CDs:
Alpaca – Demimonde CD/LP+MP3 (Robotic Empire)
Los Angeles/Brooklyn duo Alpaca is comprised of vocalist Justin Nuckols and multi-instrumentalist Allen Blickle. Their debut album, Demimonde, recorded over a five-year period across locations in New York and the members’ native Virginia, draws from material conceived during arduous tour schedules for Baroness, the accomplished hard rock band for which Blickle drummed. His dance, pop and melody-driven compositions juxtapose with Nuckols’s darker, groove-focused, and harmonic vocal explorations. Also available on color vinyl.
Anberlin – Devotion [Deluxe Edition] 2xCD/2xCD+DVD (Big3)
Two expanded editions of Anberlin’s 2012 album, each featuring six additional tracks and a bonus CD of remixes. Triple-disc version adds a live DVD.
The Asphodells – Remix LP CD/2xLP (Rotters Golf Club)
“The Rotters – Andrew Weatherall and Tim Fairplay – call in their disco friends, and Group Rhoda, to remix their eponymous debut album. Highlights appear from Weatherall’s protégé Daniel Avery with a slow, soaring remix of ‘We Are The Axis; a swaggering Wooden Shjips job on ‘One Minute’s Silence’; Hardway Bros’ lusting EBM revision of ‘Never There’; and most of all Group Rhoda’s nimble drum machine tweaks and minimal yet ornate overhaul of ‘Another Lonely City’.” – Boomkat
The Avett Brothers – Magpie And The Dandelion CD/2xLP (American Recordings)
Magpie And The Dandelion was produced by Rick Rubin who produced their previous two full-length studio albums, I And Love And You and The Carpenter. The album was recorded during the same recording sessions as The Carpenter and in an open letter to fans published in August band says the album conveys a feeling on “youthful wonder.” Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds four bonus tracks.
Bailterspace – Trinine CD/LP (Fire)
New album from the veteran New Zealand noise rock band. Bailterspace continue to remind us that we need guitar heroes now more than ever, providing a vital offering to those thirsty for six-stringed salvation in an age of laptops and pretenders.
Beats Antique – A Thousand Faces: Act I CD/LP (Beats Antique)
Electronic/World fusion dance trio Beats Antique brings you their new album and multi-media touring show A Thousand Faces, a journey beyond the sonic realm that s part odyssey, part genre-warping rock opera. The album is an epic two-volume adventure that follows every stage of Joseph Campbell s hero s journey with sweeping and lushly textured new compositions. Act II due next Spring.
Diane Birch – Speak A Little Louder CD (S-Curve)
Birch’s bears hints of Laura Nyro (when she was hanging out with LaBelle) and early 70’s Karen Carpenter (when she was ruling the charts), while effortlessly incorporating New Orleans second-line rhythms, gospel fervor, doo-wop harmonies, country-blues guitar and classic AM radio-style melodies. Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds five bonus tracks.
Black Milk – No Poison No Paradise CD (Fat Beats)
Fifth album from the Detroit rapper/producer/MC. “As one of the most celebrated auteurs of his generation of hip-hop artists, Black Milk has conditioned fans and critics to expect the unexpected with each release. Few producers have earned the notoriety and respect he has as a musician, and when that is coupled with commanding talent as an emcee, it’s no surprise that his solo releases are met with exalted anticipation.” – The Echo
Boardwalk – Boardwalk CD/LP (Stones Throw)
“The Los Angeles based duo consists of multi-instrumentalists Mike Edge and Amber Quintero and their sound is infectiously soothing with miles of exotic tones to accompany. A brightly lit psych sound that reaches far into the past eras of the ‘60s and ‘70s, Boardwalk are among many artists who are creating a very special movement together.” – SoundColourVibration
The Body – Christs, Redeemers CD/2xLP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
The Body is an avant-metal duo with ravishing grimness and impenetrable walls of noise. Their new album incorporates elements of noise, avant-garde composition, and experimental electronic music into their crushing doom and searing black metal foundation.
Harold Budd – Perhaps CD/2xLP (Root Strata)
Recorded live on December 8, 2006 at a memorial event for James Tenney at CalArts, Perhaps was originally only available digitally. This is a much-deserved physical release of this performance, which is striking in its restraint and simplicity yet profoundly resonant in its depth and message. It is both a eulogy to a departed friend and a defining statement from an artist at the apotheosis of his career.
Castevet – Ovsian CD (Profound Lore)
New York’s Castevet is one of the most invigorating, unique and musically advanced bands in the extreme metal underground. Emerging from the same scene as Krallice, Liturgy and Tombs, they possess a sound unlike any of their contemporaries. The trio incorporates influences ranging from avant-garde dissonant black metal (Ved Buens Ende, Deathspell Omega), neo-classical, jazz and progressive metal, and while they are often associated with the American black metal movement, they defy categorization.
Cave – Threace CD/LP (Drag City)
Cave is known for playing with rolling funk minimalism; Threace finds them inhabiting their cut-up aesthetic with tremendous ease and fewer reference points than before. They access new depths of meditative stasis, and then torpedo the dream and turn on a dime to ride the riffs again.
Eric Clapton – Unplugged: Expanded And Remastered 2xCD+DVD (Rhino/Reprise)
New double-CD+DVD version of Clapton’s 1992 live set includes a remastered version of the original album along with six unreleased outtakes. The DVD features a newly restored version of the concert, as well as more than an hour of previously unseen footage from the rehearsal.
Cross Record – Be Good CD/LP (Ba Da Bing!/Lay Flat)
Between melody and discord, Cross Record’s debut forges a quiet path through myriad sounds. Strings, clarinet, flute, steel drum, bells, tape distortion and other instrumentation support Emily Cross’s enchanting vocals while allowing for silences to build like black holes. Her lyrics conjure a dark beauty that leaves an effect long after the album has completed.
Crystal Antlers – Nothing Is Real CD/LP (Innovative Leisure)
Crystal Antlers is a Long Beach, CA band consisting of singer-bassist Jonny Bell, drummer Kevin Stuart and guitarist Andrew King. On their third full length Nothing Is Real, the Crystal Antlers go beyond the beyond, with a record of songs that rattle and ricochet from desolation to delirium; you’ll feel as much as hear echoes of bands like Wire, Pixies, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.
Cults – Static CD/LP+MP3 (Columbia)
Static is the follow-up to Cults’ critically adored 2010 self-titled, debut release. Written and recorded over the course of 2012 in the band’s home base of New York City, Static is produced by Cults with support from Shane Stoneback (Sleigh Bells, Vampire Weekend) and Ben Allen (Animal Collective, Washed Out). The album is comprised of 11 tracks including “I Can Hardly Make You Mine” and first single “High Road.”
Gavin DeGraw – Make A Move CD (RCA)
Recorded mainly in Los Angeles, Make A Move reunites DeGraw with multi-platinum producer Butch Walker (Fall Out Boy, Taylor Swift, P!nk) and multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning producer and OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder.
Depeche Mode – Should Be Higher – The Remixes CDEP (Columbia)
Third single off Delta Machine includes “Should Be Higher (Spike Single Mix)” and “Should Be Higher (Little Vampire Remix Single Edit)”. Vinyl version due October 29.
Devin The Dude – One For The Road CD (eOne)
Known more for blunts and beer than bullets and bling, Devin the Dude has kept a smile on hip-hop’s face while most of his peers have opted for a menacing scowl. Possessing the rare ability to inject humor, sex and substance in each of his rhymes, Devin has carved his own unique niche in rap music, becoming everybody’s favorite guilty pleasure in the process.
The Dismemberment Plan – Uncanny Valley CD/LP (Partisan)
Uncanney Valley, their first album in over a decade, maintains The Dismemberment Plan’s unique sound while simultaneously allowing them to open up and expand on the foundation of their celebrated back catalog.
Mike Donovan – Wot CD/LP (Drag City)
Solo album from ex-Sic Alps member. Guitars intersecting in the manner of the old loom the Stones once used, weaving in blue. Where rubric becomes fabric becomes freakadelic. Confronting the empty in acrostic (inner) space, is Plastic Ono dyspeptic arrhythmia, with Mike’s soul shoutouts at the five-and-dime buried in the symmetry. Also available on cassette.
Doomriders – Grand Blood CD/LP (Deathwish Inc.)
Grand Blood is the follow up to Doomriders’ highly regarded 2010 album Darkness Comes Alive. The album was engineered by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, and features artwork from Thomas Hooper as well as packaging from Ryan Patterson (Coliseum) and J. Bannon.
Where Darkness Comes Alive was smooth and heavy in tone Grand Blood is jagged and hard in its heart.
Fall Out Boy – Save Rock N Roll 2xCD (Island)
This special package contains all of the tracks from the original release plus a bonus disc featuring eight brand new songs produced by Ryan Adams.
Jame Ferraro – NYC Hell 3:00 AM CD (Hippos In Tanks)
Vinyl version due October 29.
Flying Colors – Live In Europe CD (Mascot Label Group)
Flying Colors launched in 2012 following a formation that began with a simple idea: virtuoso musicians and a pop singer joining together to make new-fashioned music the old fashioned way. Refreshing, classic, old and new, the recordings are saturated with the many styles, tones and hues of the players who in becoming a band delivered a unique fusion of vintage craftsmanship and contemporary music. Flying Colors is Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Dave LaRue (Joe Satriani) Neal Morse (Spock s Beard), Casey McPherson (Alpha Rev), and Steve Morse (Deep Purple). This live set is also available on stand-alone DVD and Blu-ray.
Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind CD/LP (Text)
“Beautiful Rewind is peppered with references to the UK’s pirate radio music canon, mostly notably garage, grime and jungle. ‘Buchla’’s first minute effectively recreates a Riko and Slimzee Sunday afternoon show on pre-license Rinse FM, pairing a sample of – I believe – the former with a bassline sampled from a grime classic, while ‘Kool FM’’s title, MC and rewind samples speak for themselves. ‘Gong’ approaches jungle in an almost identical manner to how Burial, the archetypal ‘up late alone listening to pirate radio’ producer, approached UK garage.” – FactMag
Jerry Garcia Band/Legion Of Mary – GarciaLive, Volume Three 3xCD (ATO)
This is the third installment of the newly launched archival series highlights captured during two December 1974 Pacific Northwest performances from one of Jerry Garcia’s most experimental, improvisational and revered projects. Triple CD set featuring over 2 1/2 hours of previously unreleased music mastered from original soundboard recordings.
Group Rhoda – 12th House CD (Not Not Fun)
From witchy island pop (“Day Ruiner,” “Dust”) and dizzy, micro-cosmic disco (“Coral Castle”) through paisley-flavored circus-psych (“Disappearing Ground”) to wobbly, haunted house dub-damage (“Space Race,” “Blk Mtl”), the record is rich with rarefied Rhoda rhinestones and reflections. Vinyl version due October 29.
Happy Jawbone Family Band – Happy Jawbone Family Band CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
Binding folk, indie rock and pop forms together is easy enough; it’s what this band does with them, how it builds its sentiments and bursts preconceptions, that put them in a place where these musicians can rest, comfortably above and apart from almost every band working in this same terrain today. “Happy Jawbone Family Band celebrate the value of lo-fi as an act of direct resistance to the toxic gloss of professionalism, making a persuasive statement in defense of wide-eyed amateurism in the process.” — Pitchfork
The Head And The Heart – Let’s Be Still CD/2xLP (Sub Pop)
“The second album from Seattle six piece The Head And The Heart follows 2011’s rather darling self-titled debut, on which their indie-folk stylings reinterpreted the sounds of Americana for a modern audience, bathing them in warm, golden hues. Let’s Be Still continues in the same vain as their first album, but presents a more slowed-down performance than its predecessor, moving away from the lively folk of old and veering towards straight up country territory.” – The Line Of Best Fit
Heavenly Beat – Prominence CD (Captured Tracks)
Using Primitive Radio God’s “Standing Outside A Broken Telephone Booth With Money In My Hand” as a sonic touch point John Pena built a new album from the ground up utilizing chopped/sampled drum breaks and some non laptop based keyed instruments (piano, mellotron) along with H.B. main stays classical guitar and steel drums. Vinyl version due October 22.
Tim Hecker – Virgins CD/2xLP (Kranky)
Virgins was recorded during three periods in 2012, mostly in Reykjavik, Montreal and Seattle, using ensembles in live performance. The sound palette of this work is wider, almost ‘percussive’ and tighter sounding than previous works. While this album remains committed to a painterly form of musical abstraction, it’s also a record of restrained composition recorded live primarily in intimate studio rooms, employing woodwinds, piano and synthesizers towards an effort at doing what digital music does not do naturally — making music that is out of time, out of tune and out of phase.
Will Hoge – Never Give In CD/LP (Cumberland)
Will’s ninth album is a collection of eleven songs that range from Stones-y rock & roll to Kristofferson country, that reflects an artist taking stock of where he is as a father, a husband, a man. There is pride in where he s landed and nostalgia for where he’s been, all of it brought to life by his soulful voice and indefatigable spirit.
Interbellum – This Was An Important Place In Their Lives CD (Flingco Sound System)
Limited edition of 200 packaged in Cortland linen weave photo folders with photographic print. Second album proper from Interbellum, but the first to be fully realized by main-man, Brendan Burke.
Kwes – IIp CD/2xLP+MP3 (Warp)
Debut album from British producer, songwriter and musician Kwesi Sey AKA Kwes. He describes his own musical style as ‘free-pop’ which he defines as “pop songs or music that can go anywhere, and they can sometimes be very noisy, very quiet or somewhere in between. It’s more an ever-changing creative processes with a few constants than a musical style.”
La Luz – It’s Alive CD/LP (Hardly Art)
Musically, La Luz’s address is somewhere around the Lively Ones, right next to the Shangri-Las, and across the street from Mazzy Star.
Glenn Lewis – Moment Of Truth CD (IAM/Ruffhouse)
Glenn Lewis is ushering in the return of true R&B. With his debut album on Ruffhouse Records Lewis has embraced the legacy of great R&B legends like Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, and Luther Vandross, the vocal mastery of stylists like Stevie Wonder and Donny Hathaway.
Lucius – Wildewoman CD/LP (Mom + Pop)
“The five-piece band has a fully formed sound spearheaded by the intertwining vocals of Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe, who can be heard simply owning brand new song ‘Hey, Doreen.’ The soulful song is additionally powered by fuzzy guitar hits, soft organ tones, electronic effects, and reverberating keys, making for a very modern take on some classic ideas.” — Spin
Paul McCartney – New CD (Hear Music)
Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds two bonus tracks. Vinyl version due November 15. “In calling his 16th solo album New, Paul McCartney is celebrating his fresh attitude rather than a change of musical direction. Though they’re produced by men young enough to be his sons, these 12 songs are vintage Macca: jaunty, melodic and occasionally whimsical with underlying twists of lyrical anger.” – The Telegraph. Free Lighted Cube with purchase – while supplies last!
Cass McCombs – Big Wheel And Others CD (Domino)
Big Wheel And Others is Cass’ seventh-and-a-half album and the follow-up to the 2011’s pair of releases Wit’s End and Humor Risk. It comprises twenty-two songs, but “double album” implies bloat, prog, and concept, so, let’s stick with “songs.” This album is a bundle, a bindle, a hay bale, and an oil barrel of songs. Some of the genres that are to be found in varying degrees in the songs on this album are: Road songs, rock songs, folk songs, blues songs, country songs, rhythm and blues songs, skronk non-songs, cinema songs, cult songs, poem songs, jams, and ballads — to use however you wish. Vinyl version due November 5.
Cameron McGill – Gallows Etiquette CD/LP+MP3 (Post Important)
Gallows Etiquette is the sixth album from Cameron McGill (also a member of Margo & The Nuclear So & Sos). The album finds him in the company of a new band: Rodrigo Palma (Saves The Day), Charles Koltak, and Vess Ruhtenberg (Lemonheads/Zero Boys). The lineup further refines McGill’s version of Baroque soul — a marriage of the American songbook stylings of Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson with a rhythm section drawing on the Stax Records catalog.
Carlton Melton – Always Even CD/LP+MP3 (Agitated)
Strap in, fly on — but do not be fooled by the gentle ease of opening track “Slow Wake.” It’s the calm before the psych-storm, a balm for one’s ears to prepare body and mind for the synth-riff-laden, psych-guitar-knockout blastings to come.
Wymond Miles – Cut Yourself Free CD/LP (Sacred Boys)
On the heels of 2012’s critically acclaimed debut LP Under The Pale Moon, and Earth Has Doors EP comes the sophomore full length from Wymond Miles, guitarist of San Francisco garage-pop titans The Fresh & Onlys. Cut Yourself Free assembles another convergence of moonlit romantic swagger and post-punk massacred urgency.
Morcheeba – Head Up High CD (PIAS America)
Head Up High reflects a series of significant changes in the trio’s lives while marking the success of the bands career spanning 18 years since the release of their debut album, Who Can You Trust, an acclaimed trip-hop blueprint and the root of Morcheeba’s success. Vinyl version due November 11.
Murderburgers – These Are Only Problems CD/LP (Asian Man)
Scottish pop punk songs about being flat broke and going mental.
Willie Nelson – To All The Girls… CD/2xLP (Sony Legacy)
To All The Girls… finds Willie reunited with his two greatest loves: beautiful music and talented women. The album continues Nelson’s musical relationships with some of the most talented women in country,pop and soul, and includes appearances from Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples, Sheryl Crow, Carrie Underwood, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Miranda Lambert, Norah Jones, Loretta Lynn and Roseanne Cash.
Neo Boys – Sooner Or Later 2xCD/2xLP (K Records)
In Portland, OR, in 1978, a radical form of artistic expression some refer to as “punk” or “new wave” was beginning to take shape, and at the heart of this legendary movement was the powerful all-girl punk group the Neo Boys. Though they were an active band for just five years (1978-82), teenage sisters Kt (bass) and Kim Kincaid (vocals), Pat Baum (drums) and guitarists Jennifer Labianco and Megan Hengtes forged a place for women in the growing punk rock scene, and redefined gender roles in the 80’s movement of rock and roll. This comprehensive collection of recordings is divided between their early, raw punk era and their more accomplished ’80s era during which they recorded Crumbling Myths.
Nobunny – Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror CD (Goner)
Nobunny’s new LP on Goner Records proves the Bay Area garage rocker’s absurd appropriation of rock & roll knows no bounds. In true Nobunny style, the album is a mixture of styles and fidelities, like having a garbage bin of awesomeness dumped on your head, the slime at the bottom rushing into your earholes and staining your brain. Vinyl version due October 29.
Gary Numan – Splinter (Songs From A Broken Mind) CD/2xLP (Mortal)
The songs on Splinter were written by Gary and his longtime co-conspirator Ade Fenton. The album sees Gary blending his unique musical vision with modern technology, creating something this is both ‘current’ and entirely different than anything else you will hear all year. Features 12 tracks including the single “Love Hurt Bleed.”
Odyssey – Setting Forth 2xCD (Lion Productions)
A quintessential dose of New York ‘60s psychedelia: one perfect album, loaded with heavy swirling organ, ferocious fuzz guitar, and powerhouse vocals.
Olan Mill – Hiraeth CD/LP (Preservation)
Olan Mill is variously compared to the likes of Richard Skelton, Maurice Jarre and Vangelis. Where Home sought to essay the life-affirming, worldly joy of travel, Hiraeth is a movingly yearning work for a lost sense of place.
Oozing Wound – Retrash CD/LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Oozing Wound is Zack Weil (guitar, vocals), Kevin Cribbin (bass), and Kyle Reynolds (drums), young men that have established themselves in the volatile Chicago underground in a short time, playing in Cacaw, Unmanned Ship, ZATH, Bad Drugs, and countless other groups that have populated packed, sweaty basements and lofts throughout the city. Simultaneously hilarious and terrifying, their debut album, Retrash, is made for people who have no faith in melody and happiness, and no resistance to heavy riffage. This is music by and for people with a desire to slay.
Aaron Parks – Arborescence CD (ECM)
Prize-winning young American pianist Aaron Parks titled his ECM debut Arborescence because the albums music is the fruit of a session of solo studio improvisation in which little was predetermined; the pieces developed in the moment like living things, in the artists words.
Oranssi Pazuzu – Valonielu CD/LP (20 Buck Spin)
The band name, a combination of the Finnish word Oranssi, which means “orange” and for the band symbolizes cosmic energy, and Pazuzu, a mythic demon of the wind, conjures perfectly the band’s unequaled, singular take on psychedelic cosmic black metal—celestial and boundless but malevolently grim and harsh.
Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt CD/LP (Monkey Wrench)
“Pearl Jam represent one of the most consistent and successful rock bands active today – and a first listen to ‘Lightning Bolt’, the Seattle quintet’s new album, further confirms this status. Still standing, never once bowing to the dreaded ‘hiatus’, the Eddie Vedder-fronted outfit is in as rude health today as it was back in the ‘90s.” – Clash Music
Pelican – Forever Becoming CD (Southern Lord)
An immense, speaker-rattling meditation on the infinite cycle of death and life. Forever Becoming was produced by Chris Common, formerly of These Arms Are Snakes, who also previously produced Pelican’s 2009 studio album, What We All Come To Need. Forever Becoming is the first Pelican album since the band’s inception in 2001 to not feature founding guitarist Laurent Schroeder-Lebec. Vinyl version due November 25.
Red Fang – Whales And Leeches CD/LP (Relapse)
On Whales And Leeches, Red Fang worked with producer Chris Funk and mixer Vance Powell, the very same team helmed Red Fang’s last album, Murder The Mountains, which Alternative Press magazine hailed as ”a near-masterpiece of tangled tar pit riffs and whisky-and-bong-hit vocals.” Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds two bonus tracks.
Rivers Of Nihil – Concious CD (Metal Blade)
Debut album from the Pennsylvania metal band.
Smith Street Band – No One Gets Lost Anymore CD/LP (Asian Man)
Smart, sentimental punk rock from Australia.
Bubba Sparxxx – Pain Management CD (Average Joe’s Entertainment)
New album contains 11 tracks including the hit singles, “Splinter,” featuring Crucifix and “Country Folk,” featuring Colt Ford as well as other guest appearances from artists like Danny Boone of Rehab, The Lacs, Rodney Atkins, Dan Rockett and I4NI.
T2 – 1971-1972 CD (Lion Productions)
Third and last archival set of recordings from the classic era of the UK psych/prog legends.
Luke Temple – Good Mood Fool CD/LP (Secretly Canadian)
In the winter Luke Temple moved into a cottage, a small one, in upstate New York. The snow fell quietly. He had frozen blueberries and bread and eggs and Coors Original. He sang and drank and played and drank and ate and shoveled snow and when the snow melted and the roads cleared he had his friends. Eliot Kirmsky (Glass Ghost) and Mike Johnson (Dirty Projectors) dug into Luke’s hut and together they built a fire. Luke called it Good Mood Fool.
Theologian – Some Things Have To Be Endured CD (Crucial Blast)
The latest offering from NY synth-death master Theologian, Some Things Have To Be Endured features eight new tracks of punishing black industrial, apocalyptic darkwave frequencies and nerve-rending electronic deathscapes.
Tindersticks – Les Salauds (un film de Claire Denis) CD/LP (Lucky Dog)
A hypnotic electronic score reflecting the dream-like narratives of the film, including a new twist on Hot Chocolate classic “Put Your Love in Me.”
Toad The Wet Sprocket – New Constellation CD (Abes)
The alternative rockers release their sixth album — and first since 1997’s Coil. “’New Constellation’ was the very first new song written specifically for the band,” frontman Glen Phillips tells Rolling Stone. “After a decade in the folk/singer-songwriter world, it was exciting to write with the band in mind. I wanted to come up with material that would respect our origins but also respect everything we’d learned in the intervening years. The lyric veers from outer space to patron saints to depression to heroic gestures of love in a quick, three-minute pop song.” – Rolling Stone
Ralph Towner/Wolfgang Muthspiel/Slava Grigoryan – Travel Guide CD (ECM)
An international summit meeting, Travel Guide features US guitarist Ralph Towner, Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, and Kazakhstan-born and Australia-raised guitarist Slava Grigoryan.
Trivium – Vengeance Falls CD/LP (Roadrunner)
Trivium present their sixth album — definitely one of their heaviest, while at the same time melodic efforts.
Ultra Bidé – DNA vs DNA-c CD/LP (Alternative Tentacles)
Straight-up skull-shattering is what comes to mind after hearing Japanese noisemongers Ultra Bidé for the first time. Hyper-energetic and relentless, they never take themselves too seriously not to have fun. Their first US record in over ten years documents the trio’s dual bass and drum attack—a monster that pounds the listener into a custard donut, ever so thick and creamy, cooked by Satan.
Various Artists [Bloc Party/Kele] – Tapes CD (!K7)
Thought you had Bloc Party pegged? Prepare to be surprised. The London four-piece have always had an undertow of dance music, something to do with their propulsive rhythm section perhaps, but their instalment in the !K7 Tapes series, selected and mixed by Kele, is pretty much a full-on dancefloor set full of twists and turns.
Dean Wareham – Emancipated Hearts CD (Double Feature)
New solo release from the former leader of Galaxie 500 and Luna as well as half of indie duo Dean & Britta. Vinyl version due October 29.
Jonathan Wilson – Fanfare CD (Downtown)
Hailed as updating the classic Laurel Canyon sound, in reality Jonathan Wilson is a far more complex, idiosyncratic entity. Sure, there are shades of that pastoral early ‘70s sound and even psychedelia, but the West Coast artist seems to continually play between influence and identity, tradition and possibility. Featuring contributions from Graham Nash, David Crosby, Jackson Browne, Josh Tillman (AKA Father John Misty), Wilco’s Patrick Sansone, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and more, Fanfare certainly reaches for a lush sound. Vinyl version due October 29.
DVD + Blu-ray:
Flying Colors – Live In Europe DVD/Blu-ray (Mascot Label Group)
Live In Europe captures the quintet in Tilberg, Holland performing at 013 on September 20, 2012. Directed and Edited by Bernhard Baran (Guns n’ Roses, The Cure, Porcupine Tree), the performance was filmed with a large array of cameras including cranes, dollies and GoPros bringing fans a larger-than-life concert experience. The show presents the entire studio album along with popular favorites by individual members. Also available on stand-alone CD.
Vinyl:
The Beets – Play Silver Nickels & Golden Dimes 7” (Hardly Art)
New York band The Beets cover two songs by their God: Howard Stern. Enough said.
Black Twig Pickers – Lonesome Valley b/w Sweet Little Julie 7”+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Side A features a collaborative track from Black Twig Pickers and Steve Gunn. Side B is a fiddle duo of Mike Gangloss joined by Sally Morgan.
The Books – Music For A French Elevator And Other Oddities 2xLP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
Double-LP features all of The Books rare B-sides and outtakes.
Chicaloyoh – Folie Sacree LP (Shelter Press)
Debut full-length from the French singer comparable to Grouper and Catherine Ribiero, with the mysticism of Popol Vuh and deep incantations of Nico.
The Clash – The Clash [Reissue/1977] 2xLP (Sony Legacy)
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope [Reissue/1978] LP (Sony Legacy)
The Clash – London Calling [Reissue/1979] 2xLP (Sony Legacy)
The Clash – Sandinista [Reissue/1980] 3xLP (Sony Legacy)
The Clash – Combat Rock [Reissue/1982] LP (Sony Legacy)
HQ-180gm vinyl reissues, newly remastered from the original tapes.
Connections – Body Language LP+MP3 (Anyway)
Sophomore album from Ohio band featuring members of 84 Nash, Times New Viking, and El Jesus De Magico.
John Davis – Ask The Dust LP (Students Of Decay)
A moving suite of compositions employing a plethora of instrumentation: guitar, piano, tape loops, Max/MSP, field recordings and the newest addition to his arsenal, a complex assortment of Blacet synthesizer modules. Davis uses the synth not as the crux of his recordings but as a tool among many in his kit, weaving oscillations and mangled or rhythmic tones through pastoral webs of processed guitar and field recordings.
Do Make Say Think – Do Make Say Think [Reissue/1998] 2xLP (Constellation)
Do Make Say Think self-recorded its self-titled debut album in Toronto in 1996-1997 and self-released the record on CD. It made its way to Constellation’s stereo in spring 1998, just as the label was getting off the ground. Constellation re-released the album in more elaborate bespoke CD packaging in 1999 and Do Make Say Think became the label’s fifth release. This terrific debut remained one of the very few titles on Constellation that was never issued on vinyl, as the label’s limited resources in the early years conspired against a double-LP pressing at the time.
Molly Drake – Molly Drake LP (Squirrel Thing)
A collection of never-before-heard songs recorded by Molly Drake in the 1950s at the Drake family home, lovingly restored by Nick Drake’s engineer John Wood. According to Joe Boyd, legendary producer of Five Leaves Left and Bryter Later, “this is the missing link in the Nick Drake story.” For fans of Nick Drake, Molly Drake reveals an undeniable influence on her son’s celebrated canon. Moreover, these songs present a comprehensive first look at a singular and sophisticated artist in her own right. CD version due November 26.
John Flynn – Country Mile LP (Transgressive)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New release from the British folk singer/songwriter.
Haim – Days Are Gone LP (Columbia)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Days Are Gone is the highly anticipated debut album from breakout band Haim. The Southern California trio has attracted a surge of industry attention since releasing their EPs Forever, Don t Save Me and Falling. The band has also been prominently featured in Rolling Stone’s esteemed ‘Best Of Rock’ issue and Elle’s ‘Women In Music’ issue, as well as recognized as “Faces To Watch 2013” by The Los Angeles Times, “20 Bands To Watch Out For” by Complex and “15 New Stars We Love” by Entertainment Weekly.
Heldon – Interface LP (Superior Viaduct)
Richard Pinhas is an artistic iconoclast. A French intellectual as likely to collaborate with Magma as the radical philosopher Gilles Deleuze, Pinhas released seven albums under the Heldon moniker in the 1970s that flaunt the mastery of progressive rock and early electronics while still being thoroughly avant-garde. The genre-expanding innovation of his ’70s output is best encapsulated on Interface, the group’s sixth album (and second with the stripped-down trio featuring drummer Francois Auger and keyboardist Patrick Gauthier). Interface is a sonic tour de force where Heldon avoids every logical category vis-à-vis infinite climaxes and rhythmic explorations that sound impossibly futuristic.
Dickon Hinchliffe – Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980 LP (Blackest Ever Black)
First vinyl edition of Tindersticks member’s original score.
Imbogodom – Metafather LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Imbogodom create phantom-like transmissions and sound pieces out of tape machine loops, foley sound effects and vintage mixing desks, invoking the spirit of radiophonic and library music from the past.
Sarah Jarosz – Build Me Up From Bones LP (Sugar Hill)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Third release from acclaimed 22-year-old singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist. “Widely regarded as one of acoustic music’s most promising young talents: a singer-songwriter and mandolin and banjo prodigy with the taste and poise to strike that rare balance of commercial and critical success.” – The New York Times
J.T. IV – Cosmic Lightning LP+DVD (Drag City)
Though his music was energized by the punk and glam movements, the late John Henry Timmis IV was beyond style, feverishly (and unknowingly) meshing punk and classic rock sounds with dark psychedelic touches.
Jamie Lidell – Big Love Remixes 12” (Warp)
Color vinyl EP featuring remixes by MachineDrum, Lorenz Rhode, Jimmy Edgar, and Crackboy.
The Men – Campfire Songs 12” (Sacred Bones)
While holed up in a house in upstate NY, The Men took full advantage of their rural surroundings, in-house studio, and lack of recording timelines and obligations. They tracked over twenty-five songs. On top of that they also managed to record five songs acoustically, while sitting around a campfire outside the house.
Moving Finger – Smokin’ The Crack Of Dawn 7” (Goner)
Moving Finger takes psychedelic punk to a level that few dare to tread. Fantastic, forward-thinking avant-punk that reminds us of the early days of UK or Cleveland experimentalism in the late ‘70s where primitive technique and ambitious ideas lead to some great music.
My Cat Is An Alien With Nels Cline – The Ocean Above Your Heads LP (Starlight Furniture Company)
The Ocean Above Your Heads throbs like an Argento soundtrack for an astral perv lair, recalling vintage cassettes from the golden age of industrial, when field recordings of howling dogs were repurposed as documents of institutional degradation and mind control. Dusted with loops from a lunar cathedral where palsied zombies dragging pots and pans skid across the soap-slathered narthex, the album splays the hemispheres better than Subotnik goin’ off his meds.
The New Sound Of Numbers – Invisible Magnetic LP (Cloud Recordings)
The New Sound of Numbers is an experimental post-punk band based in Athens, GA. It is fronted by Hannah Jones on 12-string electric guitar and features members of Pylon and The Olivia Tremor Control.
David Novick – David Novick LP (God)
This solo debut album is officially a reissue, though the original was pressed in a short edition of 100. David and his bandmates in San Francisco Water Cooler put it out as the third release on their Sun Sneeze Records, and the copies were sold or handed out at shows. In order to create the shifting moods of weird creepy beauty, and the bright and shade of the album, David used mostly acoustic guitars, some percussion, and his own vocals, augmented with touches of electric guitar, organ, trumpet, harmonica and synthesizer.
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band – Take Me To The Land Of Hell LP (Chimera Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Take Me To The Land Of Hell was recorded in NYC and produced by Yoko, Sean Lennon and Yuka Honda. Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band includes members of Cornelius and Cibo Matto plus special guests Questlove, Lenny Kravitz, Nels Cline and Andrew Wyatt.
The Partisans – The Partisans [Reissue/1983] LP (Beat Generation)
Reissue of the1983 debut album by UK punk band on HQ-180gm vinyl.
Sandro Perri – Spaced Out 12” (Constellation)
The final set of remixes from Perri’s critically acclaimed Impossible Spaces album, following previous EPs on DFA and Phonica. Featuring remixes by Larry Gus (DFA, Lefse), Le Révélateur (Root Strata) and Imugem Orihasam (Fragil). While Sandro Perri’s acclaimed and meticulously constructed album Impossible Spaces was a decidedly avant-rock affair conjured from guitar, bass, drums, synth and voice (with flourishes of woodwinds and brass), longtime fans of Perri will also be familiar with his deep roots in electronic music, chiefly via his Polmo Polpo project from the early 2000s.
Robert Pollard – Tonight’s The Rodeo 7” (GBV Inc.)
Robert Pollard returns with his latest single “Tonight’s The Rodeo.” The A-side is a preview from a forthcoming 2014 solo album; Astral City Slicker is the full three-minute-plus version of the 51-second “Suit Minus The Middle” from Honey Locust Honky Tonk.
Seasick Steve – Hubcap Music 2xLP (Third Man)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. “It’s called Hubcap Music. That’s cus I play some songs on a guitar made out of two hubcaps and a garden hoe, and cus I couldn’t think of nothing else” — Seasick Steve. Recorded on a tape recorder, on old fashion tape, mixed on tape and the vinyl cut from tape. Features, Jack White, John Paul Jones, and Luther Dickensen (North Mississippi Allstars).
Secret Pyramid – Movements Of Night LP (Students Of Decay)
“A Descent” opens the record; its title aptly portends the track’s dirge-like drones and throbbing cycles of low-end. Throughout Movements of Night, Abbey deftly navigates the properties of sleep and unconsciousness, charting a course that is equal parts harrowing and funereal, tranquil and sublime. Juxtaposing the everyday with the obscured, the half-there melodies and arcs of hazy guitar histrionics of “Closer” dissolve into “To Forget,” a track that posits a more familiar, tangible atmosphere in which radiant drones are tethered to a driving bassline, recalling perhaps a lost ’70s Popol Vuh Herzog soundtrack.
Shine 2009 – Our Nation LP (Cascine)
“Sami Suova and Mikko Pykari are interested in a combination of elegant, crisp art-pop funk that could be from some lost 1980s world — maybe one where Heaven 17 interpreted Gang of Four’s worldview — and a gentle collage of orchestrations, samples and atmosphere.” — Pitchfork
Frederick Michael St. Jude – Here Am I LP (Drag City)
Here Am I isn’t just the expression of a working-class hero’s musical fantasy circa 1976: it’s also a marvelous mashup of outsider-insider production styles, the best evidence of which is the synth-laden robot-rock of “Love You Anyway.”
Survivor Knife – Divine Mob b/w Snakebit 7” (K Records)
Survivor Knife features members of the mighty ‘90s rock legends Unwound.
Sweet Madness – Made In Spokane 1978-1981 LP (Sweet Madness)
Mutant-garage-punk-art-rock from Spokane, WA.
Tetuzi Akiyama/Tom Carter/Tetuzi Christian Kiefer – Darkened Mirror LP (Monotype)
New collaborative album from experimental guitarist/violinist Tetuzi Akiyama, psych/drone guitarist Tom Carter (Charalambides) and writer Christian Kiefer.
Various Artists – Hassaniya Music From the Western Sahara And Mauritania LP (Sublime Frequencies)
Stunning recordings of Hassaniya music from Mauritania and the West Sahara, recorded on location in 2006 by Hisham Mayet.
Wau Y Los Arrrghs!!! – Todo Roto Slovenly LP (Slovenly)
’66 garage punk worshipping scum rock with massive, crunched-out riffs, endless piles of fuzz, and swirling Vox organ. Impolite, swinging brutality from the grave for the sweatiest go-go gorilla party ever.
Wooden Wand & The World War IV – Wooden Wand & The World War IV LP+MP3 (Three Lobed)
Wooden Wand & The World War IV is divided between a ruthlessly economical post-punk Side A, scrubbed of keyboards and excess, and a side B dominated by colossal ‘70s style stadium jams.
Cassette:
Mike Donovan – Wot (Drag City)
Solo album from ex-Sic Alps member. Guitars intersecting in the manner of the old loom the Stones once used, weaving in blue. Where rubric becomes fabric becomes freakadelic. Confronting the empty in acrostic (inner) space, is Plastic Ono dyspeptic arrhythmia, with Mike’s soul shoutouts at the five-and-dime buried in the symmetry.
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