CDs:
65daysofstatic – Wild Light CD/LP (Superball Music)
Sixth album from the Sheffield-based instrumental post-rock outfit. Initially, the band interspersed heavy, progressive, guitar-driven instrumental sections with live drums and offbeat sampled drums akin to those of Aphex Twin, although since their second album they have developed their work to include keyboard parts.
Arcade Fire – Reflektor 2xCD/2xLP+MP3 (Merge)
Arcade Fire’s new double album was produced by the band, LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy, and long-time collaborator Markus Dravs.
Audacity – Butter Knife CD/LP+CD (Suicide Squeeze)
Audacity’s new album Butter Knife is still, at its core, a garage rock record. The economic instrumentation, grit-tinged guitar jangle, pogo-prompting tempos, and sing-along choruses can all be traced back to the seminal Nuggets collections. But ultimately, Butter Knife doesn’t sound so much like an homage to The Sonics as it sounds like a young band striving to make the most ebullient and jubilant noise possible.
Bad Religion – Christmas Songs CD (Epitaph)
Bad Religion have threatened to record an album of seasonal classics for years, and now they’ve gone and done it, tackling eight chestnuts in their classic punk rock style. From “White Christmas” with its nod to pioneers The Ramones, to the glorious choirboy intro to “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Christmas Songs is the record you need to get your holiday household’s toes tapping.
Bardo Pond – Peace On Venus CD/LP (Fire)
Philadelphia’s foremost purveyors of psychedelic rock again dazzle with their gift for heavy riffs laced with soaring vocals &and swathes of sound.
Botony – Lava Diviner (True Story) CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
When our human experiences defy articulation, music and film can sometimes be the only languages we have to communicate with. In 1975, Peter Weir directed Picnic At Hanging Rock, a haunting film in which a group of schoolgirls disappear while exploring a volcanic rock in the Australian outback. Through the film, Weir explores landscapes of intense memory, and the mysterious forces that bend, mold, and erode the core of our psyches.
Susan Boyle – Home For Christmas CD (Sony)
Singing sensation Susan Boyle returns with a stunning album of her favorite classic Christmas songs.
Peter Broderick – Float 2013 CD/LP (Erased Tapes)
Reissue of the 26-year old American composer’s 2008 debut album, Float. Remastered by Nils Frahm. Vinyl edition features two bonus tracks.
Circuit des Yeux – Overdue CD/LP (Ba Da Bing!)
A few artists have had studios built for themselves—Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios a notable example—but certainly few albums have had studios built for them. Circuit des Yeux’s Haley Fohr and Cave’s Cooper Crain erected USA Studios in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood over a few weeks in January 2013 for the two months of recording sessions that make up Overdue. Founded with the acquisition of a one-inch Otari MX-70 tape deck (modded to 8-track) and a vacancy in a friend’s apartment, the studio endured hundreds of hours over its brief flash of life.
Circus Devils – My Mind Has Seen The White Trick CD (Happy Jack)
Circus Devils – When Machines Attack CD (Happy Jack)
Founded by Robert Pollard, completed by the Tobias brothers Todd and Tim, Ohio’s Circus Devils have been lurking under the radar since 2001. They’re back with two new albums for 2013, both released on the same day Vinyl versions due November 12.
Kelly Clarkson – Wrapped In Red CD (RCA)
The Grammy Award winner and multi-platinum recording artist releases her first Christmas album.
Diane Coffee – My Friend Fish CD/LP (Western Vinyl)
Joseph Campbell describes a shaman as “person, male or female, who…has an overwhelming psychological experience that turns him totally inward. It’s a kind of schizophrenic crack-up. The whole unconscious opens up, and the shaman falls into it.” We’ll never know the whole truth about what happened when (Foxygen drummer and former Disney child actor) Shaun Fleming moved from the West Coast suburbs to New York, but whatever it was fractured his psyche, opened it up, and gave birth to Diane Coffee.
Corrections House – Last City Zero CD (Neurot)
Corrections House is the collective compulsions of Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod), Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Sanford Parker (Minsk) and their minister of propaganda, Seward Fairbury. A mysterious cooperative of lost souls, forged unwittingly by the impetuous forces of nature and altered states of consciousness, Corrections House is without control of their destiny.
John Davis – Spare Parts CD (Shrimper)
Spare Parts mines an acoustic singer-songwriter vein while avoiding a stylistic rut by veering back and forth between artistic formulas in a way that recalls Folk Implosion’s Dare To Be Surprised. Influences include the textural percussion work of Han Bennik and Andrew Cyrille, the electronic moonscapes of Stockhausen, the drawn-out ballardry of Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat” and the spooky strings and reclusion of Scott Walker. Vinyl version due November 12.
Dead Letter Circus – The Catalyst Fire CD (The End)
Dead Letter Circus is an alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Their debut album This Is The Warning debuted at No. 2 on the Australian album charts and spawned a number of singles that were played heavily on radio, and was later certified Gold and voted by listeners into Triple J’s Hottest 100 Albums Of All Time, at number 86.
The Devil Makes Three – I’m A Stranger Here CD (New West)
TDM3’s travels and travails serve as inspiration for their fourth album, I’m A Stranger Here, produced by Buddy Miller and recorded at Dan (Black Keys) Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. With upright bassist Lucia Turino and guitarist Cooper McBean, guitarist/singer Pete Bernhard crafted a dozen tunes, part road songs, part heartbreak songs and part barnburners. Vinyl version due November 19.
Enbilulugugal – Noizemongers For Goatserpent [Reissue/2004] 2xCD (Crucial Blast)
A putrid eruption of lo-fi black metal, harsh noise and experimental, anti-musical weirdness, infused with a Black Legions-style mix of invented mythology and garbled language.
John Fahey – Christmas Soli CD (Fantasy)
A 14-song compilation of highlights from Fahey’s Yuletide catalog.
Chris Forsyth – Solar Motel CD/LP (Paradise Of Bachelors)
Solar Motel completes Forsyth’s alchemical transformation from a guitarist renowned for his nuanced playing in varied experimental and post-American Primitive circles into full-fledged deconstructivist rock & roll bandleader producing unabashedly ambitious, ecstatic body music.
Gardland – Syndrome Syndrome CD/LP (RVNG, Intl)
If linearity in techno/house is the convention, Syndrome Syndrome avoids flat lining in its spiral and fractal formations. The beats here don’t “drop,” they appear erratically in uncertain quantum logic. The harmonic architecture forms cavernous copies in place of metronomic melodies, while the convulsive human hand lays tonal tile that may or may not crumble on contact.
Robert Glasper Experiment – Black Radio 2 CD (Blue Note)
Providing vocals throughout this second volume is a stellar roll call of artists including Common, Patrick Stump, Brandy, Jill Scott, Dwele, Marsha Ambrosius, Anthony Hamilton, Faith Evans, Norah Jones, Snoop Dogg, Lupe Fiasco, Emeli Sandé, Lalah Hathaway, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.
Gross Ghost – Public Housing CD/LP+MP3 (Odessa)
Ranges from detuned noise experiments to straightforward rock & roll.
Roy Harper – Man & Myth CD/LP+CD (Bella Union)
The 72-year-old folk rock icon releases his first album in 13 years, and his 23rd overall.
ICP – Forgotten Freshness 5 CD (Psychopathic)
The Forgotten Freshness series features albums that contain the scrapped, rare and hard to find music that gets lost in the shuffle of the underground or was never meant to actually see the light of day. The original Forgotten Freshness album was released back in 1998 and now Insane Clown Posse presents the fifth installment of the highly successful series. Features twenty unreleased and super rare ICP tracks. All tracks handpicked by Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope.
The Jealous Sound – Kill Them With Kindness [Reissue/2003] 2xLP (Rise)
This double-LP remastered reissue version of the band’s debut album adds their self-titled EP, as well as three previously unreleased demos.
Jel – Late Pass CD (Anticon)
Imagine Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad detonating explosives under the prog rock grooves of German experimental behemoths Can. These ideas seem mutually exclusive, but they’re not. The evidence is in the shrapnel funk of Late Pass, the third album from Anticon co-founder Jel. As the scarred vocals of the title track instruct: Don’t get too comfortable.
Jethro Tull – Benefit [Deluxe Edition] 2xCD+DVD-A (Rhino)
The first disc of this expanded reissue adds five bonus tracks to the original 1970 album that include both the UK and US stereo versions of “Teacher. ” All the songs are newly mixed by Steven Wilson and approved by Ian Anderson. The second disc includes newly remastered versions of rare tracks and singles recorded around the same time as Benefit, such as “Sweet Dream” in both stereo and mono. The audio-only DVD is packed with 58 tracks, including the album and bonus tracks in 5.1 surround sound.
Jonwayne – Rap Album One CD/LP (ATO)
The Los Angeles artist is perhaps more recognized for his production work (including 2011’s Bowser LP), but he’s been an occasional MC along the way as well. Rap Album One comes after a trilogy of cassette releases, and marks his first full-length as a rapper. Production comes from Wayne himself, with two beats from fellow Californian Scope DeVille.
Toby Keith – Drinks After Work CD (Show Dog/Universal)
Available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe features three bonus tracks including a duet of “Margaritaville” with Sammy Hagar.
Kid 606 – Happiness CD/2xLP (Tigerbeat6)
Happiness is nostalgic, starry-eyed and idyllic. Sonically influenced in equal parts by yacht rock like Christopher Cross, Doobie Brothers, Toto, and charming electronica like Mike Ink, The Orb, Oval, Border Community, the Field, and Tangerine Dream, its truest intrinsic inspiration comes not from other music, but from real life events like relocating from Berlin to Los Angeles, being newly single, beaches, road trips, hiking, sunsets and cuddling.
Ed Kowalczyk – The Flood And The Mercy CD (Harbour)
Brand new studio album by former Live frontman Ed Kowalczyk, featuring guitars by Peter Buck of R.E.M. and guest-vocal performances by Rachel Yamagata.
Laaraji – Essence/Universe CD/LP (All Saints)
Reissue of a rare 1987 album recorded for the Audion label. Heavenly tone clusters that stretch out into infinity and recall Popul Vuh’s soundtracks for Werner Herzog. Floating, dream-like music to lose yourself in. Available on CD and on clear vinyl.
Laaraji – Two Sides Of Laaraji 2xCD (All Saints)
Double-CD containing the two albums recorded for the All Saints label — Flow Goes The Universe (1992), a critically-acclaimed set of beautiful ambient instrumentals, and The Way Out Is The Way In (1995) recorded with Japanese dub reggae band Audio Active, featuring Laaraji taking the microphone to impart consciousness-expanding wisdom over heavy sound system beats.
Laurel Halo – Chance Of Rain CD (Hyperdub)
“Brooklyn synth quease-queen Laurel Halo stays busy. A year ago, she released her dense, nauseous, generally just off album Quarantine, and she now follows it up with her new LP A Chance Of Rain. First single ‘Ainome’ sounds like the ghost of Detroit techno chasing you through an abandoned catacomb” – Stereogum. Vinyl version due November 5.
Lily & Madeleine – Lily & Madeleine CD/LP (Asthmatic Kitty)
Teen-aged sisters Lily and Madeleine Jurkiewicz became a YouTube sensation when their first original song, “In The Middle,” earned more than a quarter million views. Their sweet, poignant harmonies transform covers into song seemingly from another time, and their original songs have a timeless feel, too. They’ve been featured on Vogue.com and NPR Music, and they’ve recorded a song with fellow-Hoosier John Mellencamp.
Linkin Park – Recharged CD (WB)
A collaboration record featuring the new single with Steve Aoki, “A Light That Never Comes,” plus reinterpretations of tracks from Living Things by Rick Rubin, Datsik, Dirtyphonics, and many more. Vinyl version due December 10.
Los Lobos – Disconnected In New York City CD/2xCD+DVD (429)
Includes all of the band’s hits and fan favorites recorded live in December 2012 at the City Winery in New York City in celebration for their 40th anniversary as a band. Available in Regular and Deluxe edition. Deluxe includes an additional CD and a bonus DVD with five performances from the show.
Nick Lowe – Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection For All The Family CD/LP+CD+MP3 (Yep Roc)
Features originals and covers of seldom heard seasonal songs plus a few you may be slightly familiar with. Anyone who likes their Christmas soundtracks with plenty of heart and humor, and a sprinkle of understated charm, will enjoy Quality Street for the newly minted classic that it is. You might say it’s the kind of record that gives vulgar, tawdry commercialism a good name.
Minor Alps – Get There CD/LP (Barsuk)
New indie group featuring alt-rock veterans Juliana Hatfield and Matthew Caws. Over the last two decades, both Hatfield and Caws have carved out long-lasting and strikingly independent careers within a dependably fickle music business, Caws with his now 20-year-old New York City group Nada Surf, and Hatfield with the Boston-reared Blake Babies, The Juliana Hatfield Three, Some Girls, as well as a number of releases under her own name.
Juana Molina – Wed 21 CD/LP (Crammed Discs)
“The first album in five years from Argentinian musician Juana Molina isn’t a reinvention. There are subtle differences between this and 2006’s Son, but mostly it feels like visiting with an old friend who’s back in town with a clutch of new stories to tell.” [7.3] — Pitchfork
Moonface – Julie With Blue Jeans On CD (Jagjaguwar)
Spencer Krug sits down alone at the piano and forges his most epic, intimate album to date. Vinyl version due November 5.
Mutation – Error 500 CD (Ipecac Recordings)
Featuring the talents of Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Ginger Wildheart (The Wildhearts) and Jon Poole (Cardiacs), with guest appearances from Mark E Smith (The Fall) and Merzbow, Mutation is a an eight man beast that exists to challenge the listener’s preconceived ideas of extreme music.
Natural Snow Buildings – Daughter Of Darkness 6xCD (Ba Da Bing!)
Ba Da Bing’s latest reissue of Natural Snow Buildings’ obscure releases draws from their five-cassette epic Daughter Of Darkness. The cassette version was limited to 150 copies, and a mind-blowing release like this deserves more widespread availability. Daughter Of Darkness came out in early 2009 and delves deep into Mehdi Ameziane and Solange Gularte’s music at its most grandiose. Most tracks breeze past the ten-minute mark, and some don’t slow down as they pass 20 minutes. Along the way, Natural Snow Buildings’ orchestrated soundscapes fully engulf the listener, with their droning guitars, tribal percussion, ritualistic singing and colliding woodwinds.
The Necks – Open CD (Northern Spy)
Legendary artists-in-resonance return to the territory they are best known for, a single piece running for over an hour.
William Onyeabor – World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who Is William Onyeabor CD/3xLP (Luaka Bop)
New collection from the Nigerian Funk musician. In the early 21st century, a shadowy figure rose from the dust that settled atop forgotten record collections throughout Africa, leaving behind a trail of clues in what seemed like a wild goose chase, but on this release, Luaka Bop unmasks the great William Onyeabor.
Pampers – Pampers CD (In The Red)
Pampers are a four-piece—two guitars, bass and drums, plus echo-laden vocals—and there’s a postmodern art-punk angle afoot here, yet the band’s relentless, breakneck tempos and all-out aggression tilt more punk than art. Self-described as “thug pop,” the band’s sound is a brutal, psyched-out pummeling with hooks fighting to be heard beneath the din. It’s certainly more thug than pop. Vinyl version due November 12.
Phosphorescent – Muchacho De Lujo [Deluxe Edition] 2xCD (Dead Oceans)
Recent 2013 album repackaged and expanded with an intimate pre-release show from St. Pancras Church in London.
Protest The Hero – Volition CD (Razor & Tie)
The fourth studio album by Canadian progressive metal band. Vinyl version due November 11.
Russian Circles – Memorial CD/LP+MP3 (Sargent House)
Perhaps the most immediately apparent characteristic of Memorial is its wide range of emotion. Vacillating from somber-yet-soaring melodies on one track to pummeling metal heft on the next, Memorial sounds like an album with split personalities. Where one song showcases guitarist Mike Sullivan, drummer Dave Turncrantz and bassist/keyboardist Brian Cook’s mastery of lush melancholic melody, the next exhibits their most abrasive underground metal leaning sound, with washed-out 16th-note riffs and crushing rhythms. The band’s penchant for endless hooks remains a constant, but Memorial embodies their most dramatic ranges in tone.
Ulrich Schnauss & Mark Peters – Tomorrow Is Another Day CD/LP (Bureau B)
On their second collaborative album, the synths are drier, the guitars more discrete as the shifting tonality of the music’s richly-layered patterning defines its composition with punctuated gestures as melodic lines emerge in sharper relief.
Sepultura – The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart CD (Nuclear Blast)
The Brazilian metal legends return with their seventh album. Vinyl version due November 25.
Skeletonwitch – Serpents Unleashed CD/LP (Prosthetic)
11 new helpings of frosty blackened thrash.
Son Lux – Lanterns CD/LP (Joyful Noise)
Meditative but heaving with energy, Son Lux’s third full-length weaves disparate elements into songs both strange and welcoming. On the heals of being named NPR’s “Best New Artist of the Year”, Son Lux created an album that sits as comfortably next to the compositions of Stravinsky, John Adams, David Lang and Ben Frost, as it does to those of Jamie Lidell, Björk, Flying Lotus, and Radiohead.
The So So Glos – Blowout CD (Votiv)
“Full of great hooks, anthemic energy and personality to spare, the Glos are able to etch out their own space thanks to these adventurous songs.” [7.6] — Pitchfork
The Sounds – Weekend CD/LP (Arnioki)
New studio album from the female-fronted Swedish dance rock unit — produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab for Cutie, Bloc Party).
The Stranger – Watching Dead Empires In Decay CD/LP (Modern Love)
Ambient musician James Leyland Kirby releases music as Leyland Kirby, V/Vm and the Caretaker (including An Empty Bliss Beyond This World, one of Pitchfork’s Top 50 Albums of 2011). He also releases music under the name The Stranger. Watching Dead Empires In Decay follows 2008’s Bleaklow, and contains “unsettling Lynchian soundscapes” and “moments of intense beauty.”
Super Wild Horses – Crosswords CD/LP (Dot Dash)
Melbourne duo Super Wild Horses stitch together an intricate patchwork of guitar, drums and keys over dual harmonies and sparse arrangements. “You’re reminded of how deliciously pop they can be amongst the lo-fi spectacle of the production.” —Time Off
Maria Taylor – Something About Knowing CD/LP (Saddle Creek)
Azure Ray’s Maria Taylor returns with her 5th solo album Something About Knowing. Recorded with Mike Mogis and Andy LeMaster, it features the single “Up All Night.”
Toxic Holocaust – Chemistry Of Consciousness CD/LP (Relapse)
Eleven songs of revved up high-energy punk-metal.
Twin Peaks – Sunken CD/LP (Not Not Fun)
Catchy hooks, chorused guitars, chugging rhythms and blasts of pure rock & roll snarl into one fantastic album.
Upset – She’s Gone CD/LP+MP3 (Don Giovanni)
This pop/punk album immediately sounds classic, as it is full of unshakeable hooks and the sincerest of shouts. Features Ali Koehler (Best Coast, Vivian Girls), Patty Schemel (Hole), and Jennifer Price (La Sera).
Dave Van Ronk – Down In Washington Square: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection CD (Smithsonian Folkways)
Dave Van Ronk epitomized the “folksinger’s folksinger” apprenticing through immersion in the folk music revival’s epicenter of Washington Square, mentoring musicians such as Bob Dylan, Suzanne Vega, and many more. Drawing from unreleased recordings as well as from the Smithsonian Folkways vault, Down On Washington Square paints a musical mosaic of Van Ronk’s artistry from his first Folkways album to his final concert in 2001. It keeps alive the genius of a consummate folk performer who inspired audiences, musicians, and the motion picture Inside Llewyn Davis, directed by Joel & Ethan Coen.
Vatican Shadow – Remember Your Black Day CD/LP (Hospital Productions)
At a time when the scene is saturated with “noise techno,” Remember Your Black Day is almost celebratory by contrast, balancing caustic licks of distortion and oppressive bass with cleanly mixed synth tones and richocheting claps in a shell-shocked, surreal soundsphere.
Various Artists – I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America, 1950-1990 2xCD/3xLP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)
Forget everything you know, or think you know, about new age, a genre that has become one of the defining musical-archaeological explorations of the past decade. I Am The Center is the first major anthology to survey the golden age of new age and reveal the unbelievable truth about the genre. For new age, at its best, is a reverberation of psychedelic music, and great by any standard. This is analog, handmade music communicating soul and spirit, often done on limited means and without commercial potential, self-published and self-distributed. Before it became big business and devolved into the spaced out elevator music we know and loathe today, this was the real thing.
Various Artists – SMM: Opiate CD/LP (Ghostly International)
SMM: Opiate is the second release in Ghostly’s SMM series, which is an ongoing exploration of the evocative possibilities of sound, with a focus classical minimalism, electronic and drone composition, film soundtracks, and fragile imaginary landscapes. Artists include: Simon Scott, A Winged Victory For The Sullen, Celer, Black Swan, Jim Haynes, En, Pjusk, Fieldhead, and Noveller.
Various Artists – Virus 100: Dead Kennedys Tribute [Reissue/1992] CD (Alternative Tentacles)
“In 1992, Alternative Tentacles—the label co-founded by Dead Kennedys’ Jello Biafra—decided to celebrate its 100th release with the largely in-house DK tribute Virus 100. Solipsism aside, the disc succeeds: Everyone from Neurosis and Napalm Death to Mojo Nixon and L7 contribute renditions of DK’s manic, twangy, hardcore anthems. The approach ranges from faithful to hilariously skewed, though Virus 100’s most infamous track is Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy’s grinding, funk-industrial version of ‘California Über Alles,’ which first appeared weeks earlier on the band’s debut, Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury. Even Faith No More’s crooning piss-take of ‘Let’s Lynch The Landlord’ works, perhaps because Mike Patton reverse-engineered the treatment that Biafra previously gave Elvis’ ‘Viva Las Vegas.’” —The AV Club (10 Surprisingly Good Tribute Albums)
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.
White Denim – Corsicana Lemonade CD/LP (Downtown)
Corsicana Lemonade is the fifth album from Austin, Texas’s psych-garage-rock merchants, some of which was recorded with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Also available on yellow vinyl.
Widowspeak – The Swamps CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
The Swamps arrives as a bridge between the duo’s sophomore album, Almanac, and an as yet untitled third studio record. Here the band’s characteristic sonic landscapes, haunting harmonies, and layers of delicate guitar-work usher in a new chapter in their dark and dreamy catalog. Inspired by the light-choked wetlands of its title, The Swamps brims with songs about fears of stagnation and the pitfalls of nostalgia, but never relinquishes Widowspeak’s melodic optimism.
Dot Wiggin Band – Ready! Set! Go! CD/LP (Alternative Tentacles)
The Shaggs’ Philosophy Of The World quietly debuted 44 years ago and eventually became the crown jewel for outsider music fans for its charming and discordant pop songs. Frank Zappa said The Shaggs were “better than The Beatles” and Kurt Cobain regarded them as “so obviously the real thing.” Now, Shaggs’ singer and songwriter Dot Wiggin is back to break the silence and share her uncommonly cute, uncanny music on her first-ever solo album—a mix of never-recorded Shaggs songs and new classics written by Wiggin and her band.
Winds Of Plague – Resistance CD (Century Media)
Resistance is Winds Of Plague’s fourth album, and it meshes hardcore, black metal, grindcore and death metal within each punishing track.
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – Uzu CD/LP+MP3 (Suicide Squeeze)
Available on CD and on grey vinyl. “Like stoner-rock imaginings of Chinese opera and flower-child psychedelia, the music blends philosophies of Buddhism, meditation, and mantra with the band’s love of extreme sounds like black metal, industrial, and noise.” – Pitchfork
Yuna – Nocturnal CD (Verve)
In a remarkably short period of time, Yuna has risen from regional D.I.Y. notoriety to full-on international stardom. The ease with which Yuna has transitioned to border-defying mainstream success shouldn’t be surprising, considering the effortlessly universal appeal of her organic blend of contemporary pop, acoustic folk and soulful R&B.
DVD + Blu-ray:
Joe Bonamassa – Tour De Force: Live In London – The Borderline DVD/Blu-ray (J&R Adventures)
Joe Bonamassa – Tour De Force: Live In London – Shepherd’s Bush Empire DVD/Blu-ray (J&R Adventures)
Joe Bonamassa – Tour De Force: Live In London – Hammersmith Apollo DVD/Blu-ray (J&R Adventures)
Joe Bonamassa – Tour De Force: Live In London – Royal Albert Hall DVD/Blu-ray (J&R Adventures)
The Tour De Force – Live In London series chronicles guitarist Joe Bonamassa’s atmospheric rise from the intimate club environment of The Borderline, to the prestigious Royal Albert Hall. Each individual evening was marked by a unique theme with different setlists, arrangements and ensembles providing the viewer with four unique performances.
Vinyl:
Eduard Artemiev – Solaris OST [Reissue/1972] LP (Superior Viaduct)
It’s only appropriate that Solaris, Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky’s psychological sci-fi classic from 1972, contains an equally original and mind-bending score. Solaris explores the inadequacies of time and memory on an enigmatic planet below a derelict space station. To reinforce the film’s chilling setting, Tarkovsky commissioned composer Eduard Artemiev to construct an electronic soundscape reflecting planet Solaris’ amorphous and mysterious surface; Artemiev rose to the challenge with a prophetic work that defies the era’s technological limitations while evoking unparalleled emotional responses even today.
Roque Baños – Evil Dead OST 2xLP (Unseen Forces)
Released earlier this year on CD – now available on vinyl. The complete motion picture soundtrack from Fede Alvarez’s incendiary 2013 reimagining of cult horror masterpiece the Evil Dead. Spanish composer Roque Baños dazzles with a crisp modern orchestral score that bows reverently toward such genre classics as Jerry Goldsmith’s The Omen Suite, Anton Webern and Krzysztof Penderecki’s creepy string movements from The Exorcist and Joseph LoDuca’s beautifully understated atmospherics for Sam Raimi’s original creation that launched the grisly Kandarian franchise and revolutionized the contemporary horror film with its startling velocity.
Butthole Surfers – Psychic…Powerless…Another Man’s Sac [Reissue/1985] LP+MP3 (Latino Bugger Veil)
Butthole Surfers – Rembrandt Pussyhorse [Reissue/1986] LP+MP3 (Latino Bugger Veil)
Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician [Reissue/1987] LP+MP3 (Latino Bugger Veil)
Butthole Surfers – Hairway To Steven [Reissue/1988] LP+MP3 (Latino Bugger Veil)
Limited vinyl represses now available.
Otis Clay – Tryin’ To Live My Life Without You [Reissue/1972] LP (Fat Possum)
Otis Clay is the kind of blesses, pulsating soul singer that Memphis is known for. An effortlessly funky performer, Clay has found a solid home with producer Willie Mitchell at his Hi Records. Trying To Live My Life Without You, was his first Hi album, and illustrates a no-bones funkiness that immediately established Clay as a singer of the first rank.
Cut Hands – Damballah 58 12” (Blackest Ever Black)
The title-track’s diabolically addictive vaudou rhythms insinuate deeply before uncoiling convulsively into an irrevocable reclamation of the consciousness.
DMA – Pheel Phree LP (Joyful Noise)
Formerly the man behind Jookabox, DMA (aka David Moose Adamson) began his career as a one-man-band in the grand old tradition of the “one-man-band” (re: man with a bass-drum on his back and a monkey clapping symbols, collecting change from the crowd etc.). Growing away from the outright-spectacle that was Jookabox, DMA gives us a more meditative, and ultimately deeper sound, perhaps best enjoyed in a sensory deprivation chamber.
Death Cab For Cutie – Transatlanticism [10th Anniversary Edition] 2xLP+MP3 (Barsuk)
Death Cab For Cutie’s classic album Transatlanticism, reissued for its 10th anniversary after being out of print for years. Four sides of HQ-180gm vinyl in a nice gatefold sleeve, with a 12-page full-color booklet. Comes with download of the album plus the newly released original demos, many of which are drastically different from the final versions.
Francesco De Masi – The New York Ripper [OST] LP (Death Waltz)
The score to the notorious (banned in many countries) Lucio Fulci film features tracks such as “New York One More Night” which mixes disco funk and Latin to striking effect, while slower tracks such as “The Ripper” manage to capture the sleazy pre-Disney cleanup of New York perfectly with their moody sax breaks and 42nd street atmosphere. HQ-180gm green and yellow vinyl.
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left [Reissue/1969] LP (Island)
This first studio album from Nick Drake, which has garnered posthumous praise and remarkable all-time greatest album ratings, is an exact replica of the original 1969 release: it is pressed on heavyweight audiophile vinyl and remastered from near-original master tapes by the album’s original engineer, John Wood. Poverty stricken students of 1968 rolled their own – not for them the cigarette temptations of a pack of 10 cigarettes, no, their tobacco thrills came hand rolled, usually in Rizla papers which kindly reminded the participant that they were about to run out, with a yellow interleaf paper with bold red type stating Only Five Leaves Left.
Family Circle – Family Circle LP (Numero Junior)
This 1973 LP draws a tight ring around the most beguiling soul tropes of its era, with its full house of ambitious players and hook-laden originals.
Far Out Fangtooth – Borrowed Time LP (Siltbreeze)
In the two years since the band’s debut, Pure & Disinterested, Far Out Fangtooth’s sound has matured; their direction, finessed. While the first LP carried heavy Sonic Youth/Christian Death vibes, Borrowed Time segues in and out of the fuzz/feedback pop of The Jesus & Mary Chain, the smoldering post-punk darkness of Sort Sol and the crashing, echo-laden psychedelia of Five Day Week Straw People.
Lonnie Holley – Keeping A Record Of It LP (Dust-To-Digital)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Lonnie Holley’s second album features guest performers Cole Alexander (Black Lips), Bradford Cox (Deerhunter) and visual artist Lillian Blades. “His space-time-continuum-bending synth wanderings continue apace… visionary stuff, ‘outsider’ art that sketches out an engrossing inner world.” – Spin
Lonnie Holley – Just Before Music [2012] LP (Dust-To-Digital)
Debut album – on vinyl for the first time.
David Kanaga – DYAD: Original Game Soundtrack Music LP+MP3 (Software)
Maximalist score for DYAD fuses a breakneck array of sound events to rich, ambient segues of layered harmonies and melodic color, and casts a wide net stylistically: a kaleidoscope of influences ranging from acid-fried happy hardcore, to jungle &and drum-n-bass rhythms to re-applied fragments of Top 40 production tropes, not to mention more than several sublime passages of hazy, cosmic coloring.
Labradford – Prazision [1994] 2xLP (Kranky)
On vinyl for the first time! Labradford’s masterwork Prazision includes both A and B sides of their first single. Atmospheric pop gems, floating as a new force in organized sound structure, offer an aural challenge to listener’s ears. It’s a challenge worth repeating repeatedly.
Brad Laner – Nearest Suns LP (Hometapes)
Brad Laner returns with his third solo album, created in the winds swirling around the reuniting of his cult noise-pop band and American shoegaze pioneers, Medicine.
Motörhead – Aftershock LP (UDR)
Recently released on CD 00 now available on vinyl. Motörhead’s 21st album is a crushing confirmation of everything they stand for. There’s swagger, there’s punch, there’s speed and there’s dirty filthy grooves.
Nobunny – Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror LP (Goner)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Secret Songs: Reflections From The Ear Mirror 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.
Our Solar System – Vart Solsystem LP (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)
Our Solar System (featuring members of Dungen, Life On Earth) is a large music collective, where everyone who wants to be part of creating within these cosmic frames is welcome. One can draw parallels to Alice Coltrane, Parsson Sound, Sigur Ros, Can, and early Pink Floyd.
Painted Caves – Surveillance LP (Shelter Press)
Surveillance is Evan Caminiti’s (Barn Owl) debut LP under the alias Painted Caves. Beamed in like a scene from Videodrome, this sensual brand of dystopian psychedelia creates a grainy and tension-filled narrative to get lost in. Lying somewhere between no wave dystopia and Basic Channel minimalism, heavy grooves and polyrhythmic percussion lay a foundation for bell-like drones and decaying saw-wave mantras which fade into rhythmic abstraction as distant choirs and flickering static interference hovers around the edges.
Pharaohs – Manhunter 12”+MP3 (Intercoastal Arts)
Pharaohs cover a range of styles on this three-track release. Epic opener “Manhunter” sounds like the mutant grandchild of no-wave/funk/late-‘70s/early-‘80s New York City. If Arthur Russell guested on this track, it wouldn’t be a surprise. The other two cuts are roughly new age, but with one distinction — the filth oozing off the sax on ‘Nature Lovers’ is more shocking and sleazy than any Wolf Eyes track. Of course, shocking in the most serene way possible. That said, either could be a lost backing track to an early Roxy Music album.
Purling Hiss – Paisley Montage LP (Richie)
Recorded in various Philadelphia-area basements and men’s rooms over the course of 2007-11, the sessions were stunted and aborted as each successive borrowed practice amp blew smoke and crapped out under the strain of Polizze’s fiery fret work. Originally a cassette-only release, but just about every tape was quickly scattered and smashed along the Schuykill Expressway after being left on the roof of the tour van.
Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Branches LP (Nettwerk)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. The second installment of a three-part, stand-alone album series that chronicles a fictitious, and sometimes otherworldly, 19th century family. As such, Ben Cooper, aka Radical Face limits his songwriting to century instruments from the 1800s piano, acoustic guitar, floor torn and haunting vocal harmonies.
Rilo Kiley – Take Offs And Landings [2001] 2xLP+MP3 (Barsuk)
Take Offs And Landings is now available for the first time on vinyl (HQ-180gm), with a special etching on the fourth side.
Letha Rodman-Melchior – Handbook For Mortals LP (Siltbreeze)
The first-ever vinyl release from this respected avant garde artist, also known as Tretetam.
Arthur Russell – Another Thought 2xLP (Arc Light Editions)
A compilation of unfinished demo recordings from 1982-1990. First time on vinyl, originally released on CD in 1994.
Stone Temple Pilots – Purple [Reissue/1994] LP (Atlantic)
Back in print on vinyl.
Donna Summer – Love To Love You Donna LP (Verve)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. A dozen highly sought after DJs and remixers have contributed a diverse and creative spin to some Donna Summer’s most beloved tracks, featuring Giorgio Moroder, Chromeo, Hot Chip, Holy Ghost!, Masters At Work, and more.
Unknown Mortal Orchestra – Blue Record 12” (Jagjaguwar)
Includes acoustic and multi-tracked versions of songs from II, as well as covers of “Swing Lo Magellan” (Dirty Projectors) and “Puttin’ It Down” (Beck).
Dean Wareham – Emancipated Hearts 10” (Double Feature)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. New solo release from the former leader of Galaxie 500 and Luna as well as half of indie duo Dean & Britta.
Wildcat! – Wildcat! 12” (Downtown)
“MGMT-esque spacey psych pop, and ethereal vocal pitter-patter with ease.” — Pitchfork
Jonathan Wilson – Fanfare LP (Downtown)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. 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.
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