December/January Program Titles Released This Week:

All That Remains – Victim Of The New Disease CD (Razor & Tie)

Metalcore vets All That Remains follow-up 2017’s The Madness with Victim Of The New Disease which is ushered in by the pull no punches lead single “F**k Love” and also features a guest appearance by Asking Alexandria singer Danny Worsnop on “Just Tell Me Something”. Integrating excruciating personal experiences, political rants and controversial commentary with music that’s just as confrontational, it’s an unapologetic showcase of honesty and ingenuity which induces gentle head-bobbing one moment and teeth-clenching fist pounding the next. [Vinyl edition due January 11.]

Charles Bradley – Black Velvet CD/LP/LP+12”+MP3 (Daptone/Dunham)

Black Velvet is a celebration of Charles Bradley, lovingly assembled by his friends and family at Dunham/Daptone Records. Though chronologically the material spans Charles’ entire career, this is no anthology, “greatest hits” or other shallow rehashing of the songs that already made him famous. Rather, this album is a profound exploration through the less-traveled corners of the soulful universe that Charles and his longtime producer, co-writer and friend Thomas “TNT” Brenneck created in the studio together over their decade-long partnership. It features new songs recorded during the sessions from each of his three albums, heard here for the very first time in all their scorching glory. [As a one-time pressing for the super-fan comes a gorgeous black velvet wrapped box set that includes the following: 180gm vinyl version of the standard LP, a bonus 12” 45rpm EP with stripped-down mixes of four Bradley classics, an exclusive slip-mat, two printed heavy-duty inner sleeves sporting a surreal painting of Charles and the interview in which he explains the origin of the painting, a 12” x 12” photo-book with extensive liner notes from TNT, an exact replica of Charles’ original “Black Velvit” business card, and a seeded download card (once you’ve retrieved your download, you can plant the card and wildflowers will grow in memory of Charles).]

Sarah Brightman – Hymn CD (Decca Gold/Verve)

Sarah Brightman returns with an inspirational collection of orchestrated, choir-based songs. For Brightman, every project comes from an emotional place, and Hymn is no exception. The album encompasses songs by such modern composers as Eric Whitacre (Fly To Paradise), Japanese superstar musician and songwriter Yoshiki (Miracle), and German DJ Paul Kalkbrenner (Sky And Sand). Hymn’s mystical, uplifting tone is set with its title track, a song by British prog-rock band Barclay James Harvest. From there the album becomes excitingly eclectic, encompassing many styles. “Sogni”, described as a mash-up of two arias from two different operas by French composer Georges Bizet, is flawlessly sung by Brightman and French tenor Vincent Niclo. Also included are “Canto Per Noi”, written by famed Italian composer Ennio Morricone and Romano Musumarra, and “Follow Me”, the love theme from the 1962 film Mutiny On The Bounty. Finally, the album closes with a new rendition of Brightman’s signature smash duet with Andrea Bocelli, “Time To Say Goodbye”, in a new solo rendition with lyrics Sarah wrote herself, and sung in English for the first time.

[Read more…] about New Releases for November 9, 2018

November Program Titles Released This Week:

Rodney Crowell – Christmas Everywhere CD/LP (New West)

“A few years back, it became evident to my family, and indeed myself, that I’d gone sour on all things related to Christmas. Sometime around Christmas 2016 I came home to find my granddaughters, sitting side by side and playing on our old upright piano a melody that to my ear sounded like something from the early nineteenth century. I asked them what song they were playing and in unison they replied, ‘something we just made up.’ I hit record on my iPhone and asked them to play it again. Using their melody almost entirely, I spent a couple of months composing the words to ‘Come Christmas’. I was finally ready to record an album of original Christmas songs. With Dan Knobler producing and some very gifted musicians and vocalists lending their talents, the making of the album Christmas Everywhere ranks as some of the most enjoyable recording sessions I’ve ever experienced.” – Rodney Crowell

Dead Can Dance – Dionysus CD/2xLP+CD (PIAS America)

Dead Can Dance’s new album took shape as Brendan Perry became fascinated by long established spring and harvest festivals that had their origins in Dionysian religious practices throughout Europe. Dionysus brings to the fore the rites and rituals that today continue to be informed by the Greek god. The album’s seven movements, in the form of an oratorio, represent different facets of the Dionysus myth and his cult. As with the rest of the Dead Can Dance catalog, rhythms inspired by world traditions play a key role, with tracks seeming less like songs and more like fragments of a cohesive whole. Perry blends all of the album’s elements together using field recordings and chanting, including a goatherd in Switzerland, beehives from New Zealand, and bird calls from Mexico and Brazil. Perry uses this not only to invoke the album’s atmosphere and symbolic references but also to demonstrate how music can be found everywhere. [Indie-exclusive deluxe edition features heavyweight colored vinyl, CD and a 16-page 12″ x 12″ hardback picture book with padded cover.]

Marianne Faithfull – Negative Capability CD/LP+CD (BMG)

Negative Capability (a title borrowed from Romantic poet John Keats) is Marianne Faithfull’s 21^st album of her 54-year recording career. Facing down arthritis and bolstered by collaborators including Warren Ellis, Nick Cave, Rob Ellis, Ed Harcourt and Mark Lanegan, Negative Capability is charged with brutal honesty and autobiographical reflection as she addresses losing old friends, the loneliness of living in her adopted city of Paris and still hoping love can come around. It includes the single “The Gypsy Faerie Queen” co-written with Nick Cave and covers of contemporaries The Rolling Stones (“As Tears Go By”) and Bob Dylan (“It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”). [Deluxe vinyl + CD edition includes bonus tracks.]

JD McPherson – Socks CD/LP (New West)

Featuring eleven original tracks written by JD McPherson and his friends, Socks is a collection of holiday songs sure to become standards while you are decking the halls or decorating the tree. Come get warm by the fire with songs such as, “All The Gifts I Need” and “Every Single Christmas”, or burn the cookies to the title cut and “Ugly Christmas Sweater”. There is something for everyone on this record to enjoy whether you are in the Christmas spirit or if you just wanna say, “Bah Humbug.”

[Read more…] about New Releases for November 2, 2018

October Program Titles Released This Week:

Herb Alpert – Music Volume 3: Herb Alpert Reimagines The Tijuana Brass CD (Herb Alpert)

On his new album, Music Volume 3: Herb Alpert Reimagines The Tijuana Brass, the beloved and prolific trumpeter Herb Alpert returns to some of his most iconic songs and transforms them with brand new arrangements, recordings, and modern production. Alpert takes material he made famous in the 1960s and infuses it with the style and musicianship that is still earning him accolades after decades of recording and performing. Includes “A Taste Of Honey”, “Whipped Cream”, “The Lonely Bull”, and many more.

Richard Ashcroft – Natural Rebel CD/LP (BMG)

As the frontman for the epic British drone-pop band The Verve, Richard Ashcroft proved himself to be a spiritual descendant of rock & roll icons like Mick Jagger and Jim Morrison. Rivetingly charismatic, menacingly serpentine, and possessed of an almost shamanic intensity, he embraced and articulated the anthemic fervor of rock music with a power and eloquence unparalleled by any of his contemporaries. Ashcroft’s fifth solo studio album, Natural Rebel, features 10 new self-penned songs, produced by the singer-songwriter alongside Jon Kelly (Paul McCartney, Kate Bush) and Emre Ramazanoglu (Bobby Gillespie). “With experience comes knowledge and for me, this is my strongest set of songs to date,” notes Ashcroft. “All my favorite sounds distilled into something that will hopefully give my fans lasting pleasure. It is for them. Music is power.” [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]

Buxton – Stay Out Late CD/LP (New West)

On their new album Stay Out Late, Houston’s Buxton deliver another set of emotionally engaging songcraft, with an organic warmth that affirms the subtle musical chemistry that’s been honed over the years of the band’s existence. Buxton’s spacious sound is ideally suited to the vivid lyrical insights of singer/guitarist Sergio Trevino, whose restless romanticism is reflected in such indelible new tunes as “This Place Reminds Me of You,” “Jan”, “Haunt You” and “Hanging On The Coast”. Trevino credits the three-year gap between Buxton albums to a bout of writer’s block he battled following Half A Native. Another key factor in Trevino’s getting back in touch with inspiration was his discovery of Talk Talk’s visionary 1991 post-rock album Laughing Stock. The album was given to Trevino by a friend while on vacation in California, and he was moved and inspired by the time he spent listening to it while surrounded by a forest full of redwoods. Throughout Stay Out Late’s 11 tracks, it’s clear that Buxton’s longstanding dedication to their craft has once again yielded potent musical results.

Cloud Nothings – Last Building Burning CD/LP+MP3 (Carpark)

Last Building Burning is the product of eight days with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Wolves In The Throne Room, Boris) in Texas studio Sonic Ranch. Clocking in at just over half an hour, the eight-song album sees Cloud Nothings capture their onstage appeal with help from Dunn, who Dylan Baldi describes as “technically minded without relying on technology to perfect the live sound.” In that, Last Building Burning is a return to Cloud Nothing’s sharpest form – the unhinged, feverish, guitar-heavy sound that they explode with onstage – without their early angst. “It’s not an angry record,” says Baldi. “It’s a very joyous thing for me. And it feels so nice to scream again, especially when you know people in the crowd will be screaming along back at you.” [Limited indie-exclusive vinyl pressing also available.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for October 19, 2018