CDs + Vinyl:
AFI – AFI (The Blood Album) CD/LP (Concord)
“Eclectic punk godfathers AFI are the kings of keeping going, progressing over more than twenty-five years from outsiders to insiders to chart-topping legends. At this point, they have little to prove – but AFI are not yet ready to settle back on their laurels and fossilize into a nostalgia act. They still have plenty left to give – and more than a few fans hungry for more music. AFI – also known as “The Blood Album” – is precision-engineered to satisfy AFI fans old and new. As a whole, it feels like a relay race started off by AFI’s slicker, more commercially oriented side (the pace set by ‘Dark Snow,’ ‘Still A Stranger,’ ‘Aurelia,’ ‘Hidden Knives,’ ‘Get Hurt,’ and ‘Above The Bridge’) and continued with raw, aggressive style that proves AFI haven’t forgotten their roots (‘Dumb Kids,’ ‘Pink Eyes,’ ‘Feed From The Floor,’ ‘White Offerings,’ and ‘She Speaks The Language’) before finally finishing with a self-stretching, end-of-the-line blues dirge (‘The Wind That Carries Me Away’). In the middle, there’s also an anticipation-building changeover as ‘So Beneath You’ bursts out as AFI’s old-school punky herald, gives way to accessible sing-along ‘Snow Cats,’ and the aforementioned aggression really gets going from ‘Dumb Kids’ onwards” – TheMusicalMeltingPot. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
Bill Anschell – Rumbler CD (Origin)
After a decade of recording mostly unscripted, improvised albums focused on his deep musical relationships with a few key players, pianist Bill Anschell returns to recording his own compositions and arrangements on Rumbler, his fifteenth as a leader or co-leader. Anschell penned eight of the eleven tracks as well as arrangements of Thelonious Monk’s “Misterioso” and Paul McCartney’s “For No One.”
As It Is – okay. CD/LP (Fearless)
New album from the British pop/punk band. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
As Lions – Selfish Age CD/LP (Better Noise)
New release from the British hard rock quintet.
Austra – Future Politics CD/LP+MP3 (Domino)
“The notion of Utopia doesn’t have a lot of currency these days, but that hasn’t stopped Katie Stelmanis. The creative force behind the Canadian electronic outfit Austra, she’s used the project’s new album, Future Politics, to foment a kind of radicalism in an age of doom and gloom: making music that questions, confronts and uplifts without scaremongering or sugarcoating. She’s also not being shy. ‘Utopia,’ the album’s lead single, telegraphs her intent with unabashed optimism. Amid sculpted beats and soaring melodies, Stelmanis sings of urban life and alienation in an era of social division and injustice. But she’s militant about lining those dark clouds with silver — or, as she puts it, ‘I can picture a place where everybody feels it, too / It might be fiction, but I see it ahead.’ Whether cloaking itself in code, dipping into metaphor or flying proclamations up the flagpole, these 11 songs offer a bracing, coolly tuneful vision of tomorrow that refuses to submit to inertia. In an era when simply resisting dystopia can seem idealistic, Future Politics dares to hope big.” – NPR
Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche – Pas Pire Pop, I Love You So Much CD/LP (Constellation)
Psychedelic rock, krautrock, desert rock, punk rock, noise rock, Afrobeat, experimental pop, post-rock, electronic; all are touchstones for Avec le Soleil Sortant de sa Bouche. Their multi-movement durational music arguably combines trance rock and audio collage above all — a diced and spliced approach to longform multi-movement groove music played by a stripped down quartet of two guitars, bass and drums, synched to pre-recorded electronics and musique concrète.
Aversions Crown – Xenocide CD (Nuclear Blast)
“Aversions Crown are keeping up the time-honored tradition of Australian metal bands doing what they do best: playing stupidly heavy music that makes you want to commit heinous acts of violence in the mosh pit.” – Heavy Blog Is Heavy
Bash & Pop – Anything Could Happen CD/LP (Fat Possum)
“Tommy Stinson formed Bash & Pop after the Replacements broke up in the early 1990s, then abandoned the project after one album. Now, B&P is back with the ragged but right rocked-out Anything Could Happen, which captures a measure of the ‘Mats’ offhand grace.” – Philly.com
William Basinski – A Shadow In Time CD/LP+MP3 (Temporary Residence)
World-renowned as one of experimental music’s most vital and impressionistic composers of the past few decades, William Basinski’s tape loop works have been especially influential, particularly on the historic series, The Disintegration Loops, where distorted, orchestral tape samples burrow deep into the listener’s psyche through meditative repetition. On his new album, A Shadow In Time, Basinski plunges deeper than ever for the plaintive, solitary eulogy to David Bowie, aptly titled “For David Robert Jones.” Conversely, the title track, “A Shadow In Time,” is a subtle, celestial escalation of melody and drone.
Bennink/Gjerstad – Han & Frode CD (Cadence Jazz)
An hour of serious interplay by two of the most naturally creative minds-both of them having fun without being cute. ‘Inderoy’ in six parts with flow and energy-this is anything other than more of the same.
Bill + Phil – Songs Of Darkness And Despair CD (Housecore)
“This mini-album is a strange creature in which every track has a different feel, but opener ‘Dirty Eye’ is the only one to feature any straightforward metal, a mid-paced chugfest with few surprises. In contrast, ‘Corpus Crispy’ is an unsettling piece of southern blues, laying down psychedelic lyrics over a traditional beat while a distorted guitar screams incoherently through the fog. ‘Tonight’s The Night We Die’ is a largely acoustic piece that calls Johnny Cash to mind, and ‘Widder Woman’ is a 30-second skit containing a jangling xylophone, a cackling witch and a horror poem about the titular character. It’s a strange and a rather creepy affair that seems thrown together over a hazy weekend.” – Angry Metal Guy
The Blaze – Burning Point CD (AFM)
Finnish power metallers Burning Point have been an active part of the European metal scene since the late ‘90s.
Botony – Dimming Awe, The Light Is Raw LP (Western Vinyl)
Under the Botany moniker, Spencer Stephenson creates rich psychological and emotional experiences through audio. His music is a thoughtful attempt to convey the non-verbal through his particular mental prism, where sounds have potent symbolism in ways that are all but forgotten in the modern world. On Dimming Awe, The Light Is Raw, the 28-year-old producer and composer continues dissolving the borders between his disparate-yet-beloved psych, hip-hop, and ambient influences. Pink color vinyl pressing.
Ronnie Baker Brooks – Times Have Changed CD/LP (Provogue)
The son of blues great Lonnie Brooks releases his first album in 10 years. Features contributions by the Memphis Horns and the mighty Hi Rhythm section along with Angie Stone, Al Kapone, Big Head Todd, and Bobby “Blue” Bland.
Cadaveric Fumes – The Forsaken Triptych CD (Blood Harvest)
A compilation of the Swedish death metal band’s complete discography from 2012 to 2016.
Erasmo Carlos – Erasmo Carlos [Reissue/1971] CD/LP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)
Digitally remastered edition of this album from the veteran Brazilian singer/songwriter. Erasmo Carlos finds this maturing teeny-bopper delivering a mix of world class psychedelic rock, traditional rock ‘n’ roll, soul, funk, folk, bossa nova, and samba-rock to an unsuspecting Brazilian audience.
Michael Chapman – 50 CD/LP+MP3 (Paradise Of Bachelors)
After five decades of recording and touring, veteran British songwriter and guitar sage Michael Chapman has finally made what he calls his “American record,” and the aptly titled 50 now stands as his late career masterwork, a moving legacy statement by a legend. Backed by a collaborative group of friends and acolytes—Steve Gunn (who also produced), Nathan Bowles (Pelt), James Elkington (Jeff Tweedy), Jason Meagher (No-Neck Blues Band), Jimi SeiTang (Rhyton), and fellow UK songwriting luminary Bridget St John—Chapman tears into both bold renderings of new songs and radical reinterpretations of material from his revered catalog, the crack band adeptly scaling the same rarefied sonic heights of classic Harvest albums like Fully Qualified Survivor, guided by a true survivor’s instinct, wit, and wisdom.
Cherry Glazerr – Apocalipstick CD/LP+MP3 (Secretly Canadian)
Society would deem a prodigious girl can’t be in a progressive rock band while also being in complete control of its creative vision, business plan and social messaging. Society is wrong. Clem, a 19 year old teen Queen dreamed up Cherry Glazerr in her L.A. bedroom alone and is perhaps more capable of figuring a music career out than anyone who attempts this treacherous life path. Back in 2014, much-loved Cali imprint Burger Records released their intoxicating debut Haxel Princess and Suicide Squeeze released the Had Ten Dollaz 7”. On Apocalipstick the band worked with “rock ‘n’ roll wizard” Joe Chicarelli (White Stripes, The Shins, The Strokes) and Carlos de la Garza (Bleached, M83, Tegan and Sara). With their help and the band’s newfound self-discipline and motivation, Cherry Glazerr has evolved into a wildly complex, hugely guitar heavy, and unapologetically loud machine. [Limited color vinyl pressings also available.]
Alex Clare – Tail Of Lions CD/LP (ETC Recordings)
New release from the London-born singer/songwriter/producer. Written and recorded in a few short weeks, Tail Of Lions comes from a place where soul, rock and funk meet steel-sharp electronica and iced-out drum and bass.
Tim Cohen – Luck Man CD/LP (Sinderlyn/Captured Tracks)
On Luck Man, The Fresh & Only’s and Magic Trick frontman’s first solo record for Sinderlyn, Cohen has created a lush, insular world that deals with the uneasiness of accepting life’s inherent flaws. Recorded in his attic and at El Studio in San Francisco after recently moving back to a city he longed called home, Luck Man is a personal statement distilled from Cohen’s own experiences.
Dot Hacker – N°3 CD/LP (ORG Music)
Dot Hacker is the project of California-based musicians Josh Klinghoffer, Clint Walsh, Eric Gardner, and Jonathan Hischke. Collectively, the members have played with a seemingly never-ending list of artists, including Gnarls Barkley, Broken Bells, PJ Harvey, Morrissey, The Shins, Beck, Hella, Tom Morello, and so many more. Most notably, guitarist and lead singer Josh Klinghoffer plays guitar in the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Drab Majesty – The Demonstration CD/LP (Dais)
“Drab Majesty is L.A.-based artist Deb Demure, an alter ego of Andrew Clinco of Marriages. Starting off in 2012 with a cassette release called Unarian Dances, Deb progressed to 2015’s excellent post punk release Careless. Demure dabbles in the sort of icy, elegant post punk offered up in the ‘80s from bands such as The Cure. There are drum machines and synths, as expected, but then we have Demure’s notable guitar playing and strong sense of melody, which elevates his work to something rather special.” – Ech(((o)))es And Dust
Nathan East – Reverence CD (Yamaha Entertainment Group)
With over 2,000 album credits to his name and several Grammy-winning songs including “Get Lucky,” “Footloose” and “Change The World,” East has performed with artists including Daft Punk, Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston and Beyoncé. His new album Reverence features guest contributions from Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Phillip Bailey and Yolanda Adams, Kirk Whalum, and more.
David “Honeyboy” Edwards – I’m Gonna Tell You Somethin’ That I Know: Live At The G Spot CD+DVD (Omnivore)
David “Honeyboy” Edwards was the last of the great Mississippi Delta bluesmen. Born is Shaw, Mississippi, on June 28, 1915, his life was intertwined with almost every blues legend including Robert Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson, Sunnlyand Slim, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, and many more. In early 2010, Honeyboy was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and later that year returned to Los Angeles to perform at the G Spot, nimbly accompanied by Jeff Dale & The South Woodlawners and his long-time friend and manager, Michael Frank. Even at 95 years old, Honeyboy was still singing and playing like a man of less than half that age. That show turned out to be the last time Honeyboy was filmed and recorded. The shows’ 9 songs (both originals and classics) are contained on the CD and accompanying DVD, which also contains “Honeyboy Tells You Something That He Knows” – over 20 minutes of Edwards giving advice to musicians and telling stories of his life, including vividly recalling the night Robert Johnson died, tales of Charlie Patton, Big Walter Horton, and others, and much more.
Emptiness – Not For Music CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
New album from the Belgian experimental death/black metal band.
Fapardokly – Fapardokly [Reissue/1967] CD (Gear Fab)
Back on CD after being out of print for many years — an ultra-rare 1968 psychedelic masterpiece recorded by Merrell Fankhauser and his Southern California group The Exiles.
Foxygen – Hang CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Jagjaguwar)
Foxygen is the Big Bang of two combusting minds. It’s the splayed Galaxy of polar geniuses Sam France and Jonathan Rado. It’s a handshake with a knife behind your back. A sleepless night in a five star hotel. You listen to Hang properly. You take in each moment. Each new melody that threads forward from the fingertips of one of this generation’s finest piano men in Jonathan Rado. And you fall in line behind Sam France’s sprawling and reckless lyric. Witness his mastery. Feel them struggle against the walls of their own creations. Follow them there. To the perimeter. To the exit sign. Notice that the two young guys aren’t there anymore. They’re outside looking for another joint to haunt. They’re already out of sight. [Limited color vinyl pressing also available.]
Gentoo – Structures CD (Simulacra)
If you are in need of a healthy dose of IDM, then look no further than the experimental electronic band, Gentoo. Gentoo is the brainchild of electronic producer and multi-instrumentalist Damon Kelly, and this exciting group has put together a stunning new album. On Structures, Kelly used live drums, guitar, and bass creating a rich, and enchanting mixture of live and electronic production. Structures still embraces Gentoo’s trademark minimalism, slow arching waveforms, and transcendental vocals that invite us to explore our own perceived universe.
Philip Glass and Miranda Cuckson – Glass: Music For The Crucible CD (Orange Mountain)
Glass composed about 40 minutes of new music for violin and cello as the main body of his score The Crucible. Only half of that music was used in the 2016 production on Broadway and it was
supplemented with Glass arranging several traditional hymns. What is presented on this album is the complete original music for violin and cello that Glass wrote for the play omitting the hymn songs as well as one short piece for violin cello and organ that was something of a last-minute addition.
Philip Glass/Kronos Quartet – Dracula [Reissue/1999] CD (Orange Mountain)
Philip Glass’s 1998 score to the 1931 film Dracula starring Bela Lugosi. For his score, Philip Glass tapped the all-star Kronos Quartet and wrote specifically for them. In the late-1990s Universal Pictures approached composer Philip Glass to compose a new score for one of its classic monster movies.
The Grateful Dead – The Grateful Dead [Reissue/1967] 2xCD/LP (Grateful Dead Production)
50th Anniversary Deluxe double-CD set includes the original album remastered as well as the unreleased show from P.N.E. Garden Auditorium, Vancouver, BC, Canada on July 29th, 1966. Also includes four additional tracks from the subsequent night at same venue. [A limited edition picture disc vinyl pressing of the original album is also available.]
Erik Griswold – Ecstatic Decent CD (Cold Blue Music)
The composer writes about Ecstatic Descent: “Every note of the piano is altered (‘prepared’) with bolts, screws, strips of rubber, cardboard, and paper- transforming the instrument into a miniature percussion orchestra… On this singular instrument I perform cascades of rapid-fire textures that start at the very top of the keyboard and wend their way down, bubbling and glinting as they descend.”
Mick Harvey – Intoxicated Women CD/LP (Mute)
Fourth volume of Serge Gainsbourg covers from Mick Harvey (The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party).
Lee Hazlewood – 13 [Reissue/1972] CD/LP+MP3 (Light In The Attic)
13 was never supposed to be a Lee Hazlewood album. It is perhaps the strangest record in one of the most varied discographies in music. The bombastic brass heavy funk, deep blues and soul paired with Hazlewood’s subterranean baritone would be best enjoyed with a tall Chivas in an off-strip seedy Vegas lounge.
Heat – Overnight CD/LP (Topshelf)
Heat are from Montreal, and they formed in the early ‘10s, but their music sounds like it comes from the UK in the early ‘80s—the exact moment when the dour nihilism of bands like Joy Division and Section 25 were giving way to the romantic disaffection of the Psychedelic Furs and Echo & the Bunnymen. Like those bands, Heat have mastered the classic trick of dressing up pristine pop choruses in rain macs, fingerless gloves, and army boots so that they can convincingly bum cigs from the art kids after school.
Hush Point – Hush Point III CD (Sunny Side)
Hush Point, the quartet of trumpeter John McNeil, saxophonist Jeremy Udden, bassist Aryeh Kobrinsky and drummer Anthony Pinciotti have used rehearsal techniques to broaden their expression and develop a sort of group ESP. This work has produced brilliant compositions that require a high level of musicianship and group interplay.
Jean-Michel Jarre – Oxygene Trilogy 3xCD/6xLP+3xCD (Sony Legacy)
40 years after the huge international impact of Oxygene, and 20 years from its second volume Oxygene 7-13, Jean-Michel Jarre is fulfilling a trilogy of albums with Oxygene 3, containing seven newly composed and recorded pieces, consistently titled parts 14-20. His inspiration for the newly added parts on Oxygene 3 was not to go back in time, but to add a sense of “now” to his iconic piece of work. [Deluxe vinyl box set includes copies on CD and a coffee-table book featuring rare photos and notes.]
Joan Of Arc – He’s Got The Whole This Land Is Your Land In His Hands CD/LP+MP3 (Joyful Noise)
“Twenty years now there’s been this thing, our band, Joan Of Arc. Sometimes we forget about it and let it fizzle out for a year while we tend to our lives. Sometimes we cling to it for a year and wake up surprised and exhausted every day for months on end, given walking tours of old Italian towns, browsing dreary British pedestrian malls or barefooted organic grocers on the Pacific coast. We know how lucky we are. The less we feel like a band — the more we can continue to be a band, but escape that feeling of doing all those shitty, corny things expected of bands — the truer to ourselves we feel. And you all know it, everyone knows it even if everyone has to bury it to get on with their day-to-day: the truer to ourselves we feel, the better everything gets. This time, finally, we trusted each other enough to throw all the songs away, to even throw away every preconceived idea about which one of us should take position at which instrument. We hit Record and played, and our collective tastes emerged. And they, our tastes in the moment, were the only standards in all the expanse of the stupefying and beautiful unknown universe, that we regarded as relevant in the least.”
Kid Koala featuring Emilíana Torrini – Music To Draw To: Satellite CD/2xLP (Arts & Crafts)
An uncharted journey for the legendary scratch DJ, producer, and composer, Kid Koala’s fifth studio album is an emotional work of expansive instrumental soundscapes and chilling vocal ballads. A record of many firsts for Eric San, the inaugural volume in the Music To Draw To series finds Kid Koala collaborating with a singer, writing lyrics, and producing and performing all instruments. Satellite is the renowned audio-collagist’s first non-sample-based record, using an array of synthesizers, keys, guitars, basses, strings, turntables, noisemakers, and inventive recording techniques to create its celestial atmosphere. Written during the gelid Montreal winter, Music To Draw To: Satellite tells a heartrending tale of discovery and loss through the lens of lovers separated by a one-way space mission to Mars. The album’s eighteen spacious movements are threaded with eight lyrical songs written by Kid Koala in collaboration with Icelandic singer Emilíana Torrini.
Danny Kusz – Eruption CD (Innervision)
Named “one of the hippest cats in Minneapolis” by Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine, saxophonist Danny Kusz’s versatility has let him to perform with Eric Leeds, Joey De Francesco, Root City and Marcus Miller’s saxman Alex Han. On his new album Eruption, he creates an explosive hybrid of top alto influence, David Sanborn, and favorite funk-rocker, fellow Minneapolis native Prince.
David Lange – Mélange CD (Modern Hot)
Mélange is the newest recording project from David Lange, accordionist with gypsy jazz ensemble, Pearl Django. This second solo project explores blending accordion with a mixture of musical instruments in an array of musical settings. All, but one of the compositions on the CD were written by David. This is not your ‘typical’ accordion CD.
Magnum – The Valley Of Tears: The Ballads CD (Steamhammer/SPV)
Ten of the British rock band’s most accomplished ballads, all of them remastered (and in parts re-recorded and remixed).
The McIntosh County Shouters – Spirituals & Shout Songs From The Georgia Coast CD (Smithsonian/Folkways)
Acclaimed upholders of the African American ring shout, the McIntosh County Shouters keep the faith, form, and fervor of the generations-old tradition rooted in their small community of coastal Georgia. Companion songs to the shuffle-step devotional movement called “shouting” have resisted slavery, strengthened spirit, and left us a cultural keystone for the future. Through their classic shout songs and spirituals, the Shouters beckon us to remember the past while envisioning the future of the African American cultural legacy.
Augie Meyers – When You Used To Be Mine CD (El Sendero)
Often imitated, never duplicated, Augie Meyers’ keyboard sound is his own and instantly recognizable from his years with the Sir Douglas Quintet, Texas Tornadoes, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and a host of others. Genre-wise, he plays Texas music. Is that rock, blues, psychedelic, Tex-Mex, polka or country depends on the occasion. This CD is a country record with some Augie originals and some covers of songs by the Masters (Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, Lee Hazelwood).
Oui’3 – Occupy Your Mind CD (Iti)
Formed in 2009 in Los Angeles, neo-jazz trio Oui’3 is comprised of guitarist Billy Joe Wiseman (Joe Sample, Ed Shaughnessy), bassist/vocalist Lou Castro (Slash, Albert Lee, Allan Holdsworth), and drummer/percussionist Jim Xavier (Dennis Yost, Jerry Cole, Tony Newton and Bobby Kimball). Occupy Your Mind features jazz legend John Klemmer and Jimmy Kimmel Live bandleader and saxophonist Cleto Escobedo III.
Palisades – Palisades CD (Rise)
New album from the New Jersey “electronicore” band. [Vinyl edition due March 3.]
Evan Parker/Andrea Centazzo – Duets 71977 CD (Ictus)
Never released before historical duets of two of the masters of free improvisation. Recorded live in concert in San Marcello (PT) and at Ictus Studio, Pistoia, Italy, July 1977. Cover notes by John Zorn.
Lloyd Parks – Time A Go Dread 2xLP (Pressure Sounds)
Parks is a veteran session bass player and leader of Skin, Flesh & Bones and We The People Band, who sang on a few rocksteady tunes with The Termites and The Invincibles in his youth. This compilation brings together a dozen singles and some dub versions.
Jeremy Pelt – Make Noise! CD (HighNote)
In addition to leading his own bands since the turn of the new millennium, Pelt worked with such legendary jazz veterans as Johnny Griffin, Cedar Walton, Wayne Shorter, James Moody and Louis Hayes. Throughout Make Noise!, Pelt incorporates his accumulated knowledge of still vital jazz conventions, while also blending dynamic contemporary rhythmic and harmonic ploys in to the mix.
Pink Martini – Je Dis Oui! CD (Heinz)
Deluxe Edition. 15 new songs from Portland, Oregon’s globe-trotting “little orchestra” featuring songs in 8 languages, including the band’s first forays into Armenian and Xhosa. Caramel-voiced Rufus Wainwright contributes a memorable rendition of “Blue Moon.”
Matt Pond PA – Winter Lives CD/LP+MP3 (131 Records)
“Ranging from the jangly heartland chamber rock of ‘The Glow’ to the poignant folk arrow of ‘Dirty Looks,’ Winter Lives is punctuated by little instrumental vignettes such as ‘Leggings In The Living Room,’ which Pond asserts were not afterthoughts but intentionally purposed connective tissue.” – Magnet Magazine
Awa Poulo – Poulo Warali CD/LP (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
Awa Poulo is a singer of Peulh origin from Dilly commune, Mali, near the border with Mauritania. Largely pastoral and often nomadic, Peulh- (or Fula-) speaking peoples are found from Senegal to Ethiopia but predominate in the Sahel region of West Africa. Poulo Warali is her newest recording of highly virtuosic folk-pop, fresh from the studio, broadcasting her vision of Peulh music beyond the grazing grounds and central markets of her remote home region in southwestern Mali.
Powerwolf – Blessed & Possessed [2015] 2xCD (Napalm)
Limited Tour Edition of the German power metal band’s 2015 album, expanded with a 15 track live CD.
Prodigy Of Mobb Deep – Hegelian Dialectic (The Book Of Revelation) CD (Vodka & Milk)
The veteran rapper returns with the first installment of a new album series.
The Proper Ornaments – Foxhole CD/LP (Slumberland)
Proper Ornaments is the project of James Hoare (Ultimate Painting, Veronica Falls) and Max Oscarnold (Toy, Pink Flames). The band germinated slowly from their friendship, which began when Max distracted James from shop-keeping, as his then girlfriend attempted to steal shoes. The chance meeting blossomed into The Proper Ornaments: an epicurean riot of luminous highs and cold, dismal crashes that conversely produced music that was very well ordered and faintly angelic.
Nelson Riddle – Batman: The Movie [OST/Reissue/1966] CD (La La Land)
50th Anniversary reissue of our previously sold-out release of Nelson Riddle’s original motion picture score to the 1966 Twentieth Century Fox feature film Batman: The Movie, starring Adam West, Burt Ward, and Lee Meriwether and directed by Leslie H. Martinson. Mr. Riddle’s propulsive, jazzy score exemplifies the classic ‘60s incarnation of the beloved Batman icon and is the perfect complement to the film’s campy excitement.
Steve Roach – Spiral Revelation CD (Projekt)
The sound of life, interconnected and unfurling. The spiral — a visual symbol of eternity — is a reoccurring metaphoric theme in Steve Roach’s pioneering electronic work. Interpreted into musical form, these six spiraling sonic experiences offer a living activation that connects with a sense of the infinite. Roach’s long history and love of analog sequencer-based styles reveal a continuing, evolving awakening within Spiral Revelation‘s 63 minutes.
Martin Schulte – Seasons CD (Lantern)
Martin Schulte is a techno producer from Russia who has been delivering new albums once a year. Seasons is his latest album which he describes as “expressing the echoes of each season — a mixture of cold winter, fresh spring, sunny summer and bright autumn packed with 60 minutes of harmonious chords.”
Raymond Scott and The Secret 7 – The Unexpected [Reissue/1960] CD (Basta)
Raymond Scott’s and The Secret 7’s The Unexpected was recorded in 1960 for Scott’s own Top Rank label. The featured artists, who are never supposed to be named, are all jazz legends. This well-kept secret from the ’60s reveals another side of the musical genius of Raymond Scott.
The Show Ponies – How It All Goes Down CD (Free Man)
“There are other bands capable of delivering rousing revelry and conveying heartfelt emotion, but over the course of their two albums and one EP, The Show Ponies have shown their commitment to delivering a sound that resonates with every listen. Their new outing, the appropriately titled How It All Goes Down, offers definitive proof of that prognosis, thanks to songs that are so robust, so resolute, so instantly engaging, they offer the impression the band’s ready to ascend to the next level.” – No Depression
SOHN – Rennen CD/LP (4AD)
Rennen is a German verb that translates in English to “run,” and as soon as SOHN begins to describe his journey over the last two years, it becomes obvious why it’s also the title of his stunning new album for 4AD. Musically, SOHN exercised restraint in the productions, limiting each song to three main elements. His goal was to hone in on the essence of the tracks, and to ensure that he recorded only the strongest material that could stand on its own without studio magic. It’s an ambitious exhibition of both his personal and artistic growth, a confident display of the evolution he’s undergone in just two short years.
Sons Of The San Joaquin – One More Ride CD (Western Jubilee Recording Company)
Sons Of The San Joaquin are the barometer for all contemporary Western vocal groups; One More Ride showcases why.
Starset – Vessels CD (Razor & Tie)
Starset’s follow-up to their debut album Transmissions highlights their writing ability, modern rock production, and the wide-ranging vocal talents of frontman Dustin Bates. Vessels contains 15 modern rock songs with hints of electronic music, pop, rock and metal influences woven throughout, with the continuation of their science and space related sci-fi themes. [Vinyl edition due February 3.]
Curtis Stigers/Danish Radio Big Band – One More For The Road CD (Concord Jazz)
Recorded live in Copenhagen, One More For The Road features Curtis Stigers along with The Danish Radio Big Band celebrating some of Frank Sinatra’s most cherished songs. Encompassing 10 covers, each song was hand-picked by Stigers to honor one of his musical heroes.
The Stray Trolleys – Barricades And Angels CD/LP (Captured Tracks)
Before there was The Cleaners From Venus, prolific singer/songwriter and national treasure of Wivenhoe, England, Martin Newell was in a band called The Stray Trolleys. In 1980, he and a few youngish unknowns got together in a little home-built country studio and recorded a handful of songs for an album that eventually emerged on a DIY cassette, Barricades And Angels. They weren’t perfect, but there is something very special about this collection. The music captures a time.
Sweet Maya – Sweet Maya [Reissue/1977] CD/LP (Luv N Haight/Ubiquity)
A Midwest jazz-funk classic with elements of folk, jazz, soul, funk and rock combining to create a heady blend reminiscent of ’70s work by French band Cortex and songwriting maestro Terry Callier.
Tycho – Epoch CD/LP+MP3 (Ghostly International)
An epoch is defined as an extended period of time typically characterized by a distinctive development or by a memorable series of events, and Scott Hansen, leader of the band Tycho, has named their new album Epoch with that in mind. The last installment in a trilogy, Epoch is the culmination of more than a decade’s work that has seen the band evolving and maturing through two sublime releases Dive (2011) and Awake (2014), and developing from featuring Hansen as a delicate solo performer into the iconic frontman of a powerful multi-layered live band performing on the world’s largest stages. “Dive was where the whole thing crystallized,” said Hansen. “I found that crossover space between what I was doing before, which was more IDM electronic stuff, and the rock music that reflected more of what I was listening to and not necessarily what I was making. Awake was a prototype of pushing it as far into the rock realm as I was comfortable with. Epoch is basically coming full circle. All the lessons of Dive and Awake were applied and then expanded upon. Epoch leverages the sonic aesthetic of Dive’s down-tempo vintage-style synthesizers and beautiful melodies while drawing on the kinetic energy of Awake’s progressive composition and organic instrumentation. [A limited red vinyl edition with bundled slipmat is also available.]
Uniform – Wake In Fright CD/LP (Sacred Bones)
Wake In Fright, the second full-length by the New York City duo Uniform, is a harrowing exploration of self-medication, painted in the colors of war. Following the Ghosthouse 12”, whose A-side Pitchfork called “their most relentless track yet,” vocalist Michael Berdan and guitarist/producer Ben Greenberg return with a new batch of even more punishing tracks that incorporate elements of industrial music, thrash metal, harsh noise, and power electronics.
Various Artists [Waddie Mitchell] – Cohorts & Collaborators (Songs Written With Waddie)
Waddie Mitchell, who produced this 12-selection recording, for many years has been largely recognized, celebrated, and awarded as the world’s number one Buckaroo Poet. Recently a new form of creative muse struck, and Waddie shared some of his poetry with talented friends in the world of professional Western music. These collaborations sparked a breadth of expression bringing Waddie’s words into a vivid new life, surprising even the artists involved.
Various Artists – 2017 Grammy Nominees CD (Atlantic)
2017 Grammy Nominees is an installment in the best-selling series, now in its 23rd year. This release features a collection of the biggest and brightest Grammy-nominated music for the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. A portion of album proceeds benefit the year-round work of the Grammy Museum Foundation and MusiCares Foundation, the Recording Academy’s charitable organizations focused on music education programs and critical assistance for music people in need.
Various Artists – Calabar-Itu Road: Groovy Sounds From South Eastern Nigeria (1972-1982) CD (Comb & Razor Sound)
When most people think about Nigerian music, the first thing that comes to mind is Lagos, the country’s main commercial center, the glittering megacity that spawned Yoruba-speaking music luminaries such as Fela Kuti, King Sunny Ade, Sir Shina Peters and Wizkid. But Nigeria is a country of rich diversity, especially in its music: From the Igbo highlife and rock bands of east-central region, to the deep Edo roots rhythms from the midwest, to the keening, ornamented Fulani melodies of the north. But one region whose music has remained largely under-explored is the south eastern land of the Efik and Ibibio ethnic groups in Cross River and Akwa Ibom State, the region colloquially referred to as “Calabar.” A cradle of culture, this region was one of the earliest outposts of Nigerian popular music.
Vipassi – Śūnyatā CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Vipassi is an instrumental technical death-metal outfit from Melbourne.
Wells Fargo – Watch Out CD/LP (Now Again)
Just as the hippie era came to an end in America, a second ‘60s was beginning. In what is now Zimbabwe, young people created a rock and roll counterculture that drew inspiration from hippie ideals and the sounds of Hendrix and Deep Purple. The kids in the scene called their music “heavy,” because they could feel its impact, and it resonated from Zambia to Nigeria. At its peak in the mid-70s, the heavy rock scene united tens of thousands of young progressives of all racial and social backgrounds. The country was called Rhodesia then, one of the last bastions of white rule in Africa, and heavy rockers defied segregation laws and secret police to make a stand for democratic change. Wells Fargo was at the forefront of the scene, and the title track of this album, Watch Out, was the anthem of the counterculture.
Chip Wickham – La Sombra CD/LP (Love Monk Spain)
Translated from Spanish as ‘The Shade’, Chip Wickham’s 2017 debut album La Sombra drops after a 25-year career touring, recording and experimenting across three decades of jazz, funk, soul, hip-hop, Latin and electronica. The album takes a more rooted direction than Chip’s recent collaborative work, with the jazz of the late ’60s and early ’70s a dominating influence to the recordings. Comprising of seven tracks recorded in Madrid with musicians assembled by Chip from Madrid’s jazz scene, it combines contemplative explorations akin to Yusef Lateef’s early work.
Keller Williams – Raw CD (Keller Williams)
Keller’s first solo acoustic guitar album. Raw showcases the artist and his instrument.
A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Iris [Musique Originale] CD/LP (Erased Tapes)
Recent. “A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s third studio album, Iris, wilts in the winter and blossoms once again in the ripening of spring. With surprising additions and slightly harsher elements, Iris is a sub-zero score, and while it may be cold outside, the breaking of the sun can still lead to a beautifully crisp, bright day. Musically, the record is less a natural development and more a slight departure. While 2014’s sophomore Atomos inflated their modern classical-slash-ambient sound, their score for Jalil Lespert’s film expands it even more.” – A Closer Listen
Wyldlife – Out On Your Block CD/LP (Wicked Cool)
Straight out of New York City, Wyldlife’s bright and brash rock & roll attitude updates ‘70’s punk, glam, and garage rock for the modern age.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
311 – Transistor [Reissue/1997] 2xLP (Sony Legacy)
311’s fourth album is back in print on vinyl.
Aerosmith – Done With Mirrors [Reissue/1985] LP (Geffen)
Aerosmith – Get A Grip [Reissue/1993] 2xLP (Geffen)
180gm vinyl reissue of Aerosmith’s eighth album.
The Allman Brothers Band – Hittin’ The Note [2003] 2xLP (Peach)
First time vinyl edition of the 12th (and final) studio album from The Allman Brothers Band.
Animotion – Raise Your Expectations LP (Invisible Hands Music)
The first studio album from Animotion in 26 years. The newly reformed band includes both original frontpeople, Bill Wadhams and Astrid Plane, and the first offering from the band’s return strikes an effective balance between the distinctive sound of ’80s pop and more modern production techniques.
Baast – Bazaar LP (Ubiquity)
Baast returns with a follow-up to their cosmic jazz funk opus Dimensions, with another set of esoteric kosmiche musik on their new offering. Channeling the same energy filtered through a worldlier vibe, the heavy focus is on polyrhythmic percussion producing a decidedly Middle Eastern flavor in a similar vein to krautrock standouts Embryo and Passport.
BJ Barham – Rockingham LP (BJ Barham)
New album from American Aquarium frontman/singer/songwriter. “Named for the North Carolina county where he was raised, Rockingham takes an unflinching look at the lives of people in rural areas and how they shaped his own development. The title track uses a stuttering acoustic guitar pattern and sharp blasts of harmonica to accompany Barham’s plainspoken musings about returning to the place where, as he sings, ‘I was born, where I was raised, on broken promises and glory days.’” – Rolling Stone
Philippe Besombes – Libra (Un Film Du Groupe Pattern) [Reissue/1975] LP (Purple Pyramid)
Limited blue vinyl LP reissue of the incredible experimental soundtrack from one of France’s pioneers of electronic ambient music. Philippe Besombes was commissioned by the filmmakers’ collective Pattern to write and record a soundtrack for their 1973 project, Libra. The young musician dove in headfirst, and the resulting LP released in 1974 is a testimonial to the flurry of ideas Besombes — and the filmmakers — had. Fragmented into 17 short episodes, mostly in the one- to three- minute range, the music touches bases with dozens of styles, from acid rock to musique concrète, from country to Stockhausen.
Big D and The Kid’s Table – Good Luck [Live/Reissue/2014] 7” (Strictly Rude)
All tracks recorded and performed on Boston radio station WBCN, 1999, as part of a live-in-studio performance.
Blacksage – Shivers LP (Friends Records)
Since their debut EP Sixtape in 2014, Baltimore-based duo Blacksage has been possessing listeners with the devastating coo of folk singer Josephine Olivia and the bass heavy beats of producer Drew Scott. Melting gothic-tinged elements of modern R&B and ‘90s trip-hop with old-fashioned pop, their 2015 full-length Basement Vows expanded on this dynamic to stunning effect. Their songs tread on the darker side of love and lust while remaining aware of the experimental and danceable nature of the music scene brewing in Baltimore. [CD edition due February 17.]
Bohren & Der Club Of Gore – Geisterfaust [2005] 2xLP (PIAS America)
Geisterfaust, by one of the slowest bands on Earth, is presented in an even more reduced and slow motion style — back in full glory, with 58 minutes of playtime over five astonishing tracks for the first time on vinyl. Geisterfaust might be translated as “the fist of a ghost” and the individual tracks are “trigger finger”, “ring finger”, “middle finger”, “thumb” and “little finger”. The doom jazz group, who are much loved by musicians like Mike Patton (of Faith No More and who releases their albums on the Ipecac label) or Stephen O’Malley (sunn O)))), deliver outstanding music. For fans of sunn O))), OM, Max Richter, Fennesz and David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti. Instrumental music of the highest caliber.
Glen Campbell – Rhinestone Cowboy Live LP (Goldenlane)
Limited picture disc vinyl LP pressing of a live recording by the country/pop legend. Includes performances of “Rhinestone Cowboy,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Galveston,” “Gentle On My Mind,” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and more.
Chavez – Cockfighters 12” (Matador)
“It’s been 20 years since Chavez released their second and final studio album Ride The Fader but in late 2015, Matt Sweeney, Clay Tarver, Scott Marshall and The James Lo resumed operations, once again ensconcing themselves with John Agnello at NJ’s Water Music, ignoring the label’s demands for a full-length album and instead delivering three knockout punches that prove these godfathers of art metal are as idiosyncratic, inventive and anthemic as the last time they told us they weren’t going to tour.”
Comet Gain – Réalistes [Reissue/2002] LP (M’lady’s)
Comet Gain – City Fallen Leaves [Reissue/2005] 2xLP (M’lady’s)
Digitally remastered vinyl reissues of the British indie band’s fourth and fifth albums.
The Delfonics – Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics [Reissue/2013] LP (Linear Labs)
“Delfonics founding member and lead vocalist William Hart teams up with Adrian Younge for a surprisingly radical late-career record: Younge places Hart in a stylized version of the past that works as a tribute, deconstruction, and revamp of his band’s once-vanguard Philly sound template.” [7.5] – Pitchfork
Diana – Familiar Touch LP (Caroline)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. In 2012, the success of Diana’s first single—which drew comparisons to the soft-focus pop of Roxy Music and Cocteau Twins—came as a surprise. Initially a one-off project, the Toronto-based trio quickly recorded more. Within a year they were touring internationally, remixed by Four Tet, and longlisted for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize. Ahead of Familiar Touch, their eagerly anticipated sophomore LP, the band took extended time to reflect and consider what’s next, eventually finding their way over sessions at a rented cottage in rural Québec. “Well worth the wait,” says Thump, who note the album’s more rhythmically driven sound. This from newfound inspiration: early ’90s dance music and the rich, ambitious studio production that defined in the ’70s and ’80s.
False Prophet – Second Death [Reissue/2013] 2xLP (Blood Harvest)
Thrash/death metal from Greensboro, North Carolina. This pressing features new artwork.
Funkadelic – Finest [Reissue/1997] 2xLP (Tidal Waves Music)
Comprised out of sixteen carefully selected tracks and covering a six-year period (1970-1976), Finest may be the best-assembled Funkadelic collection from this period yet, as both renowned band standards share space with several oft-overlooked tracks.
Funkadelic – Funkadelic Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester Michigan, 12th September 1971 2xLP (Tidal Waves Music)
Funkadelic Live: Meadowbrook, Rochester, Michigan 12th September 1971 is a 1996 live release featuring the only official in-concert recording from early in the career of Funkadelic. Westbound Records owner Armen Boladian had decided to record the show without the band’s prior notice, for a possible official live album release. Boladian then decided not to go forward with the project. The soundboard recording resided with engineer Ed Wolfram until being unearthed in 1996. The album contains the entire live performance of September 12, 1971 minus approximately three minutes of between-song chatter. Issued for the first time on vinyl.
Funkadelic – Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On [Reissue/1974] LP (4 Men With Beards)
2016 color vinyl repress. Originally released in 1974, Standing On The Verge Of Getting It On is the sixth album from George Clinton’s pioneering, funk-rock outfit. After a brief hiatus this album features the return of the blistering guitar work of Eddie Hazel, along with the consistently brilliant keyboards of future Talking Head Bernie Worrell.
Masahiro Ikumi – Perfect Blue [OST/1997] LP (Tiger Lab)
Masahiro Ikumi’s original score to to the classic 1997 psychological thriller is available on vinyl for the first time. Not so different from the sounds of Brooklyn’s own Sacred Bones or the Tri Angle Records catalog, Ikumi’s score is an electronic tour de force filled with ambient layers, eerie vocal choirs, infectious rhythms, and ghostly melodies. Limited blue marble color pressing in gatefold jacket. Artwork created by Sam Pfannkuche.
Invisible Boy – Invisible Boy LP (Totally Gross Nation)
Invisible Boy is a project fronted by Chris Bierden, bassist for Poliça and vital contributor to many Minneapolis-based projects. Bierden has been performing solo shows under the moniker Invisible Boy for the last 10 years. The name is taken from the title of a song by Vampire Hands, a beloved psych/punk band in which Bierden was a founding member. This is the first Invisible Boy effort at arranging the material into fully formed songs.
King’s X – Out Of The Silent Planet [Reissue/1988] 3xLP (Metal Blade)
King’s X – King’s X [Reissue/1992] 2xLP (Metal Blade)
King’s X – Dogman [1994] 2xLP (Metal Blade)
King’s X – Ear Candy [1996] 2xLP (Metal Blade)
The prog rock band’s first four albums are back in print on vinyl.
Abel Korzeniowski – Nocturnal Animals LP (Silva Screen)
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival, Nocturnal Animals, Tom Ford’s haunting romantic thriller has been hailed as “a tour de force” (The Independent). Nocturnal Animals marks the second film from writer/director Ford, and his second collaboration with composer Korzeniowski. Korzeniowski has described his latest score to Nocturnal Animals as “embracing two extremes, but switching their traditional genre characterization. The crime plot is scored as an intimate, personal story, while the psychological drama is treated as a thriller. The cold and detached intertwines with poignant and excruciating, the simple and intimate becomes grand and bold.” Red color vinyl pressing.
Kreator – Violent Revolution [Reissue/2001] 2xLP LP (Steamhammer)
Double-vinyl reissue of the thrash metal band’s 2001 album.
k.d. lang – Hymns Of The 49th Parallel [2004] LP (Nonesuch)
First-time vinyl edition of k.d. lang’s 2004 covers album. Along with one original, she takes on songs by Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Jane Siberry, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Cockburn, and Ron Sexsmith.
Lincoln – Constant State Of Ohio LP (I Surrender)
Cincinnati native Lincoln is “a smart and sardonic songwriter who lays sharp lyricism over a punchy barrage of emo-backed alternative rock.” – Consequence Of Sound
Lite – Cubic LP (Topshelf)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Lite is a Japanese instrumental rock band known for thrilling and emotional compositions, progressive, edgy riffs and complex rhythms.
Lucifericon – Brimstone Altar LP (Blood Harvest)
One-man Swedish death metal.
Mono – Under The Pipal Tree 2001] 2xLP (Temporary Residence)
First time on vinyl with alternate artwork. Under The Pipal Tree is the debut album by Japanese experimental rock band, Mono. Released in 2001 on avant-garde icon John Zorn’s Tzadik label, the album showcased a young Japanese quartet whose wide range of influences — most notably Sonic Youth, Mogwai, The Velvet Underground, and Neil Young’s Crazy Horse — were on ferocious and ambitious display.
Nearr – History Repeats Itself LP (Jigsaw)
A beautiful example of lo-fi bedroom pop, Nearr combines acoustic and electric guitars with keyboards and drum machines. Take the distant vocals of the Radio Dept., the stark but melodic guitar sound of Seventeen Seconds-era Cure and the overall feel of a Famous Boyfriend record, and you’ll get an idea of what to expect here.
Randy Newman – A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country b/w Putin 7” (Nonesuch)
Two Randy Newman songs released in conjunction with Inauguration Day. “A Few Words In Defense Of Our Country” is from the recent Randy Newman Songbook box set, while the B-side “Putin,” is a new song released digitally this past October.
Pepper – No Shame [2006] 2xLP (Law)
First time on vinyl. No Shame is full of all the mellow grooves and smooth vocals that fans have come to expect from pop/rock/ska/reggae band Pepper: light percussion and bright riffing rolling things along without a hitch. The Hawaiian trio understands the charm of effortless hooks and buoyant melodies, making their pop/rock/ska/reggae blend frothy and gentle.
Pink Floyd – The Final Cut [Reissue/1983] LP (Legacy)
Pink Floyd – A Momentary Lapse Of Reason [Reissue/1987] LP (Legacy)
Pink Floyd’s 12th and 13th studio albums are back in print on vinyl.
Sam Roberts Band – Terraform 2xLP (Paper Bag)
Released last October on CD – now available on vinyl. In March of 2016, Sam Roberts held themselves up at the Bathhouse, The Tragically Hips’ studio near Kingston, Ontario to record their sixth full-length album, Terraform. They went in with the lake still covered by ice and emerged four weeks later, in the first days of spring, bearing with them new music. In co-producer Graham Walsh of Holy F**k, the band found not just a kindred spirit, but someone willing to lead them away from well-trodden paths and into new, uncertain terrain: “Graham always pushed the sonic elements of the songs to the limit… tweaking sounds until they contributed more than just the sum of their parts… using sound to create emotion in the same way that words and melody can.” says SRB frontman and songwriter, Sam Roberts.
Pete Rock & CL Smooth – T.R.O.Y. (They Reminisce Over You) b/w Straighten It Out 7” (Get On Down)
“Only a few people have ever changed the way that records are made. Pete Rock is one of them,” veteran hip-hop A&R man and producer Dante Ross told Brian Coleman in the book Check The Technique Vol. 1. “People like Pete change the sound palette for the whole world. He had a signature sound, and that’s so hard to get.” It is a tall boast, but it’s backed up two different ways: by fans of the group from back in the ‘90s who knocked each other over in record stores to get the latest Pete Rock production; and by record buyers today, who still hear the same freshness in the group’s sound that people did more than two decades ago. These two songs are taken from the group’s legendary first full-length from 1992, Mecca & The Soul Brother.
Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C. [Reissue/1984] LP (Get On Down)
Future archaeologists will discuss two periods in 1980s: before Run-DMC and after Run-DMC. It’s no exaggeration to say that the group changed the course of music in the ‘80s, bringing the old-school of rap into the new with one simple piece of flat, black plastic. Run-D.M.C. was the first rap full-length to achieve Gold status. A classic that still sounds fresh today as it did more than 30 years ago.
Gus Russo – Basket Case [OST/1982] LP+MP3 (Terror Vision)
First time vinyl edition of the soundtrack to the cult early- ‘80s horror film. Color vinyl pressing.
Aubrie Sellers – New City Blues 2xLP (Warner Music Nashville)
Released last September on CD – now available on vinyl. From the cutlery in the blender indictment of surface beauty “Paper Doll” to the Lone Star drive of “Just To Be With You” and the tumbledown melody of “Sit Here and Cry,” this is a high energy box cutter of emotion: 14 songs marked by the bite and punch of smart girls who know there’s more to life than a cold beer and cut-offs. “I tell people there’s not a lot of happy songs,” the Texas/Nashville hybrid cautions. “But they’re not unhappy songs, either. It’s life… the way it is, and what’s wrong with that?” There’s a definite viscerality to New City Blues.
Howard Shore – The Fly [OST/Reissue/1986] LP (Varese Sarabande)
20th anniversary pressing on “teleporter fog green” color vinyl with lenticular cover depicting Seth Brundle’s early transition to The Fly.
Shy Girls – Salt LP+MP3 (Hit City USA)
New album from Portland-based alternative R&B singer/songwriter and producer Dan Vidmar. Has opened for HAIM, Little Dragon and Maxwell.
Shintaro Sakamoto/VIDEOTAPEMUSIC – A Night In Bangkok 12” (Em)
This collaboration by Tokyo producers/musicians Shintaro Sakamoto and VIDEOTAPEMUSIC is the first of two Em Records 12” vinyl-only “tribute releases” in support of the film Bangkok Nites, produced by Kuzoku. Based on samples from Dao Bandon, Hongthong Dao-udon, Phairin Phonphibun, Thailand and Tokyo, dream worlds meet in these songs.
Sodom – Get What You Deserve [Reissue/1994] 2xLP (Wax Maniax)
For the first time in over 20 years, the sixth studio album from the German thrash legends appears on vinyl. As a bonus, the original four studio tracks from the Aber bit mit Sahn EP (also released in 1994) have been added, compiling all 20 studio tracks recorded with this lineup on one album for the first time.
Soundtrack – A Dog Story (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording) LP (Broadway)
A Dog Story is a charming new musical comedy with music and lyrics by Gayla D. Morgan and a book by Eric H. Weinberger about Roland, a career-driven lawyer, who thinks he must be married to make partner. To solve his dilemma, he gets a puppy as a chick magnet. Through first dates, angry tangos, and a sudden disappearance, Roland discovers there’s more to life when you “get a dog!”
Soundtrack – The Edge Of Seventeen 2xLP (Music On Vinyl)
2016’s The Edge Of Seventeen is a coming of age film that has been compared to John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, but it’s mostly modern soundtrack helps set it apart from those ’80s classics: Santigold’s new rollicking “Who I Thought You Were” opens the movie and a pivotal party scene is filled with tracks by festival favorites like Two Door Cinema Club and Anderson Paak. Other artists included are Aimee Mann, Phantogram, Birdy, Handsome Poets, Miike Snow and others.
Third Eye Blind – We Are Drugs 12” (Mega Collider)
Third Eye Blind’s new EP “maintains the eclectic blend of electric, acoustic, and rock sounds of previous Third Eye Blind songs.” – Cryptic Rock
T2 – T2 (aka Fantasy) LP (Acme)
Even though fame and fortune never came to pass for T2, their Decca album It’ll All Work Out In Boomland has become an all-time classic amongst collectors of progressive and psychedelic music. Apart from a BBC radio session, fans long assumed that Boomland was both the beginning and the end of the group’s recorded legacy. But some time back, Acme Records unearthed an eponymous second album of material, recorded in 1970 with the original line-up as demo tracks for a planned second album. This second T2 album, had it been released in 1970, could have put the band on the same level of fame with the likes of Deep Purple, Free, and King Crimson (bands with whom T2 shared a stage).
Uniform Choice – Screaming For Change [Reissue/1986] LP (Southern Lord)
A slab of ‘80s hardcore gets the deluxe Southern Lord reissue treatment.
Various Artists – Cold Waves Of Color: Volume 4 LP (Color Tapes)
As with the other volumes you can find great examples of cold wave, minimal wave and synth electronics made by obscure British bands such as Disintegrators, Mystery Plane, Berserk In A Hayfield and Lives Of Angels — all recorded between 1980-1985, vestiges of the 1980’s UK cassette underground scene.
Various Artists – Wayfaring Strangers: Ladies From The Canyon [2006] LP (Numero)
By 1970, the folk revival had all but ended. Gone were the heady days of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” and “If I Had A Hammer.” Hootenanny had been cancelled. Broadside was out, Rolling Stone in. Richard Fariña was dead; Bob Dylan had plugged in. Paths paved by Joan Baez and Judy Collins had led a younger, more introspective generation of songwriters into the woods, while the ethos forged in weather-beaten hills and tempered on the lower east side of Manhattan was being reborn in the canyons of California, as songs for seagulls crafted in Joni Mitchell’s visage. Culled from beyond the crop of crit-revisionist darlings Linda Perhacs, Judee Sill, or Vashti Bunyan, Ladies From The Canyon examines the world of private folk via the works of 15 unlikely heroines who sang beneath the infrastructure of the music business, playing to coffeehouse chatter and church picnic silence. Each of these Wayfaring Strangers walk in the handmade aesthetic of lyrics scribbled into faded denim, of delicate movements captured and released. First time on vinyl.
Vibration Black Finger – Blackism LP (Enid)
Lascelle Lascelles (aka Lascelle Gordon) is the man behind Vibration Black Finger. One of the house DJs at London’s hipper-than-hip Wag Club in the 1980s (and occasional A Certain Ratio’s tour DJ), he went on to be one of the founder members of acid jazz pioneers The Brand New Heavies, staying with the band for five years. While Lascelle says that his main inspiration for the project was his love of ‘70s spiritual jazz, Vibration Black Finger’s music also has that post punk attitude — throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks.
Andre Williams – Don’t Ever Give Up LP (Pravda)
With his new 12 song LP, 80 year-old Andre Williams has teamed up with some of the finest New Orleans musicians to assemble a collection of songs that reflect his current mind-set and attitude. One part rock, one part R&B, and one part Andre Williams, this is a soulful record, a serious record and a reflective record of an icon still at work as a world-class entertainer.
Wtchs – She Walks, She Creeps LP (Sonic Unyon)
“Post-punk perfection… a mesmerizing soundscape of decadent noise and haunting vocals that are larger than the harvest moon.” — Diamond Deposits
Y Pants – Y Pants 12” (Water Wing)
Y Pants – Beat It Down [Reissue/1982] (Water Wing)
Y Pants was a three-woman New York band: Barbara Ess, Virginia (Verge) Piersol and Gail Vachon, all visual artists. They played in clubs, galleries and performance spaces between 1979 and 1982. Gail found a toy piano on the street and started jamming with Barbara on the ukulele. When they were invited to play a few weeks later at TR3 (the short-lived but influential downtown NY music club), they electrified their instruments and recruited the neophyte drummer Verge for percussion on a children’s drum set. Here is an expanded version of their 1980 EP Off The Hook along with a vinyl reissue of their sole album, Beat It Down.
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