CDs + Vinyl:
Acid King – Middle Of Nowhere, Center Of Everywhere CD (Svart)
Acid King breaks their ten-year studio silence with a new, deliriously heavy new album.
Active Child – Mercy CD/LP (Vagrant)
“Los Angeles-based artist Pat Grossi (aka Active Child) is no stranger to Hype Machine. He’s been heaped with attention from music blogs since his first release in 2010, and even had Ellie Goulding cover one of his songs on her second album. For his own sophomore LP, the former Philadelphia Boys Choir member wrote primarily on harp and piano, then traveled to Brooklyn to record with producer Van Rivers (Glasser, Fever Ray, Matthew Dear) who, Pat says, ‘really pushed me vocally, more than anyone ever has before.’” – Hype Machine
Air – The Virgin Suicides [OST/Reissue/1999] 2xCD/2xCD+LP+7”+MP3 (Parlophone)
Warner and Parlophone celebrate the 15th anniversary of Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides, by reissuing Air’s original soundtrack for the film. Available on double-CD, vinyl, and in a limited edition super deluxe box set, the score is reissued along with Air’s early studio releases on vinyl. The box set includes the album pressed on red vinyl plus a bonus picture disc featuring a previously unreleased live performance of the score recorded at L.A.’s American Legion Hall on January 22nd, 2000 and three recordings from a KCRW performance that same month. Also in the box will be the double-CD version, a movie poster, a 16-page booklet featuring a new Air interview, a VIP badge from the L.A. show, and an exclusive red vinyl 7” featuring remixes and the song “Playground Love.” The live album will also be included as one of the discs in the double-CD set, while two additional studio outtakes will be tacked onto the end of disc one.
Alpine – Yuck CD/LP (Votiv Music)
“The sound of the Australian indie-pop band Alpine is so spare and meticulous, it’s hard to believe it emanates from a six-piece group. While there’s guitar, bass, keyboards and drums at play behind frontwomen Phoebe Baker and Lou James, Alpine builds its songs up harmonically, allowing its sound a sense of space not unlike modern R&B or the likes of jj and Lykke Li. ‘Light’ was a descriptor tagged to 2012’s A Is For Alpine, and it’s easy to be smitten by that seemingly effortless attribute.” – Boise State Public Radio
Anaal Nathrakh – The Candlelight Years 3xCD (Candlelight)
A compilation of the British industrial black metal/grindcore band’s three albums for Candlelight: In The Constellation Of The Black Widow (2009), Passion (2011) and Vanitas (2012).
Babymetal – Babymetal CD/LP (RAL)
Debut album from the Japanese j-pop/metal band. Originally released in Japan in 2014, the critically acclaimed set now sees a stateside release.
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Not Sorry CD/LP (Fat Wreck Chords)
Aptly titled, Bad Cop/Bad Cop brazenly blasts out vibrant pop/punk. Laden with catchy hooks, three part harmonies that’d make The Beach Boys jealous and a ton of attitude, Not Sorry showcases their uncanny ability to blend aggressive instrumentation with polished vocals.
[Read more…] about New Releases for June 16, 2015
An important early figure on the Los Angeles power pop scene, Paul Collins was a key member of two bands that anticipated the “skinny tie band” explosion of the late ’70s and early ’80s, the Nerves and the Beat. In 1974, Collins met like-minded songwriters Peter Case and Jack Lee, and they formed a pioneering power pop band called the Nerves. Playing fast, ear-catching pop songs while wearing matching pink suits, the Nerves had more than a bit of the street energy that would later manifest in Los Angeles’ early punk movement, and like the punks, the Nerves made their own opportunities when L.A. clubs didn’t know what to make of them. The Nerves booked their own shows, did a nationwide tour of small venues on their own dime, and in 1976 put out a four-song 7″ EP on their own label, with Blondie having an early hit with a Nerves cover, “Hanging on the Telephone.”
