CDs + Vinyl:

Against Me – 25 Live Sex Acts 2xCD/3xLP (Total Treble)

Against Me released Transgender Dysphoria Blues in early 2014, chronicling Laura Jane Grace’s highly publicized gender transition. This double-disc live set includes older fan-favorites “I Was A Teenage Anarchist” and “White Crosses,” along with highlights from the latest album, including the focus track “True Trans Soul Rebel.” (Vinyl version is available as a Regular and Deluxe HQ-180gm gram clear with blue and yellow splatter vinyl.)

Amorphis – Under The Red Cloud CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)

New album from the Finnish masters of melancholic metal.

Anathema – Distant Satellites [Tour Edition] 2xCD (Kscope)

Double-disc tour edition of the British rock band’s 2014 album, expanded with exclusive bonus tracks.

The Arcs – Yours, Dreamily CD/LP (Nonesuch)

The Arcs is a new band led by The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach. The band’s aesthetic isn’t too far removed from the Black Keys’ utilitarian blues-rock, but it puts a little more emphasis on fleshed-out arrangements that recall classic Southern soul. Features contributions from Richard Swift (who has played with the Shins and released a bunch of solo albums), Leon Michels (who worked with Action Bronson and Michael Bublé), Homer Steinweiss (whose drumming credits include Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars), bassist Nick Movshon (another Winehouse collaborator), versatile Nashville guitarist Kenny Vaughan, and the women of New York’s Mariachi Flor De Toloache. “This project was about making music with some of my longest relationships in music,” Auerbach told NPR. “Leon (Michels), Richard (Swift) and I have not only worked in The Black Keys together, but we have produced together, played on various projects of each other’s, and we’ve collaborated longer than a lot of bands stay together. It just kind of came naturally.”

Arkona – Vozrozhdenie CD (Napalm)

Arkona’s debut album Vozrozhdenie was originally released in 2004 and firmly placed both the band and its Russian mother country on the pagan/folk metal map. Frontwoman Masha’s powerful performance plus Slavic mysticism and varied songwriting turned the first release (it’s name means “revival,” by the way) of young Arkona into a success and the beginning of a remarkable career. The band has now re-recorded Vozrozhdenie and not only revisits its roots, it let’s those old songs shine with a massive production and new instrumental skills.

Clarence Ashley – Country Music Pioneer: Selected Tracks 1927-1935 4xCD (JSP)

This set collects a fantastic array of early old-timey country recordings from some of the true giants of the era. Top billing is given to Clarence Ashley and many of his influential early sides, released either as a solo artist under his own name or in conjunction with other artists and groups — including here Ashley & Green, Blue Ridge Entertainers, Ashley & Foster, Carolina Tar Heels, Byrd Moore And His Hot Shots and Ashley & Abernathy. Like many black blues contemporaries, Clarence Ashley found what little wider fame that came his way in the early 1960s, when the folk boom led to his re-discovery and re-emergence as a recording and performing artist.

Backyard Babies – Four By Four CD/LP (Gain Music Entertainment)

New album by the recently reunited Swedish sleaze rockers. “Rock is not dead.” – Dregan

Lou Barlow – Brace The Wave CD (Joyful Noise)

Vinyl version due September 18. “Lou Barlow’s circuitous path as a recording artist has taken him through key roles in Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr., not to mention The Folk Implosion, which cracked the pop charts with ‘Natural One’ back in the ’90s. He’s also put out a bunch of solo work, both under his own name and in the bedroom-recording project Sentridoh, but in recent years he’s focused more on repairing old professional relationships. That’s meant rejoining Dinosaur Jr., in which he once feuded famously with bandleader J Mascis, and putting out 2013’s Defend Yourself, the first new Sebadoh record in 14 years. Brace The Wave keeps Barlow’s sound stripped to its barren bones, an approach suited to the pleas and confessions therein.” – NPR

Dan Bern – Hoody CD (BFD)

Hoody is filled with highlights and surprises, including “Lifeline,” an up-tempo country-rocker featuring guest vocals by original Old Crow Medicine Show member Willie Watson. “Waffle House” is a hilarious live showstopper delineating one of the true dividing lines in modern-day America: “Red states got the Waffle House, blue states don’t.” Another gem on Hoody is the harder rocking “Welcome,” a three-minute indictment of our modern-day information overload. On a lighter note, there’s a charmingly spirited take on Johnny Cash’s novel 1976 country chart-topper, “One Piece At A Time.” The album closes with one of Dan’s loveliest songs ever. “Sky” is a heartbreakingly beautiful love song, not just to a true love, but to life itself.

Black Tongue – The Unconquerable Dark CD/LP (Century Media)

The Unconquerable Dark punishes with claustrophobic atmospheres in the vein of Meshuggah and Neurosis at their most abrasive mixed with the raw, riffed-soaked energy of Remission-era Mastodon and the raw, belligerent brutality of The Acacia Strain.

Black Trip – Shadowline CD/LP (Steamhammer/SPV)

New album from the Swedish hard rockers.

Blank Realm – Illegals In Heaven CD/LP (Fire)

The Brisbane band Blank Realm play a form of DIY guitar-rock that vacillates back and forth between shimmering psych-pop and bluesy punk.

Burn Halo – Wolves Of War CD (E1)

Burn Halo bridge the gap between the evocative sonic power of rock conquerors like Seether, Stone Sour, and Breaking Benjamin and the unrelentingly heavy metallic bite (with big flashes of melody) of All That Remains, Pierce The Veil, and Black Veil Brides.

Joey Cape – Stitch Puppy CD/LP (Fat Wreck Chords)

Lagwagon frontman Joey Cape releases his first solo album in five years. “Out of all of the older punks to pick up an acoustic guitar in recent years, Joey Cape might be one of the best.” – Noisey/Vice

Captain Beefheart – Live In Cowtown Kansas City 22nd April 1974 CD (United States Dist)

By the time of this April 1974 broadcast, Captain Beefheart — and the 29th incarnation in along line of ever-mutating Magic Bands — had reverted to more traditionally-structured compositions, to the chagrin of some fans. Caught live in Kansas City, Beefheart was amidst an extensive US (and subsequent European) tour promoting his eighth album, Unconditionally Guaranteed.

[Read more…] about New Releases for September 4, 2015

CDs + Vinyl:

Nat Adderly – For Duke And Cannon (Sextet Live At Sweet Basil) CD (Squatty Roo Recordings)
Cornetist Nat Adderley, brother and musical partner of alto sax great Cannonball Adderley, is featured here fourteen years after his brother’s death, but still going strong, live at Greenwich Village’s legendary Sweet Basil. Never replacing his brother, but at very least, two great alto men are needed to fill the master’s shoes: in this case Vincent Herring and Sonny Fortune, who are playing snakes throughout, doing justice to their predecessor.

Ahab – The Boats Of The Glen Carrig CD/2xLP (Napalm)
The Boats Of The Glen Carrig is a novel by William Hope Hodgson from 1907 that tells the gruesome story of survival after shipwreck – a fitting subject for the German funeral doom metal four-piece.

Ruby Amanfu – Standing Still CD/LP (Rival & Co.)
Standing Still, the new album from Nashville songbird Ruby Amanfu, was recorded live in just five days in a remote log cabin near Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. Upon arrival, the furniture was moved out and the six-piece band set up in the cabin’s picturesque great room. Producer Mark Howard strategically set up amps around the house in bedrooms, bathrooms, closets and even the basement. Candles were lit and incense burned, and the mood was set for Ruby to sing. The first single, “Shadow On The Wall”, was produced by special guest Patrick Carney (The Black Keys) and was mixed by Tom Elmhirst (Adele, U2, Mark Ronson, Arcade Fire, Lana Del Rey, Amy Winehouse, The Black Keys).

Atlas Genius – Inanimate Objects CD (WB)
Produced by Atlas Genius and Frederik Thaae, Inanimate Objects is the follow-up to the band’s 2013 full-length debut, When It Was Now, which was hailed by Rolling Stone as a “spritely, melodic debut album.”

Stefano Battaglia Trio – In The Morning CD (ECM)
On his sixth album for ECM the Italian pianist and his trio reflect on the work of composer Alec Wilder (1907-1980).

Beach House – Depression Cherry CD/LP+MP3 (Sub Pop)
Fifth album from the Baltimore, MD duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. “If you view a band as a long-term artistic project, then Beach House have always been perfect. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have done everything right: They’ve found the ideal balance of dim, lush tones; their sound progresses at a graceful, even clip; they leave just the right amount of time between albums. Even their name is perfect: Beach houses are rickety, inviting spaces that, by nature of their existence, live outside of time. If a beach house were to change noticeably—if that paperback you left there last May isn’t still sitting upside-down and open to the same page, gathering dust on the same shelf you left it—you’d be upset.” [BNM/8.4] — Pitchfork

Willis Earl Beal – Noctunes CD/2xLP+MP3 (Tender Loving Empire)
“Enigmatic experimenter Willis Earl Beal has had a bit of a rough lead-up to his album Noctunes, as he recently spent a couple of weeks in jail on charges of criminal mischief and harassment. Now, he’s putting that behind him by streaming his album in full. The album makes good on the nocturnal implications of its title, as it begins with the ambient sprawl of the softly crooned opener ‘Under You.’ From there, the synth textures throughout the LP are pillowy and Beal’s crooning is warm and soothing, while a few electronic beats slightly spice up the soundscape from time to time.” – Exclaim

Bichcraft – Mascot CD/LP (Wharf Cat)
As fluent in Jesus And Mary Chain’s Psychocandy as they are with Sonic Youth and Big Black, Bichkraft is heavy, paranoid music with frenetic jams of dueling and weaving guitars, digitized howls, amped up brutality and chaos, and even some undeniably pretty moments of love and decay.

Soren Bryce – Soren Bryce CDEP (Razor & Tie)
New EP from the singer/songwriter, produced by David Kahne (Lana Del Rey, Ingrid Michaelson). Soren Bryce was the Newport Award Winner in the 11th Annual IAMA Awards for folk/Americana/roots music. Soren featured in three episodes of Producers Closet, a web series showcasing “Next To Breakthrough” artists introduced by Grammy-Award winning producer Kahne.

Carousel – 2113 CD/LP (Tee Pee)
“The double guitar attack of Thin Lizzy, the racing engine drive of Motörhead and the melodic majesty of Angel Witch and Diamond Head… Carousel leaps confidently in front of the crowd, twin guitars flying” – Blurt. “A vice grip on the balls of ’70s rock ‘n’ roll…with middle fingers shoved high in the air.” – Decibel

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 28, 2015

 CDs + Vinyl:

Act Of Defiance – Birth And The Burial CD (Metal Blade)
In a time of endless sub-genre classifications being thrown at bands Act Of Defiance cut to the quick, offering 100% in-your-face, uncompromising metal. “If you invited fans of all kinds of metal — from thrash to Scandinavian metal to metal to modern American metal — and had them all in a mosh pit, Act Of Defiance would be their soundtrack,” asserts guitarist Chris Broderick. Vinyl version due August 28.

Adversarial – Death, Endless Nothing And The Black Knife Of Nihilism CD (Dark Decent)
“It’s clear that Adversarial’s goal on their latest album, Death, Endless Nothing And The Black Knife Of Nihilism, is to shanghai the hapless listener into a world of complete and abject devastation. The album offers no respite from its barrage of dissonant, aggressive black/death barbarism; there are no spooky interludes or acoustic frippery to be found, no self-indulgent excess to be hacked off in slivers.” – Noisey/Vice

AFX – Orphaned Deejay Selek 2006-2008 CD/LP+MP3 (Warp)
For the first time since the Analord series released through 2003-2005 on his own Rephlex Records imprint, Richard D. James revises his legendary AFX guise with a collection of tracks for the alien dancefloor. “Appearing under the AFX sobriquet, last active a decade ago, the eight-track EP belies James’s reputation for fearsome abstruseness with almost 30 minutes of concise and entertaining music. It sets off at a gallop with an upfront series of techno tracks, all squiggly acid bleeps and fast bass; ghostly textures, like the horror-film keyboard effects in ‘serge fenix Rendered 2,’ add depth to the adrenalin rush. The pace slows in the latter stages, with James at one point coaxing from his computers a sound like rusty signs swinging in the wind, as though advertising (or satirizing) his status as the enigmatic hermit of electronic music.” – Financial Times Limited

Eric Alexander – The Real Thing CD (HighNote)
More than one jazz critic has claimed that listening to tenor saxman Eric Alexander unfettered and at length, is one of the greatest treats in jazz. This imposing improviser is reunited here with his mentor, the veteran pianist Harold Mabern and joined by another hot favorite, the legendary and amazing guitarist Pat Martino on three of the eight tracks.

Avengers – Avengers [Reissue/1983] CD/LP (Superior Viaduct)
Though not released until 1983 the Avengers’ self-titled record (aka The Pink Album) features the band’s recorded output from 1977-78, from the glorious first wave of punk rock. The Avengers were San Francisco’s preeminent punk band, led by Penelope Houston’s snarling vocals and Greg Ingraham’s distorted guitar riffs, and one of the first anywhere to feature a female lead singer. One of punk rock’s most important original documents. Expanded with their classic Dangerhouse EP, sessions recorded with the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, and a half-dozen revelatory demos.

Battlecross – Rise To Power CD (Metal Blade)
Disinterested in simply recycling the ‘classic’ thrash sound, the Canton, MI quintet have consistently brought new fire, energy, and dynamics to their metallic assault, and with Rise To Power they raise the stakes once more.

The Bellfuries – Workingman’s Bellfuries CD (Hi-Style Enterprises)
If you go back and listen to early rockabilly, you’ll see how much it has in common with R&B and rock and roll. (That’s early R&B, not the electronic and vocal stuff that passes for R&B these days). When you put the two together, it’s clear that one grew from the other. The Bellfuries prove the connection between rockabilly and early R&B with the new album Workingman’s Bellfuries. Vinyl version due September 18.

Louie Belogenis – Blue Buddha CD (Tzadik)
Tenor saxophonist Louie Belogenis plays with a luminous open heart, and a tone reminiscent of Albert Ayler. Cutting his teeth with masters such as Rashied Ali, Sunny Murray and Borah Bergman he has recorded several CDs under his own name, and now presents his most unique and adventurous group to date. Featuring an all-star ensemble of three of the most exciting musicians working today, this brilliant group performs as if part of a sacred ceremony, seamlessly weaving together diverse traditions. Uncompromising improvisational music that speaks to the spiritual.

The Blind Shake – Live In San Francisco CD (Castle Face)
The long overdue seventh entry in Castle Face’s Live In San Francisco series, starring The Blind Shake. Captured to tape at the same shows as the OBN IIIs’ live record, The Blind Shake were tour-greased and fully torqued over three-night at The Chapel in San Francisco way back in 2013. For those unfamiliar: the sheer bodily reaction to seeing these guys is a unique pleasure. They are consistently one of the most fun bands doin’ it to it these days-such a direct channel to your inner teenager it’s more often than not you end up in the pit, awash in baritone guitar and that “let’s wig out” beat.

The Bohicas – The Making Of CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
The Bohicas are rock and roll painted in vivid primary colors. Hi def, loud, fast, shiny and above all fun. A barrage of killer hooks, razor blade riffs and choruses that slap you in the face, grab your hand and lead you onto the dance floor. All shot through with pulp imagery torn from the pages of a graphic novel. “The title track proves you can combine post-millennium garage rock with cock-rocking guitar solos and even some anthemic ‘doop doops’ to get the crowd singing along. Just when you think the energy levels are red-lining, the wall-to-wall, machine-gun lyrics and urgent tempo of ‘Where You At,’ followed by with the pissed-off sneer of ‘XXX,’ and capped off with the relentless attack of ‘Swarm,’ knock it all up another notch.” – The Music

Bonehunter – Evil Triumphs Again CD (Hell’s Headbangers)
“This is the sort of vile, primitive metal I often seek – eager to taste that corroded, metallic guitar sound which speeds along with high doses of distortion attached. These satanic curses and whips lash hard against the backdrop of a squalid bass and fast-paced, murky drum sound; all complementing one another like some wretched creation of Mendes and rounded off by that Quorthon (Bathory)-like bark and puke” – Metal Forces Magazine. Vinyl version due September 4.
[Read more…] about New Releases for August 21, 2015