New Releases for February 24, 2017
CDs + Vinyl:
Acceptance – Colliding By Design CD/LP+MP3 (Rise)
New comeback album from the Seattle-based alt-punk band. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
Kalevi Aho – Piano Works CD (Neos)
Finnish composer Kalevi Aho (born 1949) is a true giant among composers, both in terms of craftsmanship and of sonic and formal imagination. Although his works are not performed as much internationally as some of his colleagues’, he is without doubt Finland’s most brilliant symphonic and operatic composer of his time. This disc presents harpsichordist and pianist Andreas Skouras’s brilliant first recording of this music for solo piano. The pieces are as many-sided as they are unpredictable, crossing borders in pianism.
All Them Witches – Sleeping Through The War CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (New West)
“Carrying a reputation for following instinct over calculation, All Them Witches lunge into the young year wielding Sleeping Through The War, a record that potently concentrates all that the band pull up from their well of heavy Americana. Depending on which state-of-the-pop-world conversation you jump into, rock is routinely in decline, left for dead, or being resuscitated. All Them Witches don’t seem like the kind of guys to entertain any of those notions. Like Josh Homme’s Kyuss and Queens Of The Stone Age, they dig up diamond hooks from rough desert rock. They can swing between tranquil and torrential in an almost Mogwai-esque manner, as the massive strobe light opener ‘Bulls’ demonstrates. Nashville grounding informs their grooves and affords them the inspired addition of recurring backing vocals by local notables Erin Rae, Caitlin Rose and Tristen. Sleeping Through the War’s persuasive determination to chew up everything in its path make minor idiosyncrasies like Allan Van Cleave’s psychedelic organ punctuations on the pedal-to-the-floor ‘Bruce Lee’ fit in without question. Even through mere speakers, All Them Witches have a physically imposing yet approachable presence” – The Line Of Best Fit. [Vinyl is available in two editions: Limited gatefold and standard sleeve.]
Herb Alpert – Blow Your Own Horn [Reissue/1983] CD (Herb Albert Presents)
Herb Alpert – Bullish [Reissue/1984] CD (Herb Albert Presents)
Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela – Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela [Reissue/1989] CD (Herb Albert Presents)
The latest three in a huge campaign to re-release Herb’s classic discography – remastered from their original analog tapes.
American Grim – Freakshow CD (eOne)
New album from the East Coast shock rockers.
Armored Saint – Carpe Noctum: Live 2015 CD/LP (Metal Blade)
Having toured with Metallica, Whitesnake, Alice Cooper, The Scorpions, and many other artists since their inception in the early-‘80s, Armored Saint has always been a highly regarded live act – not only in their hometown of Los Angeles, California but also around the world.
Aseethe – Hopes Of Failure CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Aseethe’s unrelenting slow-doom is often compared to drone music because of its core repetitions. This distinctly non-metal approach combined with harsh vocals and unusual samples gives Aseethe a unique voice among metal’s boundary pushers. On Hopes Of Failure, the Iowa band’s primary influences of doom and drone share a similar ethos, but rarely do they converge with as much restraint, and patience, drawing on inventive sound sources and distorted, just enough, to add some sludge. Aseethe is the direction that heavy music is moving in.
Marc Barreca – Aberrant Lens CD (Palace Of Lights)
Marc Barreca’s seventh solo album for Palace Of Lights extends his work with a broader and deeper palette of synthesized and sampled sound, including sources as diverse as prepared guitars, pianos, Indonesian metallophones and glass harmonica. The music of Aberrant Lens employs long MIDI delays, synced MIDI processing via MAX for Live and extreme warping of disparate looped sound sources driven into entirely new states.
Harry Belafonte – When Colors Come Together: The Legacy Of Harry Belefonte CD (Sony Legacy)
An essential single-disc anthology of Harry Belafonte’s biggest hits including a new re-recording of “Island In The Sun” entitled “When Colors Come Together (Our Island In The Sun),” performed by a children’s choir.
Benighted – Necrobreed CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Benighted is a brutal death metal/deathgrind band from France. [CD is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe features fancy packaging.]
Manford Best – Come Go With Me [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (PMG)
“Come Go With Me was self-financed and released on Manford Best’s own MacSeries Records label. Only 1,000 copies were pressed and he distributed them from the back of a Toyota van himself. A rare Afro gem, deserving of its place in the sun again.” — Peter Moore
The Beta Yama Group – Free Love [Reissue/1980] CD/LP (PMG)
Nigerian musicians Nash Dodoo, Charlie Cuul and Jonas Caulley put out Free Love after releasing an album of face-melting gospel boogie as the BML Chapels in 1980. The album is, as Peter Moore puts is, “a belated love letter to San Francisco’s Summer of Love,” and, “a small slice of Haight-Ashbury transported to the Polygram Studios in Lagos.”
Steve Black – Happy Birthday To ‘U’ [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (PMG)
An irresistible blend of highlife, Afro beat, and Afro funk.
Blank Square – Animal I CD/LP (Castleface)
When squirming black mold in a dingy Bayshore, CA, warehouse became sentient, creaked and took humanoid form it created Blank Square and their singularly odd-punk debut, Animal I — sounding like the weirder end of Flesheaters but with a sterility that can only be contemporarily compared to Total Control’s Aussie hardcore no-wave and then with a pinch of what made DNA and Mars amazing.
Rosario Bonaccorso – A Beautiful Story CD (Via Vento Jazz)
Rosario Bonaccorso continues to enrich and expand his musical pathway, evolving his ideas as a band leader and composer. On A Beautiful Story the double bassist is joined by a group of acclaimed musicians: his friend Dino Rubino on the flugelhorn, Enrico Zanisi on the piano and Alessandro Paternesi on the drums. These young “lions”, widely appreciated by critics and audiences on both Italian and European jazz scenes, are sensitive and mature artists and despite their young age, they boast of a rich variety of noteworthy collaborations and experiences.
Born Of Osiris – Eternal Reign CD (Sumerian)
In honor of the 10 Year Anniversary of the label and Born Of Osiris re-signing with Sumerian Records, the two have teamed up to produce a re-release of the band’s debut album, The New Reign. Not only is the album a re-release of the initial work that put them on the map, but Born Of Osiris have re-recorded the eight tracks, in addition to adding one new song and titled the new version — The Eternal Reign.
David Bowie – No Plan CDEP (Sony)
The No Plan EP features single “Lazarus” from Blackstar backed with three final, non-album tracks recorded during the Blackstar sessions. [Vinyl edition due April 21.]
Nikolaus Brass – String Trios CD (Neos)
TrioCoriolis’s performance of three works by German composer Nikolaus Brass (born 1949).
Brass initially studied medicine and took private composition lessons with Peter Kiesewetter, before later studying with Frank Michael Beyer and Helmut Lachenmann, and regularly attending the Darmstadt Summer Courses between 1978 and 1986, where he also met with Morton Feldman; his music has since become standard at every important new music festival, and Brass has received numerous awards, including the Music Prize of the State Capital Munich in 2009.
Brian Jonestown Massacre – Don’t Get Lost CD/2xLP (A. Recordings)
Don’t Get Lost, the 16th full length release from The Brian Jonestown Massacre, was fully recorded and produced at Anton Newcombe’s new Cobra Studio in Berlin, and features saxophonist Emil Nikolaisen (from the Norwegian band Serena-Maneesh), and vocal performances from Tess Parks and Shaun Rivers. The album mixes a shoegaze and psychedelic sound with more experimental twists on some tracks you might hear from Public Image Limited’s Metalbox (1979), Primal Scream, or even Ornette Coleman. [Limited yellow color vinyl edition also available.]
Brokeback – Illinois River Valley Blues CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Brokeback features members of Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, Tweedy, and Steve Gunn Band. For lead guitarist/bassist Douglas McCombs (Tortoise), Brokeback’s Illinois River Valley Blues stands as one of his most sumptuous and personal offerings to date. Inspired by his early years growing up along the Illinois River corridor between Peoria and Chicago, Illinois River Valley Blues stretches McCombs’ eternal fascination with the roots of American guitar music in bold new directions.
Career Suicide – Machine Response CD/LP (Deranged)
Machine Response veers in and out of pure speed, bursts of melody, and chunky tempo shifts, indenting the long standing influence of early ’80s USHC, late ’70s punk, and a peppering of ’60s swagger, with their own clearly developed style.
Celtic Thunder – Emmet Cahill’s Ireland CD (Sony Legacy)
A collection of Irish classics that have been passed down from generation to generation from celebrated Irish tenor and member of Celtic Thunder Emmet Cahill. Emmet Cahill’s Ireland offers the very best of the traditional Irish repertoire.
Charlie and The Regrets – Rivers In The Streets CD (MRI Associated)
Charlie and The Regrets create authentic country music based on real life experiences with a socially conscious overview. Their first full-length album, Rivers In The Streets, reflects their Texas heritage and a gritty sound that engenders genuine and unique songs about issues anyone can relate to.
Chicago / London Underground feat. Rob Mazurek – A Night Walking Through Mirrors CD (Cuneiform)
For the last two decades the Chicago Underground Duo – Rob Mazurek on cornet and electronics and Chad Taylor on percussion, electronics and mbira – have created music meant to open minds and explore alien territory. Now, on A Night Walking Through Mirrors, they’ve created a new Transatlantic partnership in the form of Chicago / London Underground, inviting a pair of renowned British improvisers – pianist Alexander Hawkins and bassist John Edwards – into the creative fold. The result is an expansive sonic adventure where every unexpected note and alchemical reaction runs counter to the limited imaginations ruling social media name-calling and clannish provincialism.
Children Of Alice – Children Of Alice CD/LP (Warp)
“Exquisite eldritch spooking from Children Of Alice, the trio of Broadcast’s James Cargill and Roj Stevens joined by Julian House, who collaborated with Broadcast on the final album in his guise as The Focus Group. The trio are titled in tribute to Trish Keenan (R.I.P.), the Broadcast co-founder and Cargill’s partner, who named Jonathan Miller’s ‘60s film adaptation of Alice In Wonderland among the band’s main inspirations.” — Boomkat
Circus Devils – Laughs Last CD/LP (Happy Jack Rock)
Circus Devils – Laughs Best: The Kids Eat It Up CD+DVD/2xLP+DVD (Happy Jack Rock)
Robert Pollard’s freak-rock trio Circus Devils (2001–2017) says farewell with a pair of simultaneous releases. First is their 14th and final album Laughs Last, along with a best-of, double LP collection titled Laughs Best: The Kids Eat It Up (with DVD included).
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – The Tourist CD/LP+MP3 (CYHSY Inc.)
The fifth album from indie-rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is nod to frontman Alec Ounsworth’s inspirations, such as Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Paul Simon, and features keyboard-laden cuts alongside more folk-based numbers. Album tracks “Better Off” and “The Vanity Of Trying” are lush, keyboard-augmented songs, while “A Chance To Cure” and “Ambulance Chaser” are rhythmically askew, and the sighing “Loose Ends” is delicate, acoustic-based folk-rock. In terms of theme, Ounsworth uses The Tourist to reflect on an emotional last couple of years, describing the songs as a “type of purge.” A “purge of certain emotional confusion that manifested itself in the last several years,” he explains. “I’d rather not say that it was a dark time, but it was a difficult time in my life — among the most difficult. But I needed and need to try to let it go. And this is how I let things go.” [Limited white color vinyl pressing also available.]
Muzio Clementi/Gilead Mishory/Giuseppe Tartini – To Aeneas CD (Neos)
Three performances by pianist and composer Gilead Mishory (born 1960).
Ry Cooder – Live At The Bottom Line ’74 CD (Rox Vox)
By 1974, Ry Cooder was firmly established as one of America’s leading guitarists and arrangers. This superb live set was broadcast on WNYU-FM, just after the release of his classic Paradise And Lunch album (1974), and finds him tackling a typically eclectic range of material. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Crystal Fairy – Crystal Fairy CD/LP (Ipecac Recordings)
“Considering Crystal Fairy’s lineup, it’s no wonder that the band brings tunes with a high riff-factor on their self-titled debut. Starring King Buzzo and Dale Crover (Melvins), the fold is further filled out with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez (At The Drive In) and Teri Gender Bender (Le Butcherettes). Crystal Fairy consists of 11 songs, each one diving deeper into a bizarre pit of screeching, high intensity riffs. Very much the sum of their parts, Crystal Fairy stares down the listener with psychotic energy. It’s Dale’s job to lay down the law, which he does most notably in ‘Bent Teeth.’ Rodriguez-Lopez helps bridge the gap between Dale’s intense push and Buzzo’s guitar, but the star of the show here is Terri Gender Bender. Whether she’s owning the title track with her gnarly snarl or spitting out the Spanish language lyrics in ‘Secret Agent Rat,’ it’s her voice that’s keeping the Crystal Fairy boat afloat” – The Sludgelord. [Limited pink vinyl pressing also available.]
Dams Of The West – Youngish American CD/LP+MP3 (30th Century)
Youngish American, produced by The Black Keys’ Patrick Carney, is Vampire Weekend drummer Chris Tomson’s first solo record. “Adopting the name Dams Of The West, Tomson has picked up the guitar for the project; in fact, he plays all of the instruments on the record. His voice is lackadaisical and familiar, and his sound leans toward garage rock, distancing him from Vampire Weekend’s measured, complex sound. [Album single] ‘The Truth,’ to me, is a song about objectivity and/or the ‘blame America first’ phenomenon,’ he told NPR in an email. ‘When I wrote the song, I believed that facts, at some future endpoint, would conquer all. But then last week the guy at my bodega told me we are now ‘living in a post-truth world’ while looking at his Samsung Galaxy Stardust 8GB and selling me a sleeve of honey-roasted peanuts, so perhaps I was mistaken,’ Tomson said. ‘Either way, the tune’s got a good beat and you can skank to it.’” – NPR
Dear Reader – Day Fever CD/LP (City Slang)
South Africa via Berlin indie pop darlings Dear Reader return with Day Fever. Already far from home in Berlin, the South African musician’s trek to San Francisco meant a huge adjustment in terms of her recording style. Recording on tape helped Dear Reader mastermind Cherilyn MacNeil commit to the performance and narrative act of making an album, and to break, in her words, the habit of “editing the life out of things.” In Day Fever, those old habits have died, and hard. The raw, melodious, and at times discordant record has most certainly retained its life, left fresh and untrampled by infinite do-overs. In fact, each song on the album is the result of just one, or a maximum of two, studio performances.
Death Alley – Live At Roadburn CD/LP (Tee Pee)
Amsterdam’s punked-out, proto-metal outlaws Death Alley play rip roarin’ heavy psychedelic music that delivers a kick ass new take on old school rock ‘n’ roll, mashing Motörhead and Black Sabbath to create a blistering, raw sound. Following the band’s Tee Pee Records debut, Black Magick Boogieland, Death Alley — who features in its ranks ex-members of rock cult The Devil’s Blood — was asked to perform live at the 2016 edition of Holland’s revered Roadburn Festival.
Death Therapy – Storm Before The Calm CD (Solid State)
New album from the electro-metal duo.
Decade – Pleasantries CD/LP (Rude)
Formed in 2011, Bath-based alternative rock quintet Decade have carefully and consistently been grafting away in the background for the past two years, crafting and sculpting their sound into something that’s now as progressive as it is packed with nostalgia for another time. Their strength comes from a time where songs were king and music was made from unflinching desire and necessity, rather than expectation. From their early roots in pop punk at their inception, on to their new studio album, Pleasantries, the five piece have found their footing on firmer, more adult ground with a sound that has matured and blossomed into a contemporary take on Brit-pop and grunge.
Gérard Depardieu – Depardieu Chante Barbara CD/2xLP+CD (Because Music)
Depardieu Chante Barbara is a collaboration between acclaimed French actor Gérard Depardieu and pianist, conductor, and arranger Gérard Daguerre, who came together to record songs originally made famous by their former collaborator, French chanson star Barbara (1930-1997).
Dirty Projectors – Dirty Projectors CD/2xLP+MP3 (Domino)
Dirty Projectors, the beloved, decade-plus-long recording pursuit of producer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist David Longstreth, presents the eighth full-length album in the band’s wildly varied and fascinating discography. As with previous Dirty Projectors albums, Dirty Projectors sees Longstreth lead a group of hugely talented contributors, including Solange Knowles, Tyondai Braxton, Mauro Refosco (Atoms For Peace, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Dawn Richard (D∆WN and Danity Kane), in realizing his creative vision. “‘I would be lying if I said it didn’t feel a little crazy, but I wanted to tell these stories,’ Dirty Projectors leader Dave Longstreth told Rolling Stone of the prolific art-pop group’s new self-titled LP. Dirty Projectors is a self-admitted breakup record that chronicles in vivid detail the entirety of his ultimately doomed relationship with former bandmate Amber Coffman. Ranging from new-love giddiness (‘Little Bubble’) to self-flagellation (‘Winner Take Nothing’) and eventually acceptance (‘Cool Your Heart’), the album is a deep dive into the musician’s life and heart. Rather than bury his emotions, he chose to channel the intense sadness he felt in the wake of his breakup into his most soul-baring, emotionally jarring songs yet” – Rolling Stone. [Double vinyl LP pressing features an etched D-side.]
Disperse – Foreword CD/2xLP (Season Of Mist)
Progressive prodigies Disperse push onward evermore, and their new album Foreword sees them emerge as a force both bold and sublime. Elegant, gossamer melodies from man and machine stick like neural implants, while emerging guitar virtuoso Jakub Żytecki conceives riffs as intricate as circuitry. “Foreword is about as melodic and ear-pleasing as heavy music ever gets. It is a magical, beautifully crafted heavy metal pop-rock album with uplifting songs, superb musicianship (especially from seven-string wunderkind Jakub Żytecki) and highly convincing moments of experimentation and beautiful ambience. ‘Does it Matter How Far’ is just a marvel of unexpected structuring, an atmospheric slow-builder that takes you on an ethereal nine-minute plus journey into the beauty of sound. It takes mind-blowing depths of imagination to create music of this kind. This is truly progressive music in every sense of the word.” – Metal Obsession
Dome La Muerte E.X.P. – Lazy Sunny Day CD/LP (Cinedelic)
Dome La Muerte E.X.P. is the new project of Dome La Muerte, aka Domenico Petrosino. The sound of Lazy Sunny Day is mostly instrumental, lysergically inspired by spaghetti western soundtracks, the beat generation, India, the hippie movement, and expansion of consciousness with a deep respect and admiration to the culture and spirituality of Native Americans.
Emma Dorgu – Roverman [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (PMG)
Dorgu, known in the Lagos live scene at the time as part of The Thermometers and with the single, “World People,” acts on the injustices of Africa with Roverman. A politicized call to action, the album is still funky, with New York ghetto funk, straight-head boogie, and an irresistible pull towards the dancefloor.
Dude York – Sincerely CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Hardly Art)
The Seattle-based trio Dude York arrive with an album that couches its themes of anxiety and eroding mental health in rock tracks that amp up the sweetly melodic crunch of power pop with massive distortion and bashed-to-heck drums. Sincerely is a loud, sweaty rebuke to those moments in life when it seems like nothing is working, a testament to the power of friendship, staring problems directly in the face, and finding solace in art. Longtime Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill producer John Goodmanson and The Blood Brothers’ Cody Votolato helped Dude York craft a more straightforward draft of Sincerely, one based on the energy of their live show but without any superfluous flourishes. The band’s thoughtful approach to putting together Sincerely‘s songs echoes the album’s overarching themes of almost-punishing inward focus. Bringing bassist Claire England’s straightforward drawl into the mix underscores that idea, and its contrast to guitarist Peter Richards’ excited yelp heightens the tension on Sincerely, a chaotic, yet ultimately triumphant album that’s a vital tonic for these increasingly confused times.
Dutch Uncles – Big Balloon CD/LP+MP3 (Memphis Industries)
“This jerky, quirky Manchester four-piece have been doing their take on XTC-style uptight art-pop for the best part of a decade and it always seemed like more of a collision of ideas than a satisfying expression of musical feeling — until now. Big Balloon is as eccentric as Dutch Uncles’ first four albums, with everything from funky bass runs to ‘80s synthesizer sections to progressive-rock guitar chords fighting for space underneath the singer Duncan Wallis’s panicked falsetto” – The Times UK. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
Emel – Ensen CD/LP+MP3 (PTKF/Partisan)
Tunisian artist Emel Mathlouthi rose to prominence after her song “Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free)” became a viral anthem for the Arab Spring in 2012. A strident songstress, her craft incorporates elements of Western rock, Middle Eastern scales, electronic beats, synth lines and percussion. Although her music has been shunned from her country’s official airwaves, it has not stopped her message and incomparable voice from gathering a global audience. Her live performances and first album Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free) garnered praise from Pitchfork, the New York Times, The Guardian and more. Her 2015 ended with a solo performance at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Entrance – Book Of Changes CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Entrance is Guy Blakeslee, a Baltimore-born, Los Angeles-based musician. Book Of Changes documents the journey back for an artist who has gone through a creative rebirth. Blakeslee takes you on a transformative trip, with his powerful vibrato and rich baritone, uplifting and transporting the listener throughout the album. On the new album he’s joined by several very talented friends including former bandmate Paz Lenchantin (Pixies, Silver Jews), Frank Lenz (Pedro the Lion, The Weepies) and Lael Neale. The adventurously produced collection of songs is reminiscent of Townes Van Zandt’s ruminative lyricism and the gypsy flavored orchestral explorations of Arthur Lee and Love, uniquely channeled through Blakeslee’s 21st Century approach to the spiritual dimensions of American songwriting in a way that gives an old form new power. [Limited green vinyl pressing also available.]
Ernst Helmuth Flammer – String Quartets Nos. 4 & 5 CD (Neos)
- H. Flammer presents two enormous works, asking the listener for intense and long-lasting attention — with String Quartet No. 4 lasting about ten minutes longer than even Beethoven’s famous Op. 132 — but once it begins the listener will be unable to think of anything else.
Ex Deo – The Immortal Wars CD (Napalm)
The Immortal Wars offers epic war tales, melodic death metal riffs and orchestral anthems.
The Feelies – In Between CD/LP+MP3 (Bar/None)
Impose Magazine recently called The Feelies “… one of the most influential bands in the history of alternative and underground music” and Rolling Stone said that they are “a template of formal perfection.” They have influenced bands like R.E.M., Yo La Tengo, Real Estate and Weezer, and now during their 40th anniversary comes their first album of all new material in over six years. While working the VU template they are famous for, In Betwen brings some interesting new sonics into the mix.
Fjoergyn – Lucifer Es CD/2xLP (Lifeforce)
Fjoergyn is a German melodic/pagan metal band formed in 2003. Lucifer Es is their fifth album. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
Froth – Outside (briefly) CD/LP/Cassette (Wichita)
Outside (briefly) is the third album by L.A.-based band. The record follows their acclaimed album, Bleak, released on Burger Records in 2015. On Outside (briefly) the band continue to hone their own blend of ‘60s inspired surf rock, psychedelia, indie rock and shoegaze influences. [Limited yellow color vinyl edition also available.]
Ghost Key – If I Don’t Make It CD (InVogue)
Ghost Key is a melodic hardcore band out of Chicago, IL. [Vinyl edition due April 14.]
Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway CD/LP (Nonesuch)
Freedom Highway, Grammy Award–winner and 2017 Grammy nominee Rhiannon Giddens’ follow-up to her highly praised debut 2015 album Tomorrow Is My Turn, includes nine original songs along with a traditional song and two civil rights-era songs, “Birmingham Sunday” and Staple Singers’ well-known “Freedom Highway,” from which the album takes its name. Giddens co-produced the album with multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell in his Breaux Bridge, Louisiana studio, with the bulk of recording done in wooden rooms built prior to the Civil War. “Know thy history. Let it horrify you; let it inspire you. Let it show you how the future can look, for nothing in this world has not come around before. These songs are based on slave narratives from the 1800s, African American experiences of the last century, and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and headlines from streets of Ferguson and Baltimore today. Voices demanding to be heard, to impart the hard-earned wisdom of a tangled, difficult, complicated history; we just try to open the door and let them through.”—Rhiannon Giddens
Cameron Graves – Planetary Prince CD (Mack Avenue)
“Cameron Graves is a musical genius. He has an innovative approach to the piano that is completely unique. Cameron’s new album Planetary Prince is an amazing and almost unbelievable combination of modal jazz, romantic era European classical music, and mathematical death metal. A style so cool that it deserves its own genre. Cameron’s music has been inspiring me since I was thirteen years old and it still does today! I’m so glad he’s sharing it with the world!” — Kamasi Washington. [Vinyl edition due May 26.]
Kiki Gyan – Feelin’ Alright [Reissue/1983] CD/LP (PMG)
Reissue of the third and final solo album from Gyan, considered one of the best keyboardists in the world in the ’80s, starting out in the Afro funk super group, Osibisa.
Hark – Machinations CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
“With their second full-length Machinations, Hark deliver a perfectly crafted vision of sludge-infused hard rock, while further expanding on their simultaneously progressive and muscular sonic palette. Machinations is an intelligent, forward-thinking rock record, in an age where cult nostalgia trips and retrogressive throwbacks are all too common. Jimbob Isaac’s soaring and gritty lead vocals convey the existential angst of living in the media saturated and economically unstable climate from which Machinations was born. His fragmented and deeply subconscious lyrical flow speaks of abstracted emotions, spiritual disintegration, toxic encounters, psychic endeavors, and technological overload. Having honed their live act on tours with the likes of Clutch, Red Fang, Prong, Ken Mode, and A Storm Of Light, Hark is a genuine force to be reckoned with.” – The Gauntlet
Hecker – A Script For Machine Synthesis CD (Editions Mego)
An experimental auditory drama and a model of abstraction, A Script For Machine Synthesis is the third chapter in a trilogy of text-sound pieces in which Hecker has collaborated with the philosopher Reza Negarestani. The motifs Hecker has staged in the last decade all appear throughout in a thorough, rigid and formal exploration.
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks – Greatest Licks: “I Feel Like Singin’…” CD/LP+MP3 (Surfdog)
Dan Hicks was an American treasure. Since the early 1960’s, Hicks deftly blended elements of swing, jazz, folk and country music to create a truly unique sound. His lyrics range from the simply sublime to the sublimely ridiculous, all presented with his uniquely skewed and inscrutable touch. Dan’s irresistible sense of rhythm, hip lyrical styling, laid back vocalizing, and infamous on-stage wit lasted well through his final recordings with Surfdog Records. In celebration of his life and legacy, the label pays tribute to Dan with this greatest hits album.
Hinton And The Nighthawks – Rose’s Cantina Atlanta ’79 CD (Echoes)
Considered by many to be the world’s best blue-eyed soul singer, Eddie Hinton wrote, produced, arranged, and played on one more classic records than many realize. His guitar is heard on albums by Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bobby Womack, Dusty Springfield, and countless other iconic greats; and while he’s not as well known by name, his contribution to music will never be forgotten. This 1979 recording finds him guesting with the legendary Nighthawks at Rose’s Cantina in Atlanta, GA. It’s an extravaganza of pumped-up soul and R&B, with broken strings and adrenaline, down to the bone, presented here in its entirety as originally broadcast on WLIR-FM.
Hippo Campus – Landmark CD/LP (Grand Jury)
“There’s a moment in growing up when it becomes clear that the road you walk is your own to cultivate.” A surprisingly profound sentiment for a band of 21-year olds. Nevertheless, it’s a sentiment that animates much of Landmark, the debut album from Minneapolis’ Hippo Campus.
From the resplendent “Way It Goes,” a guitar led gallop about the Instagram-filtered church of cool, to the propulsive “Boyish,” a horn-kissed rumination on children of divorce, Landmark is shot through with a woozy dissonance between precocious wisdom and old-as-time coming of age stories. The result is a messy, brave, and earnest whole — not to mention, a tectonic shift forward for a young band still discovering itself. Landmark invites introspection and close listening—even its most upbeat songs are rich with details, like the whistling break that lands in the middle of the galloping “Simple Season” or the spangles of guitar that slice through the clamor of “Tuesday.” Elsewhere, the second half of landmark is dominated by a somber stretch that includes the lush “Monsoon,” which slowly blooms into a quiet freak-out of reverb and synth, a revelation in the context of the band’s catalog. [Limited opaque yellow color vinyl pressing also available.]
Immolation – Atonement CD/LP/Cassette (Nuclear Blast)
New album from the extreme metal band — an unrelenting collection of catchy, intense and darkly imaginative tracks. [Limited orange and alternate splatter color vinyl pressings also available.]
Jon Irabagon/John Hegre/Nils Are Drønen – Axis CD/LP+CD (Rune Grammofon)
Jon Irabagon is a founding member of Mostly Other People Do The Killing, and an integral member of the Mary Halvorson Quintet, Dave Douglas Quintet, and Barry Altschul’s 3Dom Factor. John Hegre is a musician, songwriter, sound engineer, and a pioneer of the Norwegian noise music scene. He founded Jazzkammer with Lasse Marhaug in 1998. Nils Are Drønen has been a player on the fertile music scene in Bergen since teaming up with Hegre 20 years ago. He is part of several constellations, including The Last Hurrah!!.
José James – Love In A Time Of Madness CD/LP (Blue Note)
An R&B focused foray into moody soul, electronic pop, and trap-addled beats, with the occasional influence of American gospel and Minneapolitan funk.
Jack Jezzro – Sinatra On Guitar CD (Green Hill Productions)
Songs made popular by Frank Sinatra featuring guitar and orchestra. Grammy nominated guitarist, bassist and producer Jack Jezzro has been one of Nashville’s most versatile performers and studio musicians for over 30 years. As a bassist, he was a member of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra from 1981-1991 and continues to be a member of the Nashville String Machine, playing on hundreds of albums including those by Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, & Dolly Parton.
Julie’s Haircut – Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin CD/LP (Rocket Recordings)
Julie’s Haircut – Italy’s premiere psychedelic explorers – create a deep-end approach to sonic innovation on Invocation And Ritual Dance Of My Demon Twin. Small-hours elucidation and revelation that recall the wayward squall of early Mercury Rev, the shamanic allure of Dead Skeletons, the freedom of Miles Davis, the repetition of Can, or the wild soundscapes of Amon Düül II.
Kangding Ray – Hyper Opal Mantis CD (Stroboscopic Artefacts)
French-born, Berlin-based composer and producer David Letellier, aka Kangding Ray, uses the combination of slowly swelling melodies and emotionally charged machine sounds to gives way to a sensitive, rhythmic symphony of staggering beauty – a juxtaposition of organic and synthetic, of acoustic instrumentation and digitized beats. Hyper Opal Mantis is a triptych on three states of desire: Hyper is the primal, sensual lust, Opal is the emotional catharsis, a blissful desire for love. Mantis, like the insect it refers to, is the destructive, fatal attraction [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Kas Product – Black & Noir (Mutant Experimental Synth Punk From France 1980-83) [Reissue/1990] CD/LP (Soul Jazz)
A collection of of angular cold wave ‘n’ spiky synth-punk from the French duo, spanning 1980 to 1983. For fans of Cabaret Voltaire and Primitive Calculators.
Steve Khan – Backlog CD (Shrapnel)
On his latest album Backlog, Steve continues to expand the potential of the guitar in the context of Latin music, and here, the core group features: Rubén Rodríguez, Bobby Allende, Marc Quiñones, and joined for the first time by Mark Walker on drums “No one plays or sounds like Steve Khan… He is the inquisitive jazz musician mastering the evasive art of reinvention and improvisation on his own terms, in his own time.’” — James Nadal, AllAboutJazz
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Flying Microtonal Banana CD/LP (ATO)
Flying Microtonal Banana is King Gizzard’s first-ever experience in microtonal tuning, which features intervals smaller than a semitone and not found in customary Western tuning octaves. “Earlier this year we started experimenting with a custom microtonal guitar our friend Zak made for (lead singer and guitar player) Stu Mackenzie,” drummer Eric Moore explained. “The guitar was modified to play in 24-TET tuning and could only be played with other microtonal instruments. We ended up giving everyone a budget of $200 to buy instruments and turn them microtonal. The record features the modified electric guitars, basses, keyboards and harmonica as well as a Turkish horn called a Zurna.” Flying Microtonal Banana is the first of five albums the band plans to release in 2017 (each based around a different sonic experiment), and takes a subtle musical shift away from the frazzled freak-beat of its predecessor, Nonagon Infinity. [Limited neon color vinyl pressings are also available.]
King Woman – Created In The Image Of Suffering CD/LP (Relapse)
“One of the oldest creation stories in history holds that God created mankind in his image. But what of woman? Is she not worthy of being conjured from a vision, a likeness, the stuff of greatness? King Woman, the mighty Bay Area-bred solo-project-turned-full-band helmed by vocalist and guitarist Kristina Esfandiari, grapples with this glaring omission on its forthcoming album, Created In The Image Of Suffering. On the album, out later this month, King Woman commands a particular terrain where doom-laced rock, shoegaze and sludgy metal converge in compositions that aren’t so much songs as they are reckonings, laments, eulogies and exaltations.” — KNBA
Krokofant – Krokofant III CD/LP+CD (Rune Grammfon)
On their third album in just three years, Krokofant typify a new and invigorating movement currently sweeping the Nordic region: hard-boiled improvisation and strong instrumental personalities bolted onto rock beats and driving rhythms. Equally powerful on record and on stage, Krokofant pull no punches, sounding off like some unholy three-way marriage of early ’70s jazz rock (think Mahavishnu Orchestra, Terje Rypdal), the sprawling progressive odysseys of King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator, and the fierce heat of John Zorn or Peter Brötzmann’s harsh free jazz ensembles.
La Breiche – Le Mal Des Ardents CD (Cold Spring)
La Breiche (“the witch”) features two well-known musicians: Arexis and Lafforgue of Stille Volk – a band best known since 1994 as one of the pioneers of Pagan Folk in Europe – and of the Pagan Black French band Sus Scrofa. Le Mal Des Ardents (“Holy Fire”) is a concept album about fears, terrors, about the balance between folklore and reason, myth and common sense, light and darkness, past and present, modernity and archaism. The album marries minimalism, purity, a fine approach and ancient instruments: traditional music (hurdy-gurdy, shawm, polyphonies, percussion, gongs); the gloom of oppressive dark ambient; the slow pace of ritual music, wavering between modernity and archaism.
Philip Lewin – Am I Really Here All Alone [Reissue/1975] CD/LP (Tompkins Square)
Philip Lewin was an American who grew up in Cortland, New York, USA and moved to the west end of Toronto, Ontario in the early seventies. It was in Toronto where he recorded and released his first of two all original LPs in the mid- ‘70s. His debut Am I Really Here All Alone is a distinctive and personal recording of primitive and honest folk music, released on his own label, Gargoyle Records, and pressed at Quality Records, in a press run of 300 signed and numbered copies. Philip wrote the music, sang the songs, and played the rhythm guitar himself.
Little Big Town – The Breaker CD (Capitol Nashville)
The seventh studio album from the CMA Vocal Group of the year. The Breaker includes their Top 10 hit, “Better Man,” written by Taylor Swift. [Vinyl edition due April 28].
Dario Lorina – Death Grip Tribulations CD (Shrapnel)
Dario’s new record is a powerful show of songwriting infused with shred guitar, vintage modern influence, and a richly musical band.
Los Campesinos! – Sick Scenes CD/LP+MP3 (Wichita)
Los Campesinos! Sixth studio album has been described by the band as “an expression of the pent-up aggression we felt due to being inactive for so long, but it’s also a celebration of just getting to be a band, of getting to play music with our friends.” The themes of aggression and celebration that inspired the album have resulted in 11 tracks that find the band sounding as vital and life-affirming as ever. [Limited 180gm blue and pink splatter color vinyl LP pressing also available.]
The Mute Gods – Tardigrades Will Inherit The Earth CD (Inside Out U.S.)
Nick Beggs (Steven Wilson, Steve Hackett), Roger King (Steve Hackett) and Marco Minnemann (Joe Satriani, Aristocrats) deliver adventurous rock effort infused with timely perspectives on the state of religion, politics, media, and the environment. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
NE-HI – Offers CD/LP (Grand Jury)
Emerging from underground venues in Chicago’s Northwest side, NE-HI made its name on both its live energy and cleverly wrought guitar anthems. On its second album Offers, the band takes those basement-forged instincts and refines them, lets its guitars explore new angles, and focuses its songwriting. The result shows there are a wide range of post-punk possibilities yet to be explored.
Sarah Bethe Nelson – Oh Evolution CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Burger)
“Full of striking realizations and vignettes painted in expert strokes. Even on an album full of emotional vulnerability, there’s no weakness or self-pity. Nelson brings an old-world confidence, almost a bust-through-the-saloon-door swagger to her suburban ennui” (Stereogum). Sarah Bethe Nelson sounds like a nice gal who is also nobody’s fool, a combination that isn’t so easy to pull off. With her soft, breathy voice and casual but effective phrasing, Nelson has a perfect instrument for smart, dreamy indie pop, but keep an ear peeled for her lyrics, and you’ll quickly discover Nelson has a good head on her shoulders, has been around the block a time or two, and will only put up with other folks’ nonsense for so long.” – AllMusic
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Fishin’ In The Dark: The Best Of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band CD (Rhino)
New best-of compilation from the American folk-rock band. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was formed in 1966 in Long Beach, California. The band has had many personnel changes, including a period from 1976–1981 when it was known as the Dirt Band. The band’s successes include a hit single with their cover version of “Mr. Bojangles” by Jerry Jeff Walker.
Nurse With Wound – Spiral Insana [Reissue/1986] 2xCD/2xLP (Rotorelief)
Deluxe expanded reissue of Nurse With Wound’s 1986 masterpiece. One of NWW’s most deep and mysterious recordings, Spiral Insana is more ambient and user-friendly than many other NWW outings, without losing any of its surreal edge.
Bill O’Connell – Monk’s Cha-Cha: Live At The Carnegie-Farian Room CD (Savant)
Solo piano albums require real skills from the improvising artist to keep the listeners’ ears glued to the music. The musical history of solo piano recordings is long and rich, and contains much emotionally compelling music. The demonstration is here. Bill O’Connell is woefully under-recorded as a solo artist, given that he has been the first-call pianist for names like Mongo Santamaria, Sonny Rollins, Gato Barbieri and Jerry González’s Fort Apache Band, to name but a few. On this CD, recorded in a beautiful-sounding concert venue in Westchester county, NY he plays his own compositions with some covers of standards.
Old 97s – Graveyard Whistling CD/LP+MP3 (ATO)
In 1996, the Old 97s recorded Too Far To Care. It was their major-label debut after the band signed with Elektra Records. But rather than venture into some state-of-the-art studio in New York or L.A., the band decamped to Village Productions in Tornillo, Texas, a remote facility in the middle of two thousand acres of pecan trees near the Mexican border. The sound that the group captured on Too Far To Care has remained a touchstone for them. “We’ve always held that one up as the closest to sounding exactly like what sets us apart from the rest of the world,” says Rhett Miller. And so when it came time for the Old 97’s to record the follow-up to the highest-charting album of their career, 2014’s Most Messed Up, producer Vance Powell brought up the idea of returning to Tornillo. “We knew instantly that it was the perfect move,” says Miller. The result is the eleven songs of Graveyard Whistling, the band’s eleventh studio album. The emotional range and musical scope of Graveyard Whistling also benefits from the contributions from co-writers Brandi Carlile, Caitlin Rose, Nicole Atkins, and Butch Walker. [Four different color vinyl pressings are are available: translucent clear, green, red and blue.]
Roy Orbison – Black & White Night 30 CD+MP3+DVD/CD+MP3+Blu-ray (Sony Legacy)
Black & White Night 30 is a re-imagined, re-edited, remastered and expanded version of the original television special. Re-edited by Roy’s youngest son Alex Orbison, the program has been restored to reflect the correct set order as the audience who attended the show saw it. Liner notes written by son Roy Orbison Jr. are included in the packaging as well as a treasure trove of bonus content. Black & White Night 30 includes a previously unseen alternate version of “Oh, Pretty Woman,” a previously unseen performance “Blue Angel,” a ‘secret concert performed by the band after the audience had left of five songs featuring alternate takes of “Dream You,” “Comedians,” “Candyman,” “Claudette,” and “Uptown.” Additionally included is a brand new 33-minute mini-documentary consisting of rehearsal footage and pre and post show interviews with Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello and more plus a photo montage consisting of 20 still photos from the show and new photos of show memorabilia, mostly unused and unseen in any context.
OvO – Creatura CD/LP (Dio Drone)
The new album by OvO explores the intersections between extreme rock and electronica.
Eji Oyewole – Me & You [Reissue/1985] CD/LP (PMG)
Oyewole, probably the only musician to have ever played with Fela Kuti, Miles Davis, and Bob Marley, combined African highlife with western jazz, creating a smooth and funky hybrid. Me & You is a sophisticated showcase of Eji Oyewole’s chops, comprised of playful lines of seduction, assurance, and post-coital salutations.
Ed Palermo Big Band – Great Un-American Songbook Volumes I & II 2xCD (Cuneiform)
Crazy times call for outrageous music, and few jazz ensembles are better prepared to meet the surreality of this reality-TV-era than the antic and epically creative Ed Palermo Big Band. The New Jersey saxophonist, composer and arranger is best known for his celebrated performances interpreting the ingenious compositions of Frank Zappa, an extensive body of work documented on previous Cuneiform albums. But his fifth project for the label, The Great Un-American Songbook Volumes 1 & 2, is a love letter to the rockers who ruled the AM and FM airwaves in the 1960s via successive waves of the British Invasion.
Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Sub Pop)
Pissed Jeans have been making gnarly noise for 13 years, and on their fifth album, Why Love Now, the male-fronted quartet is taking aim at the mundane discomforts of modern life—from fetish webcams to office-supply deliveries. Their gutter-scraped amalgamation of sludge, punk, noise, and bracing wit make the band—frontman Matt Korvette, Brad Fry (guitar), Randy Huth (bass) and Sean McGuinness (drums)—a release valve for a world where absurdity seems in a constant battle trying to outdo itself. Take the grinding rave-up “The Bar Is Low,” which, according to Korvette, is “about how every guy seems to be revealing themselves as a shithead. It seems like every guy is getting outed, across every board of entertainment and politics and music. There’s no guy that isn’t a total creep.” The lyrics on Why Love Now are particularly pointed about gender relations and the minefield they present in 2016. “‘It’s Your Knees’ is about the endless, unrequested, commenting on if you’d f**k a girl. On “Love Without Emotion” Korvette channels Nick Cave’s guttural side while bemoaning his detachment over cavernous guitars. “Ignorecam” twists the idea of fetish cam shows— “where the woman just ignores you and watches TV or eats macaroni and cheese or talks on the phone”—into a showcase for Korvette’s rancid yelp and his bandmates’ pummeling rock.
Francis Poulenc/Colin McPhee/John Adams – Concerti III CD (Neos)
The GrauSchumacher Piano Duo’s performances of John Adams’s Grand Pianola Music (1982), Francis Poulenc’s Concerto en ré mineur (1932), and Colin McPhee’s Tabuh-Tabuhan (1936) — three pieces related to gamelan, minimalism, and parody.
Alasdair Roberts – Pangs CD/LP (Drag City)
Pangs finds Alasdair in a power trio beside his long-time musical partners Alex Neilson on drums and Stevie Jones on bass (and he turns his hand to piano and organ too). Along with guests Debbie Amour, Tom Crossley, Rafe Fitzpatrick and Jessica Kerr, they summon up a powerful—and powerfully gorgeous—storm over ten new songs.
Power Trip – Nightmare Logic CD/LP (Southern Lord)
Nightmare Logic is the second crushing, soul mangling, neck bustin’ album from these Texas hardcore thrashers. Power Trip’s raw energy, musical proficiency, perfect song structure, rich tones, fierce riffs, persecution, and collective attitude have seeded them as one of the most prolific underground staples in the US metal, punk, and hardcore scenes. [Limited red color vinyl pressing also available.]
Alan Rayman – Roadhouse 01 CD/LP (Communion)
Roadhouse 01 chronicles Allan’s retreat to an isolated cabin in the woods of Lost Springs, where he wrestles with his demons in the form of a rebellious alter ego, Mr. Roadhouse. It covers a lot of narrative territory, from the fluttery, vulnerable, hip-hop infused “Repeat” to the closing tracks on the album, where the antagonistic Mr. Roadhouse fully takes over. The album blends R&B, hip-hop, and folk influences with dark, seductive storytelling.
Reaping Asmodeia – Impuritize CD (Prosthetic)
“Reaping Asmodeia is one of those death metal bands who seem to tackle the modernspirit of the genre with aplomb. Their latest offering, Impuritize is electrifying, chock to the brim with gnarly solos, devastating technical riffs and a general sense of rock and roll nihilism that can’t help but to charm the listener as they delve ever deeper into he sonic firestorm that is this record. When it comes down to it, Reaping Asmodeia is a band who understand the modern death metal polemic and will smash it into your face.” – Two Guys Metal Reviews
Rebel Wizard – Triumph Of Gloom [2016] CD/LP (Prosthetic)
“…an electrifying, high-intensity collection of absolutely masterful riffs and scintillating lead guitar pyrotechnics, organized into songs that are powerfully addictive from the very first listen.” — No Clean Singing
Emma Ruth Rundle & Jaye Jayle – The Time Between Us CDEP/12”+MP3 (Sargent House)
New six-song split EP between Sargent House alum Emma Ruth Rundle (Red Sparowes, Marriages) and the label’s newest addition, Louisville’s Jaye Jayle (featuring Evan Patterson of Young Widows). The EP boasts three previously unreleased tracks from each artist. On the heels of her recently released and widely recognized third album, Marked For Death, Emma Ruth Rundle unveils a follow-up dose of brooding, melancholic rock draped in shimmering guitar and the breathy familiarity of her unmistakable voice. Though possessing a distinct Southern filter, Jaye Jayle’s stripped-back noir in fact owes more to Krautrock than the blues, while Evan Patterson’s baritone croon brings to mind Angels Of Light-era Michael Gira. Jaye Jayle unsurprisingly count Spacemen 3, Neu!, and Lungfish among their varied influences, while arriving at a sound wholly unusual in the American underground.
Joshua Sabin – Terminus Drift CD/LP (Subtext)
Scottish musician and artist based in Leith, Edinburgh, Joshua Sabin, presents his debut album Terminus Drift. The album explores humans’ relationship with environment and space and how this experience is augmenting us as we further embrace a digital age. It was composed exclusively of field-recordings captured in transit through Kyoto, Tokyo, and Berlin in addition to electromagnetic field recordings captured in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Sanctuary – Inception CD/LP+CD (Century Media)
Presumed lost 1986 studio recordings released for the first time.
Scientist – The Untouchable CD/LP (Dub Mir)
Scientist’s new album The Untouchable is a concept of reintroducing rhythms produced by Bunny Lee from the ’70s and some rhythms produce by The Scientist from the ’80s, by introducing some new school artists alongside the old school to preserve the power of dub reggae music. No matter where you are, this music has the power to cross borders, to soothe your heart and soul and make you feel alive.
Xaõ Seffcheque – Ja – Nein – Vielleicht / Kommt Sehr Gut: A Selection Of Electronic Beats 1980-82 CD/LP+CD (Bureau B)
Austrian national Xaõ Seffcheque was at the right place at the right time: Düsseldorf at the end of the ’70s was not only the nucleus of German punk, but it also enjoyed a fruitful symbiosis with the parallel development of a synthesizer-supported side-line. However, in historical retrospective, forty years after the punk big bang and 35 years after the electronic substitute-revolution in Germany, there is the question: What impact did Palais Schaumburg, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Liaisons Dangereuses or Der Plan expect from their music? Objet d’art? Material for archaeologists? Xaõ Seffcheque’s music was all that and more. This compilation focuses on his albums Sehr Gut Kommt Sehr Gut (1980) and Ja – Nein – Vielleicht (1981), plus unreleased tracks from 1982.
Shadow Band – Wilderness Of Love CD/LP (Mexican Summer)
Wilderness Of Love is the smoke-colored debut album by mystical prophets Shadow Band. The eleven songs here travel on a journey through lantern-lit psych-folk dirges and deathknell blues, the homespun production mirroring the low-lit environment in which the album was made. Mellow but godless, Shadow Band creates their own reality, reflecting on the embers of haunted dreams but moving ever forward through the dusk.
Sherwood & Pinch – Man Vs. Sofa CD/LP (On-U Sound)
Second collaborative album by legendary UK dub producer Adrian Sherwood and Bristol dubstep don Rob Ellis aka Pinch. Features guest appearances from Lee “Scratch” Perry, Martin Duffy (Primal Scream), Taz (Def Jam), and Skip McDonald (The Sugarhill Gang, Tackhead, Little Axe).
Sigha – Metabolism CD (Token)
James Shaw aka Sigha’s second album is a heady and inherently propulsive work, realized in a fashion more akin to high-fidelity sound design than processes traditionally associated with the techno genre, while incorporating emotive leads that sit squarely and comfortably in the foreground and build toward rapturous crescendos. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Pete Silberman – Impermanence CD/LP+MP3 (ANTI-)
While Impermanence is Peter Silberman’s first solo album, it could easily be thought of as a continuation of the emotional-spiritual odyssey begun through his work in The Antlers over the past decade. It travels some of the thornier terrain of the trio’s previous albums Hospice, Burst Apart, and Familiars, while carrying the conversation further down the path. What distinguishes Impermanence from its forebears can be attributed to an unexpected injury, as Silberman developed a hearing impairment in his left ear that resulted in a temporarily total hearing loss, extraordinarily loud tinnitus, and an excruciating sensitivity to everyday noises. “Writing Impermanence became my effort to meditate on what had happened, and grasp what it had taught me: about my mortality, compassion, and change. There’s no remedy for the unpredictable, and I want this record to reflect that, to offer an alternative way to think about changing circumstances” explains Silberman.
Six Feet Under – Torment CD (Metal Blade)
Six Feet Under return with their 12th studio album and a more aggressive approach, with even more modern blast beats throughout. [Vinyl edition due March 24.]
Six Organs Of Admittance – Burning The Threshold CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
In preparing for the first album of non-Hexadic Six Organs Of Admittance music since 2012’s Ascent, Ben Chasney had a think about what he’d be saying in his own tongue for the first time in a half-decade. As ever, a head-full of ideas were driving him to think and speak music as a spirituality superimposed onto a reality, with the ghosts of both whispering at each other. In the end, what sits in our listening ears is the sound of communion. Burning The Threshold brings a wealth of Six Organs-styled lightness into one of his sweetest musical meditations yet.
The Skatalites – Foundation Ska [Reissue/1997] 2xCD (Studio One)
An essential collection from one of the greatest Jamaican groups. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Skullflower – The Spirals Of Great Harm 2xCD (Cold Spring)
New sprawling double disc from the black noise classicists. “Hints and echoes of native keening, lush prog romanticism, and the charcoal textures of noise, but all subsumed within our alchemy, the unmistakable wellspring of sound that is Skullflower.”
So This Is Suffering – Palace For The Pessimist CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
New album from the California deathcore band.
Southern Avenue – Southern Avenue CD/LP+MP3 (Stax/Concord)
“Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the outstanding music cities of America. Southern Avenue runs from East Memphis due west, where it turns into E. McClemore Avenue, home of Soulsville, better known as Stax Records. This young Memphis group named themselves and their self-titled debut release, Southern Avenue, in a deliberate undertaking to continue and expand upon the soul, blues, and gospel tradition associated with this fabled city. Fronted by the vivacious and vigorous vocalist Tierinni Jackson, the band has the recognizable throwback sound of Stax, but also adds a distinctive contemporary essence, giving them a razor sharp modern identity. They open with the gospel rooted ‘Don’t Give Up,’ Jackson’s dominant voice displaying where she came from, and setting the direction for the album. She falls right into a southern soul groove on ‘What Did I Do,’ with solid backing by Naftaly’s tasty guitar licks, and Powell’s organ fills. Ann Peeble’s funky ‘Slipped, Tripped, and Fell In Love,’ is transformed with a renewed attitude, and is sure to be a popular dance number. This is a band that based on their collective talents and powerful live performances, is garnering an increasing audience base, and this record should catapult them into the international spotlight.” – All About Jazz
Wesley Stace – Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding CD/LP (Yep Roc)
With Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding, Wesley Stace wants everyone to know that he is the artist formerly known as John Wesley Harding. While he may have ‘broken up the band’ he is joined by The Jayhawks on his new album and together they deliver some fantastic songs.
Ralph Stanley – The Bottom Line Archive Series CD (Bottom Line)
The bluegrass legend live, from the archives of this fabled NYC venue.
Suicide Silence – Suicide Silence CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
Fifth studio album from the California heavy metal/deathcore band.
Summer Moon – With You Tonight CD/LP (Membran)
The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture takes a turn as frontman for underground supergroup Summer Moon. Fraiture is joined by Stephen Perkins (Jane’s Addiction) on drums, Camila Grey (Uh Huh Her) on keys/vocals, and Noah Harmon (The Airborne Toxic Event) on guitar. Album single “With You Tonigh” “sounds like the quartet have been sitting by azure seas, sipping cocktails from coconut shells… hints of New Order to its electro-funk undertones, alongside the sunny, trebly guitars of Men At Work’s ‘Down Under’ an odd, but brilliant, combination.” — NME
Sun Kil Moon – Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood CD (Caldo Verde)
Mark Kozelek’s new double album under his Sun Kil Moon alias was recorded with Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. “On Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood, he spends two hours and ten minutes saying whatever the f**k he wants, and he covers just about everything. That said, is it even possible to have a conversation about how the album sounds? It feels more like Facebook rants set to music than songwriting. But if I try, I’d say it sounds about as good as a lot of his recent material. His conversational, wearied voice and finger-picked guitar have moments that sound as pretty as anything on Benji.” – Brooklyn Vegan
Thundercat – Drunk CD (Brainfeeder)
Stephen Bruner aka Thundercat returns with his follow up to 2015s The Beyond / Where he Giants Roam. Produced by Flying Lotus, Drunk features vocal performances by Michael McDonald & Kenny Loggins, Kendrick Lamar, Wiz Khalifa and Pharrell. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Tiny Hazard – Greyland CD/LP (Ba Da Bing!)
Greyland, Tiny Hazard’s debut, is a raw, jagged treasure— a testament to the group’s masterful intuition for pop songs in chaos. This jagged, unpredictable, celestial music is filled with terrestrial pain.
Adam Torres – I Came To Sing The Song CDEP (Fat Possum)
Follow-up EP to the critically acclaimed 2016 debut Pearls To Swine which was included in NPR’s Bob Boilen’s Top 10 Albums of The Year. “Upon pressing play, your heart will be stirred, and you may begin to picture tumbleweeds blowing in your midst”—Stereogum. [Vinyl edition due March 10.]
Trepaneringsritualen – Deathward, To The Womb [Reissue/2012] CD (Cold Spring)
Trepaneringsritualen’s long out of print debut release, Deathward, To The Womb (2012) finally sees a proper reissue. Babalon was summoned at Winter Solstice 2015 under the sign of n, with assistance from Alone In The Hollow Garden, A.I.L of Arktau Eos, Michael Idehall, KzR of Bölzer, Nÿland ii of Hadewych, and Æther. Includes a specially commissioned ritual work entitled “I Remember When I Was God.”
Trollfest – Helluva CD (Noiseart)
the mad scientists have conjured up a veritable feast for your ears with a line-up including, but certainly not limited to, a full brass section, an old Norwegian jazz lady legend, synths, bouzoukis, vibraslaps, farm animals and absolutely no bag pipes.
Ulan Bator – Stereolith CD/LP+CD (Bureau B)
Ulan Bator, formed in Paris in 1993 by Amaury Cambuzat and Olivier Manchion, present their 12th album. Stereolith is a set of relatively short songs, resisting washed-out and contourless improvisation, with dream-like atmospheres, Michael Rother-like guitar work, and Popol Vuh-like synth vamps.
Unearthly Trance – Stalking The Ghost CD/LP (Relapse)
New York City’s esoteric sludge/doom/drone trio Unearthly Trance re-emerge from the shadows with their first record in over seven years.
Various Artists – Buried Alive!! Demented Teenage Fuzz From Down Under 1965-1970 6xCD (Particles)
First definitive collection devoted to Australasian 1960s beat, punk, and psych. A superb collection of rampant amphetamine fury, jammed tight with some of the most vile and repulsive ’60s delinquency ever assembled. This six-disc anthology culls together 150 long lost sounds of toxic, teenage rebellion from Australasia.
Various Artists [Joey Negro] – Electro: A Personal Selection Of Electro Classics 2xCD/2xLP (Zedd)
Joey Negro presents a snapshot of the edgier, robotic sounds of the emerging early ’80s electro scene. From stone-cold classics such as Hashim’s “Al Naafiysh (The Soul),” Tyrone Brunson’s “The Smurf” and Key-Matic’s “Breakin’ In Space,” to revered party anthem’s such as Aleem’s “Release Yourself (Dub),” Two Sisters’ “High Noon (Part 2)” and Dwayne Omarr’s “This Party’s Jam Packed,” to electro-oddities like Paul Hardcastle’s “Rain Forest” and The Packman’s “I’m The Packman”, Electro is a genuine labor of love and a timely reminder of the raw drum machine sounds that were soon to define the beginning of the house and techno scenes.
Various Artists – Exotic Blues & Rhythm Vol. 5 + 6 CD (Stag-O-Lee)
Various Artists – Exotic Blues & Rhythm Vol. 7 + 8 CD (Stag-O-Lee)
First time on CD. Volumes 5 through 8 of Stag-O-Lee’s Exotic Blues & Rhythm series were released on limited edition 10″ vinyl and quickly sold-out. Now compiled for CD, each set contains 24 danceable tunes from the late ’50s and early ’60s — a handful of popcorn dancefloor smashes, a few grinding tittyshakers, awesome rhythm & blues – most of them with an exotic twist.
Various Artists [Call Super] – Fabric 92 CD (Fabric)
Call Super, aka JR Seaton, presents a continuous mix for the 92nd installment of the Fabric’s mix series. In a few years, Call Super’s versatility has marked the London born DJ and producer as one of the brightest new lights on the electronic music landscape. His rise has been steady and remarkable, reinforced at every stage with music that draws on a panoply of influences. Features: Beatrice Dillon & Rupert Clervaux, M:I:5, Jan Jelinek, Dresvn, Objekt, Two Full Minds, Photek, Don’t DJ, Flanger, Carl Craig, Call Super, Marco Bernardi, Jega, Shanti Celeste, Bitstream, Bruce, Convextion, Karen Gwyer, Thomas Ankersmit & Valerio Tricoli, Walter Brown, Yves Tumor, Max Loderbauer, and Speng Bond.
Various Artists – The Hired Hands: A Tribute To Bruce Langhorne 2xCD (Scissor Tail Editions)
Compiled by Dylan Golden Aycock, Loren Connors, and Suzanne Langille, The Hired Hands is an homage to one of the greatest and most infamous guitarists alive, Bruce Langhorne. His music has influenced and touched a lot of lives over the years, either through his soundtrack work with Peter Fonda or his studio work in the 1960s as the go-to hired hand for Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Odetta, and many others. Browsing his Wikipedia page, one is informed of the volume of work he accomplished throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Scissor Tail Editions was lucky enough to release Langhorne’s score to Peter Fonda’s 1971 anti-western The Hired Hand on vinyl in 2012. Artists were asked to cover or reinterpret a song of their choice from the soundtrack. No rules were made on whether the music should be derivative of a certain song — if the soundtrack inspired a mood, then the artist could use their intuition. Langhorne has come on hard times in recent years, having suffered a stroke that prevents him from playing the guitar. A large percentage of the profits for this tribute go to Langhorne and his family.
Various Artists – Ins Offene: Klaviermusik der Moderne/Piano Music Of Modern Age CD (Neos)
Greek-German pianist and harpsichordist Andreas Skouras’s performances of pieces by Claude Debussy, Olivier Messiaen, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Toru Takemitsu, Sofia Gubaidulina, Arvo Pärt, and more. This presentation of piano works — not comprehensible in their respective conceptions and so widely differing in their respective aesthetics and styles — is, at the same time, a musically varied, richly contrasted, heterogeneous, and sensual journey into the piano music of modernism.
Various Artists – Synthesize The Soul: Astro-Atlantic Hypnotica From The Cape Verde Islands 1973-1988 CD/2xLP (Ostinato)
Through 18 diverse tracks, this compilation reveals how immigration from the Cape Verde Islands to Europe and the United States gave us an alternate history of the electronic music that dominated hearts and minds across the world in the late 1990s. But the story doesn’t start in a major Western cultural hub, rather in the small cluster of islands 400 miles off the Senegalese coast, and offers an unparalleled insight into the long-term cultural splendor catalyzed by migration.
Leif Vollebekk – Twin Solitude CD/LP (Secret City)
Leif Vollebekk, the Montreal singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist had hit a wall. In the midst of endless touring Leif found himself retreating to his lonely hotel rooms after shows and listening to Nick Drake’s Pink Moon alone in the dark. His own songs didn’t sound right and he felt the bright spots in his sets were the covers he’d end with: songs by Ray Charles or Townes Van Zandt. In this deep blue mood he booked a secret show at a Montreal dive bar, only playing covers with a band that rehearsed once. The experience led Leif to change his approach to songwriting: explore the ideas that came spontaneously to him, and let the songs shape themselves. Soon the songs came pouring out of him. This approach is what created the lush, freewheeling and often devastating Twin Solitude. Leif’s third album, features 10 delicate and expansive original songs, with lyrics that pour out of this singer songwriter that are often compared to Jeff Buckley. Leif’s words lay on a bed of elastic instrumentation full of piano, synthesizer, guitar, rich electric bass and strings.
Porter Wagoner – I Wonder Where You Are Tonight CD (Southern Routes)
Porter Wagoner, one of the Grand Ole Opry’s most enduring stars, excelled at combining country’s musical traditions with riveting stories of contemporary reality. Wagoner’s ease with emotional extremes, whether in a sentimental recitation or, intense drinking and cheating songs, was remarkable. A superb entertainer noted for his unusual, wildly creative series of themed concept albums and eye-popping rhinestone encrusted stage wear, Wagoner was one country’s greatest forces. I Wonder Where You Are Tonight collects 29 tracks.
Cedar Walton – Charmed Circle: Live At The Keystone Korner CD (HighNote)
Cedar Walton remains one of the big names in jazz piano, having started near the beginning of the second wave of the jazz era, when bebop brought a new emphasis to star improvisers. In the 1950s and early ’60s Walton hobnobbed with Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie, played with Art Blakey and John Coltrane and developed his own hard-bop and post-bop style. In following decades, he switched to funk fusion and back to bop and recorded more than 60 albums as a leader. In the mid-’60s and ’70s he worked with Abbey Lincoln, Art Farmer, Hank Mobley and many more. He also did electric funk fusion with his groups Mobius and Soundscapes. These live recordings capture Cedar and a hand-picked group of colleagues live in concert at the famed San Francisco jazz club, the Keystone Korner.
Aaron Watson – Vaquero CD (Big Ride)
New release from indie country artist Aaron Watson. Described as “intensely reflective and personal set of songs filled with compelling narratives,” the album features 16 songs, all of which were written or co-written by the country singer, including his current single, “Outta Style.” The album also includes tracks like “Big Love in a Small Town,” “Amen Amigo” — which portrays an authentic view of life in Texas (Watson hails from Amarillo) — and “Diamonds & Daughters,” which has the singer opening up about his daughter.
Michael Whalen – Dream Cycle CD (Valley)
Using a combination of state-of-the-art ambient sounds, vocalists and beautiful melodies, artist/producer Michael Whalen combines well-known music with and his own gorgeous compositions.
The White Screen – The White Screen CD/LP (Garzen)
The White Screen, the kings of trash/glam/rock n’ roll, are re-inventing sex and lust in music. The two cousins, Gabriel and Gilbert Broid, are known as extra wild performers, and their shows already have a cult status in Israel with a large following of youngsters coming to every show and dressing as weird and wild as the band — they look almost like a cult of white zombies.
Wild Pink – Wild Pink CD (Tiny Engines)
Wild Pink released their debut EP, Good Life, in the Summer of 2015. It was a brief but memorable introduction to the band’s brand of introspective indie pop/rock. After numerous tours in support of Good Life the band hunkered down with Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Speedy Ortiz, Kindling, Sweet John Bloom) to record new songs.
Brenton Wood – The Very Best Of CD (The Bicycle Music Company)
The Very Best Of charts Brenton Wood’s prolific time for Double Shot Records — from his worldwide pop hits “The Oogum Boogum Song,” “Gimme Little Sign” and “Baby You Got It” — to the classic “dedicated to you” ballads “Me And You” and “I Like The Way You Love Me,” all the way to his deep soul gem “Diamonds” and his classic Sam Cooke cover “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
Xiu Xiu – Forget CD/LP+MP3 (Polyvinyl)
While writing Forget, Xiu Xiu released the lauded Plays The Music Of Twin Peaks, collaborated with Mitski on a song for an upcoming John Cameron Mitchell film, and scored an experimental reworking of the Mozart opera, The Magic Flute. All of this frantic, external activity lead to a softly damaged dreaminess and broadened intent that has not been heard before in other Xiu Xiu works. Standout track, “Wondering” is one of the catchiest boogie pop gems in the Xiu Xiu catalog, but like much of Forget, it still bears an underlying tension that manifests differently in each piece. [Limited light blue color vinyl pressing also available.]
Zeal & Ardor – Devil Is Fine CD (MVKA Music)
Imagine this: Tarantino’s Django sacrifices a goat on stage while intimidating slave chants roar and screeching guitar riffs burn in the background. Then the rhythmic chain rattling evoking a satanic summoning makes way for the eerily familiar melodies of Norwegian black metal. This genre mix that has been garnering attention online since April 2016 belongs to Zeal & Ardor.
John Zorn – The Garden Of Earthly Delights CD (Tzadik)
The sixth CD by Zorn’s heaviest 21st century ensemble Simulacrum celebrates the 500th anniversary of the passing of one of the greatest painters the world has ever known—Hieronymus Bosch. Inspired by his surreal visions of Heaven and Hell, The Garden Of Earthly Delights blends heavy metal, blues, funk, jazz and modern classical music together into one of the strangest amalgams you’ve ever heard. Tighter than ever and joined by bassist Trevor Dunn, Medeski, Hollenberg and Grohowski are at their manic best in this jaw-dropping visit to a wild musical world where absolutely anything is possible.
Tappa Zukie – Dub Em Zukie (Rare Dubs 1976-1979) [Reissue/2003] CD (Jamaican Recordings)
Tapper Zukie (born David Sinclair, 1955, Kingston, Jamaica) actually cut his first record in England, after being sent there at age 17. He was breaking from his troublesome past that found him running with the rough crowd on the streets of Kingston. Upon his arrival in sunny Ladbroke Grove, producer Bunny Lee called him up on stage at a local dance to sing a tune. Impressed with the results, fellow producer Larry Lawrence got the young Tappa in the studio the very next day and cut “Jump And Twist.” This led to Zukie’s acclaimed 1973 debut album, Man Ah Warrior, but he remained somewhat disillusioned and homesick and he returned to Jamaica shortly after recording the LP. Dub Em Zukie (Rare Dubs 1976-1979) collects some great lost treasures and alternate cuts from some of Tappa’s better-known releases from the period after his debut.
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Giorgio Netti – Ciclo del Ritorno DVD (Neos)
One could describe Italian composer Giorgio Netti’s Ciclo del Ritorno for viola solo as a small odyssey of breathing, becoming acoustically transformed from the body, to space into the body, to material and body, to an instrument of tradition. It narrates a journey and return carrying on the tradition of the νόστοι (the poems of the Iliad, describing the return of the Greeks to their homeland after the conquest of Troy), whereby the viola assumes the role of the narrator, simultaneously serving as a narrating voice and the location of the journey; the expanded acoustical space as a slow return to the instrument, as separation and rebirth. Performed by Anna Spina, viola, with Benoît Piccand, sound director.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
Maya Angelou – Miss Calypso [Reissue/1956] LP+MP3 (Cornbread)
At age 28, prior to her fame as a poet and author, Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson) was performing modern dance and singing calypso tunes in San Francisco nightclubs. Harry Belafonte had just hit the big time and made calypso a household name, and Angelou followed suit in 1956 with a record of her own, her first and only attempt to hit the big time in the music business. By 1959 she had moved to NYC and joined the Harlem Writers Guild and the rest, as they say, is history. That, however, is not to dismiss this record as merely a footnote in her history, it is in fact a fine piece of exotica, a killer LP of pop calypso that should appeal not only to fans of her writing and lovers of ’50s kitsch exotica, but calypso fans in general. 180gm.
Arabesque – Why No Reply [Reissue/1982] LP (Mirumir)
Arabesque – Loser Pays The Piper [Reissue/1983] LP (Mirumir)
Arabesque – Time To Say Goodbye [Reissue/1984] LP (Mirumir)
The seventh, eighth and ninth albums by the legendary German disco trio, each originally released for the Japanese market only. These deluxe reissues contain full-color booklets with lyrics and rare photos, packed in silver foil sleeves.
Albert Ayler Quartet – The Hilversum Sessions [Reissue/1980] LP (Modern Silence)
“Recorded in the Dutch city of Hilversum, The Hilversum Sessions presents Albert Ayler in all his blowzy, testifying glory, fronting a quartet that includes trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Gary Peacock, and drummer Sunny Murray. The repertoire includes five Ayler originals, notably his signature tunes ‘Angels,’ ‘Ghosts,’ and ‘Spirits.’ It’s easy to forget how starkly original Ayler was, given the untold number of contemporary free saxophonists who’ve built entire concepts around his sax style. This album is a welcome reminder. Imitators adopt surface characteristics of Ayler’s music – manifested mostly in the use of certain ‘extended’ techniques – but very few capture the subtlety of which he was capable: the contrasts of dynamics, articulation, vibrato, register and phrasing; the sense of drama as a solo unfolds. Obviously, he’s in collegial company here. However misused his example has been by lesser musicians, this music retains an everlasting power.” — Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes
Big Maybelle – Blues, Candy And Big Maybelle [Reissue/1958] LP+MP3 (Cornbread)
The inimitable Big Maybelle, born, Mabel Louise Smith, had worked for nearly two decades in the music business before even releasing her first single, “Gabbin’ Blues” in 1952, although, to be fair, she started at the age of 12. The 1958 LP Blues, Candy And Big Maybelle, collects singles from the mid- ‘50s on, including one of her biggest hits, “Candy.” Includes two bonus tracks.
Andrew Bird – & The Mysterious Production Of Eggs [Reissue/2005] LP (Wegawam)
Chicago singer/songwriter/violinist Andrew Bird updates the traditions of small-group swing, German lieder, and New Orleans jazz, mixing Gypsy, folk, and rock elements into his distinctive style. His 2005 album (originally issued on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe label) is back in print on vinyl.
The Tommy Bolin Band – Northern Lights – Live 9/22/76 LP (Friday Music)
As Tommy Bolin was really building himself and his new band The Tommy Bolin Band into new and exciting territory, Bolin was able to capture a lot of his live and studio workings into the rare collective known as The Tommy Bolin Archives, Inc. which precedes this first time vinyl release of his amazing 1976 Boston concert Northern Lights (previously released on CD in 1996).
Victor Assis Brasil – Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim [Reissue/1970) LP (Far Out Recordings)
Victor recorded Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim in the summer of 1970, a time in Brazil when the smooth n’ easy groove of the bossa beat no longer reflected the inflamed politics of a military dictatorship. He morphed Antonio Carlos Jobim’s soothing originals into raw, deep jazz cuts, finding a meeting point for Latin jazz and North American post-bop.
The Business – Keep The Faith [Reissue/1994] LP (Beat Generation)
13 hymns of street punk with lyrics about football, alcohol, drunken nights out and others dedicated to Maradona or Kurt Cobain.
Cam – Untamed [2015] LP (Arista)
Limited yellow color vinyl LP pressing of the 2015 release from the country/pop singer/songwriter.
Evan Caminiti – Toxic City Music LP+MP3 (Dust Editions)
NYC based artist Evan Caminiti (Barn Owl) has explored electro-acoustic music since the mid 2000’s, the latest transmission being 2015’s Meridian. While that album was Caminiti’s first to omit electric guitar, he has now returned to the instrument. Here it is buried it in an electronic mist and melted down, its sonic fabric reshaped. Guests include Jefre Cantu-Ledesma and Rafael Anton Irisarri. Limited edition transparent blue color vinyl pressing also available.
Stelvio Cipriani – UST 7013 [1976] LP (Sonor Music Editions)
“Stelvio Cipriani whipped up this lovely little session in 1976, and it is full of treats. The general vibe of UST 7013 (you know it’s a proper library music LP when it doesn’t have a proper title) is sweeping cinematic themes tempered with groovy beats, but a weird and wonderful surprise version of Iron Butterfly’s ‘In A Gadda Vida’ also pops up.” – Norman UK
Circa Survive – On Letting Go: Deluxe Ten Year Edition LP (Equal Vision)
Equal Vision Records’ alumni artist Circa Survive present a deluxe 10 year anniversary edition of their sophomore album. It was originally released in May 2007 and produced by Brian McTernan at Salad Days Studio, as the follow-up to their 2005 debut Juturna.
Clap! Clap! – A Thousand Skies 2xLP (Black Acre)
Bringing together disparate inspirations and styles onto the dancefloor of his mind, A Thousand Skies sees Clap! Clap! create a high energy and inventive kaleidoscopic fusion of sound drawing on the traditional global rhythms of the old world, hip hop, footwork, UK bass and house.
Dadisi Komolafe – Hassan’s Walk [Reissue/1983] LP (PMG)
This modal to slightly free jazz outfit from California takes the listener on a journey back to the late ’60s and very early ’70s, into the spiritual realms of greats like John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, John McLaughlin, and Miles Davis. Soul-jazz of the light-footed yet highly energetic kind, and bits and pieces you can relate to Latin music meet each other on this battlefield of sounds and melodies.
Mark Dagley – Collected Works 1978-2016 LP (Feeding Tube)
Collected Works, the second album issued under Mark Dagley’s own name, spans 40 years of work and strange invention and ranges from experimental blues explosions for solo guitar to drone-oriented electronics, transcriptions for a mechanical music box, and splutzo no wave.
Dagley, although largely focusing on his visual art for the last many years, was a musician who was a part of The Girls, Hi Sheriffs Of Blue, and Marianne Nowottny.
Dead Body Love/Atrax Morgue – Dead Body Love/Atrax Morgue [1995] LP (Urashima)
Dead Body Love reflect the vivisected lines and layers of crumbling, throbbing, cracking and creaking sound Italian harsh noise. The Italian project Atrax Morgue offers fearsome concentration and jarring meditation on lines of warbling and predatory analog synth work.
Dead 27s – Ghosts Are Calling LP (Red Parlor)
Released last September on CD – now available on vinyl. Charleston, SC band Dead 27s’ debut LP brilliantly infuses elements of rock & roll and classic soul with raw energy and refined musicality.
Disturbed – Live At Red Rocks 2xLP (Reprise)
Released last November on CD – now available on vinyl. Live At Red Rocks captures Disturbed’s August 15, 2016 show at the Colorado amphitheater where the band stopped during their tour in support of Immortalized.
DNCE – DNCE LP (Republic)
Released last November on CD – now available on vinyl. Assembled by frontman Joe Jonas in the summer of 2015, DNCE’s all-star bandmates include bassist and keyboardist Cole Whittle, who co-founded the band Semi Precious Weapons, South Korean bred guitarist JinJoo, who has toured with the Jonas Brothers, Charli XCX, and CeeLo Green, and drummer Jack Lawless, who has previously joined the Jonas Brothers, Night Terrors of 1927, and Soft Swells on the road.
Marcel Duchamp – The Entire Musical Work Of Marcel Duchamp [Reissue/1976] LP (Song Cycle)
A collection of experimental pieces composed in 1913 by the legendary artist, and executed by Petr Kotik and the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1976. Employing chance operations and non-musical sounds, Marcel Duchamp’s musical oeuvre predated some radical concepts developed forty years later by John Cage. 180gm.
Edwige – Edwige [2008] LP (Urashima)
’90s rough American style, harsh noise worship inspired by an “obsession” with Eurotrash actress Edwige Fenech translated into layers of pummeling abrasive sound.
Duke Ellington And His Orchestra – Jazz Party [Reissue/1959] LP (Acoustic Sounds)
200gm LP remastered edition. You want Duke and his men at their best, this is it. Dizzy’s spectacular trumpet blooms amidst the Ellingtonian aggregate. The sometimes tender, sometimes shouting blues style of Jimmy Rushing provides nice contrast in one of the most varied and satisfying Ellington recordings.
Lupe Fiasco – DROGAS Light 2xLP (1st & 15th Prod.)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “After recently declaring his retirement from music, Lupe Fiasco has announced a new album DROGAS Light. Last year, Lupe announced plans to release a trilogy of albums in 2016 (including one titled Drogas) which he later retracted, due to ‘clearance and mixing issues.’ He later released a track called ‘Made in America,’ reportedly from an album called Drogas Light slated to be released ‘at the top of 2017.’ His plans seemed to come to a halt when a lyric in a new song ‘N.E.R.D.’ sparked anti-semitism claims among listeners. After defending the track vigorously on Twitter, Lupe announced his decision to retire from music: ‘Yo Lupe fans it’s been fun and I hope you’ve had fun,’ he wrote, ‘I’m officially not releasing anymore music. Albums cancelled.’ Following his remarks, he briefly set his Twitter to private before engaging in debates with the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. His recently declared retirement ends February 10.” – Pitchfork
Foudre! – Earth LP (Gizeh)
Earth is the third opus of Foudre! – a telluric drone quartet composed of Frédéric D. Oberland (Oiseaux-Tempête, The Rustle Of The Stars, Farewell Poetry), Romain Barbot (Saåad, I Pilot Dæmon), Grégory Buffier (Saåad, Autrenoir), Paul Régimbeau (Mondkopf, Extreme Precautions, Autrenoir), featuring electric chimeras by Christine Ott on ondes martenot. Limited edition electric blue color vinyl pressing.
Gailes – Seventeen Words LP (Ba Da Bing!)
While they’ve released records on their own, and even collaborated in the past (Orcas), Rafael Anton Irisarri and Benoit Pioulard have never made music quite like they do with Gailes. This is a pure winter doldrums soundtrack, when the stillness after a snowstorm ends elongates into deep contemplation.
Glory – The 12” 12” (Triple B)
Positive energy expressed through harsh reality: this is where Glory takes a stand. Blazing through nine minutes of uncompromised power and uniting anthems, each track exemplifies the perfectly refined tradition of hardcore music.
Half Waif – Form/A 12” (Cascine)
The brainchild of singer-songwriter Nandi Rose Plunkett is a exploration into adult-orientated pop that carries with it a self-awareness and finely-tuned approach to lyrical craft. The tunes are deceptively simple, and as textures progress through the sequence so does the depths that are uncovered.
George Harrison – Wonderwall Music [Reissue/1968] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Electronic Sound [Reissue/1969] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – All Things Must Pass [Reissue/1970] 3xLP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Living In The Material World [Reissue/1973] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Dark Horse [Reissue/1974] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Extra Texture (Read All About It) [Reissue/1975] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Thirty Three & 1/3 [Reissue/1976] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – George Harrison [Reissue/1979] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Somewhere In England [Reissue/1981] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Gone Tropo [Reissue/1982] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Cloud 9 [Reissue/1987] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Live In Japan [Reissue/1989] 2xLP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Brainwashed [Reissue/2002] LP (Capitol)
George Harrison – Vinyl Collection 18xLP (Capitol)
180gm vinyl reissues now available. (The Vinyl Collection box set features all of George Harrison’s solo studio albums in one collection for the first time to commemorate the musician’s birthday.)
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – At Home With Screamin’ Jay Hawkins [Reissue/1958] LP+MP3 (Cornbread)
By far one of the most outrageous performers of the early years of rock, prone to emerging from coffins on stage, with a flaming skull named Henry as his constant companion, Screamin’ Jay was an insanely theatrical figure long before it was even remotely acceptable. His 1958 debut, At Home, featuring his legendary “I Put A Spell On You,” along with surreal hits like “Hong Kong,” “Take Me Back To The Boot And Saddle,” or his wild-ass reinventions of old standards like “I Love Paris” and “Deep Purple” is a carefully arranged yet gritty, Ray Charles-gone-crazy styled, full band R&B masterpiece, filled with enough howls and groans to send chills down your spine. 180gm.
Holy Motors – Sleeprydr b/w Descending 7” (Wharf Cat)
For the uninitiated, Holy Motors sound lies somewhere between the soundtrack to a non-existent movie and the wind with a vibrato. In their time, Holy Motors have played alongside Craft Spells, Sic Alps, and Dirty Fences and lent their music to of Jim Jarmusch for his film Mystery Train.
Indirect meets Nikolaienko – Ode To The Sea LP (Muscut)
Freeform ensemble Indirect and Kiev-based sound artist, DJ, and Muscut founder Dmytro Nikolaienko present an homage to the Soviet heritage of jazz experimentation, library music, sentimental soundtracks, and space-age soundscapes.
Wanda Jackson – Rockin’ With Wanda! [Reissue/1962] LP+MP3 (Cornbread)
This compilation is the definitive collection of Wanda Jackson’s rocking, rockabilly sides. Featuring her finest singles, including “Fujiyama Mama,” “Mean Mean Man,” and “Hot Dog! That Made Him Mad,” this is Wanda at her lascivious, snarling best. Often referred to as The Queen Of Rockabilly if ever there was a need to prove that title for Wanda Jackson, this compilation is Exhibit A. Includes four bonus tracks. 180gm.
Kassel Jaeger/Jim O’Rourke – Wakes On Cerulean LP (Editions Mego)
Timely outing from two grand masters of exploratory electronics. Kassel Jaeger is the moniker of French musician François Bonnet who works at the GRM and has released a number of books including the highly regarded The Order Of Sounds, A Sonorous Archipelago published by Urbanomic in 2016. Jim O’Rourke is known to most through his explorations of the song and shapes, the high and low, the east and south. Wakes On Cerulean is a joint adventure where process folds upon process and the operation of procedure remains unknown. Leaps in technique lay out a thrilling and uplifting journey that runs from the soothing to ecstatic and back to the buoyant again.
Kink Gong – Imer Zeillos LP (Discrepant)
Imer Zeillos is another unique document of Laurent Jeanneau’s collection of surreal soundscapes of augmented field recordings, this time using two very different source recordings to create his own unique brand of alien music. Using contact mic recordings of various Turkish instruments — saz, cura, and tanbur (played by Remi Solliez) — Jeanneau alchemically collages them with his archival recordings of South East Asia to create a surreal space between the instrument’s tones and resonances with the other-worldly beauty of the field recordings.
Christina Kubisch / Fabrizio Plessi – Two And Two [Reissue/1976] LP (Song Cycle)
180gm vinyl reissue of Two And Two, the outcome of the ambitious research developed by Christina Kubisch and Fabrizio Plessi, originally released in 1976. Two And Two was a collaborative effort towards the merging of visual and sound elements into a new form of intermedia. Influenced by the aesthetics of Fluxus, the duo produced a highly complex and articulated performance, involving two camera operators and several video screens, as well as a variety of objects and unconventional instruments — such as an electric vibrator, a Swanee whistle, a ventilator, an electronic metronome, and a water jet on a steel drum. The result is structured into four parts, inspired by the natural elements, in which single instruments lose their different sonic characteristics, becoming inseparable parts of a unique visual/acoustic process.
Jed Kurzel – Assassin’s Creed [Original Motion Picture Score] 2xLP (Verve)
Kurzel’s score also features a new track from 3D & Young Fathers.
Le Villejuif Underground – Heavy Black Matter 7” (Born Bad)
Nathan Roche is a poet and musician from Townsville, Australia, whose music brings to mind Lou Reed, Kevin Ayers, and early Brian Eno. Following stints in numerous Australian bands and three solo albums released from 2013-2015, Roche formed Le Villejuif Underground with local musicians in Villejuif, France, where he is based at the time of this release.
Marianas Trench – Fix Me [/Reissue/2006] LP (604)
Limited 180gm picture disc vinyl LP pressing of the Canadian Alt-Rock/Emo band’s 2006 album comes in a gatefold sleeve and includes a free digital download.
Charles Mingus/Max Roach/Eric Dolphy/Roy Eldridge/Jo Jones – Newport Rebels [Reissue/1960] LP+MP3 (Cornbread)
Led by Charles Mingus and Max Roach, this 1960 recording was made, in some regard, in protest. Growing increasingly annoyed by the booking policy of the Newport Jazz Festival, which he found to be too conservative and lacking in foresight, Mingus formed this group with such future leaning artists as Eric Dolphy and Max Roach, and the vocalist Abbey Lincoln. Recorded over only two sessions at New York’s Nola Penthouse Studios, this Newport Rebels group put together a fine piece of post-bop that, despite its rather bitter beginnings, deserves to be more well-known. 180gm.
Modern Baseball – The Perfect Cast [2015] 12” (Lame-O)
Lame-O Records reissues witty indie-pop Philadelphia, PA band Modern Baseball’s sweeping 6-track 2015 EP “It’s indie/emo with a sharp, melodic rock twist and deviates just enough to hype their buzz” – Punknews.org. [Multiple color vinyl pressings also available.]
Jon Mueller – dHrAaNwDn 2xLP (Rhythmplex)
On May 23, 2016, Jon Mueller played four drums for over six hours in the Meeting House at the Shaker Historical Society in Albany, NY. Engineer Fred Weaver traveled by truck from Pennsylvania, hauling and then constructing a complete mobile recording studio to record the drums and the intense acoustics of the room by placing microphones throughout the space. dHrAaNwDn (read as ‘hand drawn’) offers a partial document of this session, featuring various long-form pieces from the day.
Open City – Open City LP (Open City)
Open City is a project embedded with histories — people, places, sounds, scenes. Bringing together collective decades of experience in East Coast punk and DIY communities, specifically ones known for prying open the melodic sides of punk rock, hardcore and post-punk, the project is: singer and lyricist Rachel Rubino (Bridge And Tunnel, Worriers), bassist Andy Nelson (Paint It Black, Ceremony, Dark Blue), guitarist Dan Yemin (Paint It Black, Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Armalite), and drummer Chris Wilson (Ted Leo & The Pharmacists).
Orquesta Del Desierto – Dos [2003] LP (Spin On Black)
First time on vinyl. Upon its initial release, Dos left an impressive mark on the concept of desert rock with its sea of drop-tuned, fuzzed-out guitars.
Ramones – WBUF FM Broadcast, Buffalo, NY, February 8th 1979 LP (Keyhole)
Outstanding performance by The Ramones was taped for radio broadcast in Buffalo, New York, on February 8, 1979, shortly after Marky Ramone joined the band. It captures New York’s punk pioneers at the peak of their powers, tearing through many of their most renowned songs in typically energetic style. Available for the first time on picture disc vinyl.
The Rita – The Lilac Fairy 2xLP (Urashima)
Assembling a fantasy woman, The Rita present The Lilac Fairy, an apex of fixation on the dancer’s body, the ritualized construction of a garment. Within the abstraction of harsh noise, The Rita simultaneously brings to life and annihilates the total fetish object, and in this performance of gestures she is elevated to the realm of non-objectivity.
Arthur Russell – “Instrumentals” 2xLP+MP3 (Audika)
Before disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur Russell wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College Of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory Of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School Of Music. Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed Instrumentals in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, “I was awakened, or re-awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music.” Initially intended to be performed in one 48-hour cycle, Instrumentals was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress. The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen (1975 and 1978) and Franklin St. Arts Center (1977) feature the cream of that eras downtown new music scene including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Julius Eastman, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Garrett List, Andy Paley, Bill Ruyle, Dave Van Tieghem, and Peter Zummo. “Instrumentals” Vol. 2 is a moving, deeply pastoral work performed by the CETA Orchestra and conducted by Julius Eastman.
Ed Sanders – Yiddish Speaking Socialists Of The Lower East Side 10” (Okraina)
Yiddish-Speaking Socialists Of The Lower East Side by Ed Sanders (b. 1939), founder of the mythical Fugs in 1964 and also a writer, publisher, activist, etc., is an epic piece of almost 18 minutes in length, a vocal setting of a dense and reasoned text that runs to eight typed pages, 1400 words, 8500 characters. First issued on cassette in 1991 by the label Hyperaction P.C.C., the piece recalls an almost fifty-year history of Jewish militancy in New York by poetic means – combining historical scholarship, emotion and clarity, the echoes of the past found in the present: of the pogroms and escape from Eastern Europe in the 1880s up to the death of Meyer London, the Socialist member of Congress, in 1926 (not overlooking exile, the crossing of the Atlantic, arrival at Ellis Island, back-breaking work in the sweatshops, the creation of political parties and trade unions, the outbreak of the First World War – the rupture in the narrative caused by this is marked here by the passage from the A-side to the B-side of the record).
Conrad Schnitzler/Pole – Con-Struct LP+CD (Bureau B)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Pole, the Düsseldorf-native musician Stefan Betke, takes part in the Con-Struct series. Jens Strüver’s Con-Struct series started from the idea of “con-structing” new compositions, not remixes, from the archived material of Conrad Schnitzler.
Soundtrack – Easy Rider [Reissue/1969] LP (MVD Audio)
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack reissued on clear vinyl. Includes classic tracks from Steppenwolf, Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds and more.
Superpitcher – The Golden Ravedays 2 LP+MP3 (Hippie Dance)
Superpitcher’s third full-length studio album The Golden Ravedays (which is being released over 12 LPs in series) is an autobiography that exhibits the skill, feeling, and depth of style that the artist has honed since the mid-’90s, musically, and for his whole life, emotionally.
- Tical – Impact: Synthesized Sound And Music [Reissue/1971] LP (Intervallo)
From the very first second, Impact: Synthesized Sound And Music is a difficult, icy release, embracing many cornerstones of what would become known as industrial music. These 16 sonic experiments are totally devoted to VCS3 synthesizers, which are the main architects of whirling escapes, white noise, and sonic landscapes in the mood of early Warp releases.
Tower Of Power – Live & In Living Color [Reissue/1976] LP (Friday Music)
Limited audiophile 180gm 40th anniversary vinyl repress. Recorded at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium and Cerritos College, Live & In Living Color features some of the soul band’s biggest hits (“Down To The Nightclub (Bump City),” “You’re Still A Young Man,” “What Is Hip?”) and some gems from their debut album East Bay Grease (“Knock Yourself Out,” “Sparkling In The Sand”).
Various Artists – Fluxus Anthology: A Collection Of Music And Sound Events [Reissue/1989] LP (Song Cycle)
Fluxus was a collaborative movement of artists that worked across the diverse artistic mediums of performance, music, dance, poetry, photography, architecture, painting, sculpture, and film during the 1960s. Emerging in New York City, and spreading to Europe and Japan, Fluxus was led by recognized artists such as George Maciunas, Yoko Ono, Joseph Beuys, Nam June Paik, La Monte Young, and John Cage. Fluxus Anthology is a collection of works created by these visionary artists, featuring works by: Walter Marchetti, Juan Hidalgo, La Monte Young, Ben Vautier, Wolf Vostell, Milan Knizák, Robert Filliou, Alison Knowles, Emmett Williams, John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Yoko Ono, Dick Higgins, Philip Corner, Eric Andersen, Robert Watts, and Ken Friedman. Released in collaboration with Maurizio Nannucci. Clear 180gm vinyl pressing.
Various Artists – La Natura E L’Uomo [Reissue/1973] LP (Intervallo)
Intervallo’s third reissue in the incredible series of nature-themed libraries originally released in the first half of the ’70s by Cardium, Chic, Nereide, Musical, Rhombus, Spring, and Weekend labels. Real hardcore collector items which gave birth to a small cult during the last four decades. La Natura E L’Uomo, (Italian for “nature and mankind”), first came out in 1973; despite being part of the same series as Biologia Marina (1973) and Ittiologia (1973) (part of Intervallo’s reissue series), it is actually a different affair, in which the avant-garde urge partly leaves room for sweeter, acoustic atmospheres.
Various Artists – Magnetband: Experimenteller Elektronik-Underground DDR 1984-1989 LP (Bureau B)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. A compilation of cassette music from East Germany which was inspired by punk and post punk and dedicated to independent self-actualization by means of self-distributed cassettes.
Various Artists – Oz Waves LP (Efficient Space)
Efficient Space continue to expose Australia’s esoteric musical history with Oz Waves—a collection of ’80s DIY recordings, compiled by odd wave anthropologist Steele Bonus. Definitive proof that inhabitants of the Down Underground were links in a global network of creative kooks, Oz Waves connects those who utilized mobile recording rigs and small press releases to create and disseminate misfit synth-punk, tape loop experiments and inner city pop.
Watain – Casus Luciferi [Reissue/2003] 2xLP (Season Of Mist)
Limited edition red color vinyl pressing of the Swedish black metal band’s second album.
Mike Watt – “Hyphenated-Man” [2011] LP (ORG Music)
Limited edition white vinyl pressing. Hyphenated-Man features thirty songs in 47 minutes with Watt on bass, his deep baritone singing melodies and reciting spoken word while the
Missingmen (Raul Morales and Tom Watson) wail on drums and guitar.
The Who – My Generation [Reissue/1966] 3xLP (Geffen)
Triple-LP deluxe vinyl version of The Who’s classic debut album. Disc One features the Original LP in Mono Mixes, Disc Two features bonus tracks in mono, and Disc Three features demos from the album sessions. Released in the US in 1966 under the title The Who Sings My Generation, the album features the singles “My Generation,” “A Legal Matter,” “The Kids Are Alright,” “The Ox,” and “La-La-La-Lies.”
Barney Wilen – Moshi [Reissue/1972] 2xLP+DVD (Souffle Continu)
Deluxe remastered reissue of Barney Wilen’s 1972 album Moshi, featuring additional artwork and a 20-page booklet of rare pictures, sheet music, and the original liner notes. Includes a bonus DVD (packaged with exclusive artwork) of Caroline de Bendern’s 1971 film à l’intention de Mlle Issoufou à Bilma, documenting this amazing African journey. “A dark, eccentric effort fusing avant jazz sensibilities with African rhythms, ambient sound effects, and melodies rooted in American blues traditions … this is music with few precedents or followers.” — Jason Ankeny, AllMusic
Zig-Zags – Ripping Death b/w Riddle Of Steel 7” (Famous Class)
The Los Angeles punk cretins are back on wax with a new single.
Cassettes:
All Them Witches – Sleeping Through The War (New West)
“Carrying a reputation for following instinct over calculation, All Them Witches lunge into the young year wielding Sleeping Through The War, a record that potently concentrates all that the band pull up from their well of heavy Americana.” – The Line Of Best Fit
Dude York – Sincerely (Hardly Art)
The Seattle-based trio Dude York arrive with an album that couches its themes of anxiety and eroding mental health in rock tracks that amp up the sweetly melodic crunch of power pop with massive distortion and bashed-to-heck drums.
Endon – MAMA (Sige)
“It’s reckless, it’s mind warping, it’s from light years into the future of an entirely different dimension and is exactly what you would expect from Japan. There really isn’t anything like MAMA ” — Bearded Gentleman
Froth – Outside (briefly) (Wichita)
Outside (briefly) is the third album by L.A.-based band. The record follows their acclaimed album, Bleak, released on Burger Records in 2015. On Outside (briefly) the band continue to hone their own blend of ‘60s inspired surf rock, psychedelia, indie rock and shoegaze influences.
Helm – Rawabet (Alter)
Rawabet is a live album from Helm documenting a special performance that took place alongside Maurice Louca in front of a sold-out audience at the Rawabet Theater in Cairo on October 22, 2015. This document is also a snapshot of a period of pan-continental touring which took Helm from Egypt to Austria and then to Canada in three days. During these shows, material from his recently released Olympic Mess album was re-imagined, expanded, and performed alongside new and “other” material, to add an alternative perspective to the original recordings.
Immolation – Atonement (Nuclear Blast)
New album from the extreme metal band — an unrelenting collection of catchy, intense and darkly imaginative tracks,
Magnetizer – Reality (Not Not Fun)
Oakland’s self-described “emotional machine funk group” Magnetizer traffic a uniquely wacked fusion of brooding cyberwave, maniacal acid, trash fire block party, and psychedelic noise, operating in relative seclusion since 2012. Captained by Jackson Blümgart aka Wormhole, the project has grown increasingly defined and dynamic, culminating in this year’s Post-Body EP for Goaty Tapes. Gunked machines and rusted artificial intelligence are harnessed and hacked into derelict body music anthems both long-form and concise, strafed with cryptic grit: alien monologues, lunatic skronk, sequencer squelch, decrepit dub. Reality furthers the vision, four blasted tunnels of claustrophobic haze, chemical groove, and mismatched cables snaking through stagnant water.
Mamiffer – The World Unseen (Sige)
Limited cassette pressing of 2016 album. Mamiffer is Faith Coloccia and Aaron Turner with Eyvind Kang. “Each tune manages to sound immediate as a first draft, yet rich enough to bear repeated visits. …it achieves its beauty by burrowing through places where darkness and light are both indespensible”. – The Wire
Mamiffer & Daniel Menche – Live (Sige)
Recorded at Seattle’s Debacle Fest and mixed by Daniel Menche. Previously unreleased on any format. Re: Mamiffer & Menche’s Crater (2015): “…laces the beauty of a gamelan orchestra beneath the terror of a power electronics roar, the juxtaposition daring you to choose between backing off or leaning in…” — Pitchfork
Pissed Jeans – Why Love Now (Sub Pop)
Pissed Jeans have been making gnarly noise for 13 years, and on their fifth album, Why Love Now, the male-fronted quartet is taking aim at the mundane discomforts of modern life—from fetish webcams to office-supply deliveries.
Six Organs Of Admittance – Burning The Threshold (Drag City)
In preparing for the first album of non-Hexadic Six Organs Of Admittance music since 2012’s Ascent, Ben Chasney had a think about what he’d be saying in his own tongue for the first time in a half-decade. As ever, a head-full of ideas were driving him to think and speak music as a spirituality superimposed onto a reality, with the ghosts of both whispering at each other. In the end, what sits in our listening ears is the sound of communion. Burning The Threshold brings a wealth of Six Organs-styled lightness into one of his sweetest musical meditations yet.
Unknown Me – Subtropics (Not Not Fun)
Tokyo trip-ambient unit Unknown Me make transportive vignettes with minimal means: soft-focus static, translucent loops, muted metronomes, field recordings.
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