CDs + Vinyl:
Acephalix – Decreation CD (20 Buck Spin)
The rotten corpse of Acephalix, the Bay Area’s beast of barbarism, has been re-animated. Foul American death metal maggotry eating back to life coagulated remains of hardcore’s guts. [Vinyl edition due October 20.]
Acetone – 1992-2001 CD/2xLP (Light In The Attic)
The first anthology of the trio’s music. Counting their early years in the scuzz-rock band Spinout, whose sole self-titled release came out in 1991 on Delicious Vinyl, guitarist Mark Lightcap, bassist Richie Lee, and drummer Steve Hadley played together for a total of 15 years. They disbanded in July 2001, when Lee committed suicide in the garage next to the house where the trio practiced. Against a rising tide of post-Nirvana grunge and slipshod indie rock, Acetone tapped into a timeless Southern California groove by fusing elements of psychedelic, surf, and country.
Marc Almond – Shadows And Reflections CD/LP (The End)
Marc Almond’s new album Shadows And Reflections features sumptuous arrangements of iconic torch songs and ‘60s orchestral pop for which he is beloved, as well as two new original compositions. The release features songs written or recorded by artists such as Burt Bacharach, The Action, The Yardbirds, Bobby Darin, Julie Driscoll, Billy Fury and the Young Rascals. It thematically begins and ends in an apartment. “It’s about this guy that’s living in a luxury expansive glass apartment overlooking the city, filled with sculptures and beautiful things, an empty soulless shell, surrounded by absurd wealth,” Almond explains. “He is sitting alone and I imagine listening to this music, possibly the songs that make up this album. He’s rich in the bank but the poorest person you know.” [CD version is available in Regular and Deluxe editions.]
Amadou & Mariam – La Confusion CD (Because Music)
Eighth full-length album from acclaimed Malian musical duo. [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Archspire – Relentless Mutation CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Welcome to first class technical death metal madness. Machinegun vocals rattle remorselessly over a furious flurry of arpeggios, scales, and everything else that the two string wizards of Archspire can pick at break-finger speed out of their guitars. If this sounds hardly human at the level of technical execution, the Gatling-style hyper-drumming pushing these monstrous compositions forward is adding to the alien impression. It cannot even be a question that the Canadians have outdone themselves with their third full-length. Relentless Mutation is not just another compilation of outstanding musicianship, but the songs come with recognizable patterns that make sense in the greater conceptual framework of the album. And a clever use of contrasts leaves moments of clarity for the listener to take a breath and get ready for the next assault.
Beliefs – Habitat CD/LP (Outside Music)
The Toronto-based indie band Belief’s third full length record. It’s a dark record, for sure,” affirms vocalist-guitarist Jesse Crowe. “I feel like we were drawing a lot more from, like, me being a Goth teenager and Josh only wanting to listen to Aphex Twin and me only wanting to listen to Portishead’s Third for the last year and stuff like that. But also it was time to embody the elements of being a ‘wall-of-sound’ band with some space and the idea of being able to be quiet when you should be quiet, and you can’t do that with three guitars. There’s no space. It just becomes all push and no pull.” [Red colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Jerry Bergonzi – Dog Star CD (Savant)
Bergonzi’s style is immediately recognizable but is not easy to categorize. The influences of Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Trane and others are thoroughly integrated in his work.
Brant Bjork – Europe ’16 CD/LP (Napalm)
Kyuss- and Fu Manchu legend Brant Bjork delivers a set of lush stoner rock with balls of steel, winged by vivid solo guitars and his creaking whiskey tinged voice.
Black Country Communion – BCC IV CD/2xLP (J&R Adventures)
BCCIV is the fourth album from the rock super group comprised of vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Trapeze), drummer Jason Bonham (Led Zeppelin, Foreigner), Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Alice Cooper, Billy Idol) and blues-rock guitarist/vocalist Joe Bonamassa. The album will appeal to all fans of high quality hard rock, as well as those that admire singers of distinction. Hughes is not known as The Voice of Rock for nothing. In terms of content, BCC IV expands upon the progression that took place between the first three albums. With an abundance of heavy riffs, undeniable hooks, melodic flair and infectious choruses, it is a spectacular album that gets bigger and bolder with repeated spins. All songs were co-written by Glenn Hughes and Joe Bonamassa. Glenn wrote all the lyrics on the album except for “The Last Song For My Resting Place” which was written by Joe.
Black Pistol Fire – Deadbeat Grafitti CD (Rifle Bird Music)
Drawing inspiration from blues, R&B and rock greats such as Led Zeppelin, Chuck Berry, Nirvana, Buddy Holly and Muddy Waters, Austin, TX band Black Pistol Fire’s gritty and dynamic performances are fueled by undeniable musicianship. [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Mike Bloomfield – Live At McCabe’s Guitar Workshop January 1, 1977 CD/LP (Rockbeat)
The legendary guitarist performs a selection of original and classic rock and blues material.
The Blow – Brand New Abyss CD/LP (The Blow)
“One remarkable thing about Brand New Abyss is how pleasant the whole thing is. As a vocalist, Maricich is an enormously engaging and charismatic presence, and it’s fun to hear her flip these ideas around in her head. Both Khaela Maricich and Melissa Dyne play the various different electronic doohickeys on the album, and while the sound is still plenty bare and minimal, these tracks are also warmer and catchier than they were when Bechtolt was in the band. Brand New Abyss isn’t some sweeping epic, and it might not strike you as an immediate masterpiece, the way Luciferian Towers and Thrice Woven might. But if you let this it, this is an album that can creep under your skin. It overflows with ideas and hooks and empathy, and even on a week as packed as this one, it stands out. (Album Of The Week)” – Stereogum
Breathing Effect – Fisherman Abides CD/Cassette (Alpha Pup)
Powerful harmonies and vocal cadences glide over dynamic drum grooves and bass lines, extending their personal lives into the DNA of every sound across the new works. [Vinyl edition November 3.]
Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger In The Alps CD/LP+MP3 (Dead Oceans)
From the weeping strings and Twin Peaks twangs of opening track “Smoke Signals,” to the simple heartbreak of “Funeral” and melancholic crescendo of “Scott Street,” Stranger In The Alps is a swooningly beautiful record with a gothic heart. [Limited white colored vinyl pressing also available.]
The Bronx – V CD/LP (ATO)
Produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck, FIDLAR), V is the aptly titled fifth album from the Los Angeles, CA punk band. The quintet has certainly lost none of its pugnacity as V is as hard-hitting, confrontational and relevant as ever. And while it may or may not sound more grown-up than their vein-bulging early releases, they will not apologize either way. “It has the angst and social commentary that has characterized us from the beginning” guitarist Joby J. Ford says. “Only now the angst is aimed at more than just superficial things and the social commentary is directed at more than just people who like different music than us.” The band has gained notice for their dual lives they have lived for the past eight years, maintaining an alter ego as Mariachi El Bronx that is as true to that form of music as their hardcore is to the punk ethos. In any iteration, The Bronx are the real deal, ready for the next fight.
Camp Cope – Camp Cope CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Run For Cover)
Over the past 18 months, Australia’s Camp Cope have become a force in modern music, a wholly independent band who will only do things on their terms, and refuse to compromise on their values. The eight tracks on their self-titled debut discuss real life working shifts in a hospital, living in rundown share houses in Footscray and what it’s like to be a woman in the world. Camp Cope’s soulful, indie-punk played under Maq’s raspy and robust voice have made it okay to enjoy feeling angst again.
Circa Survive – The Amulet CD/LP+MP3 (Hopeless)
Lead by charismatic front man Anthony Green, formerly of Saosin, The Amulet contains the band’s signature sound, with influences from soft rock, post-hardcore, experimental rock, emo, progressive rock, art rock, and pop.
The Clientele – Music For The Age Of Miracles CD (Merge)
The Clientele return with Music for the Age of Miracles, their first release of new music since 2010’s Minotaur EP. It seems fitting that a chance meeting with a ghost from the past/future is what led to the first album of new Clientele songs in seven years. Singer and principal songwriter Alasdair MacLean and Anthony Harmer knew one another and played music together in the mid-90s but had lost touch. “I had often wondered what had happened to Anthony since,” says MacLean. “It turned out – he told me – he’d studied the Santoor, an Iranian version of the dulcimer, and over decades become a virtuoso, at least by my standards. He suggested we have a jam together. Ant and I now lived three streets away from each other, it turned out. He started to arrange my songs. He let me write and sing them, and he came up with ideas for how they should sound. This carried on until we had an album. I called up James and Mark and asked them if they wanted to make another Clientele record. They did, and this is it.” [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Jen Cloher – Jen Cloher CD/LP (Marathon Artists)
A letter in triplicate addressed to the themes of love, music and Australia, Jen Cloher is the culmination of a period of artistic and personal growth in which the artist took her rightful place as a punk-rock figurehead of Melbourne’s famous DIY music scene.
Cold Specks – Fool’s Paradise CD/LP (Arts & Crafts)
Ladan Hussein, known on stage as Cold Specks, is recognized for her twistedly enthralling lyrics and distinctive soulful voice. In this masterful body of work, she intimately explores her identity as a Somali-Canadian woman.
Counterparts – You’re Not You Anymore CD/LP (Pure Noise)
Canadian metalcore/hardcore act Counterparts follow-up 2015’s Tragedy Will Find Us.
CousteauX – CousteauX CD/LP (Shellshock)
After more than 10 years apart, critically acclaimed purveyors of rich, dark pop music Cousteau have returned.
Cradle Of Filth – Cryptoriana: The Seductiveness Of Decay CD/LP (Nuclear Blast America)
From the exhilarating melodrama of opening two-fisted salvo “Exquisite Torments Await” and “Heartbreak And Seance” onwards, the twelfth Cradle of Filth album manifestly represents yet another wild expansion of the band’s sonic manifesto across nine epic and elaborate new anti- hymns and a fervent blast through Canadian thrash legends Annihilator’s ageless “Alison Hell.” [Two limited colored vinyl pressings are also available: blue and pink/yellow.]
Cub Sport – Bats CD/LP (Cub Sport)
The second album from the Australian indie outfit. [Limited ‘clear with black splatter’ colored vinyl LP pressing also available.]
Cut Copy – Haiku From Zero CD/LP/Cassette (Astralwerks)
Cut Copy returns with their first proper studio album in nearly four years. Haiku From Zero showcases a band in full command of their powers to move people both emotionally and physically. Written and recorded at studios around the world (Melbourne, Copenhagen, Washington, DC, New York, Atlanta), the 9-tracks present a united sonic front, due in no small part to the guiding ear of producer Ben Allen (Deerhunter, Animal Collective, Neon Indian). Songs like “Counting Down” and “Living Upside Down” offer glimpses of beauty in a state of disco-fueled flux. And single “Standing In The Middle Of The Field” announces a theme that percolates throughout Haiku From Zero – the need to cut through the noise, a desire to focus. Amid a backdrop of loping kalimbas, cowbells and bubbly synths, lead singer Dan Whitford’s plaintive voice offers some emotional advice in the lyrics, “You gotta give up the things you love to make it better.”
D33J – Death Valley Oasis CD/LP (Anticon)
Death Valley Oasis is the three years in the making debut LP from WEDIDIT Collective co-founder Djavan Santos aka D33J featuring guest appearances by Baths, Deradoorian, Corbin (FKA Spooky Black) and Shlohmo. D33J explains the album’s lead single: “‘Black Ice’ is a lullaby for those moments of hypnagogia. A blip of self-awareness in a moment of disconnect. The moment of coming to in an altered state and echo chamber of paralysis in a place of paradise.”
Dead Rider – Crew Licks CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
The Chicago based art rockers return to Drag City for their fourth full length album. Ever developing their almost unclassifiable sound you get glitchy time shifted R’n’B mellow grooves alongside twanging dark blues licks and layered vocal harmonies.
Devilish Impressions – The I CD/LP (Lifeforce)
Fourth full-length effort from Poland’s epic black/death metallers.
Will Downing – Soul Survivor CD (Shanachie)
New album from the The Prince Of Sophisticated Soul featuring special guests Avery*Sunshine, Najee, Phil Perry, Maysa and others.
Drivin ‘N’ Cryin – Archives Vol. 1 ’88–’90 CD (Plowboy)
Unreleased archival versions of early recordings by the legendary Atlanta based Southern rock jam band between 1988 -1990.
Duds – Of A Nature Or Degree CD/LP (Castle Face)
“They have the invention and urgency of Edinburgh legends The Fire Engines. The post punk ethic. Short songs, short sets = short album. They’re one of the most thrilling bands I’ve seen in years.” – Marc Riley
Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band – The Mountain [Reissue/1999] CD/LP
Steve Earle – Transcendental Blues [Reissue/2000] CD/LP (WB)
Steve Earle – Sidetracks [Reissue/2002] CD/LP (WB)
The first three of six classic Steve Earle albums to be reissued this year – each remastered with some being pressed to vinyl for the first time.
Electric Wizard – Let Us Prey [Reissue/2002] CD (Rise Above)
CD reissue of the fourth studio album by English doom metal band.
Enter Shikari – The Spark CD/LP (PIAS America)
“Enter Shikari have always been unafraid to speak their minds. The band are no strangers to writing about relevant issues – be it political or personal – but their new album, The Spark finds them exploring uncharted territory both musically and emotionally, making for quite possibly their strongest release to date. Easily their most melodic album, The Spark gives listeners some light in the dark, a sense of hope and community in tough times while simultaneously serving as a sort of therapy for frontman Rou Reynolds and documenting Enter Shikari’s journey into a new sound. This combination makes for an emotional, thought provoking journey from beginning to end. Setting the tone is ‘The Sights,’ which introduces a much more melodic and poppy tone than some listeners might be accustomed to, all while Reynolds subtly hints that this album is a new chapter for Enter Shikari. The line, ‘Now I’ll boldly go into the great unknown’ definitely has a double meaning here; in Enter Shikari’s musical direction and Reynolds’ own personal journey. Lyrically, the song uses poetic imagery about space travel as a way to convey fear of change and uncertainty for the future while musically it sounds like a new beginning. Says Reynolds, ‘The spark is that light at the end of the tunnel – when everything seems to be falling apart, but you’re able to see some sort of path out of the dark.’” – The Prelude Press
Fergie – Double Dutchess CD (Dutchess Music/BMG Rights Management)
Second solo album from the Black Eyed Peas member. The album includes collaborations with YG, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, and Fergie’s son Axl Jack. [Vinyl edition due November 3.]
Flamin’ Groovies – Fantastic Plastic CD (Severn)
American precursors to punk rock and power pop, The Flamin’ Groovies’ story goes all the way back to 1965, when the band began as the Chosen Few in their hometown of San Francisco, CA. They released a series of infectious guitar driven rock ‘n’ roll records over the next few decades before disbanding in 1992. However, Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson reunited in 2013 and have been touring for the past four years. Now they return in 2017 with Fantastic Plastic and give everyone another chance at hearing exactly why those in the know consider them one of the greatest rock n’ roll bands of all-time. Produced by Jordan and Joel Jaffe (who also contributes guitar) and featuring original bassist George Alexander and latter-day drummer Victor Penalosa, Fantastic Plastic unleashes 10 new original tunes penned by Jordan and Wilson as well as covers of the Beau Brummels’ “Don’t Talk To Strangers” and NRBQ’s “I Want You Bad.” [Vinyl edition due October 13.]
Flying Eyes – Burning Of The Season CD/LP (Ripple Music)
Eight solid tracks of riff-heavy rock and roll outlined with psych and fuzz embellishments.
From The Mouth Of The Sun – Hymn Binding CD/LP (Lost Tribe Sound)
At the core, From The Mouth Of The Sun’s sound is comprised of cello, piano, acoustic guitars, lap steel, banjo, ukulele and pump organ. Without revealing too much, Hymn Binding is an album predicated on the rise and fall.
Wesley Fuller – Inner City Dream CD (PIAS America)
The debut album from the Melbourne-based power pop boy wonder. Inner City Dream features twelve tracks of swirling psych, jangly pop and punchy, crunchy glam that show off Fuller’s broadening sonic palette and his progression as a writer and producer. RIYL: Tame Impala, The Sunchymes, Temples, Surfer Blood. [Vinyl edition due November 10.]
Richie Furay – Live At My Father’s Place August 31, 1976 CD (Rockbeat)
Furay was a founding member of Buffalo Springfield in 1966 along with Neil Young and Stephen Stills, and after BS disintegrated within 2 turbulent years, Furay, inspired by Springfield’s occasional forays into country-rock, was determined to put together a full-fledged country-rock band.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Luciferian Towers CD/LP+MP3 (Constellation)
Luciferian Towers boasts four tracks spanning 44:54 in length. The album was made “in the midst of communal mess, raising dogs and children. Eyes up and filled with dreadful joy – we aimed for wrong notes that explode, a quiet muttering amplified heavenward. We recorded it all in a burning motorboat.” Luciferian Towers was informed by “an end to foreign invasions”; “an end to borders”; “the total dismantling of the prison-industrial complex”; “healthcare, housing, food and water acknowledged as inalienable human right”; and “the expert f**kers who broke this world never get to speak again.”
Danny Grissett – Remembrance CD (Savant)
The go-to keyboard man for the likes of Tom Harrell, Jeremy Pelt, Wayne Escoffey and others Grissett also finds time to lead his own groups and is a composer of considerable merit.
David Grubbs – Creep Mission CD/LP (Blue Chopsticks)
If “mission creep” refers to a long-haul fatigue cited with increasingly regularity in the present political moment, David Grubbs imagines “creep mission” to be a talismanic utterance in the effort to turn this ship around. Creep Mission is an album of instrumental compositions with Grubbs’ effortlessly recombinant electric guitar at its core, and its m.o. is to go both deep and wide.
Noah Gundersen – White Noise CD/2xLP+MP3 (Cooking Vinyl)
Two years after the release of his highly acclaimed LP Carry The Ghost, Seattle native Noah Gundersen unleashes his bold third studio LP. “White Noise is a sensory overload,” Gundersen explains. “Fear, anxiety, desire, sex, lust, love. White Noise is the place between waking and dreaming, where the edges blur and the light is strange. It’s a car crash, it’s a drowning, it’s everything all the time.” The conception of White Noise started long before Gundersen stepped into his homemade studio, nestled inside a 1600 sq. ft. loft on the marina in Ballard, Washington. “At the beginning of 2016, I walked on stage and was met with a feeling of overwhelming emptiness” explains Gundersen. “I imagined a career playing music I didn’t believe in and was terrified.” For fans of Noah Gundersen during the era of albums like Ledges (2014) and Carry The Ghost (2015), White Noise finds Gundersen in a variety of headspaces, with anthemic rock choruses in “The Sound” to piano ballads in “New Religion”, but still holding true to his in-depth and hyperaware style of songwriting.
Isaac Hayes – The Spirit Of Memphis (1962-1976) 4xCD+7” (Craft)
Isaac Hayes: The Spirit of Memphis (1962-1975) chronicles Isaac Hayes’ ascension from orphaned field-hand to soul superhero, starting with his days as a young man working as a writer and producer for other Stax Records recording artists and ending with the zenith of his popularity as a cultural icon in the mid- ‘70s.
Chris Hillman – Bidin’ My Time CD (Rounder)
Produced by Tom Petty, Chris Hillman’s new solo album features collaborations with his former Byrds bandmates David Crosby and Roger McGuinn; the Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench, Mike Campbell, and Steve Ferrone; Desert Rose Band’s John Jorgenson, Pedersen, and Jay Dee Maness; premier upright bassist Mark Fain; singer/guitarist Josh Jové; and fiddler Gabe Witcher. [Vinyl edition due September 29.]
Hiss Golden Messenger – Hallelujah Anyhow CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
“The stellar Hallelujah Anyhow often feels like a restless fever dream. Taylor’s elegant lyrics scan like stream-of-conscious poetry: Historical nods and ethereal characters (e.g., Jenny Of The Roses, Rhode Island Red) combine with real-life references, giving the songs a mythical quality. Although Hallelujah Anyhow hints at unrest and feeling lost—‘When the poets called for gasoline, I knew my days in the kingdom were numbered,’ Taylor sings at one point—the record’s allusions to finding silver linings are stronger. ‘If it’s up to me, a little love would go a long way,’ Taylor sings on ‘Harder Rain,’ while on ‘Jaw,’ he proclaims, ‘No more dancing like the world’s whipped forever.’ In a further nod to Hallelujah Anyhow’s urgent genesis, Taylor’s mix of alt-country and indie-folk is loose and extroverted. The soul-rock shimmy ‘Domino (Time Will Tell)’ possesses Rolling Stones-esque swagger, courtesy of freewheeling guitars and barnstorming saxophone, while the insistent folk-rock highlight ‘I Am The Song’ boasts repetitive strumming that matches a forceful vocal delivery. Even the songs that hew toward Heart Like A Levee’s stripped-down vibe—the piano-dappled ‘Caledonia, My Love’ and the low-lit folk gem ‘When The Wall Comes Down’—are more elaborate. – A.V. Club
Home Free – Timeless CD (Sony)
New album from release from the a cappella group. In terms of musical roles, Home Free is structured like a traditional barbershop quartet, with a lead tenor, two harmony voices, and a bass.
The Horrors –V CD/2xLP (Caroline)
V is the stunningly assertive fifth album from The Horrors and follow-up to 2014’s Luminous. Lead single “Machine” sees the group at their majestic, imperial best, although the ten tracks on the album are so diverse that when the final song and second single “Something To Remember Me By” appears to channel dance, trance and ‘80s pop genres it feels like both the most natural thing in the musical world and also the most surprising. V shows the group at the peak of their powers, exhibiting a freedom and sense of exploration that feels truly liberating. “It is a risk,” says Faris Badwan discussing the band’s bold refusal to stand still. “But life isn’t much fun without risk. It’s the antithesis of being creative if you know what you’re going to be doing every time.” Keyboardist Tom Cowan continues: “It’s natural, if you do see yourself as an artist, to progress and not play it safe. Bowie pre-empted the modern condition of not being able to stay in one place for very long, and I get frustrated with bands who stay still. Because then it does become a career.”
Intrusion – Amongst The Stars 2xCD (Echospace)
“A third set of nebulous dub/house/ambient versions from Steve Hitchell as CV313, Variant, and Intrusion, including the original 33-minute tape session, spread over two discs.” — Boomkat
Howard Ivans – Beautiful Tired Bodies CD/LP (Spacebomb)
Fall down the rabbit hole of Ivan Howard’s alter ego and wake up in a stylized soundscape, surrounded by twisting melodies and singing shadows. Beautiful Tired Bodies is the latest installment of chromatic-eyed soul from the man who brought us 2013’s “magnificent art-funk treasure” (SPIN) and “a symphonic funkscape worthy of Quincy Jones” (Uncut), “Red Face Boy b/w Pillows.”
Jane Getter Premonition – On Tour CD (Big Fun Productions)
Follow-up to the critically acclaimed Madfish label release On by the all-star fusion band.
Chris Janson – Everybody CD (WB)
The follow-up to his successful major-label debut Buy Me A Boat, Everybody includes all of the songs on this summer’s Fix A Drink EP and more.
Jaws Of Love – Tasha Sits Close To The Piano CD/LP (House Arrest)
Kelcey Ayer, the creative force behind Jaws Of Love, has always been an ace at writing a good love song – he just didn’t always know it. As Local Natives geared up to release their third album last summer, Ayer booked time in the same L.A. studio, Electro-Vox, where the band had recorded Sunlit Youth, and in a three-day burst he recorded a handful of his own songs. his ultimately yielded powerful results and was an exhilarating experience that led Ayer to decide to continue writing. He returned to the studio later in the year, and – aided by the studio’s myriad synthesizers, antique equipment, preamps, and outboard gear, in addition to drums recorded by Local Natives’ drummer Matt Frazier – Ayer completed his gorgeous solo debut. [Limited colored vinyl LP pressing with booklet also available.]
Philip Jeck – Iklectik CD (Touch)
“Typically enchanting electro-acoustic enigma from Philip Jeck, forming a richly abstract narrative from the reactive fizz and and timbral thizz of smeared shellac textures and their keening, dissonant harmonics.” – Boomkat
Eilen Jewell – Down Hearted Blues CD/LP (Signature Sounds)
On Down Hearted Blues, Eilen and her long-time road band (Jerry Miller, Shawn Supra, Jason Beek) rip through greasy versions of dark blues like Charles Sheffield’s “It’s Your Voodoo Working,” Willie Dixon’s “You Know My Love” and Albert Washington’s “One Of These Days.” The band also strips down the sound, trading in drums and electric instruments for washboards, mandolins, and banjos to cover songs like Memphis Minnie’s “Nothing In Rambling,” Bessie Smith’s “Down Hearted Blues” and Moonshine Kate’s “Poor Girl’s Story.”
Kauan – Kaiho CD/LP (KauanMusic)
Kauan are from Russia, sing in Finnish, and are based in Ukraine, but their music is universally stirring. They have always created moments of quiet introspection, even amidst the thundering riffs and caustic screams that largely defined the contours of the band’s earliest output. But on Kaiho, as Kauan step out of their past, songwriter and founding member Anton Belov explores the transition from idyllic childhood to the care-laden weight of adulthood, fondly and tenderly bringing the faded memories of days long gone to life.
The Killers – Wonderful Wonderful CD/LP (Island)
Recorded with producer Jacknife Lee and longtime collaborator Stuart Price during sessions in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Wonderful Wonderful is bursting with all of the blazing choruses and arena-filling anthems that make The Killers one of the world’s biggest rock bands.
King Parrot – Ugly Produce CD (Housecore)
A step-up in every sense, the reckless Aussies have topped themselves with another savagely brutal LP; a 10-track feast of distinctively punishing and powerful anthems veined deeply in the extreme underground sound. [Vinyl edition due November 17.]
Jordan Klassen – Big Intruder CD/LP+MP3 (Nevado Music)
In past records such as Javelin (2016) and Repentance (2013), Klassen strived for a cinematic sound, avoiding drum kits and anything that sounded like a band. In Big Intruder, Klassen confronts those prejudices. He spent a lot of time listening to the greats – Harry Nilsson, Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell – and broadened his own understanding of the singer-songwriter concept.
Kölsch – 1989 CD (Kompakt)
Kölsch returns to Kompakt with the third and final chapter in his autobiographical album trilogy, featuring contributions from Gregor Schwellenbach with the Heritage Orchestra and Norwegian vocalist Aurora.
Kryshe – March Of The Mysterious CD/LP (Serein)
The album stems from music made to accompany a showing of the 1915 silent film, Alice In Wonderland. Straddling the worlds of modern classical, avant-jazz and ambient music, multi-instrumentalist Kryshe plays piano, brass, guitar and percussion with a hefty dose of electronic processing to produce music every bit as enchanting as Lewis Carroll’s tale.
Jon Langford – Four Lost Souls CD/LP+MP3 (Bloodshot)
An album of pure Americana, beyond the news of the day, going to a place where the differences between country, soul, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll are blown aside by the warm, languid breezes.
Laraaji – Bring On The Sun + Sun Gong 2xCD/2xLP+MP3 (All Saints)
A collection of brand new studio recordings, recorded by Davey Jewell (Peaking Lights/Flaming Lips) and mixed by Carlos Niño (Leaving Records). A magical mixtape of tracks that run the full gamut of Laraaji music, from blissed-out percussive jams to reflective vocal hymnals to trance-inducing drones. [Available as a 10-track double CD with Bring On The Sun on the first disc, and a bonus disc of Sun Gong, the previously limited run vinyl-only pre-cursor to the main album. 8-track double vinyl pressing of Bring On The Sun also available.]
Lecrae – All Things Work Together CD/2xLP (Columbia)
All Things Work Together balances profound introspection with cunning social critique. Lecrae’s affecting reconciliation towards hope rises to the height of his verbal as he fearlessly transforms his message into an uplifting soundtrack of healing-through-pain. Guests include Ty Dolla $ign, Tori Kelly, Aha Gazelle and a host of up-and-comers.
Ledisi – Let Love Rule CD (Verve)
This compilation of soul stirring, genre bending music fuses together both contemporary and traditional R&B. Let Love Rule redefines Ledisi’s sound, while still featuring her trademark vocals, echoing everything from seventies-style soul to 21st century bounce.
The Len Price 3 – Kentish Longtails CD/LP (MRI Associated)
“Rock & roll doesn’t need saving; the cure’s right here.” That’s what David Fricke, the legendary Rolling Stone journalist once said of The Len Price 3, an English pop band who delivers instantly memorable tunes and an unstoppable whirlwind of power. Their latest release is comprised of catchy vintage pop tunes with plenty of punk rock oomph and a sprinkling of sonic weirdness. Expect melodic nuggets, shiny pop hooks and rich lyrical content laden with wry social observations and acid tongued retorts.
Ted Leo – The Hanged Man CD (Super Ego)
The Hanged Man is Ted Leo’s first solo album in nearly a decade, following his 2014 Aimee Mann collaboration The Both and 2010’s The Brutalist Bricks with The Pharmacists. The 14-track collection was recorded at a home studio in Wakefield, Rhode Island with the singer/songwriter manning almost all of the instruments. The streamlined LP features Leo’s familiar sharp bursts of skinny-tie pop-punk offset with an adventurousness in both tone and structure. The Hanged Man features contributions from Chris Wilson (The Pharmacists), Aimee Mann (The Both), Jean Grae and Jonathan Coulton and is ushered in by the urgent lead single “You’re Like Me.” [Vinyl edition due September 29.]
Less Art – Strangled Light CD/LP (Gilead Media)
Less Art is the alliance of brothers Riley and Ed Breckenridge of Thrice, Ian Miller and Jon Howell of Kowloon Walled City, and Mike Minnick of Curl Up And Die. On Strangled Light these five veterans bash out their own new version of post-hardcore.
Lights – Skin & Earth CD/LP (WB)
“Concept albums are nothing new, but it’s the lengths to which Lights takes her fourth album Skin & Earth that sets it apart. After introducing herself as the comic book alter-ego Captain Lights in 2008, the electro-pop artist (real name: Valerie Poxleitner) further colors outside the lines by pairing her latest LP with a comic book series that brings the music’s narrative to life. ‘I’ve always found a way to connect comics and music, but never so directly,’ she says. Three years in the making and inspired by female heroines like Wonder Woman, the project — written pre-President Donald Trump but ‘definitely with some commentary on this part of the world,’ she says — tells the story of a girl named En in search of hope in a post-apocalyptic world. In the lead-up to the album, Lights released monthly comic book issues starting in July alongside corresponding songs. ‘As of now there are only six issues, and that completes the record,’ she says. ‘But I don’t think it’ll end there. I’m not just letting it go.’” — Billboard
Lords Of Acid – Our Little Secret [Reissue/1997 CD/2xLP (Metropolis)
Lords Of Acid – Farstucker [2000] CD/2xLP (Metropolis)
Originally released in 1997, Our Little Secret maintains the industrial music and sexually charged songs found on their previous album Voodoo-U. Originally released in 2000, Farstucker marks the band’s full transition from the techno of their earlier work to an industrial music outfit, with use of more live instruments.
Luna – A Sentimental Education CD/LP (Double Feature)
Luna – A Place Of Greater Safety 10” (Double Feature)
In 2015, Luna reunited for a world tour after a 10-year absence. And now the beloved indie rock band returns with not one but two releases in 2017: an LP of covers entitled A Sentimental Education and a 10″ EP containing six new Luna instrumentals entitled A Place Of Greater Safety. The former finds Luna covering the Cure, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Yes, Fleetwood Mac, Mercury Rev and others.
Lunice – CCCLX CD/LP (LuckyMe)
On his long-anticipated debut album, Lunice approaches his music from every conceivable angle. The album is titled CCCLX, after all – it’s a title that can be taken several ways. For one it indicates his vision of the project as something bigger than just music – something encompassing visuals, movement, lifestyle and on the simplest level, it’s an indication of how this album will make the listener feel: totally immersed and surrounded.
Macklemore – Gemini CD (Bedor LLC)
Seattle rapper Macklemore’s first solo project in 12 years, following two releases with producer Ryan Lewis.
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers – The Long-Awaited Album CD/LP (Rounder)
On his latest LP, Martin reconnects with his backing band the Steep Canyon Rangers, who previously contributed to 2011’s Rare Bird Alert, 2013’s Love Has Come For You and 2014’s Live. Peter Asher, the Grammy-winning producer who’s worked with James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Diamond, helmed The Long-Awaited Album which is full of stories that mix humor and melancholy, whimsy and realism, rich characters and concrete details. And lots of banjos. Lead single “Caroline” is a banjo-slathered number that manages to be unfailingly jolly even as it dissects a brutal break-up. The song opens not long after the title character has unceremoniously dumped Martin’s narrator, and he’s still hung up on her. The song appears to serve a therapeutic function, however, as by the end of “Caroline,” Martin’s narrator is finally beginning to think about moving on. “Research has shown that there are many, many songs with the title Caroline,” Martin tells Rolling Stone. “However, this is the only good one.”
Mastodon – Cold Dark Place CD (Reprise)
Four previously unreleased tracks. Three of the songs – “North Side Star,” “Blue Walsh,” and “Cold Dark Place” – were recorded during the sessions for the band’s 2014 album Once More ‘Round The Sun. The fourth cut, “Toe To Toes,” was recorded during the sessions for their most recent album, 2016’s Emperor Of Sand.” [Limited 10” vinyl picture-disc edition due October 27.]
Mattiel – Mattiel CD/LP (Burger)
An ad designer, illustrator, and set builder, Mattiel’s influences include Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Andre 3000, Marc Bolan, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, The Staple Singers and Jack White among many others.
Mac McAnally – Southbound: The Orchestra Project CD (Mailboat)
As essential player on countless sessions and tours, Mac McAnally is widely respected as a “musician’s musician.” Southbound features 16 of Mac’s classic songs, each one spotlighting performances by the Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra.
Christian McBride – Big Band Bringin’ It CD/2xLP (Mack Avenue)
If it is true that jazz is a sponge for musicians to absorb and then squeeze out what they hear to produce their own sound, McBride has been “bringin’ it” for quite a long time. From his amazing quintet, Inside Straight; to his avant-garde leaning quartet, New Jawn; the contemporary sound of his fusion group, A Christian McBride Situation; to the critically acclaimed music he’s made with his trio, the bassist has always disseminated his own unique 360-degree view of jazz.
METZ – Strange Peace CD/LP+MP3/Cassette (Sub Pop)
“The best punk isn’t an assault as much as it’s a challenge — to what’s normal, to what’s comfortable, or simply to what’s expected. Teetering on the edge of perpetual implosion,” NPR wrote in their glowing review of METZ’s 2015 second album, II. The band’s follow-up and third album, Strange Peace is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show. The album was recorded in Chicago live off the floor to tape with Steve Albini and was finished up with longtime collaborator, engineer and mixer, Graham Walsh. Strange Peace isn’t merely a collection of eleven uninhibited and urgent songs. It’s also a kind of sonic venting, a truculent social commentary that bludgeons and provokes, excites and unsettles. With all the pleasurable tension and anxiety of a fever dream, it is equal parts challenging and accessible. It is this implausible balancing act, moving from one end of the musical spectrum to the other, that only a band of METZ’s power and capacity can maintain: discordant and melodic, powerful and controlled, meticulous and instinctive, subtle and complex, precise and reckless, wholehearted and merciless, brutal and optimistic, terrifying and fun.
Midland – On The Rocks CD/LP (Big Machine)
Made up of singer Mark Wystrach, guitarist Jess Carson and bassist Cameron Duddy, Dripping Springs, TX trio Midland is the embodiment of ’70s California country, all smooth Eagles harmonies and heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics. Their songs are intoxicating country sung with the twang of George Strait. And it’s impossible to resist. Midland – named from a Dwight Yoakam song – excel in setting a mood, transporting the listener to another place and time. This is music made for wide-open skies, endless deserts and wondering where the road is going to take you next. Their full-length debut, On The Rocks, features some of the most traditional-sounding country music to come out of Nashville in a decade. Lead single “Drinkin’ Problem” evokes Gary Stewart – one of Midland’s biggest inspirations, along with Merle Haggard. “Electric Rodeo,” with its plaintive piano, sweeping strings and high-in-the-saddle chorus, is a prime example of the “picture” the band envisions creating. And the majestic “Nothin’ New Under The Neon” sounds like vintage Eddie Rabbit.
Mikado – Forever 2xCD/2xLP (Crepuscule)
A comprehensive anthology by the chic French electronic duo.
Monarch – Never Forever CD (Profound Lore)
France’s premiere extreme doom metal band take their singular style of punishing ritualistic amplifier worship toward melancholic territory. [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Van Morrison – Roll With The Punches CD/2xLP (Caroline)
Roll With The Punches, the Belfast legend’s 37th album, sees him simultaneously hand-picking a selection of rhythm ‘n’ blues classics (by the likes of Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lightnin’ Hopkins) and recording a set of new self-written numbers. Raw, intimate reinterpretations of cornerstone cuts like “Goin’ To Chicago,” “Ride On Josephine” and “Automobile Blues” sit alongside compelling originals “Transformation,” “Fame,” “Ordinary People” and the titular song co-written with Don Black. Van commented: “From a very early age, I connected with the blues. The thing about the blues is you don’t dissect it – you just do it. I’ve never over-analyzed what I do; I just do it. Music has to be about just doing it and that’s the way the blues works – it’s an attitude. I was lucky to have met people who were the real thing – people like John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Mose Allison. I got to hang out with them and absorb what they did. They were people with no ego whatsoever and they helped me learn a lot.”
The Movielife – Cities In Search Of A Heart CD/LP+MP3 (Rise)
The Movielife have returned after a 14-year hiatus, bringing with them an explosive new album of timeless, emotionally driven rock songs. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Native Meets Lee Scratch Perry – Black Ark Showcase 1977 CD/LP (Cleopatra)
The complete Lee Perry produced sessions and the first ever release on vinyl for these recordings.
Necro Deathmort – Overland CD (Profound Lore)
London the duo Necro Deathmort create intriguing and alluring blends of dark ambient, noise, synth driven beats, cinematic soundscapes, and doom-like heavy drone. [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Linda Perhacs – I’m A Harmony CD (Omnivore)
Until 2014, Linda Perhacs had only issued one album, Parallelograms, in 1970 on Kapp Records. That album immediately fell into obscurity, but gained fans over the ensuing years as fans as disparate as Devendra Banhart, Daft Punk, and death metal group Opeth sung its praises. As the status of Parallelograms continued to grow, Linda found her way back to recording thanks to talented fans like Fernando Perdomo, Julia Holter, and Chris Price. In 2014, another fan, Sufjan Stevens, released Linda’s 44-year follow up to Parallelograms, The Soul Of All Natural Things. Perhacs’ long overdue return to music was joyously welcomed with MOJO magazine describing the album as “a spectrally hypnotic work of prismatic beauty.” Now in 2017, Perhacs returns with another new album, I’m A Harmony—this time produced by Pat Sansone (Wilco/The Autumn Defense) with Linda Perhacs and Fernando Perdomo reprising their roles from The Soul Of All Natural Things. Joining the ensemble are Pat Sansone and John Stirratt (The Autumn Defense/Wilco), Nels Cline, Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Devendra Banhart, and producer/remixer Mark Pritchard.
Prawn – Run CD/LP/Cassette (Run For Cover)
Drawing influence from post-rock and punk scenes, Prawn have released two full-length albums, two EPs, and three splits since their 2008 formation.
Shilpa Ray – Stars As Door Girl CD/LP (Northing Spy)
Ray’s voice – singular in modern popular music because of its radiant imperfection – takes neither prisoners nor guff as it offers up continuous caustic commentary on the human condition. Alternately dreamlike and lifelike, Door Girl carves out its portraits of nightlife with reverberation and feedback, unveiling an expansive level of production quality through which even the perfectly-recorded snare drum is as present and as crisp as the bad breath of the drunk falling asleep at your elbow.
Haley Reinhart – What’s That Sound? CD/LP (Concord)
New release from the vocalist best known for appearing on the 10th season of American Idol. What’s That Sound? is Haley Reinhart’s homage to her favorite music from the late ‘60s.
Josh Ritter – Gathering CD/2xCD/2xLP+CD+MP3 (Pytheas Recordings)
“For all his stylistic wandering, Ritter gives some of his best signature moves a workout throughout Gathering: Few singers possess such a gift for the sly folk-rock ramble, and few remain as adept at road-trip-friendly laments … In short, Josh Ritter remains at the top of his game two decades into a highlight-strewn career. He’d be forgiven for loosening his grip, but his hand has never felt surer.” — NPR [CD is available in Regular and Deluxe editions. Deluxe adds a bonus CD with home recordings. Limited opaque yellow colored vinyl pressing including bonus CD and download also available.]
Roadcase Royale – First Thing’s First CD (Loud & Proud)
Fronted by Nancy Wilson, co-founder of Heart, and former Prince collaborator Liv Warfield of New Power Generation, Roadcase Royale has a rich background in rock and R&B. [Vinyl edition due December 15.]
Runaways – Live In New York 1978 CD (Air Cuts)
The Runaways, live at the New York Palladium, on January 7th, 1978. A few months after the release of their third album Waitin’ For The Night (1977), The Runaways started a tour with The Ramones. Their first performance was at the Palladium, New York on January 7, 1978 and it was broadcast on the King Biscuit Flower Hour. [Vinyl edition due October 6.]
Leon Russell – On A Distant Shore CD (Palmetto)
“Leon Russell’s final album, On A Distant Shore, is a career highlight recorded over his last living year and released 10 months after his November 2016 passing. According to his wife, Russell considered his last set of recordings his favorite. On A Distant Shore has similar feelings of finality as last year’s Leonard Cohen farewell, You Want It Darker. ‘Sounds like a funeral for some person here,’ Russell sings on the title track in his trademark trill. ‘And I might be the one.’ Meanwhile, his daughters, Sugaree Noel Bridges and Coco Bridges, add some ‘dip do waddy waddy’ backing vocals and the instrumental track validates the lyrics — ‘I hear the sound of violins /Is this how the story ends? / And I’m lost on a distant shore.’ Taking inspiration from the great American jazz and pop standards for the new tunes, Russell also reinterpreted three of his best-known songs — ‘This Masquerade,’ ‘Hummingbird’ and ‘A Song For You’ — with orchestral arrangements by Larry Hall. Other high points include the bluesy ‘Black And Blue,’ the epic ‘On The Waterfront’ and ‘Love This Way,’ which is easy to imagine sung by former Russell associate Joe Cocker. Time will tell if any of these songs become standards or at least perennial favorites, but whatever distant shore he’s on, Leon Russell should be smiling proudly.” – The Washington Post
Satyricon – Deep Calleth Upon Deep CD/2xLP (Napalm)
The black metal band returns with a new album. Deep Calleth Upon Deep has arrived which takes fans back to the traditional Norwegian black metal sound that Satyricon has been known for in the early days. This latest offering is full of hooks and technical brutality that both old and new fans of the band will enjoy. [Limited white colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Shout Out Louds – Ease My Mind CD/LP+MP3 (Merge)
The fifth full-length by Shout Out Louds marks a welcome return to the Swedish pop masters roots. “Ease My Mind celebrates music as a means of escape, a need to take a break from feeling petrified with fear,” the band notes. “The world is a different place now than it was in the beginning of the 2000’s. We didn’t grow up very aware of political messages in music and probably didn’t feel much of an urgent need to understand the world around us, in that sense. However, that has changed over the years. The world has seemed extremely dystopic and frail for quite a while now, and having children and getting older forces you to open your eyes to issues more devastating than heartbreak and feeling lost. But in our music, we still allow ourselves to address things the way we always have: through emotions rather than analysis. Music as a means of escape, a need to take a break from feeling petrified with fear. Ease My Mind is a lot about that for us.”
Simo – Rise & Shine CD (Provogue)
Simo widens their sound, filling their new album with slow-smoked soul ballads, psychedelic desert-rock instrumentals, hard-edged, bluesy barn burners and Stax-worthy funk rockers.
Siriusmo – Comic CD/LP (Monkeytown)
Siriusmo maintains his very own sound and spot within electronic music, drawing from numerous styles and mashing it all through his personal beatgrinder, constantly understating and exaggerating. He’s the innovator that has no such intentions at all.
Sleeping With Sirens – Gossip CD/LP (WB)
Risk catalyzes Sleeping With Sirens on their fifth full-length. Through taking quantum sonic leaps, the quintet – Kellin Quinn (vocals, keyboards), Jack Fowler (lead guitar), Nick Martin (rhythm guitar), Justin Hills (bass), and Gabe Barham (drums) – reach the artistic heights they began angling for nearly 10 years ago, while amplifying musical hallmarks such as soaring and soul-striking vocals, wildly catchy riffing, and intricate beats. At its heart, Gossip reflects not only creative progression, but personal as well. Recorded with producer David Bendeth (Paramore, All Time Low), this galvanizing new chapter kicks off with a bang on the call-to-arms single “Legends.” “We finally captured the live experience with Bendeth,” explains frontman Kellin Quinn. “We have the production, but there’s a rawness that comes through. Musically, I feel like it’s the first Sirens record that sounds specifically like us. We took chances, experimented, and continued to do what we do best: create art. It’s something new. It has an authentic sound that we’ve been working towards all this time.”
Sons Of Texas – Forged By Fortitude CD (Razor & Tie)
Proud disciples of Pantera, Alice In Chains, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and even Vicente Fernández, the McAllen, TX quintet rise up from the Rio Grande valley with a rollicking hard rock sound steeped in metallic intricacy, grunge soul, southern-fried blues, and just the right amount of Tejano spirit.
Sounding Arrow – Loving Is Breathing CD/LP (California Country)
Sounding Arrow is the first solo project from Scott Kinnebrew, singer and lead guitarist of roots rockers Truth & Salvage Co., and former ringleader of Smoky Mountain indie faves Scrappy Hamilton.
Spelljammer – Inches From The Sun CD/LP (Riding Easy)
a domestic reissue of this celebrated Swedish trio’s 2010 debut album – a groove based hybrid of classic desert rock and rumbling European doom.
Steffi – World Of The Waking State CD/2xLP+MP3 (Ostgut Ton)
Steffi occupies a unique space in the realm of contemporary electronic music. Although she’s a world renowned DJ, it’s her work as a producer that has established an impressive, hard-won legacy. On World Of The Waking State she embarks on entirely new electronic terrain for her productions, marking industrial spaces with superlunary warmth while exercising a refined knowledge of polyphony and arrangement.
Stills & Collins – Everybody Knows CD (Wildflower/Cleopatra)
Two folk legends of Laurel Canyon’s countercultural music scene join forces on this gorgeous album of cover versions of classic tunes by fellow folk icons Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen plus a few of their own compositions.
Moses Sumney – Aromanticism CD/LP+MP3 (Jagjaguwar)
Since emerging onto the scene in 2014, Moses Sumney has ridden a wave of word-of-mouth praise, hushed recordings, and dynamic live performances. It’s an organic, patient ascent all too rare in today’s musical climate. In a voice both mellifluous and haunting, Sumney makes future music that transmogrifies classic tropes, like moon-colony choir reinterpretations of old jazz gems. His vocals narrate a personal journey through universal loneliness atop otherworldly compositional backdrops. His proper debut album, Aromanticism is a concept album about lovelessness as a sonic dreamscape.
Sun Ra – Continuation 2xCD (Corbett Vs. Dempsey)
A special double-CD reissue of the hyper-rare El Saturn LP, recorded in 1963, early in the Arkestra’s NY period, paired with a full disc of extra material.
Sweet Pea Atkinson – Get What You Deserve CD (Blue Note)
A 10-song collection of blues, Detroit-soul and funk, produced by Don Was.
Midori Takada and Masahiko Satoh – Lunar Cruise [Reissue/1990] CD/LP+CD (We Release Whatever The F**k We Want)
Flanked by YMO’s Haruomi Hosono and jazz player Kazutoki Umezu, Takada & Satoh’s original recordings of Lunar Cruise richly resonate with the preceding ten years of digitized fourth world innovation as well as traces of Badalamenti and Lynch’s synth parts from Twin Peaks of the same year, all while clearly pre-echoing the reverberant synthetic spaces of Kenji Kawai’s Ghost In The Shell OST.
Third World – Live At Paul’s Mall: Summer, 1976 CD (Rockbeat)
Third World is a Jamaican Reggae band, formed in 1973, with their sound influenced by jazz, soul and funk.
Today Is The Day – In The Eyes Of God [Reissue/1999] CD/LP+MP3 (The End)
Expanded reissue of Today Is The Day’s 1999 album which includes the hallmark lineup of Steve Austin, Brann Dailor (Mastodon) and Bill Kelliher (Mastodon). Along with the remastered version of the album, this reissue features demo versions of each track featured on the original. Says Austin, “In 1999, I set out to make the fastest and most technical Today Is The Day record I could. The record was recorded in full three times, with the third version being the one we released. The second time we demoed the album came out really great and could have been the released version. So with this re-issue, the listener can hear the progression of the record being made. Brann Dailor’s drumming and Bill Kelliher’s bass playing was a perfect fit for this out-of-control album.”
Tricky – Ununiform CD/LP (False Idols/K7!)
Tricky’s 13th album is a delicate, storming, intricate affair that sees the artist take perhaps his most radical step yet a journey into happiness and contentment. It’s a record that shows the legendary British producer confront his legacy, history, family and even death itself. And in all of this, he finds the strangest, least familiar thing and peace.
Ufomammut – 8 CD (Neurot)
Ufomammut’s eighth album is comprised of eight tracks that flow into each other without interruption. This flow can also be seen when you tip eight horizontally, thus it morphs into the lemniscate from algebraic geometry–a plane curve that meets at central point, or more commonly known as the infinity symbol. A continuous stream of movement reflective of the uninterrupted nature of the album but also the continued togetherness of the essential elements of the band [Vinyl edition due October 20.]
Vacivus – Temple Of The Abyss CD/LP (Profound Lore)
Vacivus is one of the UK’s most promising new death metal bands.
Various Artists [Midland] – Fabriclive 94 CD (Fabric)
Fabriclive 94 is Midland’s ode to the many facets of club culture, in part sequenced in Corsica Studios and taking in the many fragments of the industry that he has called home for half his life. It was recorded in his studio using an E&S mixer, two CDJs and a reverb peddle. His idea was to do a club mix – but one that represented a night out and the emotions you experience within it. The mix flows straight in as if you have walked in to club during someone’s set – there’s no defined start or end point.
Various Artists – Soulsville U.S.A.: A Celebration Of Stax 3xCD (Craft)
A triple-disc collection the label’s biggest hits in the ‘60s and ‘70s by the stars who created the “Stax Sound” including Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, The Staple Singers, Booker T & The MGs, William Bell, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and The Dramatics, among many others. This set updates the Stax 50 collection.
Various Artists – Studio One Supreme: Maximum ‘70s and ‘80s Early Dancehall Sounds CD/3xLP+MP3 (Soul Jazz)
A new collection of classic and rare Studio One recordings.
Various Artists – Swampland Jewels [Reissue/1979] CD/LP (Yep Roc)
A compilation of classic Cajun, zydeco, rock ‘n’ roll and rhythm and blues from East Texas and Southwest Louisiana originally released by Goldband Records in 1979.
Various Artists – Studio One Presents: Version Dread – Dub Specialist CD/2xLP (Studio One)
18 dub-version B-sides of top Studio One singles made for commercial release from artists including the Wailing Souls, Willie Williams, The Abyssinians and a host of other legendary groups.
Various Artists – Warfaring Strangers: Acid Nightmares CD/2xLP (Numero)
18 distorted tales of dope fiends, pill poppers, and the baddest of trips lifted from the ashes of the acid rock hellfire.
Vulture Industries – Stranger Times CD/LP (Season Of Mist)
Norway’s Vulture Industries return with the follow-up to 2013’s The Tower. Stranger Times sees the quintet hone their unique and foreboding blend of dark and heavy rock by mining the outermost fringes of the progressive and the avant-garde.
Wand – Plum CD/LP/Cassette (Drag City)
Plum is Wand’s fourth LP since the band formed in late 2013, but their first new album since 2015. After a whirlwind first two years of writing, recording, and touring, their newest document focuses teeming, dense, at times wildly multi-chromatic sounds into Wand’s most deliberate statement to date, with a long evening’s shadow of loss and longing hovering above the proceedings.
The Wedding Present – George Best 30 CD/LP (Scopitones)
The Wedding Present re-recorded their 1987 debut album George Best with Steve Albini (Nirvana, The Pixies, The Cribs) back in 2008, but are now releasing it to mark its 30th anniversary.
Brian Wilson – Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology CD/2xLP (Rhino)
An anthology of solo recordings from the original Beach Boy, starting with his ‘comeback’ album on Sire, through to the current day and a new track “Run James Run” which is previously unreleased and recorded specifically for this album.
With The Dead – Love From With The Dead CD/2xLP+MP3 (Rise)
Hell-bent on staking a further claim to be doom metal’s most intense and remorseless practitioners, With The Dead return with their second album. Comprising tracks recorded during two separate sessions with celebrated studio guru Jaime Gomez Arellano, Love From With The Dead represents the first fruits of the band’s recently retooled line-up. Darker, denser, more despondent and sickeningly heavy in numerous senses of the word, this is an album that re-establishes doom as a genre that embraces the extreme and not just some cozy, nostalgic reimagining of the early ’70s. It grimly extinguishes the light of hope and hammers home the hatred and futility that plagues our brief and brittle lives. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]
Chelsea Wolfe – Hiss Spun CD/LP+MP3 (Sargent House)
While past albums operated on the intimacy of stripped-down folk music (The Grime And The Glow, Unknown Rooms), or the throbbing pulse of supplemental electronics (Pain Is Beauty, Abyss), Chelsea Wolfe’s sixth album wrings its exquisiteness out of a palette of groaning bass, pounding drums, and crunching distortion. Recorded by Kurt Ballou (Converge), Hiss Spun was conceived as an emotional purge, a means of coming to terms with the tumult of the outside world by exploring the complexities of one’s inner unrest. “I’m at odds with myself,” she explains. “I got tired of trying to disappear. The record became very personal in that way. I wanted to open up more, but also create my own reality.” The album features contributions by Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, SUMAC) and Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens Of The Stone Age, Failure).
Wolves In The Throne Room – Thrice Woven CD/2xLP (Artemisia)
A glorious return to the blazing and furious black metal that they alone can create.
John Zorn – The Interpretation Of Dreams CD (Tzadik)
This powerful collection of new work inspired by the surrealism of Luis Buñuel and the psychotropic dream world of William Burroughs comprises three remarkable compositions—two stream-of-consciousness tours de force for vibraphone and rhythm section and the sensual piano quintet Obscure Objects Of Desire, one of Zorn’s most evocative new works.
This Week’s Vinyl Exclusives:
The 3 Pieces – Vibes Of Truth [Reissue/1975] LP (Fantasy)
The 1970s saw a plethora of great funk and jazz albums that for somewhat mystifying reasons have failed to be reissued. Vibes Of Truth is a masterpiece that covers all the bases: from soul through funk to jazz.
Charlie Abbott – Goes To Math Class LP (Brrwd)
“I’d say I was trying to go for the dirt of early Quasimoto mixed with the melody of Emerald Fantasy Tracks-era Lone, but I’m having trouble describing it in terms of larger generic genre terms.”
Tony Allen – The Source LP (Blue Note)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. With his Blue Note-debut, The Source, Nigerian drummer Tony Allen sees a childhood dream come true. Allen says this is the “best in my life,” and with a career spanning over 50 years, that’s quite the confession for the Afrobeat pioneer and former Fela Kuti fixture. The Source represents Blue Note’s classic era while symbolizing the label’s innovative present.
Angelsdust – The Great Depression 12” (Hit & Run)
Discordant organs, melancholy percussion, warped sensual drone and seductive vocals, unnervingly swirl together in this darkwave dream.
Asking Alexander – Standing Up And Scream [Reissue/2009] LP+MP3 (Sumerian)
Asking Alexander – From Death To Destiny [Reissue/2013] LP+MP3 (Sumerian)
Limited opaque pms process blue colored vinyl pressing of the California metalcore band’s debut album, Standing Up And Scream; and two pressings of their third album, From Death To Destiny: limited transparent red and transparent cloudy clear.
Between The Buried & Me – Colors [Reissue/2007] 2xLP (Craft Recordings)
BTBAM’s acclaimed fifth full-length effort is a continuous, sonic labyrinth of savage metal, lush prog-rock and uninhibited emotion.
Blossom & HOT16 – Tease LP (Liquid Beats)
From Portland’s burgeoning music scene comes a creative statement in the form of this full length collaborative album by singer/songwriter Blossom and producer HOT16. Strong, black, and imbued with magic, Blossom shows depth and feeling in every note while HOT16’s soulful tracks work as the perfect backdrops for her beautiful odes to identity, empowerment, love, and its accompanying heartache.
David Bowie – Heroes 7” (Rhino/Parlophone)
Limited edition 7” picture disc vinyl pressing of this double-A side single of “Heroes” to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The AA side features a previously unreleased live recording from Marc Bolan’s British TV show, originally broadcast on September 20, 1977.
James Brown – Night Train – Mighty Instrumentals [Reissue/1966] LP (Contrast)
James Brown – The Explosive James Brown – The Early King Recordings LP (Contrast)
James Brown’s aptly named Night Train – Mighty Instrumentals is a dazzling collection of high intensity funk and slow-burning soul workouts. Explosive James Brown – The Early King Recordings is a collection of James Brown’s early King Records singles showcasing the singer at the top of his electrifying form. [CD versions due October 20.]
Cavernlight – As We Cup Our Hands And Drink From The Stream Of Our Ache LP (Gilead Media)
Whether they be doom, black metal, noise, dark post-rock, Cavernlight have found a comfortable, mature balance between their influences, inspiration, and intended narrative. Miserable doom laced with harsh tones and heart-piercing melodies.
Couch Slut – Contempt LP (Gilead Media)
Sporting brains and brawn, Couch Slut makes music that punches the gut and stimulates the mind.
Funk, Inc. – Funk, Inc. [Reissue/1971] LP (Fantasy)
Limited vinyl reissue of the Indianapolis jazz funk/soul jazz group’s debut album.
Gizmodrome – Gizmodrome LP (earMUSIC)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Gizmodrome is an all-star band made up of Stewart Copeland (The Police), Mark King (Level 42), Adrian Belew (ex-King Crimson, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads) and Vittorio Cosma (PFM and Elio e le Storie Tese).
Hail The Sun – Wake [2014] LP+MP3 (Equal Vision)
Limited green colored vinyl pressing of the post-hardcore, progressive California rock band’s second album.
Hammock – Mysterium 2xLP (Hammock Music)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Composed as a memorial to Clark Kern, a son-like figure to Hammock co-founder Marc Byrd who died in 2016 from the tumor strain NF2, Mysterium merges modern classical, ambient, and choral music, and it’s of a piece with recent records by Max Richter and Johann Johannsson. The gorgeous, hour-long collection features contributions from the Berlin mix engineer Francesco Donadello (Winged Victory for the Sullen, Olafur Arnalds), Peter Katis (The National, Jónsi, Interpol), and the Hamburg orchestrator Roman Vinuesa (”Iris,” ”Umrika”), who transcribed scores for the Budapest Art Choir.
Murray Head – Nigel Lived [Reissue/1973] 2xLP (Intervention)
Originally issued in 1973, Murray Head’s Nigel Lived is a groundbreaking classic and one of the boldest, most daring and inventive albums of all time. 180gm vinyl remastered for 45rpm.
Hypnobeat – Prototech LP (Dark Entries)
The first vinyl retrospective by the German electronic trio, recorded 1984-86.
Elton John – Empty Sky [Reissue/1969] LP (Mercury)
Elton John – Blue Moves [Reissue/1976] 2xLP (Mercury)
Elton John – The Big Picture [Reissue/1997] 2xLP (Mercury)
Limited 180gm vinyl reissues of Elton John’s first, eleventh, and twenty-sixth albums now available.
Kaleida – Tear The Roots LP (Lex)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Kaleida is an electro-pop duo from London featuring the combined talents of Christina Wood (vocals, lyrics) and Cicely Goulder (keyboards & production, lyrics). Writing, recording, mixing and producing all their music themselves, Tear The Roots serves as their debut full-length album following a pair of EPs (the title track from the first, “Think,” was featured in the film John Wick) and offers up a deep, unsettling kind of pop.Limited white colored pressing.
Shannon Lay – Living Water LP (Mare/Woodsist)
Lay’s voice transcends time and space. One can’t tell if she’s old or new, if she’s sitting next to you, on a mountain top, or down in some canyon. Her second album to be released in 2017, she is a prolific songwriter, who lives and breathes melody, with guitar skills to boot.
Lido – Everything 2xLP (Because Music)
Lido is the moniker used by Norwegian electronic musician and producer Peder Losnegård. His debut album – originally released digitally last year – is now available on vinyl. “Everything is nothing if not grand. From the opening whispers of ‘Catharsis’ to the Kanye-esque screams and choirs of ‘Falling Down,’ all the way to the sweet unresolved finish of ‘Tell Me How To Feel,’ the 11-track album is a clear maturation toward hints of greatness. It’s well-hyped.” – Billboard
Hank Mobley – Hank Mobley With Donald Byrd & Lee Morgan [Reissue/1957] LP (Go Bop)
A hard bop classic – back in print on vinyl.
Mogwai – Every Country’s Sun 2xLP (Temporary Residence)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Every Country’s Sun takes two decades of Mogwai’s signature, contrasting sounds – towering intensity, pastoral introspection, synth-rock minimalism, DNA-detonating volume – and distills it, beautifully, into 56 concise minutes of gracious elegance, hymnal trance-rock, and transcendental euphoria.
Gabriel Garzón-Montano – Jardín Instrumentals LP (Stone’s Throw)
Instrumental versions of Gabriel’s Stones Throw Records debut Jardín now available on limited edition wax.
Nolan The Ninja – Yen LP (Left Of Center)
Nolan has been gaining momentum in Detroit and beyond, and continues to demonstrate his ability to rip a microphone with his new album, Yen.
Elvis Presley – He Touched Me [Reissue/1971] LP (Friday Music)
Limited 180gm audiophile translucent red colored vinyl reissue.
The Rolling Stones – Their Satanic Majesties Request [50th Anniversary Edition] 2xLP+2xSACD (ABCKO)
Limited hand-numbered 50th Anniversary special audiophile Edition containing two 180gm vinyl LPs and two hybrid SACDs which feature both the mono and stereo versions of the album.
Pharaoh Sanders – Pharaoh Sanders Quintet [Reissue/1965] LP (ESP-Disk Ltd.)
Vinyl reissue of “a crucial workshop puzzle-piece that gives historians of improvised music one very important look at Pharoah Sanders and his young, big ideas.” – All About Jazz
The Sea And Cake – The Sea And Cake [Reissue/1994] LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
The Sea And Cake – Nassau [Reissue/1995] 2xLP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
The Sea And Cake – The Biz [Reissue/1995] 2xLP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Limited colored vinyl represses (lite blue, translucent blue/translucent green, and gold, respectively) now available.
Secret Pyramid – Two Shadows Collide LP (Ba Da Bing!)
Amir Abbey follows up Secret Pyramid’s previous album, Movements Of Night, with an even deeper exploration of the sounds between consciousness and transcendence. Carefully built and fluidly performed, the record expands Abbey’s relationship with modern composition and abstract songcraft. Cosmic awe fuels exploratory immensity, basking in a dreamlike presence. These works move slowly, like shifting and morphing monoliths.
Severed Heads – Come Visit The Big Bigot [Reissue/1986] LP (Dark Entries)
Vinyl reissue of the sixth full-length studio album by the Australian experimental group.
Sonata Arctica – Eliptica [1999] LP (Spinefarm)
Sonata Arctica – Silence [2001] LP (Spinefarm)
Sonata Arctica – Winterheart’s Guild [2003] LP (Spinefarm)
The first three albums by the Finish melodic power/speed metal band’s first three albums are available on vinyl.
Soundtrack – Twin Peaks (Limited Event Series Soundtrack) 2xLP (Rhino)
Soundtrack – Twin Peaks (Music From The Limited Event Series) 2xLP (Rhino)
Recently released on CD – now available on vinyl. Two soundtracks to the third season of Mark Frost and David Lynch’s cult television show. Directed entirely by David Lynch, the new 18-part limited event series picks up 25 years after the inhabitants of a quaint northwestern town were stunned when their homecoming queen Laura Palmer was shockingly murdered. Twin Peaks (Music From The Limited Event Series) is comprised of 20 tracks including songs from Roadhouse performers and key moments in the series. The 18-track Twin Peaks (Limited Event Series Soundtrack) has all six of Angelo Badalamenti’s cues, plus material by David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti’s ’90s freestyle project, Thought Gang, and other instrumentals, including one song played in the Roadhouse (“Saturday” by Chromatics). Both albums start with a different version of Angelo Badalamenti’s Twin Peaks theme. [Limited colored vinyl pressings are also available.]
Ringo Starr – Give More Love LP (UMe)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. Ringo’s 19th studio album features all new recordings with special guests Paul McCartney, Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh, Don Was, Richard Marx, Steve Lukather and more, plus new renditions of previously released tracks like “Photograph” and “You Can’t Fight Lightning.”
The Stooges – Highlights From The Fun House Sessions 2xLP (Run Out Groove)
Two LPs compiled from all thirteen reels of multi-track tape that held every note and snippet of studio dialogue.
The Struggle – Endless LP+MP3 (Pirate Press)
The Struggle was originally formed as a side project by various members of North East UK punk bands (Gimp Fist, Crashed Out, Major Accident) wanting to play something a little different. Limited black and red colored vinyl LP pressing.
Sumerian Fleet – Pendulum LP (Dark Entries)
‘80s dark wave/EBM inspired tracks with an industrial tinge.
Touch Tones – Virgo On Virgo LP (The Quiet Life)
Touch Tones is a rotating cast of artists directed by two longtime Chicago musicians: James Elkington (Tweedy, Steve Gunn Band, Brokeback, Eleventh Dream Day, The Zincs), and Nick Macri (Euphone, Ken Vandemark, Stirrup, Bobby Conn, The Zincs).
T-Shirts – To My Love b/w Legal Rights 7” (Amty)
New 7” single from the legendary Swedish ska band.
Upper Wilds – Guitar Module 2017 LP+MP3 (Thrill Jockey)
Upper Wilds is the new band from Brooklyn-based musician Dan Friel (Parts & Labor). Friel’s calling cards are his heavily distorted textures and addictive melodies. These high intensity pop songs are reminiscent of label mates Lightning Bolt, with whom Friel toured in 2015.
David Virelles with Román Díaz and The Nosotros Ensemble – Gnosis LP (ECM)
Released last week on CD – now available on vinyl. In this vivid and exciting project, the Santiago-raised and New York-based pianist-composer David Virelles looks towards one melting pot from the vantage point of another. A far-reaching work with deep cultural roots, Gnosis speaks of transculturation and traditions, and of the complex tapestry of Cuba’s music the sacred, the secular, and the ritualistic but the works shapes and forms could only have been created by a gifted contemporary player thoroughly versed in the art of the improvisers. Strings, woodwinds and percussion all have their roles to play in Gnosis, viewed by Virelles as several families functioning within one unit: this dynamic symbolizes multicultural interaction.
The Wonder Years – Burst & Decay (An Acoustic EP) 12” (Hopeless)
As the title suggests, Burst & Decay is comprised of acoustic arrangements of hit songs taken from the band’s last three genre defining albums. Limited purple vinyl LP pressing.
Xoa – Diaspora 12” (Soundway)
Headed up by multi-instrumentalist (and Gentleman’s Dub Club member) Nick Tyson, Xoa fuses golden era 1970s Afrobeat with deep grooves and contemporary electronic productions sizzling with analogue synths, guitars and percussive rhythms.
Cassettes:
Breathing Effect – Fisherman Abides (Alpha Pup)
Powerful harmonies and vocal cadences glide over dynamic drum grooves and bass lines, extending their personal lives into the DNA of every sound across the new works. [Vinyl edition November 3.]
Camp Cope – Camp Cope (Run For Cover)
Over the past 18 months, Australia’s Camp Cope have become a force in modern music, a wholly independent band who will only do things on their terms, and refuse to compromise on their values. The eight tracks on their self-titled debut discuss real life working shifts in a hospital, living in rundown share houses in Footscray and what it’s like to be a woman in the world. Camp Cope’s soulful, indie-punk played under Maq’s raspy and robust voice have made it okay to enjoy feeling angst again.
Cut Copy – Haiku From Zero (Astralwerks)
Cut Copy returns with their first proper studio album in nearly four years.
Dead Rider – Crew Licks (Drag City)
The Chicago based art rockers return to Drag City for their fourth full length album. Ever developing their almost unclassifiable sound you get glitchy time shifted R’n’B mellow grooves alongside twanging dark blues licks and layered vocal harmonies.
Expo 70 – America Here & Now Sessions (Sonic Meditations)
Warm, harmonic, meditational analog synth explorations accompanied by bursting, ritualistic percussion and distorted guitar tones. Seriously dark psychedelia.
METZ – Strange Peace (Sub Pop)
The band’s third album is a distinct artistic maturation into new and alarming territory, frantically pushing past where the band has gone before, while capturing the notorious intensity of their live show.
Prawn – Run (Run For Cover)
Drawing influence from post-rock and punk scenes, Prawn have released two full-length albums, two EPs, and three splits since their 2008 formation.
Wand – (Drag City)
Plum is Wand’s fourth LP since the band formed in late 2013, but their first new album since 2015. After a whirlwind first two years of writing, recording, and touring, their newest document focuses teeming, dense, at times wildly multi-chromatic sounds into Wand’s most deliberate statement to date, with a long evening’s shadow of loss and longing hovering above the proceedings.
Book:
Tortoise – The Catastrophist Tour Book (includes CD) (Thrill Jockey)
An 80-page tour book featuring intimate photos by Andrew Paynter from Tortoise’s recent West Coast tour. Includes new live recordings and a CD copy of The Catastrophist.
Holiday:
Mariah Carey – Merry Christmas II You [2010] LP (Def Jam)
Bing Crosby – Christmas Classics [1999] LP (Capitol)
Lady Antebellum – On This Winter’s Night [2012] LP (Capitol)
Reba McEntire – Merry Christmas To You [Reissue/1987] LP (MCA Nashville)
Ringo Starr – I Wanna Be Santa Claus [1999] LP (Mercury)
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