Social Media Program Titles Released This Week:
Jackson Browne – Downhill From Everywhere b/w A Little Soon To Say CDEP/12” (Inside Recordings)
Two singles from the forthcoming new studio album from Jackson Browne to be released in October 2020. On “A Little Soon To Say” Browne sings “I wanna see you holding out your light/I wanna see you light the way/But whether everything will be alright/It’s just a little soon to say.” He explains, “[I was] thinking about the generation – the Parkland students, and Greta Thunberg, and the young people who have been very vocal, saying, ‘You’re not making any real attempt to change things in a way for us to have the planet you had.’ How do you pass this mess on to the next generation, the future generations?”
Def Leppard – London To Vegas [Deluxe Limited Edition] 2xDVD+4xCD/2xBlu-ray (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
In 2018, Sheffield’s finest made their long-awaited debut at London’s O2 Arena. Def Leppard performed the ground-breaking Hysteria album in its entirety. In 2019, the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers returned to Las Vegas for their infamous Sin City residency, featuring stunning video walls, two stages and rarely performed album cuts, making for an unforgettable concert experience. Includes exclusive behind the scenes bonus features and four audio discs of the entire set.
Morbid Angel – Altars Of Madness – Ultimate Collection [Reissue/1989] 2xCD (Earache)
Expanded two CD edition includes bonus live album Juvenila. Altars Of Madness is the debut studio album by Florida-based death metal band Morbid Angel. It is one of the earliest examples of death metal and is considered to have helped pioneer the sound along with Possessed’s Seven Churches in 1985 and Death’s Scream Bloody Gore in 1987, and set a new precedent for heaviness and extremity, both musically and lyrically.
Prince – The Rainbow Children [Reissue/2001] CD/2xLP (Legacy)
Prince’s twenty-fourth studio album, The Rainbow Children was initially sold on Prince’s trailblazing website the NPG Music Club. It was the first album (outside of the works he distributed through his NPG Music Club) to be released under the name Prince since he had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, and it was his first fully independent release to be issued without any major label backing. The Rainbow Children is a concept album intertwining Prince’s recurring themes of spirituality and sexuality, love and social consciousness, set in a metaphoric utopian narrative. Musically, the album showcased a new jazz-influenced direction for Prince, with live drums and expansive horn charts.
Prince – One Nite Alone (Solo Piano and Voice By Prince) [Reissue/2002] LP (Legacy)
Prince’s twenty-fifth studio album, One Nite Alone… finds the artist on acoustic piano and vocals (save for occasional rhythm from drummer John Blackwell and the ambient cooing of Divinity and Majesty, Prince’s pet doves). The intimate affair includes favorites like “U’re Gonna C Me” and a cover of “A Case Of U”, written by one of Prince’s biggest musical influences, Joni Mitchell.
Prince & The New Power Generation – One Nite Alone…Live! 4xLP (Legacy)
After The Rainbow Children release and before the release of the One Nite Alone studio album, Prince embarked on a tour of the same name. However, as opposed to the intimacy of the largely solo One Nite Alone album, this upbeat trek through theaters in North America featured the full talents of Princes ever-expanding New Power Generation band. Members at the time included drummer John Blackwell, keyboardist Renato Neto and longtime collaborators like bassist Rhonda Smith and a horn section that included saxophonists Eric Leeds, Candy Dulfer and Maceo Parker. Taken from the highlights of nine different shows in March and April of 2002 and clocking in at over two hours, the resulting four LP collection One Nite Alone…Live! was the first official live album of Princes career and the 27 tracks included feature selections from The Rainbow Children as well as Princes extensive back catalog.
Prince & The New Power Generation – One Nite Alone…The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over! (Up Late With Prince & NPG) 2xLP (Legacy)
This double LP release documents Prince’s mythic late-night after show performances. Never available as physical stand-alone release and only available originally on CD as part of the One Nite Alone box set exclusive to NPG Music Club members, the album features an hour of amazing jams and includes guest appearances by George Clinton and Musiq Soulchild. This marks the first release in any form on vinyl, where it is available in limited edition purple.
Prince – Up All Night With Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection 4xCD+DVD (Legacy)
Up All Nite With Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection brings the electrifying power of Prince’s 2002 studio and live releases together in one stunning package. This five disc set includes One Nite Alone, Princes striking piano-and-vocal studio album (in its first commercial CD release); the double-disc One Nite Alone…Live! featuring recent jams (“Muse 2 The Pharaoh”, “1+1+1 Is 3”) and classic favorites (“Raspberry Beret”, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, “When U Were Mine”); the high-energy One Nite Alone The Aftershow: It Aint Over! with guest appearances by George Clinton and Musiq Soulchild; and the Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas DVD.
Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross CD/LP (New West)
If there’s one lesson to be gleaned from Jaime Wyatt’s latest album, Neon Cross, it’s that life goes on. And through it all – good times and bad, dreaming and desperation, there is truth. When it came to capturing that truth on tape, Wyatt had some assistance from Shooter Jennings, who produced Neon Cross. Together, she and Jennings boldly color outside the country lines, taking a wide-lens sonic and stylistic approach to the songs. [Vinyl edition due June 12.]
CDs + Vinyl:
Alestorm – Curse Of The Crystal Coconut CD/2xCD/LP (Napalm)
Sixth album from the pirate metal band. [Deluxe double-CD edition contains 16th Century interpretations of the songs on the album.]
Nicole Atkins – Italian Ice CD/LP (Single Lock)
The wild magic of the Jersey Shore Boardwalk has inspired musicians across generations, but it takes a uniquely distinct vision to go find that slice of regional wonder in Northern Alabama. On Italian Ice, that’s exactly what Nicole Atkins has done, taking over the hallowed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a one-of-a-kind band featuring members of the Bad Seeds, Dap-Kings, the legendary Swampers and more.
Jackson Browne – Downhill From Everywhere b/w A Little Soon To Say CDEP/12” (Inside Recordings)
Two singles from the forthcoming new studio album from Jackson Browne to be released in October 2020. On “A Little Soon To Say” Browne sings “I wanna see you holding out your light/I wanna see you light the way/But whether everything will be alright/It’s just a little soon to say.” He explains, “[I was] thinking about the generation – the Parkland students, and Greta Thunberg, and the young people who have been very vocal, saying, ‘You’re not making any real attempt to change things in a way for us to have the planet you had.’ How do you pass this mess on to the next generation, the future generations?”
Chicano Batman – Invisible People CD/LP (ATO)
Recently released on vinyl – now available on CD. The L.A.-based quartet made up of Eduardo Arenas, Carlos Arevalo, Bardo Martinez and Gabriel Villa, follow-up the critically acclaimed breakthrough Freedom Is Free with their most sonically varied and cohesive album to date. Mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Shawn Everett (Beck, Alabama Shakes) the 12-song set accentuates the group’s high-spirited synthesis of Tropicalia, west coast psychedelia and late-’60s/early-’70s soul.
Brant Bjork– Punk Rock Guilt [Reissue/2008] CD/LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Brant Bjork – Gods & Goddesses [Reissue/2010] CD/LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
CD and vinyl reissues of the sixth and seventh albums from the from the desert/stoner rock artist. The former Kyuss/Fu Manchu/Queens Of The Stone Age skins man Brant Bjork has always liked to keep fans guessing during his lengthy solo career. With constantly rotating musical styles – to the point where the psychedelic musician is spacier than Nebula – pinning down his next move is virtually impossible. [Limited colored vinyl are pressings also available.]
Jake Blount – Spider Tales CD/LP (Free Dirt)
For as long as it has existed, the American roots music industry has co-opted Black music into a package to be marketed and resold, defanging or erasing perspectives deemed too threatening along the way. Banjo player and fiddler Jake Blount resurrects these deep musical strains on Spider Tales, his debut record. Named for Anansi-the great trickster of Akan mythology – Spider Tales features fourteen carefully chosen tracks drawn from Blount’s extensive research of Black and Indigenous mountain music. The result is an unprecedented testament to the voices paradoxically obscured yet profoundly ingrained into the Appalachian tradition.
Jimmy Buffett – Life On The Flip Side CD (Mailboat)
Life On The Flip Side is Jimmy Buffett’s first new studio album since 2013. Produced by long-time Coral Reefers Michael Utley and Mac McAnally, the set features 14 all new tracks including the good time single “Down at the Lah De Dah” plus special guest appearances by Paul Brady, Lukas Nelson, Will Kimbrough and Enrique Murciano. [Vinyl edition due August 28.]
The Choir – Last Call: Live At The Music Box 2xCD (Omnivore)
50th Anniversary live performance the garage rock band (whose many different members went on to form other important bands like Raspberries and James Gang) recorded at Cleveland’s Music Box the night of September 20, 2019.
Choir Boy – Gathering Swans CD/LP (Dais)
Salt Lake City’s indie pop favorites Choir Boy return after four years with the release of their new cosmic album, Gathering Swans. An emotionally powerful record, full of poignant heartbreak and gently steeped in pop nostalgia, Choir Boy push their distinctive sound further, while tenderly romancing the unsuspected.
Christine and The Queens – La Vita Nuova CDEP/12” (Because Music)
La Vita Nuova – a prospect for a new life – draws strength from extreme vulnerability. Produced by Christine and the Queens and Ash Workman, the six track offering also includes a collaboration with Caroline Polachek on the title cut and follows 18 months of live shows, collaborations and international distinctions, around the release of the group’s breathtaking second album, Chris. [Limited pink colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Anne Clarke – The Law Is An Anagram Of Wealth [Reissue1993] CD/LP (Flying Dolphin)
The Law Is An Anagram Of Wealth was the second studio album from Anne Clark in 1993 after an enforced break as a result of full-on war with the music industry. With this album, Anne gave thanks to those very few within the music industry and those thousands and thousands of followers and supporters who stood by her and let her begin her musical journey once more. In Anne’s words: “It’s amazing what you can decipher from words and the world when left with so much time on your hands, unable to work, tour or release material. It’s beautiful when you have the option and the time to interpret material that has held you up and been an inspiration in dark time. Eventually, as it always does, the tide turned. It was time to leave the past experience behind and rise up, energized and enraged!”
Diamond Dogs – As Your Greens Turn Brown CD/LP (Wild Kingdom)
Digitally remastered edition of this 2001 album from the Swedish rock ‘n’ rollers.
Dozer – In The Tail Of A Comet [Reissue/2000] CD/2xLP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Dozer – Madre de Dios [Reissue/2000] CD/2xLP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
Dozer – Call It Conspiracy [Reissue/2003] CD/2xLP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
CD and vinyl reissues of the first three albums of the Swedish stoner band. [Limited colored vinyl pressings also available.]
Einstürzende Neubauten – Alles In Allem CD/LP/CD+LP+Book (Potomak)
After more than 12 years, Einstürzende Neubauten’s long-awaited studio album Alles In Allem marks the quintessence of the band’s output, opening yet another unexpected door in 40 years of ongoing sound research by a very experimental group of musicians around Blixa Bargeld. [The deluxe edition box set includes a vinyl LP and a multi-media CD plus a 164-page book with hand-written notes from Blixa Bargeld in which he documents the genesis of the album’s lyrics.
Flying Lotus – Flamagra (Instrumentals) CD/2xLP (Warp)
Flying Lotus’ 2019 LP Flamagra was a typically bold work from this singular artist. A sprawling epic that encompassed futuristic jazz, fusion-funk, cinematic hip-hop and much more, the album was further testament to FlyLo’s expansive vision for modern music. Flamagra (Instrumentals) emerges to mark a year since the release of its parent record and finds FlyLo stripping away the vocal spots from the likes of David Lynch, Denzel Curry and Shabazz Palaces peppered throughout. Allowing Flying Lotus’ inimitable beats and well versed jazz heritage to take center stage, alongside the dizzying array of talent from the featured players including Thundercat, Herbie Hancock and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.
Grave Digger – Fields Of Blood CD/LP (Napalm)
Grave Digger is one of the most influential and pioneering bands of the German heavy metal scene since the early ‘80s. 40 years later, the band stays true to their no-frills brand of traditional metal.
Christian Lee Hutson – Beginners CD/LP (ANTI-)
On Beginners, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Christian Lee Hutson embeds every lyric with his most intimate self-dialogue, sharing painful confessions and private jokes, imagined conversations and elaborate daydreams. The album – produced by his friend and collaborator Phoebe Bridgers – spotlights a nuanced songcraft and understated candor that all but erases the distance between feeling and expression. Throughout this collection of songs, Hutson ultimately speaks an illuminating truth about regret and forgiveness and the endless confusion in growing up.
I Break Horses – Warnings CD/LP (Bella Union)
Warnings is the third album from I Break Horses a.k.a Maria Lindén. Faced with making the follow-up to 2014’s plush Chiaroscuro, she chose to put an emphasis on instrumental, cinematic music. While watching a collection of her favorite films, with the sound muted, she made her own soundtrack sketches. These sonic workouts gradually evolved into something more. “It wasn’t until I felt an urge to add vocals and lyrics,” says Lindén, “that I realized I was making a new album.” Warnings is an intimate and sublimely expansive return that sets its own pace with the intuitive power of a much-loved movie. Its sumptuous sound worlds, dreamy mellotrons, haunting loops, analogue synths and layered lyrics crackle with immersive dramatic tension.
Jade Hairpins – Harmony Avenue CD/LP (Merge)
Jade Hairpins sneaked onto the scene in late 2018 with a mysterious 12” and a couple of poetic sentences about hiding in trees. Merge remained tight-lipped while touting Dose Your Dreams, a truly epic new F##ked Up album released on the same day. Fast forward to 2020, when F##ked Up drummer Jonah Falco and songwriter/guitarist Mike Haliechuk burst out of the proverbial trees with Harmony Avenue, a collection of songs written and recorded in real time. Pop foraging with analog acoustics and electronic landscaping. The album’s themes mostly focus on contradictory behavior and double entendres as well as regret and control, revelation, support, and complete absurdity. Jade Hairpins are here to challenge, confound, and sparkle their way into listeners’ hearts and keep them coming back for more.
Caleb Landry Jones – The Mother Stone CD/LP (Sacred Bones)
“I think most of it takes place in dreams,” Caleb Landry Jones says of his debut solo album, The Mother Stone. “I’m talking more about dreams than I am about what’s happened in the physical realm. Or I’m talking about both, and you’re not sure what’s what.” This is the kind of conversation you end up having about a record like this one, a sprawling psychedelic suite built from abrupt and disorienting detours and schizoid shifts of voice, it’s manic energy forever pulling the tablecloth out from under classic pop orchestration. One minute you’re squarely in the realm of biographical fact and a moment later you’re having a discussion about lucid dreaming and how Jones once punched up a dream set on a soccer field by willing himself to experience it from the POV of the ball. But maybe that’s just another story about grabbing the wheel of your own hallucination; maybe this pertains to the music after all. [Limited blue colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Lady Gaga – Chromatica CD/LP (Interscope)
On the heels of her comeback single “Stupid Love” – an infectious dance-pop collaboration with producer/songwriters Bloodpop (Michael Tucker), Max Martin, Tchami, Martin Joseph and Eli Rise – Grammy and Academy Award-winning artist Lady Gaga delivers her sixth studio album, Chromatica. “The symbol for Chromatica has a sinewave in it, which is the mathematical symbol for sound, and it’s from what all sound is made from,” Gaga explained to Zane Lowe. “And for me, sound is what healed me in my life, period, and it healed me again making this record, and that is really what Chromatica is all about… it’s about healing and it’s about bravery as well, and when we talk about love I think it’s so important to include the fact that it requires a ton of bravery to love someone.” [Limited edition milky-clear vinyl pressing also available.]
Greg Loiacono – Mystic Traces CD (Blue Rose Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Longtime Mother Hips and Green Leaf Rustlers guitar player and singer Greg Loiacono releases his new solo album. Limited 180gm colored vinyl pressing.
Long Beach Dub Allstars – Long Beach Dub Allstars CD/LP (Regime Music Group)
It’s been 15 years since Long Beach Dub Allstars disbanded, but now, after this lengthy hiatus, the group continues their path of musical evolution and the legacy they started with Sublime with a back-to-basics approach. The band’s first new music in nearly two decades, Long Beach Dub Allstars is 10 tracks deep and harnesses the feel-good vibrations and the SoCal musical roots of the band’s past, as the band puts everything into one musical melting pot of reggae, ska, dub, hip hop, and punk.
Medium – Medium CD (Transcending Obscurity)
Rage-fueled adrenaline junkies Medium give us their own fresh take on the grind/crust style with their self-titled debut.
Ronnie Milsap – The Best Of Ronnie Milsap CD (Craft Recordings)
A 12-track collection of chart-topping favorites from the country legend’s extensive catalog, primarily spotlighting Milsap’s crossover hits of the late ’70s-’80s.
Kip Moore – Wild World CD (MCA Nashville)
The fourth studio album from the multi-platinum singer/songwriter. The weathered heartland-rock sound Moore embraces on Wild World pumps up its emotional volume, recorded live with a full band. [Vinyl edition due June 26.]
Morbid Angel – Altars Of Madness – Ultimate Collection [Reissue/1989] 2xCD (Earache)
Expanded two CD edition includes bonus live album Juvenila. Altars Of Madness is the debut studio album by Florida-based death metal band Morbid Angel. It is one of the earliest examples of death metal and is considered to have helped pioneer the sound along with Possessed’s Seven Churches in 1985 and Death’s Scream Bloody Gore in 1987, and set a new precedent for heaviness and extremity, both musically and lyrically.
The O’Reillys & The Paddyhats – Dogs On The Leash CD/LP (Metalville)
With their fourth album Dogs On The Leash, The O’Reillys & The Paddyhats present the successor of their chart success Green Blood. The music of the Paddyhats, with its life-affirming and also mystical Irish folk, is reminiscent of a stray mutt, who brings along captivating, often funny but sometimes sad stories from his adventures. Typical Irish melodies meet hard electric guitars and fuse an ancient music culture with the modern world.
Pet Shop Boys – I Don’t Wanna CDEP/12” (X2)
Title track taken from the album Hotspot. Include remixes by Mano Le Tough and David Jackson.
Polyrhythmics – Man From The Future CD (Color Red)
Slipping through the cracks of infinite timelines, the Man From The Future just can’t put his past behind him, Continuing Polyrhythmics exploration across genre and stylistic lines, their new release documents them at their most evocative and cinematic. File under: a score for breaking
the space time continuum. [Vinyl edition due June 5.]
Iggy Popp – Lust For Life [Reissue/1977] 2xCD (Virgin)
Expanded deluxe double-CD edition. Iggy Pop’s second solo album record with David Bowie, Lust For Life features title track “Lust For Life”, “Tonight”, and one of his best-known songs “The Passenger”. Disc two features eight live tracks from the 1977 recording that made up the TV Eye Live album.
Prince – The Rainbow Children [Reissue/2001] CD/2xLP (Legacy)
Prince’s twenty-fourth studio album, The Rainbow Children was initially sold on Prince’s trailblazing website the NPG Music Club. It was the first album (outside of the works he distributed through his NPG Music Club) to be released under the name Prince since he had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol in 1993, and it was his first fully independent release to be issued without any major label backing. The Rainbow Children is a concept album intertwining Prince’s recurring themes of spirituality and sexuality, love and social consciousness, set in a metaphoric utopian narrative. Musically, the album showcased a new jazz-influenced direction for Prince, with live drums and expansive horn charts.
Prince – Up All Night With Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection 4xCD+DVD (Legacy)
Up All Nite With Prince: The One Nite Alone Collection brings the electrifying power of Prince’s 2002 studio and live releases together in one stunning package. This five disc set includes One Nite Alone, Princes striking piano-and-vocal studio album (in its first commercial CD release); the double-disc One Nite Alone…Live! featuring recent jams (“Muse 2 The Pharaoh”, “1+1+1 Is 3”) and classic favorites (“Raspberry Beret”, “Nothing Compares 2 U”, “When U Were Mine”); the high-energy One Nite Alone The Aftershow: It Aint Over! with guest appearances by George Clinton and Musiq Soulchild; and the Live At The Aladdin Las Vegas DVD.
Lou Reed – When Your Heart Is Made Out Of Ice CD (Easy Action)
Superb quality recording from the unique Sally Can’t Dance tour in New York and Dayton, October 1974. [Vinyl edition due June 5.]
Rush – Permanent Waves (40th Anniversary) 2xCD/3xLP/2xCD+3xLP (Mercury)
Celebrating 40 years of Rush’s 1980 album Permanent Waves, this set includes a 28-page booklet of unreleased photos from the band’s archive. Both CD and vinyl editions include the Abbey Road Mastering Studios 2015 remaster, available for the first time, as well as unreleased live tracks from various stops on the 1980 Permanent Waves World Tour. [The Super Deluxe Edition includes all formats and adds a 40-page hardcover book filled with reimagined artwork by original album designer Hugh Syme, unreleased photos from the band’s archive and an exclusive essay.]
Gina Sicilia – Love Me Madly CD (Blue Élan)
New album from the gritty soul and blues singer.
Sonic Dawn – Enter The Mirage CD/LP (Heavy Psych Sounds)
New album from the Danish psychedelic rock band.
Sorcerer – Lamenting Of The Innocent CD (Metal Blade)
Since they first started, Sorcerer has been labeled ‘epic doom’ – a tag that fits but does not define them, and this has never been more evident than on their third full-length Lamenting Of The Innocent.
Sweet Spirit – Trinidad CD (Merge)
Trinidad is a pop record made by punk rockers – sonically happy but lyrically bitter. Lustful, sassy, and passionate. Touting inspirations as varied as Prince, T. Rex, William Onyeabor, ABBA, Roy Orbison, Shintaro Sakamoto, Francoise Hardy, and Robyn, Sweet Spirit has created an album that pulsates with more LinnDrum and synth than guitar. [Vinyl edition due June 19.]
Teddy Thompson – Heartbreaker Please CD/LP (Chalky Sounds)
New album from the son of Linda and Richard Thompson. From its opening track, Heartbreaker Please reckons with the breakdown of love with a wistful levity as satisfying as it is devastatingly honest. And while the album is drawn from the demise of a real-life relationship, as told from Thompson’s perspective, it might also be seen as a projection of his relationship with New York City, the place he has called home for the better part of two decades.
Vandenberg – 2020 CD/LP (Mascot)
New album from the Dutch hard rock band fronted by guitarist Adrian Vandenberg (Whitesnake, Steve Vai). 2020 features vocals by Ronnie Romero (Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow). [Deluxe edition box set includes CD, four guitar picks, two coasters, a sticker and a postcard.]
Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton – Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton CD/LP (Smithsonian Folkways)
Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton is a new album of old-time music produced from archival recordings by two legendary musicians. These largely unheard tapes were recorded at Doc Watson’s two earliest concerts, presented in New York City’s Greenwich Village in 1962. Those shows were among the rare appearances Doc’s father-in-law, fiddler Gaither Carlton, made outside of North Carolina.
Lewis Watson – The Love That You Want CD/LP (Cooking Vinyl)
Recorded over the course of a year with producer/engineer Richard Wilkinson (Bombay Bicycle Club, Lianne La Havas, Honne) at his studio in Tufnell Park, The Love That You Want is the confident sound of a duo working at the top of their game, pushing each other to create a truly special album that should take the highly successful yet somewhat still undiscovered Oxford musician to much broader audience. Aside from the strings, Lewis and Richard play every instrument on the album.
The White Buffalo – On The Widow’s Walk CD/LP (Spinefarm)
The White Buffalo is Jake Smith: singer, songwriter, guitarist, and raconteur; an artist whose voice – an emotive timber-shakin’ baritone – seems directly linked to a greater truth; an artist who will not be swayed by fashion or restricted by genre. On The Widow’s Walk is an 11 song, loosely linked collection of dark thrills produced by Shooter Jennings, who also contributes piano/keys. [Limited edition grey marble colored vinyl pressing also available.]
DVDs + Blu-ray:
Def Leppard – London To Vegas [Deluxe Limited Edition] 2xDVD+4xCD/2xBlu-ray (Eagle Rock Entertainment)
In 2018, Sheffield’s finest made their long-awaited debut at London’s O2 Arena. Def Leppard performed the ground-breaking Hysteria album in its entirety. In 2019, the newly minted Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers returned to Las Vegas for their infamous Sin City residency, featuring stunning video walls, two stages and rarely performed album cuts, making for an unforgettable concert experience. Includes exclusive behind the scenes bonus features and four audio discs of the entire set.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
The Airborne Toxic Event – Hollywood Park 2xLP (Rounder)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. In conjunction with Jollett’s memoir, The Airborne Toxic Event has completed an album by the same name, Hollywood Park is a 12-song concept record drawing from themes in the book. Incorporates real audio from his family, gospel singers and orchestral flourishes from violins to timpani to horns. Illustrates dashed dreams & difficult times of childhood, as well as the confusion of an adult life spent nursing the wounds. An ultimate redemption story on finding self-acceptance and love of family.
An Autumn For Crippled Children – All Fell Silent, Everything Went Quiet LP (Prosthetic)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New release from the experimental metal band.
Ashe – Moral Of The Story: Chapter 1 And 2 LP (Mom + Pop)
Released last week on CD – now available on limited edition yellow colored vinyl. California native Ashe has been turning heads with her balance of modern day pop writing and vintage vocals. Graduate in composition and production from world renowned, Berklee College of Music, Ashe gained international exposure as a songwriter and jazz vocalist. She quickly gained notoriety in the electronic space after collaborating with the likes of Louis the Child, Whethan, Shaun Frank, Ben Phipps, Party Pupils, Big Gigantic and co-writing the Demi Lovato single “You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore”.
Baths – Pop Music/False B-Sides LP (Basement’s Basement)
Baths – Pop Music/False B-Sides II LP (Basement’s Basement)
Originally a tour-only digital download and sold in person in shows as a printout on card stock, Pop Music/False B-Sides was a home for all the weird outliers, the misfit slappers and shimmering fugues that had nowhere to go. Smashed together they could have their own home to seamlessly coexist. The title was a direct interpretation of Wiesenfeld’s emotional relationship to these songs: both held at arm’s length, but also a cohesive and clarion body of work. The instrumentation varies from weightless electronic pop to crystalline ambient bliss-outs to melancholic falling leaf reveries that recall Fennesz or early Prefuse 73.
Bleed From Within – Fracture LP (Century Media)
New album from the modern metal outfit. Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl.
Def Leppard – Hysteria Live 2xLP (Eagle)
Limited double clear vinyl LP pressing of Def Leppard performing Hysteria in its entirety at the O2 in London.
Dwarves and Potbelly – Life Lessons From The Deranged 7” (Pig)
The Dwarves are an eclectic punk rock band from the eighties that emphasizes intentionally shocking lyrics. Potbelly is celebrating their 25th offensive-year together and are more pissed off than ever.
Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn – Wu Fei & Abigail Washburn LP (Smithsonian Folkways)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn’s duo project is as unlikely, perhaps, as it was inevitable-a manifest sonic consequence of politics and vibrations commingling across continents. There is a directness in the musical duo format that makes it such a good vehicle for melodic conversations between close friends who obviously listen to each other with an athletic respect matched by their respective virtuosity.
Blaze Foley – Live At The Austin Outhouse LP (End Of An Ear)
Live At the Austin Outhouse captures Blaze Foley, Austin’s legendary singer-songwriter, at his final appearance at the iconic Austin Outhouse venue. Recorded over two nights in 1989 just days before his tragic murder, these twelve tracks are available on vinyl for the first time. Recorded by his friend John Casner, these now classic Blaze songs were for years only shared on hand-made cassettes among a small network of friends and fans.
Fu Manchu – In Search Of… [Reissue/1996] LP (At The Dojo)
The first release in Fu Manchu’s 30th Anniversary vinyl reissue series. Limited clear vinyl with blue and yellow splatter colored vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Includes bonus red/black splatter 7” of “Chevy Van” (a Sammy Johns cover that was previously only available on the Japanese pressing of the original album) b/w a 1995 Demo version of “Redline”.
The Grave Digger – The Grave Digger [Reissue/2001] LP (Metalville)
The Grave Digger, originally released in 2001, was the band’s 10th studio album by mastermind Chris Boltendahl. With songs based on stories by Edgar Allen Poe, it is considered the darkest work in the band’s discography. The Grave Digger was also the first album with ex-Rage guitarist Manni Schmidt. “A thoroughly good heavy metal album with great production and a really brilliant guitar sound.” – Musikreviews
House Of Lords – Anthology [Reissue/2008] LP (Run For Cover)
A stellar compilation of rare demos and live recordings from power metal heroes House of Lords – now available for the first time ever on vinyl.
Avi Kaplan – I’ll Get By 12” (Fantasy)
Released in February on CD – now available on vinyl. Produced by Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst, First Aid Kit) I’ll Get By, Avi Kaplan’s new 7-track EP firmly establishes the renowned bass vocalist as a generational songwriting talent in the mold of inspirations such as Fleet Foxes, Hozier and Iron and Wine. I’ll Get By is an absorbing introduction to an artist with a timeless voice, an independent spirit and a limitless future.
Kvaen – Funeral Pyre LP (Black Lion)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New album from the black metal band. Funeral Pyre grabs the listener and takes it on a wild ride through Norwegian deep forests through mountains and deep valleys.
Greg Loiacono – Mystic Traces LP (Blue Rose Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Guitarist and singer-songwriter Greg Loiacono of The Mother Hips solo album.
Lucifer – Lucifer III LP (Century Media)
Uniting the songwriting talents of Johanna Sadonis and Nicke Andersson (The Hellacopters, Entombed, Imperial State Electric), Lucifer III now further perfects the group’s stunning mix of ’70s hard rock, tinges of doom, doses of classic heavy metal and addictive choruses resulting in powerful ballads, straight up rockers, catchy anthems, and Sabbathian heaviness.
David Lynch/Jack Crus – The Flame Of Love (Original Soundtrack) 7” (Sacred Bones)
January 20, 2020 saw the surprise release of David Lynch’s short What did Jack Do? on Netflix. If you watched the grainy, police procedural over the last few days, you most likely found yourself saying aloud “who is Jack Cruz and how can I get more of his music?” Now Sacred Bones is announcing the release of the short’s featured original song “True Love’s Flame” by the primate star crooner of yesteryear; Jack Cruz. Not much is known about Cruz’s career prior to his involvement with Lynch, but fortunately, we have not just one song, but two: “Dancin’ In The World Of Love” is the B-side to the short’s single… uncovered recently and an excellent example of Cruz’s emotional prowess and magical, gold-dipped vocal cords. Both songs were written by Lynch and Dean Hurley and are available for pre-order in both black and clear vinyl 45s with artwork carefully crafted by Lynch himself.
The Magnetic Fields – Quickies 5×7” (Nonesuch)
The Magnetic Fields’ Quickies vinyl box set is five 7″ EPs comprising twenty-eight new short songs by Stephin Merritt, ranging in length from thirteen seconds to two minutes and thirty-five seconds, performed by Merritt and band members Sam Davol, Claudia Gonson, Shirley Simms, and John Woo, along with longtime friends and collaborators Chris Ewen, Daniel Handler, and Pinky Weitzman. Merritt explains his thinking behind the Quickies concept: “I’ve been reading a lot of noticeably short fiction, and I enjoyed writing 101 Two-Letter Words, the poetry book about the shortest words you can use in Scrabble. And I’ve been listening to a lot of French baroque harpsichord music. Harpsichord doesn’t lend itself to languor. So, I’ve been thinking about one instrument at a time, playing for about a minute or so and then stopping, and I’ve been thinking of narratives that are only a few lines long.” [CD edition due June 5.]
Tommy McGee – I’m A Stranger LP (Numero)
Just as Al Green’s Back Up Train was pulling out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a whistle stop tour to the top of the charts, producer Palmer James began eyeing another Furniture City branch line: Tommy McGee. The result was 1976’s Positive-Negative (reissued by Numero Group as part of the label’s Project 12 subscription series in 2016), the creative apex in a career littered with endless bottoms. Gathered for the first time are McGee’s timeless album, singles for Golden Voice, Mercury, TMG, and Tosted, as well as the complete output of his nascent mid-’60s funk combo the T.M.G.’s.
Mac Miller – Circles 2xLP (WB)
Recently release on CD – now available on vinyl. Conceived as a sister album to 2018’s full length Swimming, Circles was completed with the assistance of Jon Brion, with whom Miller worked on Swimming and had been working together on Circles at the time of his passing. While sonically distinctly different than its predecessor, Circles features many of the hallmarks for which Swimming was critically acclaimed upon its release – Miller further realizing his singing voice in addition to rapping, live instrumentation and earnest, confessional lyrical content.
Portrayal Of Guilt/Slow Fire Pistol – Split 12” (Run For Cover)
Austin’s Portrayal of Guilt and Atlanta’s Slow Fire Pistol release a split colored vinyl 7”. NPR describes Portrayal Of Guilt’s first album in the extremes of hardcore, noise, grindcore, death metal, powerviolence and turn-of-the-century screamo – subgenres of heavy music that typically scream through the pain. Slow Fire Pistol’s emotive hardcore recalls the tension and vitriol of bands like pageninetynine, Moss Icon and City Of Caterpillar with modern urgency.
Prince – One Nite Alone (Solo Piano and Voice By Prince) [Reissue/2002] LP (Legacy)
Prince’s twenty-fifth studio album, One Nite Alone… finds the artist on acoustic piano and vocals (save for occasional rhythm from drummer John Blackwell and the ambient cooing of Divinity and Majesty, Prince’s pet doves). The intimate affair includes favorites like “U’re Gonna C Me” and a cover of “A Case Of U”, written by one of Prince’s biggest musical influences, Joni Mitchell.
Prince & The New Power Generation – One Nite Alone…Live! 4xLP (Legacy)
After The Rainbow Children release and before the release of the One Nite Alone studio album, Prince embarked on a tour of the same name. However, as opposed to the intimacy of the largely solo One Nite Alone album, this upbeat trek through theaters in North America featured the full talents of Princes ever-expanding New Power Generation band. Members at the time included drummer John Blackwell, keyboardist Renato Neto and longtime collaborators like bassist Rhonda Smith and a horn section that included saxophonists Eric Leeds, Candy Dulfer and Maceo Parker. Taken from the highlights of nine different shows in March and April of 2002 and clocking in at over two hours, the resulting four LP collection One Nite Alone…Live! was the first official live album of Princes career and the 27 tracks included feature selections from The Rainbow Children as well as Princes extensive back catalog.
Prince & The New Power Generation – One Nite Alone…The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over! (Up Late With Prince & NPG) 2xLP (Legacy)
This double LP release documents Prince’s mythic late-night after show performances. Never available as physical stand-alone release and only available originally on CD as part of the One Nite Alone box set exclusive to NPG Music Club members, the album features an hour of amazing jams and includes guest appearances by George Clinton and Musiq Soulchild. This marks the first release in any form on vinyl, where it is available in limited edition purple.
Alan Rayman – Christian LP (Republic)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Juno Award-nominated singer-songwriter Allan Rayman’s lack of public/social media presence and resistance towards doing press has established him as one of the most mysterious characters in the music industry, content with letting his art speak for itself. Produced by Grammy-nominated Alex Da Kid (Eminem, Dr. Dre), Christian includes previous singles like “Stitch”, “Pretty Please” and “Chief”, which Earmilk proclaimed “an infusion of rap laced with rock-inspired drums.”
Sweet Whirl – How Much Works LP (Chapter Music)
Esther Edquist is Melbourne artist Sweet Whirl. She is also one of the best songwriters you have heard in a very long time. How Much Works is her debut album proper. Esther dissects experiences with wit and depth, emerging as a powerful, indomitable voice. [Limited edition white colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Webb Wilder & The Beatnecks – Night Without Love LP (Landslide)
“Webb Wilder is in peak form with an all new production that encompasses rootsy rock and subtle romantic offerings. Backed by some of Nashville’s finest musicians, including multi-instrumentalist George Bradfute, bassist Tom Comet, drummers Jimmy Lester and Rick Schell, and Bob Williams on pedal steel, Night Without Love features originals by Wilder and R.S. Field, Joe McMahan, plus Dan Penn and well selected covers by Russell Smith (“Hit The Nail On The Head”), David Hidalgo (“Be Still”), and R. Higgginbotham (the classic “Hi Heel Sneakers”). The album artwork, designed by the legendary Atlanta artist Flournoy Holmes (“Eat A Peach”), is another reason to buy this terrific record.” – Eddie Cleveland
Wishbone Ash – Live Dates LP (LMLR)
Translucent yellow and blue colored vinyl pressing.The British band’s first live album and the last release with their original line up.
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