CDs + Vinyl:

The 5^th Dimension – The Complete Soul City/Bell Singles 1966-1975 3xCD (Real Gone Music)

This triple-disc set contains The 5^th Dimension’s complete singles for the Soul City and Bell labels (plus their first single on the Bronco label as The Versatiles and their lone single release for Arista). 61 tracks of swinging, soulful harmonies, brilliant arrangements, groundbreaking production, and some of the best songwriting to come out of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Black Grape – It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah [Reissue/1995] CD/LP (Geffen)

Just over 20 years on Black Grape’s debut, It’s Great When You’re Straight…Yeah, is a surreal, funky, profane, and perversely joyous album, overflowing with casual eclecticism and giddy humor. Working with a band that is looser and grittier than Happy Mondays, Shaun Ryder sounds reinvigorated, creating bizarre rhymes that tie together junk culture, drug lingo, literary references, and utter nonsense.

Hodgy – Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide CD (Odd Future)

Fireplace: TheNotTheOtherSide is the major label debut album from Hodgy. The 13-track LP features guest appearances from Lil Wayne, Busta Rhymes and Salomon Faye as well as production from BadBadNotGood, 88-Keys, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Nottz, Rahki and Jonti; a diverse array of artists to help bring life to tracks like the Rahki-helmed “Resurrection,” where Hodgy converses with God, and “Laguna,” which sees him expressing his passage way through in life.

Mozzy/Trae Tha Truth – Tapped In CD (ABM)

A California and Texas connection: Mozzy hails from Sacramento, and Trae Tha Truth from Houston. On Tapped In they bring the West Coast and the Dirty South together. Includes features with Snoop Dogg, Jadakiss, Dave East, E-Mozzy, and more.

Soundtrack – The Man Who Fell To Earth [1976] 2xCD+2xLP (UMe)

This is the first release of the soundtrack to David Bowie’s 1976 cult film The Man Who Fell To Earth. Includes music by Stomu Yamash’ta, Gordon Jenkins Orchestra and Choir and Louis Armstrong, John Phillips, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and George Hurst, The Kingston Trio, Queen’s Hall Light Orchestra and Robert Farnon, and more. This Deluxe box set edition features the soundtrack on both CD and vinyl, as well as a poster, production stills and a 48-page hardback coffee table book containing rare photos and a new essay about the film from Paolo Hewitt. [Stand-alone vinyl edition due February 17.]

The Who – My Generation [Reissue/1965] 5xCD (MCA)

Super deluxe five CD edition of the British rock quartet’s explosive debut album. Here, the album is spread across five discs that includes the original mono album remastered in 2016, the original album with new stereo mixes (previously unreleased on CD), 23 mono mixed bonus tracks, 21 stereo mixed bonus tracks, and 11 demos. The package also features an 80-page booklet with unseen period photos, new liner notes from Pete Townshend, and six replica inserts of flyers, posters, and membership cards.

[Read more…] about New Releases for December 23, 2016

CDs + Vinyl:

Antaeus – Condemnation CD (Season Of Mist)

New album from the French black metal band. “At only nine songs (one of which is the aptly-named 51-second intro track, ‘Something Wicked This Way Comes’) and just over forty-one minutes long, Condemnation is one lean, mean, murder-machine of an album, with only the occasional moment of ominous, oppressive calm (such as occurs during the second half of ‘End Of Days’) to provide respite from the roiling, boiling chaos.” – No Clean Singing

Tony Bennett – Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 CD (Sony)

Tony Bennett Celebrates 90 is the companion to Tony’s birthday celebration event, that was filmed in front of a live audience at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on September 15th, 2016. This celebration featured performances by Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé, Andrea Bocelli, Kevin Spacey, Tony Bennett and many others. Additionally, performances by Billy Joel and Elton John were taped at alternate locations and on the CD.

Black F**king Cancer – Black F**king Cancer CD (Osmose)

“Black F**king Cancer is uncompromising, disease ridden, chaotic black metal from the USA. Influenced by a hatred and disgust for the human cancer.”

Bond St. District – A Church On Vulcan CD (Friends Records)

“About two summers ago local Baltimore hip-hop giant DDM ran into producer Paul Hutson and formed Bond St. District. A few short months later and they dropped their debut EP, Everybody’s So Sleepy. With guest appearances by Katrina Ford, Josephine Olivia and EZE Jackson – people were hyped on the release and still are all these months later. Now though, they’ve got their full length, A Church On Vulcan … it’s a got a lot of bells, whistles and throwbacks” – Coming Up Magazine. [Vinyl edition due January 6.]

John Cale – Fragments Of A Rainy Season [Reissue/1992] CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)

Fragments Of A Rainy Season is the first live John Cale album to feature him performing solo and “unplugged” – before that term became a mid-’90s buzzword. In contrast to the jaundiced punk truculence of Sabotage/Live (1979) or Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (1986), Fragments gives us Cale at his most melodic and moving, a mellowed and certainly a soberer man in a Yamamoto jacket and a lopsided haircut running through a selection of his prettiest songs.

Call Of The Void – AYFKM CDEP (Translation Loss)

New five song EP from Colorado’s grinding hardcore cult. [Vinyl edition due January 6.]

The Candles – Matter + Spirit CD (The End)

With two records under their belt, The Candles have earned a reputation for weathered, back-alley roots rock. But with their third album, Matter + Spirit, the quartet adds a layer of wind-blown dust, embracing the open space and honest sensitivity of the American heartland. Formed in 2009 by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Josh Lattanzi – a veteran sideman who has toured and recorded with artists like Norah Jones, The Lemonheads and Albert Hammond, Jr., for more than a decade – The Candles also include guitarist Jason Roberts, keys player Pete Remm and drummer Greg Wieczorek, allowing Lattanzi to step confidently into the spotlight and lay his well-travelled soul on the line. Recorded at Brooklyn’s Degraw Sound with producer Ben Rice, Lattanzi took a new approach to the nine tracks on Matter + Spirit, committing himself to focused stories capable of standing on their own – no matter the arrangement. What emerged was a sound forged in the sunset rock of the ‘70s but tempered by twang, proudly placing slippery dobro and steel guitar alongside ethereal harmonies, all laced with an element of casual, big-city cool.

Deathspell Omega – The Synarchy Of Molten Bones CD (Season Of Mist)

New four-song EP from the French black/prog metal titans. “No single minute on this EP sounds the same as the last, with every moment bringing a new chaotic riff or change of speed. From the cacophony of the opening title track to the classic black metal in the middle of ‘Famished For Breath’ to the 10-minute ‘Onward Where Most With Ravin I May Meet,’ the project is a constant attack on the listener’s senses, from every direction. Harkening back to their most recent full-length record, Paracletus, the band go through multiple phases with each song, some melodic, some destructive, all of them crushing in their intensity.” – Exclaim

[Read more…] about New Releases for December 16, 2016

Featured Releases:

Atmosphere – Frida Kahlo Vs. Ezra Pound CD/7”x7” (Rhymesayers)

In September 2015, Atmosphere began releasing a series of individual songs digitally. In the months leading up to their new album, Fishing Blues, they released a total of seven digital singles. Much to the surprise of Atmosphere fans, none of these digital singles would appear on Fishing Blues, and they remained available as digital singles only… Until now.

Buck Owens And The Buckeroos – The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957-1966 2xCD (Omnivore)

Taken from the original mono, single reels, The Complete Capitol Singles: 1957-1966 collects all 56 sides from that period, including 13 #1’s, in their original and chronological form, newly remastered, and featuring liner notes from Buck’s autobiography (written with Randy Poe), plus an introduction by Dwight Yoakam.

Tech N9ne – The Storm CD/2xCD (Strange Music)

11th studio album from the Kansas City MC. The Storm is broken into three separate sections, each reflecting a different side of Tech’s personality. [Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds a bonus disc featuring nine additional Tech N9ne tunes and six new tracks from Strange Music artists.]

Neil Young – Peace Trail CD/Cassette (Reprise)

Peace Trail features all new songs that Young wrote since the release of his album Earth, this past June. This new album is primarily acoustic and reflects an intimate, sparse approach to each of the ten songs within. It was recorded at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-la Studios and features Young on vocals and guitar, Jim Keltner on drums, and Paul Bushnell on bass. [Vinyl edition due January 6.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for December 9, 2016