CDs + Vinyl:

7 Year Bitch – Live At Moe CD/LP (Moe)

Live archive release from the indie rockers. Features the bands classic lineup with original members Selene Vigil-Wilk, Elizabeth Davis-Simpson, Valerie Agnew, and Roisin Dunne. In the early ‘90s, Seattle rock band 7 Year Bitch burst onto the scene with their raw songwriting and raucous live performances. After releasing their third (and final) studio album in 1996, the band was undeniably at their peak and electrified with their intense stage shows. 

All Them Witches – Lightning At The Door [Reissue/2013] CD/LP+MP3 (New West)

Lightning At The Door is an eight-song, kick you in the teeth, swirling mixture of blues, psych, boogie and jam rock. Originally released in 2013, this reissue features two bonus tracks from the original recording sessions. “A brooding feel pervades, and some of Lightning At The Door‘s most effective moments are in its quieter, ambient reaches, beginning with the walk-into-water intro to opener ‘Funeral For A Great Drunken Bird,’ volume swells of guitar feedback shifting smoothly into warm, natural-sounding fuzz given melodic breadth by [Fender Rhodes specialist] Allan Van Cleave‘s keys.” —The Obelisk

Biscuit – Biscuit CD/LP (La Castanya)

Biscuit bid farewell to their first golden era with their rawest, rocking-est offering to date. This is (not) the end! Just the beginning of their third decade of unrelenting electric guitar-from-the-gut assault a la The Jam.

Blaze Ya Dead Homie – The Casket Factory CD/LP+MP3 (Majik Ninja)

New album the Michigan-based rapper features Twiztid, The R.O.C., Lex the Hex Master, Prozak, ABK, Kung Fu Vampire, DJ Swamp and Boondox.

Bloodiest – Bloodiest CD/LP+MP3 (Replapse)

“In a city saturated with innovative heavy music, Chicago’s Bloodiest offers an eclectic sonic palette that bears the stamp of its hometown on its sleeve while forging new musical terrain. The group formed in the late 2000s as an assembly of friends and scene veterans (including current and former members of Yakuza, 90 Day Men, Atombombpocketknife, and Follows) and by the release of its 2011 debut, Descent, had become a staple of the local music community and beyond for its unwieldy combination of underground rock, avant-garde, classical, neofolk, drone, and metal.” – Noisey (Music By Vice)

Brothers Osborne – Pawn Shop CD/LP (EMI Nashville)

Brothers Osborne’s rural blue-collar upbringing infiltrates the music they make as a twang-and-crunch duo that blends equal parts country and rock. “Brothers Osborne don’t take a sledgehammer to mainstream country on their full-length debut, Pawn Shop — they just do it better. The lyrical thoughtfulness, the character of the production, and the sheer quality of the playing are all exemplary, setting the bar for the genre in 2016. Take opener ‘Dirt Rich,’ a stomping ode to the modesty of down-home living that borrows some of the chorus melody from Zac Brown Band’s ‘Homegrown,’ and could’ve very easily come off like a lesser riff on that 2015 smash.” – SPIN

[Read more…] about New Releases for January 15, 2016

CDs + Vinyl:

Joey Anderson – Invisible Switch CD/LP (Dekmantel)

“Anderson comes from the same corner of the house and techno universe that has given us artists like Levon Vincent, Anthony Parasole, and DJ Qu, a fellow dancer. Like them, he favors analog drum machines, hardware synthesizers, and what sounds, above all, like a lot of playing of keys and twisting of knobs in real time. Much contemporary electronic music is composed visually, assembled brick by brick on a computer screen, but Anderson’s snake-in-the-grass meanderings suggest live takes stacked one on top of another, thanks to the magic of multi-tracking.” – Pitchfork

Albert Ayler – Bells / Prophecy: Expanded Edition 2xCD (ESP-Disk Ltd.)

Albert Ayler’s trio with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray is best known for the July 10, 1964, recording of Spiritual Unity, the album that made both Ayler and ESP-Disk’ famous when it was released in 1965. A decade after that, in 1975, ESP-Disk’ also released, as Prophecy, the first documentation of the group, recorded a month before Spiritual Unity by Canadian poet Paul Haines at a concert at a 91st Street club. These Cellar Café recordings are augmented here beyond the five cuts from the original Prophecy release by another six tracks from the same gig. 1965 yielded Ayler treasures as his style shifted. The transitional Bells was just under 20 minutes, originally released in 1965 as one side of a clear vinyl LP, with the other side empty of music. It was recorded at a May 1, 1965, Town Hall concert of ESP artists, displaying Ayler’s new group.

Blistered – The Poison Of Self Refinement CD/LP (6131)

“Hailing from Tampa and schooled in the storied tradition of FLHC, Blistered formed around 2012, and made themselves known abroad last spring following the release of their sophomore EP, Soul Erosion. Citing both Culture and Morning Again, as well as their northern contemporaries in Arma Angelus, Buried Alive, and All Out War as major influences, Blistered channels the grit and aggression of ‘90s metalcore to punishing effect, which they deftly demonstrated on Soul Erosion. Following a year’s worth of tour experience, Blistered have returned with their debut full-length, The Poison Of Self-Confinement. The album feels like a worthy successor to the era of metallic hardcore that influenced them in both tone and spirit, bringing a modern reinterpretation to the chugging mosh-riffs of yesteryear, and switching the past’s derisive message with accessible, personal lyrics while retaining the former’s sense of disillusionment and outrage.” – The Rainbow Hub

David Bowie – ☆ (Blackstar) CD/LP (Columbia)

Blackstar is David Bowie’s 28th studio album, and is released on his 69^th birthday. It is his first since 2013’s The Next Day. “The arty, unsettling Blackstar is Bowie’s best anti-pop masterpiece since the Seventies. Produced with longtime collaborator Tony Visconti and cut with a small combo of New York-based jazz musicians whose sound is wreathed in arctic electronics, Blackstar is a ricochet of textural eccentricity and pictorial-shrapnel writing.” – Rolling Stone

Brutus – Murwgebeukt CD (Willowtip)

Second album from the Dutch death metal band.

[Read more…] about New Releases for January 8, 2016

CDs + Vinyl:

The Max Levine Ensemble – Backlash, Baby CD/LP (Lame-O)

Sometime around the turn of the century a small gang of boys grouped together in the noble pursuit of transcending suburban boredom through the traditional performance of punk rock songs. Three of these young products of white America never moved on from this adolescent rebellion phase, and some 15 years later The Max Levine Ensemble continue to rock basements, bombed out buildings and other holes in the fabric of the status quo, with lofty aspirations of creating moments of pop catharsis for angsty teenagers and maybe shaking punk rock from the mediocrity of its ritualistic lulls.

Opeth – Deliverance And Damnation [Reissue/2002/2003] 2xCD+2xDVD-A (Music Nations/The End)

Originally released separately in 2002 and 2003 respectively, these sessions were written and recorded together and are now issued together as an expanded, singular piece. Includes new stereo and 5.1 mixes by Steven Wilson and Bruce Soord.

Rachel Platten – Wildfire CD (Sony)

Third album from the singer/songwriter. “Rachel Platten was a ray of sunshine on the otherwise gloomy pop radio airwaves in 2015. She encouraged everyone to keep their chin up with surprise top 10 hit ‘Fight Song’ and kept the empowerment coming with serotonin-raising anthem ‘Stand By You.’” — Idolator

[Read more…] about New Releases for December 25, 2015 – January 1, 2016