Social Media Program Title Released This Week:
Robert Glasper featuring H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello – Better Than I Imagined 12” (Loma Vista)
Limited-edition picture disc 45rpm vinyl pressing. Grammy-winning pianist and producer Robert Glasper enlisted R&B star H.E.R. for his new track, “Better Than I Imagined”. The song also closes on a spoken-word verse from singer/songwriter/bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. It’s a sultry, piano-driven song that contemplates Black love from the perspective of a strained relationship that defies convention. “Thought it’d be worse, cuz it hurts me/ But still I can’t see myself with no one else/ Cuz it was better than imagined,” sings H.E.R. on the chorus. In Ndegeocello’s part, she recites a short narrative of a message left on an answering machine.
Marketing Program/ Banner/ Listening Station Titles Promoted This Week:
The Dropkick Murphys – Turn Up That Dial CD/LP (Born And Bred)
On Dropkick Murphys’ new album, Turn Up That Dial, the Celtic punk outfit boots in the front door of 2021 with a record that punches you square in the face and says, in the words of co-frontman Ken Casey, “Get up, get out of those sweatpants you’ve been wearing for the last year… better times are ahead – let’s f**kin’ go!” You can expect more gang vocals, pumping pipes, bouncing rhythms and choruses meant for singing in unison in a beer-soaked bar. The Boston band’s tenth studio album comes introduced by the previously released singles “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding”, “Smash Shit Up”, “I Wish You Were Here”, and “Middle Finger”.
Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis – She Walks In Beauty CD/2xLP (BMG)
Marianne Faithfull (with composer/multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis) present, She Walks In Beauty, one of the most distinctive albums of her long, extraordinary life and career. Recorded around the earliest days of the COVID-19 lockdown – during which the singer herself became infected and almost died of the disease – She Walks In Beauty fulfills Faithfull’s long-held ambition to record a full album of poetry with music, and features musical friends Nick Cave, Brian Eno, cellist Vincent Ségal and producer-engineer Head (PJ Harvey, Thom Yorke). She Walks In Beauty finds Faithfull drawing deep on the works of Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Thomas. Her vocal performances, set to Ellis’ subtle collages of sound, draw out the vibrant living matter in these great poems, renewing them with the complex, lived-in timbres of her voice. It’s both a radical departure and a return to her original inspirations as an artist and performer.
girl in red – If I Could Make It Go Quiet CD/LP/Cassette (AWAL)
If I Could Make It Go Quiet, the debut album from girl in red, is the musical distillation of Marie Ulven’s solitary conversations on the road: it’s an album brimming with the things we wish we could say to others but tell ourselves instead. The album is girl in red in its purest, elevated form. She has never been braver, and the music follows suit, whether it’s collaborating with pop mastermind and Billie Eilish collaborator Finneas on “Serotonin”, a huge pop anthem that speaks to Ulven’s struggles with mental health or flexing her instrumental chops with album closer “It Would Feel Like This”. Betrayal, lust, longing, pulling herself out of a depressive spell – nothing is off-limits on If I Could Make It Go Quiet.
Gojira – Fortitude CD/LP (Roadrunner)
Voted by fans as the No.1 release on Revolver’s “5 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021”, Fortitude continues Gojira’s career-long tradition of harnessing their music as a vehicle for environmental activism with songs like “Amazonia” and “The Chant” not only surveying critical cases, but also catalyzing listeners to take action. The band initially laid the foundation for Fortitude with the surprise 2020 single “Another World”, which NPR hailed as “an apocalyptic banger.” As if shedding skin and baring armor in its place, fellow single, “Born For One Thing” represents a natural evolution for the acclaimed French band: hyper-focused but unhinged, confrontational and yet compassionate. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe vinyl pressing is available.]
Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks Of God CD/LP (Loma Vista)
The Million Masks Of God showcases the strength and boundary-pushing invention of Manchester Orchestra’s catalog and is a testament to the kinship of its songwriting duo – the bond that enables them to take something so tragically personal and turn it into limitless, compassionate, communal, revelatory art. Serving as the band’s sixth album overall, it was co-produced by main songwriters Andy Hull and Robert McDowell with Catherine Marks (The Killers, PJ Harvey) and Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers). “If ‘Black Mile’ was this idea of ‘from birth to death,’ this album would really be more about ‘from birth to beyond, focusing on the highs and lows of life and exploring what could possibly come next,” Hull said. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe pink and white color vinyl pressing with poster is available.]
Ashley Monroe – Rosegold CD/LP (Mountainrose Sparrow, LLC)
A reliable traditionalist with a penchant for bittersweet songs of heartbreak and loss, Ashley Monroe pulled a complete 180 for her spectacular new album, Rosegold, riding the joyful emotional wave that followed the birth of her son to create her most ecstatic, blissed-out collection yet. Written and recorded over the past two years, the record finds the Grammy-nominated Nashville star pushing her sound in bold new directions, drawing on everything from Kanye West and Kid Cudi to Beck and The Beach Boys as she layers lush vocal harmonies atop dreamy, synthesized soundscapes and sensual, intoxicating beats. Monroe worked with a variety of producers on the album, letting the tracks dictate her direction rather than any arbitrary adherence to genre or tradition, and the result is a record as daring as it is rewarding, an ecstatic, revelatory meditation on happiness and gratitude that tosses expectation to the wind as it celebrates our endless capacity to love, and to be loved, even in the midst of chaos and tragedy. [A limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Gary Moore – How Blue Can You Get CD/LP (Provogue)
How Blue Can You Get is a collection of previously unreleased songs from Irish legend Gary Moore’s substantial body of outstanding work in his back catalogue. The album contains four originals, and four songs previously recorded and made famous by classic bluesmen like Elmore James, Sonny Thompson, Memphis Slim and BB King. The goal is that current and future generations will discover and re-discover Gary Moore, reveling in the artistry of not just a great guitarist, but a supremely talented musician. [A limited-edition 180gm blue color vinyl pressing and a deluxe CD edition are available.]
Royal Blood – Typhoons CD/LP (WB)
When Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher sat down to talk about making a new album, they knew what they wanted to achieve. It involved a conscious return to their roots, back when they had made music that was influenced by Daft Punk, Justice, and Philippe Zdar of Cassius. It also called for a similar back-to-basics approach to what had made their self-titled debut album so thrilling, visceral and original. Typhoons opens in breathless, take-no-prisoners style with the fierce metallic grooves of “Who Needs Friends” hitting an early visceral peak. Royal Blood further reference their array of influences by deploying vocodered vocals on “Million & One” before dynamically switching between the biggest contrasts of their sound with “Limbo”. Already a fan favorite having been a regular during the duo’s 2019 shows, “Boilermaker” lives up to its reputation and is more than matched by “Mad Visions”, which evokes a hyper-aggressive Prince. It ends with a final surprise in the shape of the stark piano ballad “All We Have Is Now,” a vulnerable and revealing reminder to live in the moment. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe vinyl pressing is available.]
Shovels & Rope – Busted Juicebox Vol. 3 CD/LP (Dualtone Music Group)
Charleston rock duo Shovels & Rope continue their Busted Jukebox series where they join forces with their musical friends to cover classic songs in their own unique ways with Busted Jukebox Volume 3 (this time, they’ve nicknamed the album Busted Juicebox because of its kid-friendly song choices). The release sees the duo covering “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie featuring The War and Treaty, “You Are My Sunshine” featuring The Felice Brothers, and “What A Wonderful World” featuring John Paul White, along with some other classics like REM’s “Everybody Hurts” alongside T. Hardy Morris, and The Beach Boys’ “In My Room” featuring Sharon Van Etten, and more.
Julia Stone – Sixty Summers CD/LP (BMG)
Eight years after Stone’s last solo record, Sixty Summers arrives as a powerful rebirth for one of Australia’s most prolific artists. Emerging from the wildernesses of folk and indie-rock, with Sixty Summers Stone dives headfirst into the cosmopolitan, hedonistic world of late-night, moonlit pop. The stunning album brings us the grit and glitter of the city, with all its attendant joys, dangers, romances and risks. It is Stone at her truest, brightest self, a revered icon finally sharing her long, secret love affair with this vibrant and complex genre. Recorded sporadically over five years from 2015 to 2019, Sixty Summers was shaped profoundly by Stone’s key collaborators on the album: Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, and Annie Clark, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer known as St. Vincent. [A limited-edition gold color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Ya Tseen – Indian Yard CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. His debut as Ya Tseen (“be alive”, and a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen), Indian Yard, is rich with emotional range and sharp awareness and explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind. The lusty electro-soul cascade of “Close the Distance”, the lithe funk frolic of “Get Yourself Together”, the insistent weight of “Back in That Time”, sung in Yupik: these 11 tracks put Galanin, Ya Tseen, and Indigenous art at large in a current musical conversation with the likes of Moses Sumney and TV On The Radio, FKA Twigs and James Blake. Indian Yard is a profound record of liberation and an implicit act of protest, making its case by facing the intersection of past, present, and future realities. In a nod to Sun Ra, “Gently To The Sun” mentions “meds for a nightmare” – an apt description for a record that offers a much-needed antidote for what now ails us personally and universally.
CDs + Vinyl:
The 13th Floor Elevators – Headstone: The Contact Sessions CD (Charly)
The Contact Sessions were the first studio recordings by The 13th Floor Elevators, recorded in Texas in January and February 1966, which never saw the light of day in those heady drug-filled days.
Baby Strange – Land Of Nothing CDEP (Icons Creating Evil)
Glasgow trio Baby Strange is back with their new EP Land Of Nothing. With a line-up rounded out by brothers Connaire & Aidan McCann, Baby Strange is about to set out their stall and re-establish themselves as one of the most innovative and uncompromising outfits in the UK. Since the release of their critically acclaimed 2016 debut album Want It Need It, Baby Strange has toured tirelessly, building an enthusiastic and dedicated live audience, selling out venues across the UK.
Blood From The Soul – DSM-5 CD (Deathwish Inc)
Blood From The Soul is the vision of legendary musician Shane Embury, longtime member of extreme-music pioneers Napalm Death. Joining Embury are Dirk Verbeuren (Megadeth, Soilwork, Aborted, Tronos), Jacob Bannon (Converge, Wear Your Wounds, Umbra, Vitae), and Jesper Liverod (Nasum, Burst).
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Sunset Mission [Reissue/2000] CD/2xLP (PIAS America)
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Black Earth [Reissue/2002] CD/2xLP (PIAS America)
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Geisterfaust [Reissue/2005] CD/2xLP (PIAS America)
CD and vinyl reissues of the third, fourth and fifth albums by the German doom jazz cult band. The group, who are much loved by musicians like Mike Patton (of Faith No More and who releases their albums on the Ipecac label) or Stephen O’Malley (SunnO)))), deliver outstanding music. For fans of SunnO, OM, Max Richter, Fennesz and David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti.
Bowerbirds – becalmyounglovers CD/LP (Psychic Hotline)
Phil Moore’s first Bowerbirds album since 2012 is an artifact of transition, a domino effect of doors closing and Moore stumbling headfirst into the uncertainty of what comes after a life fundamentally changes. Written and recorded mainly in an isolated cabin hand built by Moore and his ex-partner, out in Siler City, North Carolina, becalmyounglovers chronicles a long-term relationship’s death rattle, inevitable breakup, and its immediate aftermath – and Moore’s getting to understand himself better in the process.
C.O.B. – Spirit Of Love [Reissue/1971] CD/LP (Bread & Wine)
Clive Palmer had already made a name for himself as a versatile instrumentalist, busking around London from age fourteen. A founding member of the Incredible String Band, he would quit and seemingly vanish from the scene just after the first album was released, traveling to India and Afghanistan. He would resurface with his banjo a few years later under the guise of C.O.B., Clive’s Original Band, with songwriting and instrumentalist partners Mick Bennett and John Bidwell.
Crumb – Ice Melt CD/LP (Crumb Records)
Ice Melt, Crumb’s second LP, begins with a chaotic scene and ends with a lullaby. “Lyrically,” says frontwoman Lila Ramani, “my goal was to return back down to earth from a strange, floating place, and write about real substances and beings that live on this planet. The sounds, too, feel more grounded and of this earth, evoking moods of both isolation and deep connection.” [A limited-edition purple color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Cryptosis – Bionic Swarm CD/LP+CD (Century Media)
A dizzying blend of visceral extremity, symphonic pomp and wild, progressive invention, the songs on Bionic Swarm showcase a supremely passionate band with a unique and ingenious take on metal’s amorphous rudiments. Elements of blackened death, left-field thrash and grandiose symphonic metal are all present and correct, but Cryptosis have combined them in an exhilarating, unprecedented new form that promises to satisfy on both primal and cerebral levels.
William Doyle – Great Spans Of Muddy Time CD/LP (Tough Love)
Great Spans Of Muddy Time arrives as William Doyle turns 30. In many ways it is the antithesis to Your Wilderness Revisited: Doyle’s unique exploration of pop, art-rock, ambient and idiosyncratic compositions – married with a voice that deftly glides from tender restraint to soaring peaks – remains, but it’s rawer and less polished now. “It was liberating and felt like a nice tonic to how long the last album took and how much blood, sweat and tears went into it,” he says. [A limited-edition white color vinyl pressing is also available.]
The Dropkick Murphys – Turn Up That Dial CD/LP (Born And Bred)
On Dropkick Murphys’ new album, Turn Up That Dial, the Celtic punk outfit boots in the front door of 2021 with a record that punches you square in the face and says, in the words of co-frontman Ken Casey, “Get up, get out of those sweatpants you’ve been wearing for the last year… better times are ahead – let’s f**kin’ go!” You can expect more gang vocals, pumping pipes, bouncing rhythms and choruses meant for singing in unison in a beer-soaked bar. The Boston band’s tenth studio album comes introduced by the previously released singles “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding”, “Smash Shit Up”, “I Wish You Were Here”, and “Middle Finger”.
Electric Boys – Ups!de Down CD/LP (Mighty Music)
The Electric Boys are much loved for their idiosyncratic combination of hard rock and other forms of music such as funk beginning with their first album Funk-o-Metal Carpet Ride in 1989. Now the Swedish band release their seventh album Ups!de Down which continues and advances this fusion of music styles.
Evile – Hell Unleashed CD (Napalm)
Classic thrash metal with a contemporary yet hard-edged touch. [Vinyl edition due May 14.]
Marianne Faithfull with Warren Ellis – She Walks In Beauty CD/2xLP (BMG)
Marianne Faithfull (with composer/multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis) present, She Walks In Beauty, one of the most distinctive albums of her long, extraordinary life and career. Recorded around the earliest days of the COVID-19 lockdown – during which the singer herself became infected and almost died of the disease – She Walks In Beauty fulfills Faithfull’s long-held ambition to record a full album of poetry with music, and features musical friends Nick Cave, Brian Eno, cellist Vincent Ségal and producer-engineer Head (PJ Harvey, Thom Yorke). She Walks In Beauty finds Faithfull drawing deep on the works of Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Thomas. Her vocal performances, set to Ellis’ subtle collages of sound, draw out the vibrant living matter in these great poems, renewing them with the complex, lived-in timbres of her voice. It’s both a radical departure and a return to her original inspirations as an artist and performer.
Fastest Land Animal – Fastest Land Animal CD/LP (Label Logic)
Isolation. Conflagration. Tribulation. None of these roadblocks could slow down Fastest Land Animal as the band raced to release its eponymous debut. A rock album in the vein of Eagles Of Death Metal, the frantic nine-song, 30-minute affair is awash in pumping riffs, buoyant grooves and catchy hooks.
Mick Fleetwood & Friends – Celebrate the Music Of Peter Green And The Early Years Of Fleetwood Mac 2xCD/2xCD+Blu-ray/4xLP/4xLP+2xCD+Blu-ray (BMG)
Legendary drummer Mick Fleetwood enlisted an all-star cast for a one-of-a-kind concert honoring the early years of Fleetwood Mac and its founder, Peter Green, which was held on February 25, 2020 at the London, Palladium. The bill included Billy Gibbons, David Gilmour, Pete Townshend, John Mayall, Christine McVie, Zak Starkey, Steven Tyler, Bill Wyman, Noel Gallagher, Pete Townshend, Neil Finn, Kirk Hammett and Jeremy Spencer. Legendary producer Glyn Johns joined as the executive sound producer and the house band featured Fleetwood himself along with Andy Fairweather Low, Dave Bronze, Rick Vito, Jonny Lang and Ricky Peterson. [A deluxe vinyl box set collecting all formats is also available.]
Funkadelic – Uncle Jam Wants You [Reissue/1979] CD (Charly)
More militant in tone than its predecessor One Nation Under A Groove which described a Funk utopia, Uncle Jam’s stated mandate was to rescue dance music from the blahs.
(G)I-DLE – I burn [Fire Version] CD (Republic)
(G)I-DLE – I burn [Flower Version] CD (Republic)
(G)I-DLE – I Burn [Winter Version] CD (Republic)
I burn is the latest mini album from South Korean multinational 6-member girl group (G)I-DLE.
girl in red – If I Could Make It Go Quiet CD/LP/Cassette (AWAL)
If I Could Make It Go Quiet, the debut album from girl in red, is the musical distillation of Marie Ulven’s solitary conversations on the road: it’s an album brimming with the things we wish we could say to others but tell ourselves instead. The album is girl in red in its purest, elevated form. She has never been braver, and the music follows suit, whether it’s collaborating with pop mastermind and Billie Eilish collaborator Finneas on “Serotonin”, a huge pop anthem that speaks to Ulven’s struggles with mental health or flexing her instrumental chops with album closer “It Would Feel Like This”. Betrayal, lust, longing, pulling herself out of a depressive spell – nothing is off-limits on If I Could Make It Go Quiet.
Gong – Angels Egg [Reissue/1973] CD (Charly)
Classic 1973 album recorded for the BYG label by psychedelic legends. The companion piece to 1973 album The Flying Teapot, Angels Egg is not your usual progressive rock album. Very quirky, with many, mostly brief compositions, the album is a tad less spacy than Teapot, with just a few psychedelic-inspired lyrics, and it’s very technically adept.
Gojira – Fortitude CD/LP (Roadrunner)
Voted by fans as the No.1 release on Revolver’s “5 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021”, Fortitude continues Gojira’s career-long tradition of harnessing their music as a vehicle for environmental activism with songs like “Amazonia” and “The Chant” not only surveying critical cases, but also catalyzing listeners to take action. The band initially laid the foundation for Fortitude with the surprise 2020 single “Another World”, which NPR hailed as “an apocalyptic banger.” As if shedding skin and baring armor in its place, fellow single, “Born For One Thing” represents a natural evolution for the acclaimed French band: hyper-focused but unhinged, confrontational and yet compassionate. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe vinyl pressing is available.]
Guided By Voices – Earth Man Blues CD/LP (GBV Inc.)
The 33rd Guided by Voices album, Earth Man Blues, is a magical cinematic rock album, full of dramatic and surreal twists and turns. Lyrics and liner notes trace the growth of young Harold Admore Harold through a coming of age and a reckoning with darkness. Vivid scenes appear: snapshots of youth, fantastical nightmares, unknown worlds. The music hasn’t softened a bit. One will hear the impossibly perfect melodies and word play that you expect from Robert Pollard, with the band playing at peak-heavy.
PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her – Demos CD/LP (Island)
[In an attempt to “get back to the earthy, rootsy, more dirty side of things,” following the more polished production of 2000’s love letter to NYC, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, PJ Harvey created 2004’s Uh Huh Her which does just that and marks a return to the raw, stripped-down sound she forged on her first two albums Dry (1992) and Rid Of Me (1993). Producing and playing everything on the LP herself (save drums and percussion which were provided by longtime collaborator Rob Ellis), Uh Huh Her is a vital 13-song set of scouring, urgent rock tunes that earned Harvey Grammy Award and Brit Award nominations once again. Accompanying a 2021 reissue of the original album is this collection of the artist’s previously unreleased demos for the record including demos of the singles “The Letter” and “Shame.”
Vincent Herring – Preaching To The Choir CD (Smoke Sessions)
Renowned jazz saxophonist Vincent Herring battles back from COVID-19 and its career-threatening side effects with a defiant and joyful new album. Preaching To The Choir is a paean to Herring’s fans and supporters, celebrating real triumph over hardship with soulful jazz.
Khalab & M’berra Ensemble – M’berra CD/LP (Real World)
An out-of-the-ordinary musical scene spread within the 50,000 people living in M’berra camp, in the hot desert of Mauritania, at the border with Mali. Despite the harsh living conditions of people fleeing multiple conflicts, Arab and Tuareg musicians-refugees started to make music together. A unique musical style is born, a mixture of antique tunes, blues and improvisation. The artist’s royalties of this record will be donated to Intersos in order to support future humanitarian projects.
The Lillingtons – Can Anybody Hear Me (A Tribute To Enemy You) CD/LP (Red Scare)
In the world of melodic punk, The Lillingtons and Enemy You are the gold standard. David Jones (singer of Enemy You) suddenly passed away in 2015, and bands have been paying him tribute ever since. On Can Anybody Hear Me we have The Lillingtons offering up a few Enemy You cover songs.
Sarah Louise – Earth Bow CD/LP (Earth Bow)
Mesmeric sounds abound on Earth Bow, from analog synth tones, to digitally manipulated sonics that she stretches and layers with a painterly touch. These electronic sounds inhabit the same environment as field recordings, ceremonial percussion, guitars and empathic vocals, weaving together her vast and borderless influences into an enveloping world.
Lustre – Night Spirit [Reissue/2009] CD/LP (Nordvis)
Combining a haunting atmosphere with a medieval phantasmagoric feel and harsh blackened metal, Night Spirit broke new ground and opened a new portal in the pantheon of somber music.
Luwten – Draft CD/LP (Glassnote)
New release from Dutch singer, songwriter, and musician Tessa Douwstra AKA Luwten.
Manchester Orchestra – The Million Masks Of God CD/LP (Loma Vista)
The Million Masks Of God showcases the strength and boundary-pushing invention of Manchester Orchestra’s catalog and is a testament to the kinship of its songwriting duo – the bond that enables them to take something so tragically personal and turn it into limitless, compassionate, communal, revelatory art. Serving as the band’s sixth album overall, it was co-produced by main songwriters Andy Hull and Robert McDowell with Catherine Marks (The Killers, PJ Harvey) and Ethan Gruska (Phoebe Bridgers). “If ‘Black Mile’ was this idea of ‘from birth to death,’ this album would really be more about ‘from birth to beyond, focusing on the highs and lows of life and exploring what could possibly come next,” Hull said. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe pink and white color vinyl pressing with poster is available.]
Marasmus – Nectrotic Overlord CD (Transcending Obscurity)
Featuring a member of Unmerciful, Marasmus play brutal death metal and spend 39 minutes furiously battering the listener with waves of blasting aggression and torrents of hatred.
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. – Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons CD (BMG)
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. sing the songs of Lennon-McCartney.
Ronnie Milsap – A Better World For Love CD (Black River Ent.)
Country Music Hall of Fame legend Ronnie Milsap is back with A Better Word For Love, the follow-up to his all-star project Duets. Teaming with longtime co-producer Rob Galbraith, Milsap recorded much-loved songs that didn’t fit his prior albums, including those by renowned songwriters Mike Reid, Gary Nicholson, Al Anderson, Jim Weatherly, Brent Maher, Allen Shamblin, and David Ball.
Mome/Ricky Ducati – Flashback FM CD/LP (Caroline)
French producer Mome is back with a collaboration with Los Angeles based Canadian Ricky Ducati. With its filters in the Daft Punk style Discovery period, it’s intelligent winks to disco, funk, electro, punk, west coast rock and the French Touch, Flashback FM gathers all the positive energy that is produced by a dancefloor before exploding. Far from being a renunciation of the future, Flashback FM radio is a promise of modernity, a return to the futuristic roots of electro music. [A limited-edition white color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Ashley Monroe – Rosegold CD/LP (Mountainrose Sparrow, LLC)
A reliable traditionalist with a penchant for bittersweet songs of heartbreak and loss, Ashley Monroe pulled a complete 180 for her spectacular new album, Rosegold, riding the joyful emotional wave that followed the birth of her son to create her most ecstatic, blissed-out collection yet. Written and recorded over the past two years, the record finds the Grammy-nominated Nashville star pushing her sound in bold new directions, drawing on everything from Kanye West and Kid Cudi to Beck and The Beach Boys as she layers lush vocal harmonies atop dreamy, synthesized soundscapes and sensual, intoxicating beats. Monroe worked with a variety of producers on the album, letting the tracks dictate her direction rather than any arbitrary adherence to genre or tradition, and the result is a record as daring as it is rewarding, an ecstatic, revelatory meditation on happiness and gratitude that tosses expectation to the wind as it celebrates our endless capacity to love, and to be loved, even in the midst of chaos and tragedy. [A limited-edition blue color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Gary Moore – How Blue Can You Get CD/LP (Provogue)
How Blue Can You Get is a collection of previously unreleased songs from Irish legend Gary Moore’s substantial body of outstanding work in his back catalogue. The album contains four originals, and four songs previously recorded and made famous by classic bluesmen like Elmore James, Sonny Thompson, Memphis Slim and BB King. The goal is that current and future generations will discover and re-discover Gary Moore, reveling in the artistry of not just a great guitarist, but a supremely talented musician. [A limited-edition 180gm blue color vinyl pressing and a deluxe CD edition are available.]
Mustasch – A Final Warning – Chapter One CD (Tritonus)
Mustasch is one of Sweden’s biggest hard rock bands. In 2021 the band celebrates 20 years since their first record release. Their new album A Final Warning will be released in two chapters. [Vinyl edition due May 7.]
Michael Nesmith – Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings CD (Real Gone Music)
22 tracks drawn from the RCA Victor vaults, every one of which is previously unreleased in any physical format. Over six RCA albums released between 1970 and 1973, Michael Nesmith (he wool hat-clad member of The Monkees) blossomed as a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and producer under the aegis of RCA Nashville legends Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis. With bandmates including legendary pedal steel guitarist O.J. ‘Red’ Rhodes, John Ware, and John London, Nesmith pioneered country-rock with a spiritual and searching style all his own.
Pet Shop Boys – Discovery (Live In Rio) 2xCD+DVD (Rhino/Parlophone)
Previously only available on VHS, this is the first time that fans will be able to experience this classic concert on DVD and listen to the audio on CDs. The show was filmed by Brazilian director Roberto Berliner with a local TV crew in December 1994 in front of a wildly enthusiastic Rio audience on PSB’s first visit to Brazil. The DVD and CDs document a show very different in feel to the two ground-breaking tours that preceded it in 1989 and 1991. Following on from the release of their albums Very and Disco 2, Pet Shop Boys decided to focus the two-hour set largely on uplifting songs with a party vibe, taking inspiration from visits to the New York under-ground house club, the Sound Factory Bar. Discovery saw Pet Shop Boys with four dancers, backing singer Katie Kissoon and two Latin percussionists embrace spontaneity in a way they never had before.
Pink Floyd – Live At Knebworth 1990 CD/2xLP (Pink Floyd Records)
Live archive release. Live At Knebworth was recorded at Knebworth House, Knebworth, Hertfordshire, UK, on June 30, 1990 in aid of the Nordoff Robbins Music Centre and The BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. The monumental Silver Clef Award Winners Knebworth concert saw Pink Floyd topping the all-star bill that included Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, Genesis, Phil Collins, Mark Knopfler, Robert Plant (with Jimmy Page), Cliff Richard, Eric Clapton and Tears For Fears. The concert has been remixed from the original master tapes [the 180gm vinyl edition is cut at 45 RPM for enhanced audio quality.]
Pretty Archie – Hanging On CD/LP (Curve)
Rousing fourth album from Cape Breton-based quintet. Pretty Archie somewhat recalls the likes of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and the Old Crow Medicine Show, in their irrepressibility and energy and in the sense, they communicate of being an organic unit, of being a bunch of friends reveling in creating music together. Their music blends country with folk and other elements and notwithstanding the sense of fun and exuberance evident on the album their self-written songs (all credited to the band as a whole) deal with serious, resonant themes.
Purgatory – Lawless To Grave CD/LP (Unbeaten)
Sophomore album from the Midwest street-metal crew.
Dawn Richard – Second Line CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Much like the New Orleans-born artist who created it, Second Line is an unapologetic genre bender that pushes boundaries, expands possibilities, and shatters expectations. It’s more than just an album: Second Line is a cohesive sensory experience that questions traditional ideas of sound, production, and visual aesthetics as they relate to music. Its interlocking parts tell an epic story about the quest for artistic expression, with Dawn describing her project as a movement to bring pioneering Black women in electronic music to the forefront.
Royal Blood – Typhoons CD/LP (WB)
When Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher sat down to talk about making a new album, they knew what they wanted to achieve. It involved a conscious return to their roots, back when they had made music that was influenced by Daft Punk, Justice, and Philippe Zdar of Cassius. It also called for a similar back-to-basics approach to what had made their self-titled debut album so thrilling, visceral and original. Typhoons opens in breathless, take-no-prisoners style with the fierce metallic grooves of “Who Needs Friends” hitting an early visceral peak. Royal Blood further reference their array of influences by deploying vocodered vocals on “Million & One” before dynamically switching between the biggest contrasts of their sound with “Limbo”. Already a fan favorite having been a regular during the duo’s 2019 shows, “Boilermaker” lives up to its reputation and is more than matched by “Mad Visions”, which evokes a hyper-aggressive Prince. It ends with a final surprise in the shape of the stark piano ballad “All We Have Is Now,” a vulnerable and revealing reminder to live in the moment. [A limited-edition indie store exclusive deluxe vinyl pressing is available.]
Will Sellenraad Trio – Balance CD (Deko)
Will Sellenraad grew up in a place and time many people dream of: New York City’s downtown scene of the ’60s and ’70s, when music and art were both in a state of quicksilver flux. Given that his parents (prominent New York artists themselves) named their son after modern-art pioneers William de Kooning and Piet Mondrian, it is pure serendipity that Sellenraad’s new album, Balance, reflects the sound of CTI, a record label that got just as much criticism as the works of the aforementioned modern artists. Mixing jazz’s electric transformation with a tantalizing R&B sensuality, Creed Taylor’s CTI label released records by artists including Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr., and George Benson throughout the ’70s. Often featuring Hall of Famers like Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham, they still stand up today. For those who still hold the defunct label’s catalog dear, Balance hits a satisfying sweet spot.
Joseph Shabason – The Fellowship CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
Across eight tracks that mesh spacious, jazz-laced composition with fourth-world tonality, saxophonist Joseph Shabason sketches an auditory map of the transcendence, unity, conditioning, and eventual renunciation of his upbringing in an Islamic and Jewish dual-faith household. The resulting album The Fellowship bears the name of the insular Islamic community Shabason’s traditionally Jewish parents belonged to from a time before he was even born; a mental and spiritual push-pull which continued shaping, even controlling, his outlook well into his adulthood. [A limited-edition sky-blue vinyl pressing is also available.]
Shovels & Rope – Busted Juicebox Vol. 3 CD/LP (Dualtone Music Group)
Charleston rock duo Shovels & Rope continue their Busted Jukebox series where they join forces with their musical friends to cover classic songs in their own unique ways with Busted Jukebox Volume 3 (this time, they’ve nicknamed the album Busted Juicebox because of its kid-friendly song choices). The release sees the duo covering “Tomorrow” from the musical Annie featuring The War and Treaty, “You Are My Sunshine” featuring The Felice Brothers, and “What A Wonderful World” featuring John Paul White, along with some other classics like REM’s “Everybody Hurts” alongside T. Hardy Morris, and The Beach Boys’ “In My Room” featuring Sharon Van Etten, and more.
Spectral Wound – A Diabolic Thirst CD (Profound Lore)
Montreal, QC black metal band Spectral Wound play virulent, searing, primal towering melancholic black metal. [Vinyl edition due June 4.]
Carl Stone – Stolen Car CD/2xLP (Unseen Worlds)
Carl Stone’s work has often at its core explored new potential within popular cultural musics, simultaneously unspooling and satisfying a pop craving. On Stolen Car, the forms of Stone’s pieces have also become more compact, making for a progressive new stage in his career where he is not only creating out of pop forms but challenging them. Stolen Car is the gleeful, heart racing sound of hijack, hotwire, and escape.
Julia Stone – Sixty Summers CD/LP (BMG)
Eight years after Stone’s last solo record, Sixty Summers arrives as a powerful rebirth for one of Australia’s most prolific artists. Emerging from the wildernesses of folk and indie-rock, with Sixty Summers Stone dives headfirst into the cosmopolitan, hedonistic world of late-night, moonlit pop. The stunning album brings us the grit and glitter of the city, with all its attendant joys, dangers, romances and risks. It is Stone at her truest, brightest self, a revered icon finally sharing her long, secret love affair with this vibrant and complex genre. Recorded sporadically over five years from 2015 to 2019, Sixty Summers was shaped profoundly by Stone’s key collaborators on the album: Thomas Bartlett, aka Doveman, and Annie Clark, the Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and producer known as St. Vincent. [A limited-edition gold color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Stormwind – Black Lodge [Reissue/2003] CD/2xLP (Black Lodge)
Digitally remastered edition of the 2003 album from the Swedish power metal band. [A limited-edition sliver/white/black marble vinyl pressing is also available.]
Nad Sylvan – Spiritus Mundi CD (Century Media)
Spiritus Mundi marks a shift musically from Sylvan’s previous outing focusing more on the lyrics and vocals in tandem with gorgeous orchestration and timely melodies. Sylvan has always managed to cull together a notable cast of guest musicians for his album and this album follows suit. [Viny edition due May 14.]
Teenage Fanclub – Endless Arcade CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
Endless Arcade is quintessential TFC: melodies are equal parts heartwarming and heart aching, guitars chime and distort, keyboard lines mesh and spiral, harmony-coated choruses burst out like sun on a stormy day. In the 1990s, the band crafted a magnetically heavy yet harmony-rich sound on classic albums such as Bandwagonesque and Grand Prix. Endless Arcade walks a beautifully poised line between melancholic and uplifting, infused with simple truths. The importance of home, community and hope is entwined with more bittersweet, sometimes darker thoughts of insecurity, anxiety, and loss.
Telex – This Is Telex CD (Mute)
This Is Telex is a brand-new compilation collecting 14 tracks from the innovative Belgium trio, covering their career from formation in 1978 up to the final album in 2006. This compilation sets the way for a comprehensive reissue campaign of the entire Telex catalogue. [Vinyl edition due May 21.]
Crystal Thomas – Now Dig This! CD/LP (Dialtone)
2020 Living Blues Award Winner Crystal Thomas steps out front with a super-star band that includes Lucky Peterson, Chuck Rainey and The Moeller Brothers.
Julia Thomas – Not In Chronological Order CD (Republic)
Grammy-nominated, multi-platinum selling singer/songwriter Julia Michaels releases her highly anticipated full-length debut album, Not In Chronological Order. The 10-track album is executive produced by Monsters & Strangerz, with two songs co-written with JP Saxe. Each track takes listeners through a storytelling journey of events in Julia’s love life and explores themes of being happy and most importantly: love.
Rhett Thomas – Country Again, Side A CD (Valory)
Country Again, Side A marks ACM Awards Entertainer of the Year Thomas Rhett’s fifth studio album. According to Thomas, “this album is a lot of nostalgia and a lot of reflection; but rooted in the here and now, and in the work-in-progress of the man I am today. It’s things about life that I wanted to say at 19 years old, but I hadn’t even begun to gain the experience to know exactly what those things were, or how to say them. In that regard, this album was 11 years in the making.”
Chester Thompson – Powerhouse [Reissue/1971] CD/LP (Real Gone Music)
With long-standing stints in Tower of Power and Santana, Chester Thompson might be the most decorated and distinguished keyboardist in all of rock and R&B, let alone of the Bay Area musical scene. It’s little wonder that this 1971 album, Powerhouse, is one of the rarest and most coveted albums on the highly collectible Black Jazz Records label.
David Tibet – Ferlith CD/LP (Homalpeph)
David Tibet – Fontelautus CD/LP (Homalpeph)
Ferelith is haunting, evocative and powerful, far removed from anything David Tibet has released in his ever-evolving body of work, perhaps since the early 1980s. Fontelauntus is celestial, atmospheric and stirring. [Both vinyl LPs are pressed on black and clear ghostly marble effect vinyl, with a Japanese washi-style paper insert and card print hand signed by David Tibet.]
Touch – Tomorrow Never Comes CD (Deko Music)
Touch was the first band to play at the inaugural Monsters Of Rock Festival at Castle Donington in 1980, along with Rainbow, Scorpions, Judas Priest and Saxon. One of the top AOR bands, their debut album is considered by many to be among the best melodic rock albums of all time. The original band has reformed after almost 40 years to create the new album, Tomorrow Never Comes.
Various Artists – Soul Jazz Records Presents: Rocksteady Got Soul CD/2xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
Soul Jazz Records’ new Studio One release Rocksteady Got Soul is a collection of uplifting and superb rocksteady and soulful reggae from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Studio One is the number one label in the history of reggae and the album features – as ever with Studio One – an impeccable and unbeatable line-up of reggae superstars, all soaring at the height of their creative powers. Alton Ellis, John Holt, The Heptones, Jackie Mittoo, The Ethiopians, Lee Perry and more. The compilation is a mix of classic tunes and rhythms alongside super-rarities that were released in a dazzlingly complex web of Studio One labels and issues, deftly navigated with new sleeve notes from author and Studio One authority Rob Chapman.
Vex – Average Minds Think Alike CD/LP (Heptown)
Vex started in 2019 as the solo act from Tobias Kastberg, ordinarily playing in the hard-touring electro punk duo (and phenomenal live act) The Guilt. Average Minds Think Alike is his debut album. It’s electronic, melodic and playful, post punk dance tunes. The album consists of ten upbeat songs on analog synthesizers. With Vex, Tobias wanted to write uplifting pop-hit choruses, but with a punk attitude.
Vissia – With Pleasure CD/LP (Hurry Hard)
Canadian rising alt-pop star Vissia dives into bubbly waters and emerges with her sophomore LP With Pleasure; a creative collection of pop-polished gems. Described by music journalists as a MUST discovery, phenomenal and soulful, unmissable, poetic and impeccable, and a breathtaking talent; Vissia’s intuitive creative choices as a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist explore our emotional heart-spaces with unquenchable curiosity and playful awareness.
Steve Von Till – A Deep Voiceless Wilderness CD (Neurot Recordings)
Steve Von Till – Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems CD (Neurot Recordings)
Steve Von Till has made a life’s work out of seeking the elemental. With a solo discography that stretches back more than two decades, he has toiled in a shadow realm, peeling back layers of reality in a never-ending search for true meaning and raw emotion. A Deep Voiceless Wilderness strips back the veil even further. An achingly beautiful ambient work with neo-classical leanings, the album is a hallucinatory and elegant rumination on our disconnect from the natural world, each other, and ultimately ourselves. Published by the University of South Dakota’s Astrophil Press, Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems And Collected Lyrics established Von Till as a formidable and thoughtful author of verse-a fact that Neurosis fans knew all along, but the wider world was only just becoming aware of. [Vinyl editions due May 28.]
Leon Vynehall – Rare, Forever CD/LP+MP3 (Ninja Tune)
Leon Vynehall returns with new album Rare Forever, the follow up to 2018’s critically acclaimed debut Nothing Is Still. Rare, Forever will feel familiar for fans of Vynehall’s DJ-Kicks mix or his eclectic excursions on NTS, while simultaneously sounding unlike anything he’s ever done before. As much as there are dancefloor memories and moments, it’s not strictly a dance record – instead, Rare, Forever is the clearest representation of the broad spectrum of music he’s made to date, deftly weaving newer shades of post-punk, ambient, techno and drone.
Bobby Womack – The Poet [Reissue/1981] CD/LP (Abkco)
Bobby Womack – The Poet II [Reissue/1984] CD/LP (Abkco)
2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the initial release of The Poet, the Bobby Womack album that served to relaunch his career and established him as a renewed force to be reckoned with in R&B in the 1980s. The Poet II, featuring Patti LaBelle, George Benson and Wilton Felder, found both commercial and critical success on both sides of the Atlantic with the UK’s NME naming it “Best Album Of 1984”. Newly remastered from the original tapes.
WRD Trio – The Hit CD/LP (Color Red)
Debut album by the organ trio of acclaimed musicians Robert Walter (The Greyboy Allstars, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress), Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds), and Adam Deitch (Lettuce/Break Science). [A limited-edition white blood splatter color vinyl pressing is also available.]
Ya Tseen – Indian Yard CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. His debut as Ya Tseen (“be alive”, and a reference to his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen), Indian Yard, is rich with emotional range and sharp awareness and explores love, desire, frustration, pain, revolution, and connection through the magnetic expressions of an Indigenous mind. The lusty electro-soul cascade of “Close the Distance”, the lithe funk frolic of “Get Yourself Together”, the insistent weight of “Back in That Time”, sung in Yupik: these 11 tracks put Galanin, Ya Tseen, and Indigenous art at large in a current musical conversation with the likes of Moses Sumney and TV On The Radio, FKA Twigs and James Blake. Indian Yard is a profound record of liberation and an implicit act of protest, making its case by facing the intersection of past, present, and future realities. In a nod to Sun Ra, “Gently To The Sun” mentions “meds for a nightmare” – an apt description for a record that offers a much-needed antidote for what now ails us personally and universally.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
The Allman Brothers Band – Live At Great Woods DVD (Allman Brothers Band)
Recorded in the September of 1991, originally for Japanese TV, The Allman Brothers Band’s beloved Live At Great Woods showcases the classic American rock band reaching a new generation of audiences. Original band members Gregg Allman, Dickey Betts, Butch Trucks and Jaimoe were joined by new guitarist Warren Haynes, bassist Allen Woody and percussionist Marc Quinones in one of the most powerful lineups in the group’s history. This set – recorded before a crowd of nearly 20,000 adoring fans at the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts in Massachusetts – features a top-notch set of fan favorites, with a fiery acoustic mini-set included for good measure.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Akhlys – The Dreaming 1 [Reissue/2015] 2xLP (Debemur Morti Productions)
Naas Alcameth, the mastermind behind the beast Nightbringer, has amazing dreams, full of horrid shadows, white voices, and visions of nights beyond nights. He has used his terrific creation, Akhlys, as a vector to share this black mental landscape with listeners. Akhlys is a gateway, an opening to the sound of his own haunted dreams, the occult world of hallucinations incarnated in music. 2015’s The Dreaming I is a fascinating and grandiose sonic monument consisting of five otherworldly compositions, five dark tunnels of fury and intensity in which to lose yourself, filled with dangerous and hypnotic melodies.
Amigo The Devil – Born Against LP (Regime Music Group)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Amigo The Devil has become a dark folk anomaly drawing attention from everyone from the likes of Noisey, Consequence of Sound, Kerrang, and more. L.A. Weekly described him as Johnny Cash at his blackest, mixed with Father John Misty, if he exhumed graves at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. While Rolling Stone proclaimed, “Kiranos unflinchingly explores dark and grim subject matter from suicide to serial killers. He spins these topics into dark love songs that explode into heavy-metal catharsis.”
August Burns Red – Guardians Sessions 10” (Fearless)
Limited white smoke color 10” vinyl pressing. Featuring six tracks, including: two unreleased studio tracks recorded during the Guardians recording sessions, re-imagined instrumental versions of two tracks off of Guardians Extinct By Instinct and Paramount, and covers of the Westworld theme song and System Of A Down’s “Chop Suey”.
Richard Barbieri – Under A Spell 2xLP (Kscope)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The man whose illustrious career began in the late 70s with synth-pop visionaries Japan and more recently as a member of influential art-rock band Porcupine Tree follows up 2017’s Planets + Persona with new album Under A Spell. On Under A Spell, Barbieri was intent on capturing the atmospheres and moods that his disconnected brain was conjuring rather than slaving over arrangements and melodies.
Sabrina Bellaouel – Libra / WNDTBE LP (InFiné)
The first two EPs of rising French-Algerian singer-producer-songwriter Sabrina Bellaouel on are presented here on a single vinyl edition for the first time. At the crossroads of modern electronic production, alternative R ‘n’ B and North African beats, Sabrina Bellaouel offers her listeners an unprecedented mix of grand emotion of the pop stage and the cutting-edge underground flair of buzzing nightclubs.
BurnaBoy – Twice As Tall LP (Atlantic)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Twice As Tall is the fifth studio album, from the Afro-fusion pioneer and newly crowned Grammy Award Winning global superstar, BurnaBoy. “The album is inspired by a period of time in my life,” Burnaclaims. “It’s an album about the struggle for freedom. It’s the album about life in general, real life, good times, bad times, happy times, sad times, great times.”
Can – Future Days [Reissue/1973] LP (Mute)
Can – Delay 1968 [Reissue/1981] LP (Mute)
Limited-edition color viny reissues. Can was founded in 1968 by Irmin Schmidt, Holger Czukay, Michael Karoli and Jaki Liebezeit who formed a group which would utilize and transcend all boundaries of ethnic, electronic experimental and modern classical music. Can’s powerful influence has never diminished, and their indelible mark is apparent in the bands who freely acknowledge their importance – from Portishead, James Murphy, New Order, Factory Floor, Public Image Ltd, Mogwai, Kanye West and Radiohead – as well as across other disciplines such as visual art and literature.
Ian Carr – Belladonna [Reissue/1972] LP (Mr. Bongo)
Official half-speed mastered reissue of British trumpeter and bandleader Ian Carr’s iconic jazz-fusion-rock hybrid Belladonna from 1972. Originally released on the Vertigo label, this sought-after jazz-rock-fusion rarity features some of the cream of the UK jazz musicians of the ‘70s.
Francisco Mora Catlett – Mora II LP (Far Out Recordings)
First time on vinyl. Mexican-American percussionist and former member of the Sun Ra Arkestra, Francisco Mora Catlett originally recorded and released his debut solo LP as a private press in 1987, but the sequel he recorded over the course of the next few years with an expanded Detroit jazz brass section was shelved for decades to follow. A Pan-American melting pot of hypnotic afro-Cuban rhythms, frenetic batucadas and fiery sambas, Mora I & Mora II are holy grails of Latin jazz, masterminded by an unsung hero of the genre.
Adrian Crowley – The Watchful Eyes Of The Stars LP (Ba Da Bing!)
One stormy night in Ireland, Adrian Crowley’s brother brought home a wounded crow. After taking care of it for a time, the crow flew away on its own, leaving an impression behind: Crowley wrote a story, which would later become the aptly titled “Crow Song” on this, his brand-new record and ninth studio album The Watchful Eye Of The Stars. Suffused with a hazy and surreal quality, Crowley describes Watchful Eye‘s poignant narratives as “those which insisted themselves upon him.”
Destroyer 666 – Wildfire [Reissue/2016] LP (Season Of Mist)
Limited gold color vinyl pressing. Destroyer 666 – which originally started out as a solo project of Bestial Warlust guitarist KK in Australia in 1994 – had already delivered four highly acclaimed and influential albums that cemented their excellent reputation within the metal scene by 2009. Long awaited fifth entry Wildfire, originally issued in 2016, is a complete fist to your face featuring nine heavy hymns which embody the true essence of metal.
Doro – Love Me In Black [Reissue/1998] LP (Rare Diamonds Productions)
Limited-edition white color vinyl reissue of the German metal queen’s 1998 album.
Dot Hacker – Neon Arrow b/w Rewire 7” (ORG Music)
Neon magenta color vinyl. The tracks on this limited edition 7” release come from the Inhibition sessions. “Rewire” was featured on the band’s self-titled debut EP. “Neon Arrow” is available here for the first time.
Dueling Experts – DE2: Sand The Floor LP (Mellow Music Group)
Sometimes, savagery is the most effective form of communication. For that, there are the Dueling Experts, the dark ninjas behind one of 2020’s most filthy, cohesive, and authentic hip-hop records. A masterclass of verbal carnage and bell-ringing beats that reminds you that if ain’t raw, it’s worthless.
Ego Kill Talent – The Dance Between Extremes LP (BMG)
The São Paulo, Brazil quintet unite heavy music integrity and pop ambition, universal appeal and South American flavor, and tight songcraft and instrumental fluidity on their second album, The Dance Between Extremes.
Mark Eitzel – The Ugly American [Reissue/2003] LP (Tonguemaster)
Limited blue color vinyl pressing. The album of solo and American Music Club songs re-interpretations performed by a band with traditional Greek musicians was released in 2003. Eighteen years later, with a rejigged artwork and an Abbey Road cut, The Ugly American is unveiled for the first time on vinyl. The ten tracks cover a varied period of Mark Eitzel’s solo output, the cult band American Music Club albums, and a sole composition from Manolis Famellos (‘Love’s Humming’). All songs were recorded with the addition of traditional Greek instruments (bouzouki, tzouras, Cretan lyra & zournas) under the guidance of Manolis Famellos and his band.
Fallout Boy – Take This To Your Grave [Reissue/2003] LP (Fueled By Ramen)
Fueled By Ramen celebrates 25 years with a color vinyl reissue of Fall Out Boy’s breakout 2003 debut full-length album Take This To Your Grave. Produced by Sean O’Keefe (Motion City Soundtrack, Hawthorne Heights, Plain White T’s) and yielding the name-making singles “Dead On Arrival”, “Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy” and “Saturday”, the Gold-certified effort tells the tales of the obstacles that come with true friendships and the trials and tribulations of growing up. Drawing influences from a healthy wealth of rock, pop, and hardcore, Fall Out Boy constructed a distinctive sound of unforgettable melodies, clever lyrics, and multifaceted guitar hooks here that has since become their trademark.
Field Music – Flat White Moon LP+MP3 (Memphis Industries)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. “We want to make people feel good about things that we feel terrible about,” says David Brewis, who has co-led the band Field Music with his brother Peter since 2004. It’s a statement which seems particularly fitting to their latest album, Flat White Moon. Sporadic sessions for the album began in late 2019 at the pair’s studio in Sunderland, slotted between rehearsals and touring. The initial recordings pushed a looser performance aspect to the fore, inspired by some of their very first musical loves; Free, Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles; old tapes and LPs pilfered from their parents’ shelves. But a balance between performance and construction has always been an essential part of Field Music. The playfulness that’s evident in much of Flat White Moon‘s music became a way to offset the darkness and the sadness of many of the lyrics. Much of the album is plainly about loss and grief, and about the guilt and isolation which comes with that. [A limited-edition clear vinyl pressing is also available.]
Flock Of Dimes – Head Of Roses LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. On her second full-length record, Head Of Roses, Jenn Wasner follows a winding thread of intuition into the unknown and into healing, led by gut feelings and the near-spiritual experience of visceral songwriting. The result is a combination of Wasner’s ability to embrace new levels of vulnerability, honesty and openness, with the self-assuredness that comes with a decade-plus career as a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist and prolific collaborator. Showcasing the depth of Wasner’s songwriting capabilities and the complexity of her vision, Head Of Roses calls upon her singular ability to create a fully-formed sonic universe via genre-bending amalgamation of songs and her poetic and gut punch lyrics. It’s the soundtrack of Wasner letting go – of control, of heartbreak, and of hiding who she is.
The Fuzztones – Lysergic Emanations [Reissue/1985] 2xLP (Easy Action)
The Fuzztones’ seminal 1985 debut album Lysergic Emanations has been remastered for vinyl and expanded with a live album (recorded in May 1985 at L.V.C. in Leiden, Holland and Zabolinde in Nürnberg, Germany) included as bonus. Original artwork in a gatefold sleeve with printed inner bags. Notes by Rudi Protrudi plus unseen photos. Comes complete with a specially designed perforated acid sheet.
Robert Glasper featuring H.E.R. and Meshell Ndegeocello – Better Than I Imagined 12” (Loma Vista)
Limited-edition picture disc 45rpm vinyl pressing. Grammy-winning pianist and producer Robert Glasper enlisted R&B star H.E.R. for his new track, “Better Than I Imagined”. The song also closes on a spoken-word verse from singer/songwriter/bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. It’s a sultry, piano-driven song that contemplates Black love from the perspective of a strained relationship that defies convention. “Thought it’d be worse, cuz it hurts me/ But still I can’t see myself with no one else/ Cuz it was better than imagined,” sings H.E.R. on the chorus. In Ndegeocello’s part, she recites a short narrative of a message left on an answering machine.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Keyboard Fantasies [Reissue/1986] LP (Transgressive)
In 1970, nine years after leaving the United States to study music in Canada, Beverly Glenn-Copeland released two self-titled albums. Both were a stunning showcase of classical and jazz acumen, layered with poetry and accompanied by some of the best players of the time. Original pressings now fetch thousands of dollars. Glenn-Copeland then vanished as a recording artist until his re-emergence in 1986 with the release (just a few hundred copies on cassette) of what many now believe to be his masterpiece, Keyboard Fantasies.
Grey Daze – Amends…Stripped 12” (Loma Vista)
Grey Daze, who won widespread praise for Amends (the stirring, full circle album that found the surviving band members fulfilling a promise made to singer Chester Bennington) return this year with a 5-song EP, dubbed Amends…Stripped. This is an intimate, acoustic take on Amends and includes a trio of ’90s- era radio interviews with the band.
Josh Groban – Harmony 2xLP (Reprise)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Deluxe edition including six bonus tracks, including “Nature Boy” (from Moulin Rouge), “I’ll Stand By You” (a duet with Helene Fischer), and “I Can See Clearly Now”.
PJ Harvey – Uh Huh Her [Reissue/2004] LP (Island)
In an attempt to “get back to the earthy, rootsy, more dirty side of things,” following the more polished production of 2000’s love letter to NYC, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, PJ Harvey created 2004’s Uh Huh Her which does just that and marks a return to the raw, stripped-down sound she forged on her first two albums Dry (1992) and Rid Of Me (1993). Producing and playing everything on the LP herself (save drums and percussion which were provided by longtime collaborator Rob Ellis), Uh Huh Her is a vital 13-song set of scouring, urgent rock tunes that earned Harvey Grammy Award and Brit Award nominations once again.
Heavy Trip – Heavy Trip LP (Roadburn Productions)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Majestic riffstorm sloping down the Coast Mountains in the province of British Columbia, Canada, orchestrated by the power trio Heavy Trip with their 2020 eponymous debut LP. The sonic equivalent to the “heroic dose” prescribed by American psychonaut Terence McKenna of mind-altering heavy psych instrumental jams packed with blazing grooves, melting riffs, creamy guitar solos and a tantalizing fragrance of Earthless, Harsh Toke or Tia Carrera.
High On Fire – The Art Of Self Defense [Reissue/2000] 2xLP (Southern Lord)
Limited color vinyl pressing. With a heavy-handed approach and a sound that crashes like thunder, High On Fire has put the power back in ‘power-trio’. Less a band than a supersonic exercise in conquest by volume and sheer heaviness, the group has burned the metal rulebook and forged a new archetype. Their 2000 debut, The Art Of Self Defense, was welcome respite from commercialized rap-metal and warmed-over stoner-rock cliches of the time. It served up a rock hard, unorthodox form of modern metal cloaked in strange religious theology and the trio’s style was unique, distinct, and absolutely crushing.
Hooveriii – Water For The Frogs LP (Reverberation Appreciation Society)
Limited color vinyl pressing. Having originally been born as a solo drum machine project by Bert Hoover, Hooveriii (pronounced Hoover Three) has now evolved into its true final form – a six-member band adept at creating their own brand of psychedelic space rock. And after almost a decade in, the band release their sophomore album, Water For The Frogs. Influenced by Iggy’s The Idiot, Bowie’s Berlin records, and Soft Machine, the LP sees the band creating their own version of prog rock.
Infectious Grooves – Take You On A Ride 12” (ORG Music)
Infectious Grooves, the funk metal supergroup led by Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir, is back. The Take You On A Ride EP features three unreleased tracks from 1995 along with their first newly recorded song in years.
Innov Gnawa – Lila LP (Daptone)
Hailing from Morocco, but based in NYC, Innov Gnawa has been making waves locally and abroad with their hypnotic live shows – which is why Producer, Bosco Mann invited the group to come record at the Legendary Daptone House of Soul. Gnawa is music and spiritual tradition rooted in Morocco and dates back many centuries. Liberated slaves of Northern and Western Africa integrated their musical rhythms and religious beliefs into the culture of Morocco creating a unique style of music and dance called Gnawa. It’s not religious music, but rather music and rhythms that promote healing through trance and spirituality. [CD edition due May 14.]
Keith Jarrett – Sun Bear Concerts [Reissue/1978] 10xLP (ECM)
Sun Bear Concerts – documenting five complete solo performances by Keith Jarrett in Japan – counts as a milestone achievement in the history of jazz recording. As Down Beat wrote, on the occasion of the original release, Jarrett’s improvisations are “the inventions of a giant, overpoweringly intimate in the way they can draw a listener in and hold him captive. Jarrett has once more stepped into the cave of his creative consciousness and brought to light music of startling power, majesty and warmth.” Rich in incident and detail, the music in this beautifully produced, illustrated and presented ten-LP set, first issued in 1978, marked a giant step forward from The Köln Concert and revealed Jarrett as a player of limitless creativity, unique in his ability to find new forms in the moment, night after night.
Junior Kimbrough – First Recordings [Reissue/2009] LP (Big Legal Mess
Vinyl reissue of the classic Junior Kimbrough First Recordings release expanded with two additional takes from the original sessions.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Polygondwanaland (Fuzz Club Version) [Reissue/2017] LP (Fuzz Club)
Limited 180gm electric blue color vinyl pressing of the prolific Australian psychedelic/prog rock band’s 12th album. Lacquer cut at half-speed by engineer-extraordinaire Miles Showell (The Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who) at Abbey Road Studios.
The Legal Matters – Chapter Three LP (Futureman)
The Legal Matters is back with their third offering, Chapter Three. This is a welcome return to the scene for the LM’s, after their well-received previous albums, 2014s The Legal Matters, and 2017’s Conrad. Chapter Three expands on the Legal Matters patented ‘big guitars and harmonies’ sound with strings, horns and a healthy dose of Moog.
Lony dear – A Lantern And A Bell LP (Real World)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New album from Loney dear, aka singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Emil Svanängen. Real World label founder Peter Gabriel says: “Sad soulful melodies that create space in your head that fill with memories dreams and tenderness. I am very proud that we are working with such a gifted songwriter. When you’re isolating, what better than to be wrapped up in these beautiful imaginative constructions — the work of a master.”
Madness – 7 [Reissue/1981] LP (Salvo Sound & Vision)
Originally released in 1981 and reaching #5 in the UK album charts, 7 has been remastered and reissued on 180gm black vinyl as part of an ongoing Madness reissue campaign.
Marillion – Somewhere Else [Reissue/2007] 2xLP (Kscope)
Rightly regarded as legends of progressive rock, Marillion has continued to evolve since their formation in 1979, embracing the possibilities of the internet and using innovative ways to interact with listeners resulting in an incredibly loyal legion of fans around the world. Somewhere Else is Marillion’s fourteenth album and was originally released in 2007. Following on from the success of the previous album Marbles, which spawned two hit singles, Somewhere Else gave the band their first UK top 30 album in ten years. This vinyl reissue features three bonus tracks recorded live on June 15-16, 2007 at the Forum in London.
John Cameron Mitchell + Eyelids – Turning Time Around 12” (Jealous Butcher)
Lime green color vinyl pressing. It’s not just any old love letter to Lou Reed. It’s also not just a love letter to exes, or to New York, or to mothers. It’s an EP made from years of happenstance and relationships and kismet. John Cameron Mitchell, the legendary writer/director/performer of Hedwig And The Angry Inch and most recently, the podcast musical Anthem: Homunculus, with the help from his friends in Eyelids, curated the Lou Reed songs for the Turning Time Around EP.
Moons – Pocket Melodies LP (Colorama)
Limited 180gm purple color vinyl pressing. Through these strange and uncertain times, it is sometimes a little hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel, but this is where The Moons have stepped in. This long player is an album full of color and raw songwriting recorded live in the legendary Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios. With cinematic string arrangements and masterclass songwriting from the pen of singer/songwriter Andy Crofts this album will be your happy escape. Pocket Melodies takes you on a journey of glorious melodies leading you through love, romance, nostalgia, regret and unity. Includes a collaboration with Paul Weller on the song “Tunnel Of Time”. [CD version due June 4.]
Lael Neale – Acquainted With Night LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
It is the simple thing that is so hard to do. This is the paradox that musician Lael Neale has lived within throughout her development as an artist. It is the reason she became enthralled with poetry. Poems are a distillation. Lael says, “this challenge to winnow away what is unessential is the most maddening and, ultimately, rewarding part of writing a song.” Lael’s new album Acquainted With Night is a testament to this poetic devotion. Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord. The collection touches on themes that have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning, and reaching ever toward the transcendent experience. Guy Blakeslee, who had been an advocate for years, facilitated the process by setting up the cassette recorder in her bedroom and providing empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess. Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence.
Oryx – Lamenting A Dead World LP (Translation Loss)
New album from the Denver, CO doom/sludge trio.
Pinhead Gunpowder – Jump Salty [Reissue/1994] LP (1-2-3-4 Go!)
Pinhead Gunpowder – Trundle & Spring E.P. [Reissue/1991] 7” (1-2-3-4 Go!)
Jump Salty contains the first songs by Pinhead Gunpowder, recorded 30 years ago but sounding just as fresh today. This compilation of singles and compilation tracks is back on vinyl for the first time in over a decade. Originally a CD-only release on Lookout! Records, this has been re-cut at 45rpm for the first time and comes on limited indie-exclusive translucent gold vinyl. (Their 1991 EP Trundle & Spring is back in print on exclusive white color vinyl.)
Iggy Pop – Iggy & Ziggy Cleveland ’77 LP (Cleopatra)
Limited picture disc vinyl pressing. The dynamic duo of late ’70s rock, Iggy Pop and David Bowie, perform together on this classic live album – with Pop on vocals and Bowie on keyboards. Recorded live at the Agora Ballroom in Cleveland OH, March 21, 1977, the show includes wild performances of Iggy’s classics such as “Raw Power”, “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, “TV Eye”, “1969” and many more.
Reagan Youth – Youth Anthems For The New Order [Reissue/1984] LP (Cleopatra)
Limited colored vinyl pressing of the punk band’s debut album. Red, white or blue vinyl.
Paolo Rocco – Life In Pieces 2xLP (Fuse)
The Montreal artist delivers his 8-song debut full-length album, following on from a wealth of releases showcasing his own take on deep house and minimal. Life In Pieces features collaborations with Robert Owens, Alix Alvarez, and Kiki & Mavi.
Rosali – No Medium LP (Spinster)
While the collection of songs on Philadelphia / Michigan musician Rosali’s electrifying third album, No Medium, explores the often-dark territory of loss, death, sexuality, self-sabotage, and addiction, there is a surprising lightness to its sonic being. Backed by members of the David Nance Group, Rosali (Long Hots, Wandering Shade, Monocot) wades through the emotional mire with infectious, earworm melodies led by her luminous voice. With their rich, raw instrumentation, these rock ballads sound like the resilience discovered in facing one’s darkest moments, the assurance of the calm and clarity that comes after the storm. [CD edition due May 14.]
Spike In The Vain – Disease Is Relative [Reissue/1984] LP (Scat)
Spike In The Vain – Death Drives A Cadillac LP (Scat)
Like many hardcore bands circa ’84 and ’85, Spike The Vain was ready to further expand its palette and ease off the thrash tempos. Disease Is Relative is an unapologetic and wholesale embrace of death, disease, and dystopia, with liberal doses of absurdism and an unrelenting devotion to anything unexpected, chromatic, or evil sounding. Sporting influences as diverse as no wave, death rock, funk, post-punk, hardcore, metal, and prog rock, this music somehow happened during a first wave hardcore scene, before there was a post- to be post of. Death Drives A Cadillac was Spike in Vain’s second album, never officially released and unheard in its final form until now.
Serj Tankian – Elasticity 12” (BMG)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Serj Tankian’s new solo EP features songs originally conceived for another System Of A Down record, but have now been fully realized as a solo release.
Ali Farka Touré – Ali Farka Touré [aka Red/Reissue/1984] LP (World Circuit)
In 1982, the great Malian singer-songwriter and guitarist Ali Farka Touré, then still in the early years of his recording career, teamed up with the brilliant percussionist Hama Sankare. Together, from a base in Ali’s home village of Niafunké they travelled through Northern Mali, refining a collection of new songs. When they were ready to record, they followed the River Niger as it wound down through the desert, to the capital city of Bamako. In one afternoon, the great Radio Mali house engineer Boubacar Traore captured these eight superb performances on two microphones: two voices so close it was thought they were double tracked, one guitar (the distinctive Bulgarian acoustic model that Ali treasured) and Hama’s calabash percussion making its first appearance on record.
Ulver – Wars Of The Roses [Reissue/2011] LP (Kscope)
Ulver (Norwegian for wolves), the multi-disciplinary group founded in Oslo, Norway by Kristoffer Garm Rygg in 1993, are revered as the early pioneers of Norwegian black metal, who have continually evolved throughout their career and are still perceived as icons of the dark music industry, blending rock, electronica, symphonic and chamber traditions along with noise and experimental music to create ground-breaking material.
Carrie Underwood – My Savior 2xLP (Capitol Nashville)
Recently released on CD – now available on white color vinyl. New release and first inspirational album from the country music superstar.
Various Artists [Special Request] – DJ Kicks 2xLP (!K7)
Special Request, aka Paul Woolford, is the latest artist to take the reins of the DJ-Kicks series. It features tunes from artists including Sun Ra & Solar Arkestra, μ- Ziq, Speedy J, AceMo, and Alicia Myers, alongside Special Request tracks and remixes.
Various Artists – Alan Lomax’s American Patchwork 2xLP (Mississippi)
From 1978 to 1983, Alan Lomax and a video-crew traveled through the American South and Southwest, documenting its traditional music – miners, moonshiners, and Primitive Baptists in Kentucky; flat-footers, string bands, and Piedmont blues in North Carolina; Cajun cowboys, fiddlers, and zydeco stompers in French-speaking Louisiana; and fife-and-drum ensembles, gospel quartets, former railroad track-liners, levee-camp muleskinners, and players on the pre-war blues circuit in Mississippi. This footage ultimately totaled some 350 hours and was edited into Lomax’s American Patchwork series, which aired on American public television in 1991. But given the strictures of the form, hundreds of discrete performances and compelling scenes were left unseen and unheard. This set brings together the standout recordings Lomax made in his attempt to document the last vestiges of the local surround in Mississippi, Appalachia, and Louisiana. Intimate performances by R.L. Burnside, Tommy Jarrell, Boyd Rivers, Napoleon Strickland and many more form a rich tapestry of distinctly American musical traditions.
Eddie Vedder – Matter Of Time b/w Say Hi 7” (Seattle Surf Co. LLC)
Following the global broadcast of Venture Into Cures, on November 18, 2020, Eddie Vedder released a pair of singles – “Matter Of Time” and “Say Hi”. Additionally, Vedder shared an animated music video for the powerful, passionate, and poetic “Matter Of Time” and live video for “Say Hi”, an oft-sought after live favorite now officially available for the first time.
The Vibrators – Baby Baby b/w Into The Future… 7” (Cleopatra)
Limited color 7” vinyl pressing of this single by the classic punk band.
Voivod – The Outer Limits [Reissue/1993] LP (Real Gone Music)
A unique blend of atonal riffs, off-time tempo changes, and sci-fi imagery that made this Quebec band such a shining star in the Canadian metal scene.
Wheel – Resident Human LP (Odyssey Music)
From the desperate content harvest of copy/paste culture (Ascend) to the polarized rhetoric surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement in America (Movement), Resident Human is Anglo-Finnish prog-metal troopers Wheel vocalizing the ashes they’ve witnessed falling throughout 2020 – putting a voice to our fallible nature.
Young Fresh Fellows – Toxic Youth LP (Yep Roc)
The Young Fresh Fellows are back with an electric new toaster, Toxic Youth. Remember their 1989 anthem “Two Guitars Bass & Drums”? Well, nothing has changed, except everything. Hopes have been dashed, but the men still love music. Subtitled Back To The Egg, the Fellows return to where it all began, with one last roundup at the infamous Egg Studios, Seattle WA, produced once again by Conrad Uno (who also struck gold with The Presidents Of The United States Of America). When heard that Uno was closing his studio and retiring from the limelight, the band grabbed a last weekend to record a couple songs (they had three in various shape of decomposition).
Cassettes:
girl in red – If I Could Make It Go Quiet (AWAL)
If I Could Make It Go Quiet, the debut album from girl in red, is the musical distillation of Marie Ulven’s solitary conversations on the road: it’s an album brimming with the things we wish we could say to others but tell ourselves instead. The album is girl in red in its purest, elevated form. She has never been braver, and the music follows suit, whether it’s collaborating with pop mastermind and Billie Eilish collaborator Finneas on “Serotonin”, a huge pop anthem that speaks to Ulven’s struggles with mental health or flexing her instrumental chops with album closer “It Would Feel Like This”. Betrayal, lust, longing, pulling herself out of a depressive spell – nothing is off-limits on If I Could Make It Go Quiet.
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