for Arizona rap-rock crew Dropout Kings, who prove that satisfying, widely appealing nu-metal is attainable nearly two decades after overrated acts like Limp Bizkit ran the genre into the ground.
Eartheater – Irisiri CD/LP (Pan)
Eartheater (aka Queens based artist Alexandra Drewchin) distills foley-filled digital production, a three-octave vocal range, and classical composition into works suspended between obsessively detailed sonic tapestries and almost recklessly romantic and gestural electronica. Modular synth staccato plucks hammer out in arrhythmic spirals over a carefully muzzled grid of pumping kicks — unleashed in unpredictable disruptions. Technoid stabs mingle with crushed black metal.
El Ten Eleven – Banker’s Hill CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Topshelf)
The music of El Ten Eleven has been described as “meditation in motion,” which seems apt. To fully realize this descriptor the band worked with an outside producer for the first time in their 16-year career, teaming up with Sonny DiPerri and moving into the incredible confines of Panoramic House on the beautiful Northern California coast. The result is Banker’s Hill – an album that explores the paradox of beauty in anxiety, the importance and effect of family and the fleeting possibility of satisfaction.
Enuff Z’nuff – Diamond Boy CD/LP (Frontiers)
Now centered around bass player and vocalist Chip Z’nuff, Enuff Z’nuff are still alive and kicking with a legion of loyal fans, who can’t get enough of the band s power pop melded with hard rock stylings. For fans of Cheap Trick, Queen, Warrant, Cinderella, Van Halen.
Erra – Neon CD (Sumerian)
Erra follow-up 2016’s well-received Drift with new album Neon. It serves as the Birmingham, Alabama modern progressive metalcore outfit’s fourth album overall and second with frontman J.T. Cavey (formerly of Texas In July). Chock full of catchy riffs, alternating melodic and searing lyrics and breakdowns galore, the ten-track beast is introduced by the explosive lead singles “Disarray” and “Breach”. [Vinyl edition due September 21.]
Foxing – Nearer My God CD/2xLP (Triple Crown)
The St. Louis, MO emo/alternative/math-rock band’s much anticipated third album, Nearer My God, was produced by Chris Walla (Death Cab For Cutie, Tegan & Sara) and the band’s own Eric Hudson. The record tackles such weighted subjects as religion, mental illness, political instability, global disaster and the near constant sense of impending doom. The band reflects these feelings in the album’s own title which is taken from the name of a 19th-century hymn said to be the song played as the Titanic sank and used in the now infamous CNN doomsday video meant to be aired as the world ends. However, among the dark subject matter, the band delivers an album that is, without a doubt, their most immediate, complex, sonically grand and focused work yet.
Robbie Fulks/Linda Gail Lewis – Wild! Wild! Wild! CD/LP+MP3 (Bloodshot)
The collaboration between Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Robbie Fulks and rock ‘n’ roll royalty Linda Gail Lewis, Wild! Wild! Wild!, gleefully lives up to its title. Subversive as it is reverential, the album confidently jumps the genre tracks of nitty-gritty rock ‘n’ roll, Americana, country & western, rockabilly, and all of their offshoots.
Giant Sand – Returns To The Valley Of Rain CD/LP (Fire)
Valley Of Rain was Tucson’s Giant Sand’s debut album recorded in 1983, and eventually released by 1985. This new re-recording of that first album now sounds like it should’ve sounded. It was re-done for $400 during the same day and a half session time as the original. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
The Gladiators – Presenting The Gladiators: Deluxe Edition CD/2xLP+MP3 (Studio One)
The Gladiators created some of reggae’s most enduring songs. Albert Griffiths’ sensibilities as a songwriter and singer, complemented perfectly by the sweetness of Clinton Fearon’s voice and Gallimore Sutherland’s harmony made for one of the genre’s greatest vocal trios. Despite their later success, it was their output for Studio One that formed the group’s sound and molded their success. Songs like “Roots Natty” found on Presenting The Gladiators are some of the best in the Studio One catalog and rank among the best that the group recorded. The sound of the Gladiators at Studio One will always be timeless. Presenting The Gladiators has been out of print for over a decade, and this deluxe edition includes all the songs found on the original album and its subsequent re-issues while restoring its original track listing for the first time in forty years. Also included are various dubs, extended mixes (many of which are previously unreleased), and “Serious Thing” faded from the master tapes.
Motohiko Hamase – Intaglio CD/LP (Studio Mule)
Studio Mule present a re-recording of Motohiko Hamase’s Intaglio, recorded in Japan, 2018. Originally released in 1986. Currently the rediscovery of long-forgotten Japanese electronic, jazz, and new age music is at a peak like never before.
Hilang Child – Years CD/LP (Bella Union)
The special thrill of hearing an artist grow into their voice is emphatically served by the debut album from Ed Riman. The half-Welsh, half-Indonesian, London-based singer-songwriter records under the moniker Hilang Child. Years radiates a rich sense of self-discovery in its lush, textured layers of sound and feeling. Between its blossoming choruses, multi-tracked harmonies and theme of embracing adulthood, it’s an epiphanic debut from an artist reaching far beyond his early promise.
Shooter Jennings – Shooter CD (Atlantic)
For nearly two decades, Shooter Jennings has defied expectation while constantly expanding the parameters of country, rock ‘n’ roll, and beyond. The scion of American music royalty, he has affirmed his own place in histories still to come as a truly limitless artist whose ambitious experimentation spans myriad genres and creative platforms. Ever the outlaw, Jennings has now crafted what might well be his most truly idiosyncratic work thus far, Shooter. Produced by longtime friend and collaborator, Low Country Sound founder Dave Cobb at the renowned RCA Studio A on Nashville’s Music Row, the album sees Jennings staking out a fairly straightforward goal: to simply make a great country record, singing songs about growing up and getting older, about going out and getting trashed. In short, making music for real people with real lives. [Vinyl edition due August 24.]
JFDR – White Sun Live. Part I: Strings CD/LP+MP3 (Morr Music)
For White Sun Live. Part I: Strings, Jófríður Ákadóttir has re-recorded some of the finest songs from her bands and solo-projects (JFDR, Samaris, Pascal Pinon) with new string arrangements. These versions have a simple, inherent beauty that is juxtaposed with their seething, stark intensity.
Khôrada – Salt Black 2xCD+2xLP+7” (Prophecy)
Deluxe box edition now available. Includes double vinyl LP in gatefold sleeve, deluxe two CD set in hardback book, 7″ single, art prints and signed/numbered certificate. Rising from the ashes of Agalloch and Giant Squid, Khôrada create colossal, textured, and emotionally powerful music. At once atmospheric, aggressive and apocalyptic, the album’s emotion is driven by the band members’ view of today’s world.
Dawn Landes – Meet Me At The River CD/LP+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Through four full-length albums, Dawn Landes has blazed her own path with songs that are as fresh as they are timeless. Still, there’s no mistaking that strains of Nashville reside in her voice and in her musical soul, and now, with her fifth album, Landes is finally bringing them to center stage. Meet Me At The River is Landes’ self-described “Nashville record,” and she has assured its pedigree by enlisting the production skills of Fred Foster, the Country Music Hall of Fame member who played a pivotal role in the careers of Dolly Parton, Roy Orbison, and Kris Kristofferson. [Limited edition sage green colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Little Steven and The Disciples Of Soul – Soulfire Live! 3xCD (UMe)
A 24-track collection recorded last year in North America and Europe during the legendary rock ‘n’ roller’s first tour in nearly two decades.
LLNN – Deads CD/2xLP (Pelagic)
Copenhagen’s LLNN burst onto the international scene with 2016’s critically acclaimed debut album Loss, a sheer display of “absolute raging rawness,” as Terrorizer put it. But there is more to LLNN’s sound than that: “the wavering drone synths that are effortlessly merged with a raw hardcore-driven darkness define the subtle idiosyncratic nuances of LLNN‘s very unsubtle, painfully overwhelming sound.” (The Sludgelord). After a split EP with L.A.’s Wovoka in the summer of 2017, LLNN now return with their sophomore album, Deads, an erosive, abrasive, dystopian, apocalyptic monolith of monstrous dimensions.
The Love Language – Baby Grand CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Released last week on vinyl – now available on CD. You may not be able to see the gorgeous landscapes behind Baby Grand, Stuart McLamb’s fourth record as The Love Language, but they’re so essential to the picture you’ll feel them in every note. Yet so much lies in the shadows behind these tracks: other states, other lives, other dreams, other relationships – fogged over, perhaps, but there nonetheless. Yes, Baby Grand has its share of breakup songs – nobody writes those better than McLamb – but this time, even as something is being mourned, something else is being worked through; as lovers have been left behind, so have places and a time in life. Listen as the heartbreak and yearning of “New Amsterdam” come crashing down into the beautiful stasis of “Southern Doldrums” (the former was inspired by Cyndi Lauper and Joy Division, McLamb claims, while the latter draws upon John Cale’s meditative solo records), or as the beautiful lift of the startling sequence of songs that make up Baby Grand’s propulsive midsection gives way to a moody instrumental called “Rain/Delay”, a collection of distant plinks and plonks struggling to assemble themselves into melody. The song “Juiceboxx” is what you’d get if Mick Jagger crooned his “Emotional Rescue” falsetto over a backing track by the Style Council, and “Let Your Hair Down” impressively suggests what “Caroline, No” might have sounded like if only it had been written by George Michael. [Deluxe colored vinyl pressing also available.]
The Magpie Salute – High Water 1 CD/2xLP (Eagle Rock Entertaiment)
For as much as The Magpie Salute represents a musical union of swaggering rock ‘n’ roll, psychedelic blues, and campfire-worthy storytelling, it also marks a reunion of musicians whose paths twisted and turned right back to each other. Pulled together by guitarist Rich Robinson, it continued a storyline he began in the Black Crowes with guitarist Marc Ford and bassist Sven Pipien. Meanwhile, vocalist John Hogg shared Hookah Brown with Robinson as keyboardist Matt Slocum and drummer Joe Magistro both joined him for solo records and tours over the years. [Limited blue/white splatter colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Marillion – All One Tonight (Live At The Royal Albert Hall) 2xCD/4xLP (earMUSIC)
British rock band Marillion, founded in 1979, have become one of the most commercially successful neo-progressive rock bands of the 1980s and are still one of the most outstanding representatives of their genre. On October 13, 2017, Marillion played at the Royal Albert Hall for the very first time. The concert was sold out in a split second and the audience, travelling from all over the world, was rewarded with an incredible Marillion show. In two parts, All One Tonight firstly showcases the band’s acclaimed 2016 studio album F E A R in full. Accompanied by an awe-inspiring light show and films, Marillion perform their incisive and era-defining zeitgeist with unparalleled passion and power. The second half introduces In Praise Of Folly and guests, a string quartet with flute and French horn that throughout the rest of the show inject an extra depth and emotion to some of Marillion’s best-loved live material. [Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions also available.]
Massive Wagons – Full Nelson CD/LP+MP3 (Earache)
After eight years of scintillating live shows and two acclaimed studio albums, Lancashire feel-good rockers Massive Wagons return with twelve new tracks of quintessentially British hard rock ‘n’ roll and a live energy that is impossible not to get swept up in; mainly thanks to singer Baz Mills’ mesmerizing, animated and infectious showmanship and the bands’ musical muscle. Features the hits as “Under No Illusion”, “Back To The Stack”, and “Robot (Trust In Me)” plus fan favorites “Ratio” and “Tokyo”.
The Members – Greatest Hits CD/LP (Cleopatra)
Greatest hits package from legendary British punk band The Members, founded in 1976 and still kicking ass four decades later (includes a brand-new track “Smartphone Junkie”). [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
MIKE – Black Soap CD/LP (Lex)
MIKE’s music carries age beyond his years. Born in New Jersey, MIKE moved to London with his mother before settling in The Bronx for the remainder of his teenage years. Both regions have had an audible influence on the young rapper’s music – in London he was immersed in grime and the music of King Krule, and in the Bronx he was turned on to Earl Sweatshirt and MF Doom. Through his mixtapes Winter New York, Longest Day, Shortest Night, May God Bless Your Hustle and his EP By The Water, he has made a definitive statement on the current state of youth in New York. MIKE raps over characteristically lo-fi, and soulfully hazy, self-produced beats. Themes about the depression and anxiety that accompany being young and African American abound throughout his music, but a muted sense of hopefulness and certainty that he is moving towards ultimate triumph is the motor quietly propelling things forward.
Jason Mraz – Know. CD/LP+MP3 (Atlantic)
It’s a testament to the generosity of spirit in Jason Mraz’s music that so many people have chosen his songs as the soundtrack to major moments in their lives, and new memories are certain to be made with the songs on his sixth album, Know. The bulk of the album was written against the backdrop of the 2016 Presidential election and its aftermath, and Mraz found himself writing a lot of “frustrated, angry, even sad songs, but nothing I wanted to sing.” Instead he has chosen to convey an uplifting, positive message. Mraz introduces the album’s theme with its first single “Have It All”, which was inspired by his 2012 visit to the Southeast Asian country of Myanmar. “Have It All” stands out as a song with a hopeful message to help him and others heal and move forward. Other notable songs include “Making It Up” – a collaboration with his songwriter friend Bob Schneider about how anything is possible, we’re just making life up, so why don’t we make it up to be something great, and “Better With You”, which was inspired by his marriage. One of Mraz’s favorite album tracks is “Unlonely”, which hearkens back to some of his early, beloved songs. Fans will also be pleased to see the inclusion of “Sleeping To Dream”, a live favorite Mraz wrote in 1999 that has never been recorded in a studio.
Nachash – Phantasmal Triunity CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
Nachash hail from Norway and released an EP, Conjuring The Red Death Eclipse, in 2015. Granted, their country of origin might tip you off that the band indeed play black metal, but that’s only half the story. For the Nachash sound one is just as anchored in eldritch death metal, grimy but grandiose, as it is the most witching wave of early black metal: muscular and even a bit molten, the power-trio’s patient pulse possesses an almost-poetic flow, above all betraying a keen understanding of epic heavy metal songwriting.
Night Demon – Live Darkness CD/3xLP (Shadow Kingdom)
One of the hottest names in today’s traditional metal renaissance, Night Demon has built up a near-untouchable reputation on the back of their two studio albums – 2015’s Curse Of The Damned and 2017’s Darkness Remains, both modern classics in the making – as well as especially onstage. There, in front of sweaty ‘n’ baying crowds across the world, the power-trio have slayed all who dared to witness them live in the flesh. Accurately titled, Live Darkness now brings that live-onstage experience to your home stereo.
Geraldo Pino & The Heartbeats – Afro Soco Soul Live [Reissue/1972] CD/LP (Oom Dooby Dochas)
Reissue of a super rare Afro-funk album.
Elvis Presley – Where No One Stands Alone CD/LP+MP3 (RCA)
Where No One Stands Alone celebrates the power and passion of Elvis Presley’s gospel recordings. Produced by Joel Weinshanker, Lisa Marie Presley and Andy Childs, the album introduces newly-recorded instrumentation, rare alternate vocals from Elvis, and backing vocal contributions from music legends who’d performed on-stage and/or in-the-studio with Elvis such as: Darlene Love; Cissy Houston; Terry Blackwood, Armond Morales and Jim Murray of The Imperials; and Bill Baize, Ed Hill, Donnie Sumner and Larry Strickland of The Stamps Quartet.
Primal Fear – Apocalypse CD+DVD/LP (Frontiers)
Former Gamma Ray vocalist Ralf Scheepers and bassist/vocalist Mat Sinner, two of the most respected German metal musicians, founded Primal Fear in 1997 and 21 years later, show no signs of slowing down.
Walter Salas-Humara – Walterio CD/LP (Rhyme & Reason)
For years, Walter Salas-Humara has split his time between making music and visual art, so it’s not surprising that Walterio contains rich imagery – both lyrically and on its cover. But one of the strongest images it evokes actually comes from the music itself, which might be described as the sonic equivalent of a tree – a rock ‘n’ roll family tree. Salas-Humara was made in Cuba, too, but born in America. (The album’s title is his Hispanic nickname.) He spent a good chunk of his Florida childhood studying drums, which, of course, led to teenage rock ‘n’ roll bands. Tracks such as “Here We Go,” “She’s a Caveman” and “Out of the Band” can trace lineage back to the Silos, the still-kicking band Salas-Humara co-founded in New York’s post-punk ’80s scene. laying alt-country before anyone called it that, they were named Best New Artist in the 1987 Rolling Stone Critics Poll – which temporarily deep-sixed Salas-Humara’s art-career plans.
Saxon – Innocence Is No Excuse [Reissue/1985] CD/LP (Union Square)
Saxon – Rock The Nations [Reissue/1986] CD/LP (Union Square)
Saxon – Destiny [Reissue/1988] CD/LP (Union Square)
Since the 1970s Saxon has consistently showcased an ability to take rock ‘n’ roll and give it an electrifying edge, cementing their status as pioneers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal along the way. Their 7th, 8th, and 9th albums are back in print on CD and vinyl.
Jake Shears – Jake Shears CD/LP (Freida Jean)
Showcasing the essence of what Jake Shears does best, the eponymously titled solo debut from the Scissor Sisters frontman is an album brimming with anthemic choruses and lyrics about the joys and vagaries of love and sex – all of it underpinned by a swampy soul influence imparted from his newly adopted hometown New Orleans. Shears’ artistic vision blossomed in the epicenter of Southern decadence, where he had headed following the Scissors hiatus in 2012. Initial ideas for the album were mapped out at the city’s famed Marigny Studios before he decamped to Louisville, KY to work with producer Kevin Ratterman (Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket) who recruited members of My Morning Jacket, VHS or Beta, Jim James’ solo band, and Floating Action to lay down the album’s foundation. With string and brass arrangements by Christian Hebel (Barbra Streisand) and Lance Horne (Alan Cumming), they returned to NOLA to capture the city’s signature sound with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Sturgill Simpson’s brass section. The result is a thrilling work that plays inside some of the hallmarks of classic American rock music and marries them with Jake’s inimitable point of view, humor, and gift for unforgettable hooks.
Sinaya – Maze Of Madness CD (Brutal)
New album from the Brazilian all-female melodic death band.
Sinsaenum – Repulsion For Humanity CD/2xLP (earMUSIC)
As the title for Sinsaenum’s second album, Repulsion For Humanity, clearly indicates, this is nothing for the faint-hearted. “It’s radical, it’s violent, it’s angry – angrier,” as mastermind and founding member Frédéric Leclercq puts it. “The new album is a continuation of Ashes. In terms of sound and style, we’ve added more influences to the mix. This album is 100% us – not aimed to please the masses, not following formulas, and not made to fit radio criteria. From the artwork (made by Travis Smith), to the lyrics, to the music itself, there isn’t an ounce of commercial compromise.” Repulsion For Humanity was recorded during the long, dark winter of 2018 while the band shared a house. With the help of Francis Caste on mixing duties, Sinsaenum sharpened its own sonic identity, far from the typical death or modern metal sound.
Jordan Smith – Only Love CD (Republic)
The Voice winner’s sophomore album, Only Love, was produced by Grammy Award-winning RedOne (Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj) and includes current radio single & title single, “Only Love”.
Soundtrack – Mosaic Music From the HBO Limited Series CD/LP (Touch Sensitive)
Mosaic’s original soundtrack was fecorded between Belfast and Los Angeles by David Holmes and features a modern-day Wrecking Crew of musicians. Echoes of Morricone abound alongside the influence of avant-garde pioneers and Holmes’ current soundtrack contemporaries in a selection of deep listening tracks.
The Spirit – Sounds From The Vortex CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
New Saarbrücken, Germany based band The Spirit meld both melodic death metal and black metal influences with gloomy atmospheric instrumentation.
Strife – Rush CD/LP ([Reissue/1975] CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
Strife – Back To Thunder [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
CD and vinyl reissues of the only two albums ever releasedfrom the terrific British hard rock band Strife, a seminal influence on Iron Maiden and many others.
Tirzah – Devotion CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
Devotion is the long-awaited debut album by Tirzah. The Essex-born performer has been at the center of the vital post-grime and UK garage sound of London for the better half a decade, but it’s only now that her work has come to full fruition. Following her acclaimed EPs released on Greco-Roman, Devotion positions Tirzah as a unique contemporary soul voice on an innovative modern British R&B record. Delivering what feels like a landmark debut LP, the 11-songs across Devotion are an intimate collection of downtempo love-songs laced with romance and lust, melancholy and desire. The album was conceived and written with long-term collaborator, Mica Levi who handles the music and production across the whole album, Tirzah providing vocals, melody and lyrics. Additional vocals and lyrics are provided by Coby Sey on the stand out title track.
Tomberlin – At Weddings CD/LP+MP3 (Saddle Creek)
On her deeply moving debut At Weddings, Sarah Beth Tomberlin writes with the clarity and wisdom of an artist well beyond her years. Like Julien Baker and Sufjan Stevens, she has a knack for transforming the personal into parable. Like Grouper, she has a feel for the transcendent within the ordinary. Born in Jacksonville, FL, and now based in Louisville, KY, Tomberlin wrote most of At Weddings while living with her family in Southern Illinois during her late teens and early twenties. The daughter of a Baptist pastor, Tomberlin found herself questioning not only her faith, but her identity, her purpose, and her place in the world. In songwriting, she found relief and lucidity she had trouble articulating otherwise. When she was 19, she wrote “Tornado” on her parents’ piano and began to gain confidence in her music. A year later, Tomberlin had enough songs to fill an album. “My number one goal with my music is for honesty and transparency that helps other people find ways to exist,” she says. With At Weddings, this remarkable young songwriter offers up comfort and wonder in equal measure.
Van Canto – Trust In Rust CD (Napalm)
Bringing pure vocal power to the metal world since 2006, German metal a-cappella masters Van Canto release their seventh studio album.
Various Artists – Serge Gamesbourg Presents Boston Goes Disco! 2xCD/3xLP+7” (BBE)
During the 1970s and 80s, the city of Boston and its environs produced some of the era’s most iconic music stars, from rock megaliths like Aerosmith and The Cars to disco and soul celebutantes Donna Summer, New Edition and Tavares. These artists emerged from Beantown’s thriving underground music scene to find global success, but what about the countless contemporaries who never made it beyond the local circuit? Native DJ, producer and bass player Serge Gamesbourg began digging in the crates for forgotten gems more than two decades ago; emerging in 2018 with his first BBE compilation, lovingly titled Boston Goes Disco!
Various Artists – Studio One Black Man’s Pride 2: Righteous Are The Sons & Daughters of Jah CD/2xLP (Soul Jazz)
This is the second installment of deep roots Rastafarian reggae at Studio One and features classic music from some of the most important figures in reggae music: Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Gladiators alongside a host of rarities and little-known recordings. Black Man’s Pride 2 extends the legacy of Studio Ones ground-breaking path in roots reggae which began at the end of the 1960s and continued throughout the 1970s. The album tells the story of how the rise of Studio One Records and the Rastafari movement were interconnected, through the adoption of the Rastafari faith by key reggae artists, everyone from the Skatalites and Wailers in the 1960s, major singers such as Alton Ellis and Horace Andy at the end of The decade, through to major roots artists such as The Gladiators in the 1970s and how Clement Dodd consistently recorded this heavyweight roots music throughout Studio One’s history.
Various Artists – The Trojan Records Box Set 6xCD/4xLP+2×7” (Trojan)
Includes: four vinyl LPs, showcasing the hits, rarities and rare ‘commercial reggae’ tracks; two 7” singles, highlighting previously unreleased and brand new recordings; two 3xCD collections, featuring a total of over 130 tracks with 69 make their digital debut; a 100+ page book featuring essays and full scale reproductions of 50 of the most iconic Trojan album sleeves from the past 50 years; a high quality Trojan slipmat; a poster; a stylish Trojan patch; and a wooden Trojan 7” single adapter.
The War And Treaty – Healing Tide CD/LP (Strong World Ent.)
As The War and Treaty, Michael and Tanya Trotter serve up healing and pain robbing with freewheeling joy on their new full-length album, Healing Tide. Funky bass lines, keys, lap steel, acoustic strings, and stripped-down percussion create a swampy Southern soul bed for the couple’s transcendent vocals.
With Confidence – Love And Loathing CD/LP+MP3 (Hopeless)
Sydney, Australia’s With Confidence formed in 2012 and have cited influences from bands The Dangerous Summer, Kings Of Leon, Blink- 182, The Wonder Years, The Strokes, and La Dispute on their Facebook. Along with Blink-182, All Time Low, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Love And Loathing is their sophomore album.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Marillion – All One Tonight (Live At The Royal Albert Hall) 2xDVD/2xBlu-ray (earMUSIC)
British rock band Marillion, founded in 1979, have become one of the most commercially successful neo-progressive rock bands of the 1980s and are still one of the most outstanding representatives of their genre. On October 13, 2017, Marillion played at the Royal Albert Hall for the very first time. The concert was sold out in a split second and the audience, travelling from all over the world, was rewarded with an incredible Marillion show. In two parts, All One Tonight firstly showcases the band’s acclaimed 2016 studio album F E A R in full. Accompanied by an awe-inspiring light show and films, Marillion perform their incisive and era-defining zeitgeist with unparalleled passion and power. The second half introduces In Praise Of Folly and guests, a string quartet with flute and French horn that throughout the rest of the show inject an extra depth and emotion to some of Marillion’s best-loved live material. [Stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray editions also available.]
The US Generation: The 1982 US Festival DVD/Blu-ray (MVD Visual)
The story of the making of the 1982 US Festival founded by Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder) and Bill Graham. Includes music by Tom Petty, The Police and Fleetwood Mac.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Above & Beyond – Tri-State [Reissue/2006] 2xLP (Anjunabeats)
Above & Beyond – Group Therapy [Reissue/2011] 2xLP (Anjunabeats)
Tri-State is the 2006 debut artist album from Above & Beyond, one of the UK’s outstanding electronic acts on par with Underworld and BT. Appealing to clubbers and armchair dance music fans alike, Tri-State‘s 12 original tracks showcased the group’s unique songwriting and production talents for the first time alongside guest vocalists like Zoe Johnston (Faithless, Bent), Ashley Tomberlin (Luminary), and Richard Bedford. Featuring the BBC Radio 1 playlisted single “Sun & Moon,” 2011’s Group Therapy served as the long-awaited second album from the duo, encompassing trance, electronic house, downtempo and even modern classical influences. Bringing Above & Beyond’s renowned blend of classic songwriting values and sleek electronic production into a contemporary context, Group Therapy features 15 tracks of cutting-edge melodic music and includes vocal contributions from both Richard Bedford and Zoë Johnston.
Gyedu Blay Ambolley – The Message LP (Analog Africa)
Prepare yourself for new directions in Afro-funk. During the 1980s, Ghanaian bandleader Gyedu-Blay Ambolley began to experiment with electronic instruments, and the result was a potent mix of highlife, funk, exploratory synths and righteous vocals, the sound of a restless genius intent on pushing the traditional sounds of highlife into a brave new future.
Todd Baker – Monument Valley 2 (Original Soundtrack) 2xLP (iam8bit)
There are few words that can truly capture the experience of Monument Valley 2. It poignantly captures the magic, heartbreak and eternal bond of mother and child through not only it’s architecturally complex puzzles, but also, it’s inspiring soundtrack. Just wo games and iam8bit are so very ecstatic to present composer Todd Baker’s (Tearaway, LittleBigPlanet series) elegantly subtle, yet richly tapestried music on vinyl, recalling the aural journey, from adolescence to adulthood, on two beautifully translucent discs.
Kenny Burrell with Art Blakey – At The Five Spot Café [Reissue/1959] LP (Jeanne Dielman)
The great jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell on one of his most celebrated sets of all time. Recorded live at the Five Spot Café in New York City on August 25, 1959, this is the second set and the band is really cooking. Featuring the brilliant drummer Art Blakey as well as the wonderful, but unfortunately under-recorded tenor saxophonist Tina Brooks, Burrell’s band is in tip-top shape on this set of compositions ranging from originals to Gershwin to Gillespie. An essential live set for any fan of the golden era of modern jazz.
Christian Death – Live At The Whisky A Go Go, Los Angeles, October 31st, 1981 LP (Cleopatra)
Limited edition reissue of the earliest known recording of the infamous gothic death rock band, fronted by the inimitable Rozz Williams, performing an entrancing live set on Halloween. Special limited-edition splatter purple and black vinyl.
Circa Survive – Blue Sky Noise [Reissue/2010] 2xLP (Hopeless)
Remastered, limited-edition clear blue with blue, yellow, and red splatter colored pressing of the alt-rock band’s third album.
Clairo – diary 101 LP (The Fader Label)
From making music in her dorm room to becoming one of the most intriguing and exciting indie-pop artists to emerge in 2018, 19-year-old Clairo self-produced her debut EP, diary 001. New York Times calls it the new generation of “indie pop,” praising her “innate knack for complex emotions rendered so casually as to be destabilizing”. Coming off the DUA LIPA tour as main support, Clairo is already selling out her first headline tour this summer.
Damned – Doom The Damned! The Chaos Years 1977-1982 LP (Cleopatra)
A compilation of rare studio demos and live tracks from oddball punk superstars.
D.R.I. – Violent Pacification And More Rotten Hits 1983-1987 LP (Cleopatra)
Limited vinyl LP pressing of this album that contains the very best tracks from everyone’s favorite Imbeciles, those legends of hardcore thrash metal, D.R.I.
The Easybeats – Absolute Anthology 1965 To 1969 2xLP (Alberts)
Reissued album from iconic Australian band The Easybeats featuring all 43 of their tracks. Originally released for one print run on vinyl only in 1980, this long out of print album has been digitally mastered and the artwork recreated by hand to replicate the original release.
El Hijo de la Cumbia – Genero Genero LP (Nacional)
El Hijo de la Cumbia is considered a pioneer of electronic cumbia and tropical bass. Stemming from the musical production and direction of Emiliano Gomez, an Argentine producer who at the beginning of the millennium began to perform experimental cumbia, El Hijo de la Cumbia is an evolutionary mix of cumbia, reggae, dancehall, dub, and electro. Emiliano’s journey into music began at a very early age, who at 7 years-old began playing with musical arrangements and creating rhymes. One of his favorite pastimes was to figure out cool ways to replace lyrics in popular songs. Genero Genero is El Hijo de la Cumbia’s first album in 10 years. Inspired by his travels around the world, Emiliano wrote and composed 56 songs for this album, which he then narrowed down for this release.
The Fall – 45 84 89 A Sides [Reissue/1990] LP (Beggars Banquet)
First-ever US vinyl pressing containing classic singles from 1984-1989. The seventeen songs collected here come from The Fall’s Brix Smith era, aka “the golden era of Fall releases.” Limited white colored vinyl pressing.
Luboš Fišer – Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders LP (Finders Keepers)
2018 marks ten years since Finders Keepers Records first liberated Luboš Fišer’s immaculate soundtrack music for Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders (“Valerie A Týden Divu“) from the vaults of the Barrandov Studio in Prague. As the inaugural release of an ongoing discography of previously unreleased scores from the hugely creative “Film Miracle” that occurred during and after the Czech New Wave (CNW), this score will always retain a special place in the heart of the label. Having grown in status from an obscure and misunderstood socialist-era art house oddity, via the hands of risqué foreign fluff merchants, to finally find its rightful audience as a bona fide surrealist cinematic masterpiece of world class standards, this 1970 film adaptation of Vítezslav Nezval’s 1935 avant-garde novella — a film that literally cross-pollinated Max Ernst’s A Week Of Kindness (1934) and Lewis Carol’s Alice In Wonderland (1865) — has garnered widespread critical acclaim. [Two sleeve designs were manufactured, each based on the original theatrical posters.]
Harley “Cro-Mags” Flanagan – The Original Cro-Mags Demos 1982/83 LP (MVD Audio)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Harley Flanagan’s solo recordings from 1982-1983. The Cro-Mags are without a doubt, one of the most influential New York hardcore bands of all time, and these are the first demos ever recorded by the sole founding member of the band.
Fozzy – Judas LP (Century Media)
Released late last year on CD – now available on vinyl. Fozzy has always been about one thing: bringing good times back to rock & roll. Judas is their seventh album.
Serge Gainsbourg & Michel Colombier – Original Music From The Movie Le Pacha LP (Wewantsounds)
Vinyl reissue of Serge Gainsbourg’s cult score for the 1968 French film Le Pacha. These tracks were composed by Serge Gainsbourg at the height of his ’60s cool when he was briefly going out with Brigitte Bardot and the couple was on the verge of recording the infamous first version of “Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus” (1969). All the tracks here are arranged by famed arranger Michel Colombier, who had been responsible for some of Gainsbourg’s best songs (“Bonnie & Clyde” and “Harley Davidson”) and had also arranged Pierre Henry’s classic psych-rock around the same time – note the similarity between psych-rock and “Un Noel 67” from this set.
Genesis – Trespass [Reissue/1970] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Nursery Cryme [Reissue/1971] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Foxtrot [Reissue/1972] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Selling England By The Pound [Reissue/1973] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway [Reissue/1974] 2xLP (Universal UK)
Genesis – A Trick Of The Tail [Reissue/1975] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Wind & Wuthering [Reissue/1976] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – …And Then There Were Three… [Reissue/1978] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Duke [Reissue/1980] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Abacab [Reissue/1981] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Genesis [Reissue/1983] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – Invisible Touch [Reissue/1986] LP (Universal UK)
Genesis – We Can’t Dance [Reissue/1991] 2xLP (Universal UK)
Genesis – …Calling All Stations… [Reissue/1997] 2xLP (Universal UK)
Import vinyl reissues of (most of) the prog/rock/pop band’s discography.
Michael Giacchino – Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) LP (Mondo)
Giacchino’s score – which returns more to his penned Jurassic World score than the John Williams’ cues that bridged the gap in the last film – is evocative of classic Universal horror, and haunted house movie scores, breaking from the pack of previous Jurassic scores. Much like the film itself, Giacchino creates a fun, fresh take on the music of the “Man creates Dinosaurs… Dinosaurs eat Man” series.
Green River – Come On Down [Reissue/1985] LP (Jackpot)
Released in 1985, Green River’s Come On Down was a record existing in its sonic universe – out of step with its own time. Was it glam? Was it punk? Was it metal? Was it cool? We now know it was one of the building blocks of what Mark Arm would coin as “grunge”, but in 1985 this record was a silent groundbreaker. It was not only the raw, sludgy, slower guitar sound that makes this band important in its place in rock history, but the members of Green River would go on to lead some of the biggest names in the genre: Mudhoney and Mother Love Bone, the latter of which also contained the roots of Pearl Jam. In 1986 they signed with Sub Pop Records and one could argue loudly that without Green River in 1984, there might be no Sub Pop Records today. Limited colored vinyl pressing with unreleased bonus track.
Harlem River Drive – Harlem River Drive [Reissue/1971] LP (Get On Down)
When initially released in 1971, many critics panned Eddie Palmieri’s 1971 album Harlem River Drive. Clearly, those critics were wrong. Regardless of critical opinion, the release was not the crossover success Palmieri and Roulette Records had hoped for, at least in the immediate. Over the years the album has developed a following among listeners, DJs and aficionados of rare-grooves. It may have been recorded towards the end of the Latin soul era, yet it features that genre’s wonderful mix of Puerto Rican soul, Spanish Harlem Latin, and New York funk.
Honeybus – Story [Reissue/1970] LP (Mapache)
Honeybus – Recital [Reissue/1972] LP (Mapache)
Honeybus – For Where Have You Been: The Lost Tracks LP (Mapache)
Story, the British beat/pop band’s only album, is a pinnacle of ’60s pop produced by the legendary Ivor Raymonde. Recital is the long lost Honeybus album. For Where Have You Been: The Lost Tracks is a collection that gathers originally unreleased recordings from the early 70’s and the rare Bell Records single from 1971, all of them unavailable in any format for a long time. All include four-page inserts with many rare photos and ephemera, and newly commissioned notes by Thomas Walsh (Pugwash).
Hoodboi – Breathing Room Pink LP (Fool’s Gold Inc.)
L.A. based producer Roger Schami aka Hoodboi has been a leading force in future-minded club music since his days as a founding member of the Athletixx collective. Yet rather than churn out easy bangers, Hoodboi took his sound deeper, collaborating with like-minded songwriters, vocalists and producers from around the globe and crafting a brave body of work on this seven-track EP.
D.R. Hooker – Truth [Reissue/1970] LP (8th)
Strange 70’s psychedelic record from D.R. Hooker. Heavy rock, acid rock, and folk all blended into one with allegorical lyrics that allude to strong religious beliefs.
Idles – Brutalism LP (Balley/PTKF)
Released last year on CD – now available on vinyl. Bristol’s finest post-punk polemics Idles have been promising to do great things for some time now, and with their debut album Brutalism, they absolutely fulfill that promise, a furious promise at that.
Bert Jansch – L.A. Turnaround [Reissue/1974] LP (Earth Recordings)
Digitally remastered and expanded edition of this 1974 album by the British folk legend. First of a diptych of albums recorded in and influenced by Bert’s time in America, and the first of three for American label, Charisma. Often cited by fans as some of Bert’s best work, L.A. Turnaround was produced in part by the Monkees’ Mike Nesmith, whose guidance is much in evidence on this perfectly measured slice of British country-rock.
King Curtis – Plays The Great Memphis Hits [Reissue/1967] (8th)
King Curtis was the last of the great R&B tenor sax giants. Born Curtis Ousley in Fort Worth, Texas, he came to prominence in the mid-’50s as a session musician in New York, recording, at one time or another, for most East Coast R&B labels. A long association with Atco/Atlantic began in 1958, especially on recordings by the Coasters. He had solid R&B single success with “Memphis Soul Stew” and “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967). Beginning in 1967, Curtis started to take a more active studio role at Atlantic, leading and contracting sessions for other artists, producing with Jerry Wexler, and later on his own. He also became the leader of Aretha Franklin’s backing unit, the Kingpins. He compiled several albums of singles during this period. All aspects of his career were in full swing at the time he was murdered in 1971.
Osamu Kitajima – Benzaiten [Reissue/1976] LP (Oom Dooby Dochas)
Osamu Kitajima – Osamu [Reissue/1977] LP (Oom Dooby Dochas)
Two vinyl reissues from one of Japan’s most prolific artists from the ethno rock. Benzaiten is world music and ethno sounds with an obvious Japanese origin, meeting progressive rock and psych rock. The result is a captivating piece of melodic and deeply atmospheric music that paints pictures of life in ancient Japan. If Pink Floyd were Japanese, their music might have sounded like this album. The former Pink Floyd comparison coming with Benzaiten is not totally out of place with Osamu, but there is much more latitude in the allover style. Osamu Kitajima gathers a few well talented musicians around him on this record despite playing and arranging most of the instrumental passages himself.
Steve Lacy – Reflections [Reissue/1959] LP (Jeanne Dielman)
Legendary reeds-man Steve Lacy takes on the brilliant compositions of Thelonious Monk. Reflections is a glorious quartet session with Lacy on soprano sax, accompanied by the great Mal Waldron on piano, as worthy a pianist to take on the tunes of Monk as one could imagine, along with Buell Neidlinger on bass, and the amazing Elvin Jones on the trap kit. Though it’s only Lacy’s second recording as a leader, his maturity and range are well on display here as he re-imagines seven of Monk’s beautiful tunes as his own.
Betty LaVette – The 1972 Muscle Shoals Sessions LP (Run Out Groove)
Bettye’s LaVette’s classic 1972 Muscle Shoals sessions sourced from the original masters and available on vinyl for the first time. Lavette may not be a household name like Aretha or Otis, but her talent as a soul singer is on par and shouldn’t be overlooked as these early-70s sessions at Muscle Shoals Sound – backed by the famous house band of Barry Beckett, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood and Roger Hawkins – certainly attest. These passionate performances were never released at the time of recording and this brand-new collection includes all of her Muscle Shoals recordings plus a pair of bonus tracks recorded the same year in Detroit, all making their vinyl debut after 46 years.
Lederman/De Meyer – Eleven Grinding Songs Black LP+CD (Alfa Matrix)
An unexpected fusion of two prominent figures from the cult Belgian electronic music scene: Jean-Marc Lederman (Fad Gadget, Gene Loves Jezebel, Kid Montana, The Weathermen) and Jean-Luc de Meyer (Front 242).
Byron Lee’s All Stars – Soul Ska LP (Burning Sounds)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. All songs are performed by Byron Lee’s Allstars. Featuring Ken Lazarus, Jo-Jo, Keith Lynn, Smokey 007, Hubert Lee and Cecil Barker. All the tracks originally recorded in the mid-‘60s, were produced by Alty East, one of the first producers of ska in Jamaica.
Liars – Original Soundtrack To The Film 1/1 LP (Mute)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Originally recorded in 2015, Original Soundtrack To The Film 1/1 marks the last recording of Liars’ core team of Angus Andrews and Aaron Hemphill. The film submerges the audience into the mind of Lissa, a twenty-year-old girl trapped in rural Pennsylvania, who grapples with sex, drugs, love and loss. Liar’s daring soundtrack follows the release of 2017’s acclaimed TFCF (Theme From Crying Fountain), an album Pitchfork said “couldn’t be a more appropriate marker of the irrepressible project’s evolution, nor a more fitting testament to Liars’ legacy.”
Memphis Jug Band – Memphis Jug Band [Reissue/1981] 2xLP (Yazoo)
The Memphis Jug Band, most active from 1926 into the 1950s, revolved around guitarist, harmonica player and singer Will Shade and featured a wide variety of instrumentation including harmonica, kazoo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, piano, washboard and, of course, jug. They recorded more songs than any pre-war jug band and as a result, were key in developing the jug band tradition and format. This 1981 compilation from Yazoo Records collects 28 of the group’s finest complete with artwork by the great Robert Crumb.
The Moldy Peaches – The Moldy Peaches [Reissue/2001] LP+7” (Rough Trade)
The Moldy Peaches were established in the mid- ‘90s by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson, after meeting in upstate New York. The duo helped spawn the “anti-folk” music genre movement, bringing a more quirky, lo-fi punk element into the indie music scene. After releasing their own music for a few years, they collected their best material for a proper album, and in 2001 shared The Moldy Peaches via Rough Trade Reocrds. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available. CD reissue due August 17.]
Mr. Big – Live From Milan 3xLP (Frontiers)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Following the release of their 2017 album, Defying Gravity, Mr. Big set out on a trek that took them all over the world to promote the new release in a live setting. Anyone who has ever had the distinct pleasure of seeing the band live knows that the virtuoso musicianship and incredible vocals are on full display in this setting.
Muslimgauze – Ingaza [Reissue/1999] 2xLP (Staalplaat)
Double LP reissue of Muslimgauze’s Ingaza, originally released in 1999 (the year of his death) as part of the Box Of Silk And Dogs set. Those not familiar with Bryn Jones’s style will listen slack-jawed at the sheer anticipatory nature of his sound collages. He was a cult artist, politically motivated for the Arab-Palestinian cause and a seminal experimenter with ethnic samples’ and minimal and electronic rhythms. The atmospheres retain their original charm, full and gloomy, but pulsating with provocative emotions, different from the exotic and ornamental processing of certain world music.
Jon Pardi – California Sunrise [Reissue/2016] LP (Liberty/Capitol Nashville)
Limited orange colored vinyl LP pressing of the sophomore album from the country artist. Pardi is often commended for sticking to his traditional country roots. “I always want to have the traditional country soul while meeting the new standards of country music,” explains the country singer. “As with traditional country music, much of the appeal comes from a compelling narrative.” Pardi adds, “As a songwriter, we’re looking for a good story and we’re always looking to push the limits. I love having those lyrics that at first make you think it’s about one thing, but it’s really about something so much more.”
Pepper – Stitches [Reissue/2010] 12” (Law)
Pepper’s 2010 EP, Stitches released on vinyl for the first time. This is a small collection of music that marked the band’s first venture at self-producing in their own studio. Includes an unreleased live version of “Tongue” from Pepper’s seminal 2002 debut Kona Town.
Lee Scratch Perry And The Upsetters – Cloak And Dagger [Reissue/1972] LP (Get On Down)
This early dub outing is a testament to Perry’s lo-fi mastery as he utilized his TEAC four-track, Soundcraft board, tape delays, phasers, reverb and any other ambient sounds he could get this hands on as an instrument rather than just to record instruments.
Pungent Stench – For God Your Soul … For Me Your Flesh [Reissue/1990] 2xLP (Dissonance)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Reissue of the Austrian death metal band’s debut album.
ShadowParty – ShadowParty LP (Mute)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. ShadowParty’s debut – recorded in Boston, LA, Manchester and Macclesfield – is a synth-pop record with guitars and strings, and guests including the incomparable vocalist Denise Johnson (Primal Scream, A Certain Ratio) and The Verve’s revered guitarist Nick McCabe. It’s the sound of a blast. ShadowParty burst through your speakers; pulsing electronics get swept away with lush orchestrations, bold ‘80s-fused beats get carved up by haunting guitars and vocals tower through each moment, whispering sweet harmonies and unspoken despair.
Archie Shepp Meets Kahil El’Zabar’s Ritual Trio – Conversations [Reissue/1999] 2xLP (Black Sweat)
If Conversations celebrates the memory, the artistic and spiritual heritage of bassist Fred Hopkins — a historical member of the revolutionary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians of Chicago — who died in January 1999, it also marks the amazing collaboration between the Ritual Trio of Kahil El’Zabar (with Ari Brown and Malachi Favors) and the intrepid veteran Archie Shepp, the great voice of the ’70s Afro-free-jazz. Being a tribute that invites to an intimate memory, almost an antidote to exorcise the loss of a brother, the music is a spiritual hymn to life. Between ballads, hard-bop, and free-improvised accents, blow winds of vibrant pianistic chiaroscuros, which are reminiscent of the best McCoy Tyner in the great blinding quartet of John Coltrane in the ’60s.
Mike Shinoda – Post Traumatic 2xLP (WB)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. In the months since the passing of Linkin Park vocalist and bandmate Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda has immersed himself in art as a way of processing his grief. With no agenda, Shinoda hunkered down alone in his Los Angeles home and began writing, recording, and painting. In January, he released a teaser EP consisting of three deeply personal songs – each one a powerful, stream-of-consciousness expression of unvarnished grief – accompanied by homemade visuals that Shinoda filmed, painted and edited himself. The response was overwhelmingly positive, with New York Times stating, “The tracks are reverberant electronic dirges; the rhymes, heading into sung choruses, testify to bewilderment, mourning, resentment, self-pity and questions about what to do.” Following the EP release, Shinoda continued to create, and the result is a transparent and intensely personal album that, despite its title, isn’t entirely about grief, though it does start there.
Shovels and Rope – Predecessors 3xLP (Dualtone Music)
Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent (known jointly as the Americana/folk duo Shovels & Rope) started their career performing independently as solo artists, each releasing records under their own names in the mid-to-late ‘00s and early ‘10s. In 2008 they released the album titled Shovels & Rope as a collaboration and the two artists decided to tour together. Performing live, they’d play together on songs from Hearst’s Lions and Lambs (2011), Trent’s The Winner (2010), and their collaborative album, creating the first live glimpses of the band that would eventually become Shovels & Rope. Predecessors features their early individual solo albums along-side early collaborations in the form a three LP package featuring Hearst’s Lions and Lambs, Trent’s The Winner, and a third LP with never-before-released material from Shovels & Rope’s archives.
Showbiz & A.G. – Runaway Slave [Reissue/1992] LP (Island)
Vinyl reissue of the 1992 album from the hip-hop duo. Showbiz and A.G. is a hip-hop duo from The Bronx, New York City. Showbiz is a producer and A.G. (short for André The Giant) is a rapper. Album guests include Black Sheep’s Dres, Diamond D, Lord Finesse and Deshawn.
Judee Sill – Songs of Rapture and Redemption: Rarities and Live 2xLP (Run Out Groove)
The astonishing Judee Sill was the first artist signed to David Geffen’s Asylum Records, and her eponymous 1971 debut was the label’s first ever album. Sill’s music is intensely spiritual, redolent of both mysticism and divine imagery, yet grounded by great songwriting and a pure but powerful singing talent. Her songs impart incredible intimacy that is enhanced and not diminished by her sometimes complex string/orchestral arrangements (remarkably Sill arranged and conducted the strings/orchestra on both of her albums herself!). When stardom didn’t follow the critical acclaim of her first two albums her career never recovered. Sill was dead in 1979 at just 35 of a drug overdose. However, the brevity of Judee’s musical legacy is vastly outweighed by the emotional power in the work she left behind. This brand-new 19-track, 2xLP collection includes demos, outtakes and live recordings which are making their premier on the vinyl format.
Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin – Dawn Of The Dead [OST/Reissue/1978] LP+2xCD (Rustblade)
Recently released on CD – now available as a Deluxe box set. Reissue of Simonetti’s score to one of the most famous horror movies of all time. The music is a mix of prog and electronic rock full of tension and magic tribalism. Features a bonus disc of remixes and covers. Limited Deluxe edition contains: vinyl, double CDs, comic book, t-shirt (large), gadgets, tote bag and more.
Spectrum – Highs, Lows And Heavenly Blows [Reissue/1994] LP (Music On Vinyl)
Limited 180gm audiophile vinyl LP pressing. Peter Kember, better-known under his name Sonic Boom, recorded several albums with his band Spaceman 3 before he started working on his new project, Spectrum. With the song-oriented Highs, Lows And Heavenly Blows he made a powerful album. He worked together with guitarist Scott Riley, as well as regular collaborators Pete Bain from Spacemen 3 and Alf Hardy. The droning and hypnotic tracks are built upon the sounds of synths and guitar elements and leans on the shoegaze and space-rock styles from the early ‘90s.
Sunn O))) – White1 [Reissue/2003] 2xLP (Southern Lord)
Sunn O))) – White2 [Reissue/2004] 2xLP (Southern Lord)
Uncompromising progressive doom back in-print on vinyl.
James Taylor – New Moonshine [Reissue/1991] LP (Analog Sparks)
Vinyl reissue of James Taylor’s 13th studio album.
Henry Thomas – Texas Worried Blues: Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 [Reissue/1974] 2xLP (Yazoo)
Representing the oldest style captured on record, Henry Thomas was a singular and important figure. Coming out of Texas at the turn of the century, he left behind a total of 23 issued selections that represent one of the richest contributions to our musical culture. Playing panpipes and guitar with a thrusting drive that evokes a country dance, Texas Worried Blues: Complete Recorded Works 1927-1929 gives us a glimpse of black music as it existed late in the 19th century.
Tindersticks – Curtains [Reissue1997] 2xLP (Music On Vinyl)
Limited 180gm audiophile vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Expanded edition contains the 15 original album songs plus nine bonus tracks. Tindersticks is an English alternative rock band led by the singer Stuart A. Staples. They recorded several albums which became popular years after their release. One of them is Curtains. The songs on the album develop themselves into intimidate and destructive pearls.
Various Artists [Sasha] – Fabric 99 4xLP (Fabric)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Sasha provides the 99th installment of the world’s leading house and techno mix series from London’s renowned Fabric nightclub. Features Agnes Obel, Quiet Village, Marbert Rocel, Heitzberg Theorem, Kora (CA), Tom Flynn, Indigo, CLOSE, DJ Hell, Joyce Muniz, Ghosts On Tape, Jus-Ed, Whitesquare, Crowdpleaser, Exercise One & Mathew Jonson, Sasha, Objekt, Jono Ma & Dreems, Javier Logares & Kaarel, Tiefschwarz, George Fitzgerald, Carl Craig, Francesco Tristano, Les Siècles, François-Xavier Roth, Antigone, BAILE, and Felicia Douglass.
Various Artists – I Wanna Be Sedated: From The Underground 2xLP (WB)
Warner Bros. Records is celebrating its 60th Anniversary with a series of double-vinyl compilations highlighting some of the greatest music of the last six decades. The second collection is I Wanna Be Sedated: From The Underground. The album features 20 tracks from the punk, new wave and alternative rock era. Artists include B-52s, Elvis Costello, Dead Boys, Echo And The Bunnymen, Flaming Lips, Hüsker Dü, Jane’s Addiction, The Jesus And Mary Chain, Ramones, Pretenders, New Order, Replacements, Talking Heads, Violent Femmes and many others.
Tom Waits – Foreign Affairs [Reissue/1977] LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
Tom Waits – Blue Valentine [Reissue/1978] LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
ANTI-‘s remastered vinyl reissue campaign of Tom Waits’ first seven albums on Asylum continues. 1977’s Foreign Affairs takes the jazz and poetry that Waits explored on his earlier albums in a more cinematic direction, foreshadowing his own breakthrough work in the ’80s. 1978’s Blue Valentine is a big departure from earlier Waits albums. Trading the piano for the guitar, the singer/songwriter is getting rawer and bluesier. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing of Blue Valentine is also available.]
We Banjo 3 – Haven LP (We Banjo 3)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. We Banjo 3, an award-winning band from Galway, Ireland, release their fourth studio recording, Haven. Featuring banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, percussion and vocals, We Banjo 3’s sound is an infectious blend of traditional Irish Music with Americana, bluegrass, and a hint of pop, affectionately described as Celtgrass.
Gillian Welch – Soul Journey [Reissue/2003] LP (Acony)
Gillian Welch’s rich and remarkable career spans over 20 years and is a pillar of the modern acoustic music world. This is the long-awaited first pressing of the roots singer/songwriter’s moving 2003 album, Soul Journey, a collaborative effort with producer/multi-instrumentalist David Rawlings which Mojo called “pretty much perfect” in their 5-star review. It marked the pair’s first experimentation with a fuller, electric sound and is home to some of the most beloved songs in Welch’s catalog. Mastered for vinyl direct from the analog tapes by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings on their own custom-built VMS 80 lathe with Ortofon amplifiers and plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings. The vinyl LP comes packaged in a gatefold old-style tip-on jacket with a printed insert and lyrics which are included with the album for the first time.
White Ring – Gate Of Grief LP (Rocket Girl)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Blending heavy, distorted electronics with eerie, unsettling vocals, Gate Of Grief, created over the course of seven years, pushes the boundaries even further, subverting genre ideas and mashing them all together, with industrial, metal, rave, chopped and screwed, rap, grunge, neo folk, post punk and new wave all in the mix.
Robert Wilkins – The Original Rolling Stone [Reissue/1980] LP (Yazoo)
There are perhaps a half-dozen blues musicians with as much to offer as the Reverend Robert Wilkins, who may be the most underrated figure in the blues field. A listener who can take blues only in small doses before becoming bored will find nothing tiresome in the versatile Wilkins; his breadth of material is practically unmatched among bluesmen. The Original Rolling Stone presents 14 songs Wilkins recorded between September 1928 and October 1935.
Wu-Tang – Pearl Harbor 12” (eOne)
This special 12″ release features a brand-new remix and artwork for The Saga Continues cut “Pearl Harbor”, issued to commemorate the passing of Sean Price on August 8, 2015. Price was featured on Wu-Tang’s 2017 album and was an original member of the underground rap crew, Boot Camp Clik. He was known as a prominent and lyrical god, rising to fame back in the ’90s around the same time as some of the Wu-Tang original members. There was a mutual respect between the crews hailing from Brooklyn and Staten Island.
Iannis Xenakis – Electronic Music [Reissue/1997] LP (Jeanne Dielman)
Some of the earliest works from a truly groundbreaking composer in the realms of electronic music, musique concrete, electro-acoustic, 20th century classical, and more. The Romanian-born, Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis was instrumental in the introduction of mathematical models into composition and helped revolutionize electronic music in the middle 20th century. Collecting some of his earliest works in electronic and electro-acoustic music, this is a crucial set for any fans of 20th century classical experimentation.
Larry Young – Lawrence Of Newark [Reissue/1973] LP (8th)
This is one of the rarest albums ever recorded by jazz organist Larry Young – cut for the tiny Perception label during the early 70s, and featuring some of the cream of the New Jersey jazz underground.
Adrian Younge – Adrian Younge Presents Voices Of Gemma Instrumentals LP (Linear Labs)
Sick of the saccharine piped over aisle 4 at Walgreens? Younge’s palming you a melody fit for impending doom. Voices of Gemma comes from Younge’s refusal to accept the premise. His stance is there in every artist’s job description — the determination to suction up sounds and flavors and phrases from all over the past and present and imagined and documented, and then splice and dissolve what he finds into more possibilities and new ways of seeing, something fresh. On this project his songs are precise, the set ups delivered with a satiny finish and, in the low end, just a hint of louche. Care has been given to every detail, and the old way of doing a thing (bring in an orchestra, record to tape) is the way it’s done; it’s like listening to a five-star hotel.
Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Marvel’s Luke Cage – Season Two 2xLP (Mondo)
The soundtrack to the Netflix original series Marvel’s Luke Cage Season Two. The all new score by composers Adrian Younge (Venice dawn, Ghostface Killah) and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (A Tribe Called Quest) is an incredible follow up to one of the best scores of 2016.
Warren Zevon – The Wind [Reissue/2003] LP (eOne Nashville)
15th anniversary 180gm vinyl reissue of Warren Zevon’s Grammy-winning final album. The Wind is like an X-ray with a dark shadow that shouldn’t be there and can’t be ignored. Recorded after Warren Zevon was diagnosed in 2002 with inoperable lung cancer, it sounds like the work of a guy who’s still fighting, but also starting to wrap things up.
Cassettes:
El Ten Eleven – Banker’s Hill (Topshelf)
The music of El Ten Eleven has been described as “meditation in motion,” which seems apt. To fully realize this descriptor the band worked with an outside producer for the first time in their 16-year career, teaming up with Sonny DiPerri and moving into the incredible confines of Panoramic House on the beautiful Northern California coast. The result is Banker’s Hill – an album that explores the paradox of beauty in anxiety, the importance and effect of family and the fleeting possibility of satisfaction.
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