Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:
Atmosphere – The Day Before Halloween LP (Rhymesayers)
For over two decades, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EP’s and collaborative side projects in as many years. In that time, the venerated duo have built a legacy out of bringing honesty, humility and vulnerability to the forefront of their music, continually challenging themselves to evolve without straying too far from their Minneapolis hip-hop roots. Atmosphere’s new album, The Day Before Halloween, is something of a detour. Cutting loose and eschewing their established norms, Slug and Ant have delivered the anti-pop answer to the content and compositions of previous albums. Over razor-sharp drums and distorted synths, The Day Before Halloween explores the life of a visual artist living in an antiquated surveillance state. [CD edition due November 13.]
November Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:
Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface CD (Concord)
Recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York, Hey Clockface is the latest Elvis Costello and Sebastian Krys production, following their collaboration on Elvis Costello and The Imposters’ Grammy-winning album Look Now. Hey Clockface also features contributions from Bill Frisell, Nels Cline and Steve Nieve. “I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing that was loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful,” Costello said of the project’s emotional and dynamic range.” [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
Keith Jarrett – Budapest Concert 2xCD (Verve)
The second complete show to be issued from Keith Jarrett’s 2016 European tour, following the acclaimed Munich 2016 concert. This double album documents the pianist’s solo performance at Budapest’s Bela Bart¢k National Concert Hall. Jarrett, whose roots go back to Hungary, saw it as a homecoming; the context inspired much creative improvisation. His later concerts are comprised of independent movements, each a marvel of spontaneous resourcefulness and creative energy.
Austin Lucas – Alive In The Hot Zone CD/LP (Symphonic Distribution)
Written and recorded in the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter/American uprising, Alive In The Hot Zone represents a new direction for Austin yet retains his distinctive voice and hyper-literate writing style. Contained are ten songs that serve as direct commentary regarding the ongoing global situation, isolation, fear and the indomitable spirit required to stand up against systemic racism and fascism, in a world spiraling out of control. [Limited edition red colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Nothing – The Great Dismal CD/LP (Relapse)
The Great Dismal, Nothing’s new full-length album explores existentialist themes of isolation, extinction, and human behavior in the face of 2020’s vast wasteland. Closing in on the band’s ten-year mark, frontman Domenic Palermo finds himself stringing together songs of misanthropic tales of Philadelphia with a refined and refreshed take on Nothing’s classic sound. “The Great Dismal refers to a swamp, a brilliant natural trap where survival is custom fit to its inhabitants,” Palermo states. “The nature of its beautiful, but taxing environment and harsh conditions can’t ever really be shaken or forgotten too easily.” The ever progressive Nothing keep true to their chaotic outlook on life, keeping a keen eye to avoid repetition. With a radical cast of talented contributors such as harpist Mary Lattimore, classical musician Shelley Weiss, and singer/songwriter/producer Alex G., The Great Dismal showcases yet another essential side of the band’s trademark American post-shoegaze style. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Oneohtrix Point Never – Magic Oneohtrix Point Never CD/2xLP (Warp)
Oneohtrix Point Never returns with the new album, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. It is the fourth full-length for Warp Records and follows his last, Age Of LP (2018). The eponymous title is taken from Daniel Lopatin’s original Oneohtrix Point Never moniker – a misheard play on the Boston soft-rock radio station Magic 106.7. Musically, the album takes in all elements of OPN’s output of the last 13 years, from the deconstructed new age plunderphonics of Replica and R Plus Seven, to the alt rock and chamber pop songwriting of Garden Of Delete and Age Of and the symphonic, cinematic nature of the scores for Uncut Gems, Good Time and his production work for other artists; making self-titling the record both a reference to his roots while entrenched in the present. Lopatin has long been engaged with radio as a mode of aleatory listening.
Sam Smith – Love Goes CD/LP (Capitol)
Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer/songwriter Sam Smith follows up his multi-Platinum debut and sophomore albums, In The Lonely Hour and The Thrill Of It All with his third studio effort, Love Goes. Its 17 songs were written over the course of the past two years. The pandemic gave Smith a fresh perspective on the album and impacted both its title and the recording of tracks such as “My Oasis”, a cross-continental collaboration with Burna Boy, and the dazzling dancefloor anthem “Diamonds”. Love Goes also features collaborations with Normani on the chart-topping “Dancing with a Stranger,” Labrinth (“Love Goes”) and Calvin Harris (“Promises”).
CDs + Vinyl:
The Ataris – Live In Chicago 2019 CD (Kung Fu)
Recorded on their national tour just last year, Live In Chicago 2019 showcases the band’s ultra-melodic sound paired with supercharged energy and presents killer live versions of The Ataris’ most beloved songs. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
Auðn – Vökudraumsins Fangi CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
As the country’s vibrant black metal scene has proven, Iceland can be a beautiful and sinister place where furious elements rage teaching fear but also inspiring human creativity. Emphasizing melodies rather than dissonance and approaching their music from a dramatic, classical black metal angle, Auðn deliver another mesmerizing piece of art with Vökudraumsins Fangi.
Autopsy – Live In Chicago CD (Peaceville)
The legendary death metal band’s first official live album was recorded at Reggie’s Rock Club, March 7th, 2020, and contains 66 minutes of classics spanning their entire 30+ year career. [Vinyl edition due November 6.]
Andy Bell – The View From Halfway Down CD/LP (Sonic Cathedral)
The Ride guitarist/singer releases his debut solo album.
Blackstone Cherry – The Human Condition [Deluxe Edition] CD/LP (Mascot)
Limited edition box set includes two Black Stone Cherry-themed coasters, four postcards, and four guitar picks. As the world plummeted into the COVID-19 pandemic, the four members of Black Stone Cherry were nestled deep in the woods of Kentucky, scrambling to complete their seventh album. There, they could feel the disease closing in as they watched the news daily, and it became apparent the album they were finishing featured lyrics that were eerily prescient. The resulting 13-track record is broadly emotive, and anthemic. The grooves feel organic, the riffs are mountainous, the performances are urgent, and the hooks shine through gloriously. [Limited red colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Bleeding Out – Lifelong Death Fantasy CD (Prophecy)
Lifelong Death Fantasy is a brutal, unrelenting, and utterly pulverizing, authority-bashing offering that captures the spirit of true old-school crossover deathgrind. A furious inexorable sonic pummeling, this album becomes the soundtrack to a civilization on the brink of rot and decay during an epoch of desperation, virulence, and uncertainty. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
Selah Broderick – Anam CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
Consisting of recordings as old as 1979 and as new as 2018, the wide range in fidelity of Anam has been embraced for this release. The recordings were collected by her son Peter Broderick, who carefully wove them together over the years with occasional contributions from himself and sister Heather Woods Broderick.
Ane Brun – After The Great Storm CD/LP (Balloon Ranger)
The Sweden-based Norwegian artist’s eighth studio album finds Brun in questing mode, her crystal-clear, affecting voice haunted by electronic and analogue textures. Nine tracks of stellar art-pop/prog.
Burning Witches – Hexenhammer CD (Nuclear Blast America)
Burning Witches is a young, Swiss, all-female heavy metal band whose sound harkens back to the early days of Judas Priest, Dio and other British metal pioneers from the ‘70s. The band’s new album, Dance With The Devil, is a modern take on those influential early days of the genre.
Cam – Otherside CD/2xLP (RCA)
Sophomore album from the country music singer/songwriter. Otherside features the single “Classic”, which was co-written with Jack Antonoff, who helped produce Taylor Swift’s 1989 album and the Chicks’ new project, Gaslighter. The bubbly track hits on all the nostalgic heirlooms that make you say they don’t make them like this anymore, from yellow taxis and a friend’s mixtape to icons like Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash and Betty Davis. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Elvis Costello – Hey Clockface CD (Concord)
Recorded in Helsinki, Paris and New York, Hey Clockface is the latest Elvis Costello and Sebastian Krys production, following their collaboration on Elvis Costello and The Imposters’ Grammy-winning album Look Now. Hey Clockface also features contributions from Bill Frisell, Nels Cline and Steve Nieve. “I wanted the record to be vivid, whether the songs demanded playing that was loud and jagged or intimate and beautiful,” Costello said of the project’s emotional and dynamic range.” [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
Ron Dante – Ron Dante’s Funhouse 2xCD (Sunset Blvd.)
Ron Dante was without question one of the hottest singers on the 1969 pop hit parade, sailing in the same commercial stratosphere as the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and 5th Dimension. As the lead singer of The Archies, he had the year’s biggest selling song with the #1 hit “Sugar Sugar”. Ron’s golden voice was coveted by every producer in Manhattan and he was the go to guy at Don Kirschner’s legendary Brill Building. Even Madison Avenue called as Dante made national TV jingles for American Airlines, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Tang, and Gillette. This double-CD set collects 45 Tracks – including 17 previously unavailable recordings by The Archies.
Darkened – Kingdom Of Decay CD/LP (Edged Circle Productions)
“Darkened is a band that ought to immediately interest fans of death metal because of who is involved. Formed in 2018, Darkened includes founding Bolt Thrower member Andy Whale, guitarist Hempa Brynolfsson (ex-Carbonized, AngelBlast), guitarist Linus Nirbrant (A Canorous Quintet), vocalist Gord Olson (AngelBlast) and bassist Tobias Cristiansson (Grave, ex-Dismember). Kingdom Of Decay is the project’s debut album. And while that’s quite an impressive resume for the band’s collective members, ‘supergroups’ like this can often fall flat or feel like an uninspired side project. That’s not the case with Darkened.” – Metal Observer
Brandi Disterheft Trio with George Coleman – Surfboard CD (Justin Time)
Joined by two iconic octogenarian masters – virtuoso tenor saxophonist George Coleman and the definitive Brazilian drummer Portinho – and world-class pianist Klaus Mueller, Disterheft authoritatively and organically guides the flow on a varied program that reflects her capacious interests. Her kinetic, harmonically erudite basslines anchor ensemble interpretations of choice tunes culled from the blues, mainstream jazz, and the Great Brazilian and American Songbooks.
Draconian – Under A Godless Veil CD (Napalm)
Gothic doom metal à la My Dying Bride or Trees Of Eternity Almost five years after their sixth long-player Sovran, Draconian once again cast their breathtaking veil of melancholy over the world. This second full-length release featuring singer Heike Langhans delivers a captivating mélange of dreary doom and contrasting vocals with Heike’s angelic female voice is paired with Anders Jakobsson’s death growls. [Vinyl edition due November 20.]
Van Duren – Are You Serious? [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Omnivore)
Van Duren – Idiot Optimism [Reissue/1999] CD/LP (Omnivore)
A Memphis pop icon, Van Duren was not only a contemporary of Big Star, he played with both Chris Bell and Jody Stephens in The Baker Street Regulars. Managed by Andrew Loog Oldham (The Rolling Stones), his 1978 debut album, Are You Serious?, found folks comparing him to artists like Todd Rundgren and Paul McCartney.
Eels – Earth To Dora CD/LP (PIAS America)
New release from the alt-rock band led by singer/songwriter Mark Everett (aka E).
Emmy The Great – April CD/LP (Bella Union)
Inventive singer-songwriter Emma-Lee Moss was born in Hong Kong and later moved with her family to England, where she became a fixture of London’s burgeoning anti-folk scene. She has collaborated with Dev Hynes/Blood Orange, Fatboy Slim, Tim Wheeler, Kate Nash, Wild Beasts’s Tom Fleming, Jeremy Warmsley and shared the stage with the likes of Martha Wainwright, Tilly And The Wall, and Kimya Dawson. Her new album April follows the critically acclaimed Second Love (2016). Written mostly after moving back to Hong Kong, from New York, the 10 songs explore her identity and place in the world. She immersed herself in different cultures, and found magic in between places, spaces and definitions. April is about that magic, and how she stepped into it for a brief moment and let her life change.
Evil Dead – United $tate$ Of Anarchy CD/LP (Steamhammer)
Evildead was formed in 1987 with the intention of creating heavy music in the thrash metal vein. Their sound was unique; highlighting a blend of speed and thrash metal guitar riffs along with hyper drumming locked in with an over the top thundering bass with punk overtones, and lyrical themes that explored political, thought-provoking social ideas; mixed with horror, and nuclear war themes. Now they return United $tate$ Of Anarchy, a throwback to their roots of thrash featuring nine studio tracks plus a metalized cover version of the B-52’s Planet Claire as a bonus track.
Faithless – All Blessed CD (BMG)
The iconic, award-winning Faithless return with their first album in ten years entitled All Blessed. It’s an immaculate, love letter to electronic music delivered across twelve highly collaborative and intelligent tracks which perfectly capture the Faithless manifesto of “music with feeling, words with meaning”. Guests include Suli Breaks, Nathan Ball, Caleb Femi, LSK, GAIKA, Jazzie B and Damien Jurado. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
The Flower Kings – Islands 2xCD (Century Media)
The Flower Kings’ new double-album, featuring artwork by legend Roger Dean (Yes, Asia, Gentle Giant, Greenslade, Uriah Heep), contains all of the trademark sounds and melodies the band is renowned for [Vinyl edition due November 20.]
Nils Frahm – Empty CD (Erased Tapes)
Conceived of just before Nils broke his thumb and composed the similarly intimate solo piano album Screws, Empty is a soothing vessel of eight simple and serene pieces originally recorded as the music to a short art film he shot with his friend and film director Benoît Toulemonde. [Vinyl edition due November 6.]
Dexter Gordon – Live At Châteauvallon 1978 2xCD (Anagram Music)
Released on vinyl for last week’s RSD Drops – now available on CD. In 1978, Dexter Gordon signed with Columbia, which boosted his career and allowed him to form and groom his own working band for the first time in his life. The wonderful quartet included George Cables on piano, Rufus Reid on bass, and Eddie Gladden on drums and was at its peak, as this November 8, 1978 concert at the Châteauvallon Jazz Festival bears out. Dexter is in a joyous and fiery mood, peppering his solos with outrageous quotes from other songs and stretching out.
Grateful Dead – Workingman’s Dead [Reissue/1970] CD/LP (Grateful Dead)
50th anniversary CD and picture disc vinyl LP reissues – newly remastered. Workingman’s Dead defies the erroneous belief that the Grateful Dead never attained brilliance in the recording studio. As flawless as any rustic album ever released, the 1970 set brims with soaring harmonies, organic execution, intertwined textures, and uncomplicated structures that furnish the songs a transcendence associated with timeless American music. [Picture disc vinyl reissues of Grateful Dead and Anthem Of The Sun also reissued this week.]
Grateful Dead – American Beauty [Reissue/1970] 3xCD/LP (Grateful Dead)
50th anniversary triple-CD and picture disc vinyl LP reissues. The pinnacle of the Grateful Dead’s studio output, American Beauty certainly lives up to its name. Made just months after its companion release, Workingman’s Dead, the San Francisco legends’ second 1970 masterpiece furthers the former work’s close-knit relationship between country and folk while adding extra rock and bluegrass currents. Understated amplified passages, graceful melodies, layered singing, and old-time string flavors – including mandolin work from masterful guest David Grisman – bestow the material with easygoing, comfortable vibes. [Triple-CD edition includes the original album with newly remastered audio, plus an unreleased concert recorded on February 18, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. Standard (non-picture disc) vinyl reissue due November 13.]
Gwar – Scumdogs Of The Universe [Reissue/1990] CD (Pit)
It has been thirty Earth “years” since the lords and masters Gwar released what many consider to be the band’s career-defining album, Scumdogs Of The Universe. In celebration of this momentous occasion, Gwar are pleased as piss to unveil this 30th anniversary remastered reissue. [Red marble colored vinyl pressing and cassette edition due November 20.]
Erin Harpe featuring Jim Countryman – Meet Me In The Middle CD (VizzTone)
New album from the second-generation finger-style guitarist and singer. Erin goes back to her roots in country blues for this intimate acoustic album, self-produced and recorded in her home studio with husband/bass player Jim Countryman.
The Heshoo Beshoo Group – Armitage Road [Reissue/1970] CD/LP (We Are Busy Bodies)
With a unique sound founded on a persuasive mix of American and African jazz, Armitage Road is the only studio recording released by South Africa’s Heshoo Beshoo Group. The album artwork was inspired by The Beatles’ Abbey Road. It acted as a critique of the social conditions in South Africa at that time without overtly mentioning Apartheid and running the risk of being banned. The cover shows Cyril Magubane, who had suffered from polio as a child crossing the road in his wheelchair magnifies the difference between the world of Armitage Road and that of Abbey Road.
Beth Hirsch – L.I.F.E. (Love Is For Everyone) 2.0 CD (Last Man)
Beth Hirsch rose to fame for her collaboration with French duo Air on their critically acclaimed debut album Moon Safari, not only making a significant contribution to the album as lead vocalist/co-writer on two of the record’s key moments, the hit single “All I Need” and “You Make It Easy”, but also performing live around the world as part of Air’s live touring band. [Vinyl edition due November 6.]
Hittman – Destroy All Humans CD/LP (No Remorse)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. New album from the legendary heavy power metal band – their first one in 27 years.
Insidious Disease – After Death CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
Featuring current and previous members of Dimmu Borgir, Morgoth, Nile, Napalm Death, and Susperia), Insidious Disease’s second album is a modern venture into classic death metal. [Limited olive/mustard swirl colored vinyl pressing also available.]
I Prevail – Post Traumatic CD (Fearless)
Grammy-nominated rock powerhouse I Prevail present the new 17-track collection Post Traumatic featuring live, reimagined, and acoustic versions of songs from their 2019 sophomore effort Trauma. [Vinyl edition due December 11.]
Nicolás Jaar – Cenizas CD (Other People)
“The Chilean American producer’s latest album is his most probing and existential, taking influences from all over his career and placing them into grim atmospheres that slip in and out of reality.” – Pitchfork
Keith Jarrett – Budapest Concert 2xCD (ECM)
The second complete show to be issued from Keith Jarrett’s 2016 European tour, following the acclaimed Munich 2016 concert. This double album documents the pianist’s solo performance at Budapest’s Bela Bart¢k National Concert Hall. Jarrett, whose roots go back to Hungary, saw it as a homecoming; the context inspired much creative improvisation. His later concerts are comprised of independent movements, each a marvel of spontaneous resourcefulness and creative energy.
Joji – Nectar CD (88Rising Music)
Japan-born singer and producer Joji is a multi-talented visionary, with a cult following from every corner of the internet. “My music is not biographical,” he says, but even still, the deep, heavily shaded emotions in his songs are genuine and they speak to anyone who has ever felt stuck on the outside looking in, who knows what it means to not belong.
Jarrod Lawson – Be The Change CD/LP (Dome)
Describing him as the blue-eyed soul boy of jazz, the London Evening Standard wrote: “It’s not just Lawson s wide-ranging tenor and ability to swing, scat and groove that has made him the biggest soul-jazz sensation in years. It’s the way he’s bringing spirituality back to a genre that had lost its depth.”
Like Moths To Flames – No Eternity In Gold CD (UNFD)
Displaying their trademark foundations of incisive technical dexterity and uncompromising heaviness – all underpinned with earworm melodies, Like Moths To Flames fifth studio album is the result of challenged perspectives, fully realized ideals, and lessons learned. [Vinyl edition due December 18.]
lovelytheband – Conversations With Myself About You CD/2xLP (lovelytheband)
Sophomore album from the two-time Billboard Music Award-nominated Los Angeles alt-pop trio. [Limited edition colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Austin Lucas – Alive In The Hot Zone CD/LP (Symphonic Distribution)
Written and recorded in the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter/American uprising, Alive In The Hot Zone represents a new direction for Austin yet retains his distinctive voice and hyper-literate writing style. Contained are ten songs that serve as direct commentary regarding the ongoing global situation, isolation, fear and the indomitable spirit required to stand up against systemic racism and fascism, in a world spiraling out of control. [Limited edition red colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Mandrill – Back In Town CD (SPV)
The legendary Mandrill came out of the bush five decades ago, pushing the musical envelope with a hard-driving combination of heavy horns and heavy percussion deftly layered on a complex mix of funk, jazz, Latin, R&B, rock and Afro-Caribbean sounds, pioneering a genre called World Music. The Grammy Award-winning outfit now release their first new album in over a decade. The new project, aptly titled Back In Town, is a once in a lifetime collaboration bringing Mandrill together with some of today’s biggest names in music for a jam session featuring Gerald Albright, Roy Ayers, Ron Carter, Kamasi Washington, and many more. [Vinyl edition due December 11.]
Matty – Déjàvu CD/LP (Mr. Bongo)
Déjàvu is the debut solo album from Matthew Tavares, aka Matty. Originally released in 2018 as a digital only release, it now sees the physical release it rightly deserves. Produced by his good friend, the acclaimed producer/songwriter Frank Dukes, Déjàvu emerged during a period of rest for Matthew after heavy touring schedules with his former band BADBADNOTGOOD. As with many of the most fertile creative minds, continual reinvention leads to exploration of new sounds and styles. Déjàvu sees a departure from the jazz of BADBADNOTGOOD and a move into a more song-based storybook, with Matthew stepping up to the plate as lead vocalist.
Joni Mitchell – Joni Mitchell Archives Vol. 1: The Early Years (1963-1967) 5xCD (Rhino)
This massive collection begins in 1963 with Mitchell’s earliest-known recording as a 19-year-old performing at CFQC AM – a radio station in her hometown of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The set culminates with a stirring, triple-CD release of her 1967 nightclub performance recorded at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [Early Joni – 1963 and Live At Canterbury House – 1967 are available separately on vinyl.]
Motörhead – Ace Of Spades [Reissue/1980] 2xCD/LP/7xLP+10”+DVD (Sanctuary)
Remastered and expanded reissue of Motörhead’s fourth album includes a live album of a previously unreleased concert, recorded at Whitla Hall, Belfast on December 23rd, 1981. [The Deluxe Edition 180gm vinyl book box set features the record half-speed mastered from the original tapes for optimal dynamic range; two double-live albums of previously unheard concerts from the Ace Up Your Sleeve tour; A Fistful Of Instrumentals EP; a double album of B-sides, outtakes and rare tracks; and a DVD compilation of rare TV appearances from 1980-81, a live concert from 1981 and a 5.1 audio mix of the original album. Single-disc CD and vinyl LP versions are also available. A triple-vinyl LP pressing is due November 20.]
Mourn – Self Worth CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
Mourn’s “root sound is like a louder, more manic form of the mid-90s femme-led indie outgrowth, ala the Simple Machines’ roster, Throwing Muses and early Sleater-Kinney.” – Rock And Roll Globe
Mr. Bungle – The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo CD/2xLP (Ipecac)
The first release from Mr. Bungle since 1999, The Raging Wrath Of The Easter Bunny Demo is a re-recording of the band’s 1986 high school thrash metal demo along with songs written then, but never recorded. The record also features covers of classics by S.O.D. and Corrosion Of Conformity. This version of Mr. Bungle is original members Mike Patton, Trey Spruance and Trevor Dunn, joined by Scott Ian of Anthrax and Dave Lombardo of Slayer/Dead Cross. [Limited red colored vinyl and limited clear colored vinyl pressings are also available.]
Nothing – The Great Dismal CD/LP (Relapse)
The Great Dismal, Nothing’s new full-length album explores existentialist themes of isolation, extinction, and human behavior in the face of 2020’s vast wasteland. Closing in on the band’s ten-year mark, frontman Domenic Palermo finds himself stringing together songs of misanthropic tales of Philadelphia with a refined and refreshed take on Nothing’s classic sound. “The Great Dismal refers to a swamp, a brilliant natural trap where survival is custom fit to its inhabitants,” Palermo states. “The nature of its beautiful, but taxing environment and harsh conditions can’t ever really be shaken or forgotten too easily.” The ever progressive Nothing keep true to their chaotic outlook on life, keeping a keen eye to avoid repetition. With a radical cast of talented contributors such as harpist Mary Lattimore, classical musician Shelley Weiss, and singer/songwriter/producer Alex G., The Great Dismal showcases yet another essential side of the band’s trademark American post-shoegaze style. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Nuclear Power Trio – A Clear And Present Rager CD/LP (Metal Blade)
To achieve their goal, this world-leader parody/impersonator trio is built on a tremendously strong foundation: Donald Trump, using the very same guitar that was left behind by an evicted family in one of his father’s housing complexes back in the ‘70s, plays metallic fusion lines over a tight rhythm section: the ballot-ripping bass of Vladimir Putin, the [REDACTED] beats of Kim Jong-un. With flourishes of ‘80s synthwave and Latin-inspired classical guitar, the saving of the world is as musically and emotionally satisfying as it is pure fun.
Oneohtrix Point Never – Magic Oneohtrix Point Never CD/2xLP (Warp)
Oneohtrix Point Never returns with the new album, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. It is the fourth full-length for Warp Records and follows his last, Age Of LP (2018). The eponymous title is taken from Daniel Lopatin’s original Oneohtrix Point Never moniker – a misheard play on the Boston soft-rock radio station Magic 106.7. Musically, the album takes in all elements of OPN’s output of the last 13 years, from the deconstructed new age plunderphonics of Replica and R Plus Seven, to the alt rock and chamber pop songwriting of Garden Of Delete and Age Of and the symphonic, cinematic nature of the scores for Uncut Gems, Good Time and his production work for other artists; making self-titling the record both a reference to his roots while entrenched in the present. Lopatin has long been engaged with radio as a mode of aleatory listening.
Pantera – Reinventing The Steel [Reissue/2000] 3xCD (Elektra)
Reinventing The Steel: 20th Anniversary Edition includes a newly remastered version of the original album and a selection of rarities.
John Petrucci – Terminal Velocity CD/LP (Tonemission Inc.)
Terminal Velocity marks the first solo album by the world-renowned Dream Theater guitarist to be released since 2005’s Suspended Animation. The nine-song album showcases John’s affinity for writing tightly weaved guitar instrumental powerhouses that feature everything from monster riff breaks to passion-filled melodic themes and all-out shred extravaganzas.
Suzzy Roche & Lucy Wainwright Roche – I Can Still Hear You CD (Storysound)
Suzzy Roche and her daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche shed some light on our troubled times on their third collaboration, I Can Still Hear You. The recording began in Nashville; then Suzzy and Lucy completed the project from their quarantine homes in NYC. The 11-track album showcases 8 soul-searching, thought-provoking originals and three covers, and features guest appearances by Amy Ray and Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls.
Sarah and The Safe World – Good Gracious. Bad People! CD/LP (Take This To Heart)
Good Gracious. Bad People! is the briskly recorded, breathlessly ambitious follow-up to last year’s Red Hot & Holy. While the album’s combination of symphonic dramatics and saber toothed alt-rock may have had everybody reaching for their MySpace logins, the Atlanta group’s latest LP doubles down on pre-Internet showmanship.
Scardust – Strangers CD/LP (M-Theory Audio)
After making waves internationally with their dynamic debut album Sands Of Time – hailed by the UK’s Prog Magazine as “extraordinary” – Israeli symphonic progressive metal band Scardust have raised the bar considerably on their sophomore effort Strangers; a riveting concept record about the ongoing struggles between technology and nature, light and darkness and life and death.
Sam Smith – Love Goes CD/LP (Capitol)
Grammy and Academy Award-winning singer/songwriter Sam Smith follows up his multi-Platinum debut and sophomore albums, In The Lonely Hour and The Thrill Of It All with his third studio effort, Love Goes. Its 17 songs were written over the course of the past two years. The pandemic gave Smith a fresh perspective on the album and impacted both its title and the recording of tracks such as “My Oasis”, a cross-continental collaboration with Burna Boy, and the dazzling dancefloor anthem “Diamonds”. Love Goes also features collaborations with Normani on the chart-topping “Dancing with a Stranger,” Labrinth (“Love Goes”) and Calvin Harris (“Promises”).
Snow Patrol and The Saturday Songwriters – The Fireside Sessions CDEP (Republic)
Written and recorded during lockdown, The Fireside Sessions is made up of five songs written with the band’s fans during a series of Instagram live streams.
Them – Return To Hemmersmoor CD/LP (Steamhammer)
Return To Hemmersmoor sees German American heavy metal act Them present the third part of a trilogy that was launched back in 2016 on Sweet Hollow and continued in 2018 with Manor Of The Se7en Gables. Return To Hemmersmoor takes up where the thematic thread of its two predecessors left off and brings the story to a gripping finale, documenting at the same time the band’s unmistakable musical evolvement.
Tobacco – Hot Wet & Sassy CD/LP (Ghostly Int’l)
It’s been four years since Sweatbox Dynasty, the fourth solo LP from Pennsylvanian experimentalist Tobacco. In that time, Tom Fec’s project has toured with Nine Inch Nails, provided the theme song to HBO series Silicon Valley, and teamed with Aesop Rock for a collaborative album as Malibu Ken. He now returns with a full-length album oozing with his most playful and approachable songs to date, which, conversely, express notions of antilove, self- hate, and disappointment in others. [Limited black with clear striped colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Trippie Redd – Pegasus CD (Ten Thousand Project)
With penetrating lyrics and a nuanced but hard-hitting vocal performance, 21-year-old Trippie Redd defies genre boundaries, embedding his melodic take on rap with rock-and-roll and heavy metal elements to create a wildly experimental yet massively appealing sound. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
U2 – All That You Can’t Leave Behind [Reissue/2000] CD/2xCD/2xLP (Interscope)
In celebration of All That You Can’t Leave Behind‘s 20th anniversary, the album has been newly remastered and reissued in a variety of editions: Single-disc CD; expanded double-CD featuring a bonus live CD; A 180gm double-LP set complete with the bonus track “The Ground Beneath Her Feet” and a 20 page 12″ x 12″ booklet; and a Super Deluxe five-disc edition featuring a CD of B-sides, outtakes and alternate versions, two CDs featuring Elevation Live From Boston – the full 19 track set – and a CD of 11 remix singles, including four previously unreleased, plus a 32-page hardback book by long-time U2 collaborator Anton Corbijn and a double-sided poster.
Uriah Heep – 50 Years In Rock 23xCD+LP (Sanctuary)
Created with the full collaboration of the band and curated by founding and original members Mick Box, Ken Hensley, Paul Newton and Lee Kerslake, 50 Years In Rock brings together the full Uriah Heep discography including all of their seminal albums.
Various Artists – Girl In Gold Boots [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack] CD+DVD/LP+DVD (Modern Harmonic)
A mad menagerie of grindhouse go-go grooves. Includes a DVD of the entire film with lots of extras.
Various Artists – Kaleidoscope: New Spirits Known And Unknown 2xCD/3xLP (Soul Jazz)
Kaleidoscope: New Spirits Known And Unknown brings together many of the ground-breaking artists involved in the new jazz scene that has developed in the UK over the last few years. The set features deep spiritual jazz, electronic experimentalism, punk-edged funk, uplifting modal righteousness, deep soulful vocals and more.
Jimmie Vaughan – Pleasure’s All Mine 2xCD/3xLP (The Last Music Company)
31 recordings from Jimmie Vaughan’s various Plays Blues, Ballads & Favorites recording sessions from 2006-2011.
Violent Life Violent Death – Color Of Bone CDEP (Innerstrength)
New five-song EP from the North Carolina-based metallic/blackened hardcore band. Violent Life Violent Death’s The Color Of Bone continues to explore the darker and more eerie sounds the band started experimenting with in their previous release, 2019’s Sadness Rains.
Visions Of Atlantis – Symphonic Journey To Remember CD+DVD+Blu-ray (Napalm)
Visions Of Atlantis continue their everlasting symphonic journey, drawing you into the maritime depths with their first-ever live release, recorded live at the 2019 Bang Your Head!!! Festival with the Bohemian Symphony Orchestra of Prague.
Wagon Christ – Recepticon CD/LP (People Of Rhythm)
Luke Vibert has been key in pioneering and developing the trip-hop or downtempo genre of electronic music over his long, storied career. He is a master of creating, sampling and using various instrumental hip hop and funk riffs, found electronic sounds, rare breakbeats, outlandish spoken word samples, and carefully mined sound bites, along with his signature sample pack of sounds. It’s all mixed up and bound together with those thick Wagon Christ grooves.
Wayfarer – A Romance With Violence CD (Profound Lore)
Wayfarer is black metal of the American West. A cavalcade of fury, melancholia, and dust-laden storytelling; the band is informed by the fierce and adventurous spectrums of heavy music, along with the stark Americana of the Denver sound artists that carved the identity of their home. In A Romance With Violence, their most fully realized effort to date, the band presents a searing silver-screen requiem for the myth of the West. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
Ben Wendel – High Heart CD/LP (Edition)
Fifth album by the saxophonist and composer.
Jim White – Misfit’s Jubilee CD (Fluff & Gravy)
Jim White is known for his catalog of dark ruminations on all things Southern. His latest outing, Misfits Jubilee, features a nonstop parade of manic, blue-collar conflagrations exploring realms dark and light, mystic and mundane, cynical and heartfelt; all presented within a buoyant, hook-laden sonic framework. Misfit’s Jubilee draws from an array of original songs penned by White over the span of several decades. [Vinyl edition due November 20.]
Wobbler – Dwellers Of The Deep CD/LP (Karisma)
Dwellers Of The Deep consists of four distinctive pieces and is a broad looking glass into Wobbler´s creative whims and playful exuberance. The album showcases the band´s mastery of dynamics and flow, with passages and themes veering from the scenic and serene to the downright rocking. Two vinyl pressings: colored and clear.
Yes – The Royal Affair Tour (Live In Las Vegas) CD (BMG)
Honoring the late Chris Squire and Peter Banks, this 2019 Yes concert matched prog-rock virtuosity with a heavy dose of emotion. Recorded on their North American tour, The Royal Affair Tour (Live In Las Vegas) finds Steve Howe, Alan White, Geoff Downes, Jon Davison and Billy Sherwood thrilling the crowd with a hit-loaded set. [Vinyl edition due November 13.]
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
ABBA – Super Trouper [Reissue/1980] 2xLP (Capitol)
ABBA’s Super Trouper is back on wax to celebrate the album’s 40th anniversary.
Action Bronson – Only For Dolphins LP (Loma Vista)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. “When Action Bronson emerged a decade ago, he was hailed as a paragon of formalist East Coast hip-hop: a buddha-sized trash-talker who kicked loquacious rhymes, toked on breakbeats, and paid tribute to New York tacos. But recent years have seen Bronson embrace something akin to Dame Dash’s octopus business strategy: keep eight revenue streams open at all times. These days, he moonlights as an author, has his own cooking show on Vice, pops up in movies like The Irishman, and dabbles in art. Beneath his growing celebrity remains a rapper, albeit one whose dedication to the form may be diluting as he spreads himself across multiple interests. Given Bronson’s expanding outlook, it seems suitable that Only For Dolphins is his most eclectic album yet. Once infatuated by the eternal truths of boom-bap, he now boasts a more diversified palette that includes 1960s Brazilian pop, Latin funk, lounge jazz, and reggae.” – Pitchfork
Alcest – Le Secret [Reissue/2005] LP (Prophecy)
Vinyl reissue of the 2005 EP by the French blackgaze band. Le Secret is Alcest’s first release with creator Neige as sole member, as former members Aegnor and Argoth both left after the 2001 demo Tristesse Hivernale, and the only release with Neige as sole performer.
Allman Brothers Band – Warner Theatre Erie PA 7-19-05 2xLP (Peach Records Association)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Live archive release. By the summer of 2005, The Allman Brothers Band had moved into a comfort zone of stability and superb chemistry. The line-up-Gregg Allman on vocals and keyboards, drummers Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks on guitars, Oteil Burbridge on bass and percussionist Marc Quinones-had been together since 2001 and had established a groove, both on and off the stage.
Atmosphere – The Day Before Halloween LP (Rhymesayers)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. For over two decades, Atmosphere has maintained a course of rigorous output, releasing over two dozen studio albums, EP’s and collaborative side projects in as many years. In that time, the venerated duo have built a legacy out of bringing honesty, humility and vulnerability to the forefront of their music, continually challenging themselves to evolve without straying too far from their Minneapolis hip-hop roots. Atmosphere’s new album, The Day Before Halloween, is something of a detour. Cutting loose and eschewing their established norms, Slug and Ant have delivered the anti-pop answer to the content and compositions of previous albums. Over razor-sharp drums and distorted synths, The Day Before Halloween explores the life of a visual artist living in an antiquated surveillance state. [CD edition due November 13.]
Rich Aucoin – United States LP (Haven Sounds)
Rich Aucoin wrote his new concept album, United States, while observing America from the ground level, cycling across it for Mental Health America (as well as the Canadian Mental Health Association). While taking this Robert Frank approach, Aucoin composed a song for each of the 12 states he pedaled through. The record is as much about the current socio-political climate of America as it is about states of consciousness; as much fueled by the burgeoning American protest movement or Hedges’ social commentary as it is fueled by McKenna/Pollan world of psychedelics and meditation apps.
Brothers Osborne – Skeletons LP (EMI Nashville)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Brothers Osborne return with their much-anticipated third album, Skeletons, which finds the 6x Grammy nominated country duo again teaming with producer Jay Joyce. John and TJ Osborne co-wrote every track on the album, working with their frequent collaborators Lee Miller, Craig Wiseman, Natalie Hemby, Casey Beathard and others. Skeletons includes lead single “All Night” which was co-written with Andrew DeRoberts and was described by Billboard as a “feel-good, rocking ditty” and “a party-friendly tune that’s equal parts outlaw attitude, disco groove and ZZ Top-style boogie” by Rolling Stone.
Carcass – Despicable 10” (Nuclear Blast)
Blue colored vinyl pressing. This new four-track EP is made up of songs not featured on the extreme metal band’s upcoming 2021 full length.
Don Cherry – Live In Paris March 1979 LP (Alternative Fox)
Vinyl pressing of Don Cherry’s performance recorded in Paris, March 1967, and broadcast on French radio station ORTF.
Chrome – No Humans Allowed [Reissue/1982] 12” (Cleopatra)
Vinyl reissue of the 1982 EP from the noise rock experimentalists.
Circle Jerks – Group Sex [Reissue/1980] LP (Trust)
40th anniversary vinyl reissue of Circle Jerks’ iconic debut full length, which is considered a landmark of the punk and hardcore genre.
City Girls – City On Lock LP (Quality Control)
Resident Queens of Miami, JT and Yung Miami of City Girls have signed their names to the hip-hop scriptures in permanent, glittery ink. Their most recent project, City On Lock, is now available on vinyl. Fueled by their unrelenting hustle, they uplift women around the world with 15 in-your-face anthems featuring Doja Cat, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, & Yo Gotti.
The Dead C – Unknowns LP (Ba Da Bing!)
Unpolished, dusty and gritty, The Dead C return with a new album. Continuing to delve inwards for inspiration with tin ears towards trends, styles and technique, they forge onward.
Depeche Mode – Songs Of Faith And Devotion The 12″ Singles 8×12”+MP3 (Rhino)
Limited box set containing eight 12” vinyl singles. Includes single poster reproduction and download card.
Bill Dixon – In Italy: Volume One [Reissue/1980] LP (Soul Note)
A wide-open tapestry and a rare example of open interaction between pulse, melody, and pure sound as result of the work of a maverick quintet featuring Dixon, Arthur Brooks (trumpet), Stephen Haynes (trumpet), Stephen Horenstein (tenor and baritone saxophone), and the great open rhythm section of Alan Silva (bass) and Freddie Waits (drums).
Gord Downie – Away Is Mine 2xLP (Arts & Crafts)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl featuring the album in electric and acoustic versions. Away Is Mine is Gord Downie’s final solo recording, recorded at The Tragically Hip’s studio in Bath, Ontario, in July 2017. A questing and idiosyncratic work steered to life by “my oldest Toronto friend,” guitarist and co-writer Josh Finlayson, the last ten songs Gord wrote hold fast to his unwavering artistic spirit, deft hand with words and forever inscrutable sense of humor as he locks eyes head-on with the Great Inevitability. Away Is Mine is a contemplation on Gord’s life – a document of an artist disappearing into his art, essentially becoming his art through that process. Presented as a double album with electric and acoustic versions, the 20-track collection highlights Gord’s poetic mastery with vibrant yet haunting production by Nyles Spencer that casts each song in different otherworldly light. Downie and Finlayson recorded in a burst of live takes over three days with Travis Good of The Sadies on fiddle, mandolin, and guitars, and drum parts shared by Dave “Billy Ray” Koster and Lou Downie (Gord’s son). Like all of the music and poetry and the memories and the genius that Gord gifted us during his 53 years on our planet, it is immortal – and yet it took a fearless reckoning with his own mortality to get us here.
Eartheater – Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Body LP (PAN)
The result of a laborious revival in fire, Phoenix recontextualizes Eartheater’s combinatorial approach to production within her most confident abstractions, adjacent to some of her most direct songs to date. Eartheater composed and workshopped most of Phoenix over a ten-week artist residency (FUGA) in Zaragoza, Spain, housed in a sprawling, cubic glass facility that looked out over wildflower- flecked mountains. Following an intensive period of recording and touring, the residency provided her with an unprecedented period of solitude in the small Spanish town. Her newfound sense of isolation ultimately became liberating, leading her to sidestep the crutches and steady grids inherent to electronic music, and to conceive pieces rooted in her guitar and her desire to perform with other players live. [Red colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Wendy Eisenberg – Auto LP (Ba Da Bing!)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Drawing the connections between Wendy Eisenberg’s releases feels like undertaking a wide-ranging investigation. Albums of wildly inventive guitar, tempo-shifting avant rock and curiously leftfield pop fit together as offerings of Eisenberg’s curious mind. On Auto, their most innovative and inner-reaching album yet, Eisenberg explores emotional, subjective truth, and how it interacts with an objectivity no person alone can grasp. Inspired by the solo work of Mark Hollis (Talk Talk) and David Sylvian, Wendy Eisenberg has created an album of subtle display that resonates with maximal impact.
Embrace – This New Day [Reissue/2006] LP (Craft Recordings)
180gm vinyl reissue. Formed in the early ‘90s, and having performed under numerous different names and with a less than consistent line-up, Embrace, as we know them came to be in 1996 with a line-up that remains to this day – brother Danny and Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale and drummer Mike Heaton. In 2006, they released their fifth album This New Day which was met with huge anticipation and received great acclaim from critics and fans alike.
Empyrium – Songs Of Moors And Misty Fields [Reissue/1997] LP (Prophecy)
White colored vinyl pressing of the German neofolk/black/symphonic metal band’s second album.
Flying Colors – Second Nature [Reissue/2014] LP (Music Theories)
Limited double 180gm blue colored vinyl pressing. Flying Colors is the talent-ridden supergroup consisting of guitarist Steve Morse, drummer Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, bassist Dave LaRue and pop singer/songwriter Casey McPherson. The band challenged conventional wisdom about combining virtuoso music and melodic songwriting on their second album Second Nature, originally issued in 2014.
Grand River – Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes LP (Editions Mego)
Expanding on the mix of sharply focused, elegantly airborne Arp structures and gauzy ambience with her debut LP Pineapple (2018), Dutch-Italian composer Aimée Portioli dilates her sound with a rippling lysergic lushness wavering between quietly ecstatic and introspective on its follow-up, Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes.
Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead [Reissue/1970] LP (Grateful Dead)
Grateful Dead – Anthem Of The Sun [Reissue/1971] LP (Grateful Dead)
Limited picture disc vinyl LP reissues.
Herbie Hancock & Jaco Pastorius – Blive In Chichago, 16 February 1977 LP (Alternative Fox)
Two absolute jazz/funk giants performing together with James Levi on drums and Bennie Maupin on tenor sax.
Hanoi Rocks – Self Destruction Blues [Reissue/1982] LP (Cleopatra)
Vinyl reissue of the 1982 singles and B-sides compilation from Finnish glam rock superstars.
Hath – Hive [Reissue/2015] 12” (Willowtip)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Hot on the heels of 2019’s critically acclaimed Of Rot And Ruin, New Jersey blackened death metalers Hath reissue their 2015 debut EP, Hive, with a bonus track.
Havok – Burn [Reissue/2009] LP (Spinefarm)
Havok – Time Is Up [Reissue/2011] LP (Spinefarm)
Havok – Unnatural Selection [Reissue/2013] LP (Spinefarm)
Limited colored vinyl pressings of the Denver thrash metal band’s first three albums.
(Hed) P.E. – Class Of 2020 LP (Suburban Noise)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. (Hed) P.E. is a pioneer of the G-Punk sound, a fusion of punk-rock, metal, hip-hop & reggae. A return to their trademark sound, Class Of 2020 strips it down to raw essentials; a nod to old-school punk-rock guitar and aggressive, unfiltered vocals.
Bobby Hutcherson – Oblique [Reissue/1979] LP (Blue Note)
Recorded in 1967, Oblique is one of two quartet sessions the great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson recorded for Blue Note. Originally released in 1979, the album features Herbie Hancock (piano), Joe Chambers (drums) and Albert Stinson (bass). An incredible journey from bops to exploratory sonic poems. Reissued as part of The Blue Note Tone Poet Series: all-analog, remastered 180gm vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Elton John – Elton John [Reissue/1970] LP (Mercury)
Limited edition gold vinyl pressing, reissued in celebration of the album’s 50th anniversary.
Danny Keane – Roamin’ LP (MVKA Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New release from the British jazz pianist. Includes musical assistance from Astatke, Pirashanna Thejaravah (Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar), Tom Skinner, Richard Olatunde Baker, and Khadijatou. “Jazz album of the month.” – Mojo
Cindy Lee – Model Express [Reissue/2018] LP (W. 25th)
The arch, filmic drama of Cindy Lee’s songwriting – realized with keyboards, guitars, aching voice and collaged, lo-fi production – traverses a wide range of emotional and sonic terrain.
John Legend – Bigger Love 2xLP (Columbia)
Vinyl pressing of the seventh studio album by the singer-songwriter, featuring collaborations with Koffee, Charlie Puth, Rapsody, Jhene Aiko, Gary Clark Jr., Ryan Tedder, Julia Michaels, Anderson. Paak, and more.
Hamilton Leithauser – Live! At Cafe Carlyle LP (Glassnote)
Live release from former frontman of indie rock band The Walkmen. Live! At Cafe Carlyle collects 10 recordings made during Leithauser’s annual residency at the iconic New York City Cafe Carlyle.
Les Discrets – Septembre Et Ses Dernières Pensées [Reissue/2010] LP (Prophecy)
Limited violet colored vinyl pressing of the French post rock/metal band’s debut album.
Aksak Maboul – Charles F. Bleistift EP 7” (Crammed Disc US)
This limited-edition 7” EP follows the release of Aksak Maboul’s Figures (released last May), which is the legendary experimental pop band’s first real new album in decades. These four tracks are reworks, which don’t appear as such on the album.
Mastodon – Medium Rarities 2xLP (WB)
Recently released on CD – now available on limited pink colored vinyl. Medium Rarities is the first rarities collection from Mastodon covering their entire career. The compilation features one brand new song – “Fallen Torches”. It also includes a bevy of classic covers, soundtrack contributions, instrumentals, B-sides, and live recordings on one complete package for the very first time. Among an eclectic array of covers, the musicians tackle “A Commotion” by Feist, “A Spoonful Weighs A Ton” by The Flaming Lips, “Atlanta” by Butthole Surfers, and “Orion” by Metallica. It also features soundtrack cuts such as “White Walker” (from the Game Of Thrones inspired mix tape) and the soundtrack song “Cut You Up With A Linoleum Knife” (Aqua Teen Hunger Force). Meanwhile, they get under the hood with instrumental versions of “Asleep In The Deep”, “Toe To Toes”, “Jaguar God”, and “Halloween”. [Standard black vinyl repress due December 18.]
Drew McDowall – Agalma LP (Dais)
It’s a music of majesty and mystery but also modernity, McDowall’s refined modular system shape-shifting strings, piano, pipe organ, and choral masses resolve into a disorienting, synthetic mirage of the sacred.
Mipso – Mipso LP (Rounder)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Mipso’s highly anticipated follow-up to the North Carolina quartet’s acclaimed 2018 album Edges Run, furthers the band’s ever-growing reputation as a potent musical force. The Mipso LP arrives as the group’s most communally realized work to date – a triumph that’s especially remarkable considering they discussed breaking up after the release of Edges Run. But members – Wood Robinson, Libby Rodenbough, Jacob Sharp, and Joseph Terrell, each a songwriter and lead singer in the band – doubled down on their commitment to each other. They emerged with the strongest artistic statement of their career thus far.
Tom Misch – Beat Tape 2 [Reissue/2015] LP (Beyond The Groove)
South London producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tom Misch released Beat Tape 2 on his own label Beyond The Groove in 2015. A soulful and collaborative follow-up to Beat Tape 1, Tom evolved his sound from its origins in boom bap hip-hop stylings of producers like J Dilla to encompass his diverse range of influences – with features including Jordan Rakei, Zak Abel, Loyle Carner, Carmody, Sam Wills and Alfa Mist. Gold colored vinyl.
Joni Mitchell – Early Joni – 1963 LP (Rhino)
Joni Mitchell – Live At Canterbury House – 1967 3xLP (Rhino)
A singer, composer and lyricist of exceptional talent and unmatched influence, Joni Mitchell has crafted an extraordinary body of work spanning more than 40 years and is widely regarded as one of the brightest musical lights of recent generations. Fans, fellow musicians and critics have delighted in an ever- evolving creative journey, with songs both universal and profoundly personal. Her music has become a standard to which others are compared and which many aspire to copy, but it’s inventiveness and ineffable spirit make it decidedly her own. Explore the musical magnificence of Joni Mitchell.
Thurston Moore – By The Fire 2xLP (Daydream Library)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. By The Fire is Thurston Moore’s seventh solo album, and features Deb Googe (My Bloody Valentine) on bass and backing vocals, Jon Leidecker aka “Wobbly” (of Negativland) on electronics, James Sedwards on guitar, and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, as well as Jem Doulton, alternating on drums. “Hashish”, the first single from the album, is described by Moore as “an ode to the narcotic of love in our shared responsibility to each other during isolation.” [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Motörhead – England 1978 LP (Cleopatra)
Limited picture disc vinyl pressing of this 1978 live album – also known as Iron Fist & The Hordes From Hell – recorded at the legendary Roundhouse in London.
John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch – Original Soundtrack From The Netflix Special LP (Drag City)
Recently release on CD – now available on vinyl. Emmy Award Winning Comedian John Mulaney aimed to recapture the magic of a bygone television era when children sang songs about their feelings with celebrity guests on funky outdoor sets, with John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch, released on Netflix last holiday season. The Sack Lunch Bunch is a group of children ages 8-13, joined by celebrity guests like David Byrne, Tony Award Winner Andre de Shields, Natasha Lyonne, Annaleigh Ashford, Richard Kind, and Jake Gyllenhaal from the movie Zodiac. The result is a collage of Broadway caliber showstoppers, comedy sketches for all ages, meditations on life from children and adults, and a paper mache volcano. It’s funny, musical, joyous, anxious, and surprisingly profound.
Nasty – Menace LP (Century Media)
14 tracks of pure, pummeling musical violence. Four dudes performing f**ked up music for a f**ked up world. [Limited purple colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Necrophobic – Dawn Of The Damned LP (Century Media)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. With thirty years of active, nefarious service under their bulletbelts, Necrophobic are undisputed legends of the death and black metal underground. Dawn Of The Damned is undoubtedly the most imaginative and creative album of the band’s career to date. Once again recorded in collaboration with Fredrik Folkare of death metal icons Unleashed, it’s an album that proclaims its creators’ idiosyncratic approach to hammering their infernal point home. [Limited gold colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Okkervil River – A Dream In The Dark: Two Decades Of Okkervil River Live 4xLP (ATO)
This set distills the very best of the subscription-only digital album series A Dream In The Dark into an epic chronological live compilation that doubles as an Okkervil River songbook, presenting the greatest hits of Will Sheff’s celebrated band in live, alternate, expanded and re-imagined versions, as captured in sweaty dive bars, lavish concert halls, and festival stages across the world. Packaged in a gorgeous quadruple-sleeved hardback sleeve.
The Outlaws – Legacy Live 3xLP (Steamhammer)
For more than 40 years, the southern rock legends have celebrated triumphs, endured tragedies and survived legal nightmares to remain one of the most influential and best-loved bands of the genre. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Duke Pearson – The Phantom [Reissue/1968] LP (Blue Note)
Duke Pearson’s opening title track of superb album, The Phantom, sets a stage for one of Blue Note’s underrecognized gems. The pianist/composer/arranger gathered a superb cast: Bobby Hutcherson, Jerry Dodgion (flute), Sam Brown/Al Gafa (guitars), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Mickey Roker/Victor Pantojo/Potato Valdes (drums). Reissued as part of The Tone Poet Series: all-analog, remastered 180gm vinyl in deluxe gatefold packaging.
Pretty Boy Floyd – Set The Night On Fire LP (Deadline Music)
Pink colored vinyl pressing of a trashy compilation from the Hollywood sleaze rockers.
Primary Fear – Metal Commando 2xLP (Nuclear Blast)
With a debut record first released in 1998, Primal Fear has spent more than 20 years proving why they are the German Metal Commando. With over a dozen records under their belt, Primal Fear are back with their latest offering Metal Commando, an album with merciless hooks, huge refrains and above all, strong songs that feature their trademark phalanx of three guitars and riffs too unerring to be resisted.
Queensrÿche – Empire [Reissue/1990] LP (Friday Music)
Limited green colored audiophile vinyl and limited red colored audiophile vinyl pressings. With a unique blend of progressive rock and heavy metal propelled by the first class musicianship of guitar shredders Chris DeGarmo and Micheal Wilton, power vocalist Geoff Tate, and the solid rhythm section of Scott Rockenfield (drums) and Eddie Jackson (bass guitar), Queensrÿche has struck a universal chord with eleven gold and platinum plaques and several Top 10 hard rock anthems. 1990’s monumental Empire being the most successful of the bunch, a triple platinum, Grammy-nominated effort anchored by the No. 1 power ballad “Silent Lucidity”.
Quintron and Miss Pussycat – Goblin Alert LP (Goner)
This would be the first proper Quintron & Miss Pussycat full-length since 2011’s Sucre Du Sauvage, and the duo’s third for Memphis Tennessee’s weirdo-rock label Goner Records. Produced by Greg Cartwright (The Oblivians / Reigning Sound) and recorded on two-inch tape at Gainesville Florida’s PULP ARTS studio, Goblin Alert picks up where Sucre Du Sauvage left off: snotty, semi-political, trash-anthems.
Jeremiah Sand – Lift It Down LP (Sacred Bones)
A flawed and malignant sounding unfinished thing, Lift It Down is the product of a psychotically inflated ego and hubris. The album is by turns amateurish, haunting, deranged, ridiculous and (for those attuned to these things) filled with crackling negative psychic energies. [Limited purple colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Sir Lord Baltimore – Sir Lord Baltimore [Reissue/1971] LP (Trading Places)
Fresh from their US tour supporting Black Sabbath, Brooklyn-based heavy metal trio Sir Lord Baltimore expanded to a quartet for the recording of their self-titled sophomore album, released by Mercury in late 1971. The new addition was guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Joey Dambra, brother of guitarist co-founder, Louis Dambra, adding a dual-guitar element to their hefty sound.
Suuns – FICTION EP 12” (Joyful Noise)
Suuns are future-oriented. New sounds, new techniques, new ways of thinking; above all, new environments are the lifeblood of the band. Whether in a sweltering studio in Dallas with John Congelton, self-recording in Montreal’s storied Breakglass Studio, or playing acoustic instruments at Hotel 2 Tango, the group’s environment has always had an indelible impact on the sound of whatever future Suuns are imagining at the time. And true to form, here on FICTION EP, Suuns are exploring fresh processes as a result of their current surroundings and global circumstances.
Testament – Demonic [Reissue/1997] LP (Nuclear Blast)
Testament – The Gathering [Reissue/1999] LP (Nuclear Blast)
Testament – Dark Roots Of Earth [Reissue/2012] LP (Nuclear Blast)
Limited colored vinyl pressings. Formed in 1983 around the Bay area of northern California, Testament rose to prominence alongside thrash luminaries like Metallica, Exodus and others. The band is one of the true originators and innovators of American heavy metal.
Toto – Toto IV [Reissue/1982] LP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Toto – Isolation [Reissue/1984] LP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Toto – Fahrenheit [Reissue/1986] LP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Toto – Toto IV [Reissue/1988] LP+MP3 (Sony Legacy)
Remastered vinyl reissues of the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh albums from the AOR rock band.
The Vandals – When In Rome Do As The Vandals LP (Kung Fu)
Splatter vinyl edition of the 1985 full-length debut album from the L.A. punk legends.
Various Artists – Ellas Son Eléctricas LP (Beat Generation)
Shining a light on women’s role in the late ’70s and ’80s hard rock scene in Spain, Ellas son Eléctricas comes filled to the rafters with kick ass Spanish metal, hard rock, AOR and thrash, reviewing the story of unfairly ignored ladies of Spanish metal.
Vitriol – To Bathe From The Throat Of Cowardice LP (Century Media)
Vinyl repress of the 2019 release from the death metal band.
Rick Wakeman – Piano Vibrations [Reissue/1972] LP (Purple Pyramid)
Colored vinyl reissue of the 1972 covers album from the legendary keyboardist.
Widespread Panic – Live From Austin, TX 2xLP (New West)
Double Jack O’Lantern splatter colored vinyl pressing released in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the original recording which was recorded October 31, 2000.
Yellow Claw – Never Dies 2xLP (Roc Nation)
Sixth album from the Dutch DJ duo.
Yours Truly – Self Care LP (UNFD)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Debut album from the Australian pop-punk band.
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