Boo Boo Records

CDs + Vinyl:

Nicole Atkins – Goodnight Rhonda Lee CD/LP (Single Lock)
Nicole Atkins is a rare artist whose timeless songwriting and raw, emotional voice spans decades – a miasma of faded glamour and nostalgic pop noir. Nicole’s voice has always recalled a classic vinyl collection, a heir to the legacy of Roy Orbison, Lee Hazlewood, Sinatra, Aretha, Carole King and Candi Staton. However, she remains untethered to a decade or movement or the whim of the hipster elite. In order to capture the timelessness she sought for her fourth studio album Goodnight Rhonda Lee, Nicole enlisted a modern day Wrecking Crew, Niles City Sound in Fort Worth, TX who had just risen to national acclaim as Leon Bridges’ secret weapon, and co-writers like Chris Isaak and Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds).

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – War Machine [A Netflix Original Film/OST] CD (Lakeshore)
Nick Cave and his Bad Seeds/Grinderman bandmate Warren Ellis composed the score for the Netflix film starring Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, Topher Grace, and more. “Together we made a score that was both light and dark, propulsive and meditative at the same time. We developed a kind of ‘spiritual electronics’ that captured both the melancholy and the terrible absurdity of the Afghan war,” the two of them said.

Dan Croll – Emerging Adulthood CD/LP (Communion)
There are multiple moments on Dan Croll’s extraordinary second album, Emerging Adulthood, which may cause you to question his sanity. Press play on the riotous “One Of Us” and prepare for the album’s purest pop moment. Soak up the dreamy “January Comes Too Soon” and sense the spirit of Earth, Wind & Fire summoned alongside vintage soul. Delve as deep as you dare into the Tijuana-tinged “Away From Today” and discover what could be the sound of a shotgun blast and crystal raindrops nestled next to a nod to the Pearl & Dean theme. Elsewhere, Emerging Adulthood sends languid lounge-jazz in to outer space, sets a metronome at the centre of a song, blends brass and breakbeats, finds common ground between the Beach Boys and ELO and Paul Simon and Pink Floyd and tells the tale of a phantom heart attack.

Cytoxin – Gammageddon CD/LP (Unique Leader)
The German death metal act returns after a five-year absence.

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 21, 2017

CDs + Vinyl

The Americans – I’ll Be Yours CD/LP (Loose)
Having started out as a roots band enthralled by pre-war American country and blues, The Americans have evolved into a blistering amalgamation of those influences, injected with a fiery blue-collar rock ‘n’ roll attitude, absorbing and reconfiguring the history of American music from Chuck Berry and Tom Waits to Bruce Springsteen. The band was plucked from obscurity by Jack White, T Bone Burnett and Robert Redford to appear in the PBS documentary series American Epic.

Apples – Mind Twister [Reissue/1978] CD/LP (Odion Livingstone)
An essential reissue from the Nigerian archives, the Afro-funk rarity Mind Twister.

Applewood Road – Applewood Road CD/LP+MP3 (Gearbox)
Applewood Road is singer-songwriters Emily Barker, Amber Rubarth and Amy Speace, who first met in Nashville in September 2014 where they wrote and recorded the song entitled “Applewood Road.” Six months later they reconvened to write twelve more songs and turn this exciting new collaboration into a full album project which was received to critical acclaim in 2016. The LP version is a limited package for the US market with an exclusive 7” single featuring “Losing My Religion” and “My Dear Companion” recorded live at Union Chapel in London. “Losing My Religion” also features as an extra track on the US version of the CD.

Bloodclot – Up In Arms CD/LP (Metal Blade)
At its purest, there is little that can match the visceral thrill and empowering spirit of hardcore. As frontman of New York City hardcore kings Cro-Mags, this is something John Joseph knows very well, and with Up In Arms, he and his Bloodclot compatriots deliver a furious collection that hits hard on every level. “In this band we’re doing what each of us have always done: give it our all,” he states plainly. Every track lives up to the rallying cry of the album’s title – the bursts of high energy hardcore act as the perfect accompaniment to Joseph setting his sights on injustice and the seemingly endless flaws of the contemporary world. From the moment the opening title track explodes to life, it’s clear that everyone involved is having a blast and playing from the heart, and that this is no frills / no bullsh*t music at its most passionate – every song evoking mental images of utter chaos in a heaving mosh pit.

Bonzie – Zone On Nine CD/LP (Beevine)
The second album from Chicago-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bonzie, Zone On Nine pulls off the sublime feat of feeling both intensely intimate and otherworldly in scope. “All of my songs basically start as a conversation I’m having with myself alone in my room,” says 21-year-old Nina Ferraro, who’s created under the moniker of Bonzie since age 17. “It’s how I process and interpret things that have happened to me or in life in general; it’s my way of trying to understand the world.” Throughout Zone On Nine, Ferraro eschews the confessional singer-songwriter approach and claims her role as a fiercely honest observer and commentator who delivers her lyrics with powerful abandon. Kaleidoscopic in texture and spiked with startling intensity, the album opens with the jagged guitar riffs and measured fury of “Crescent.” That intensity sustains for the dusky urgency of songs like “Combback,” and for the synth-laced title track’s anthemic determination. “I think we’re here to experience things and express our experience, and to notice and enjoy how we each have our own different perspective,” says Ferraro. “I feel obligated to participate in life that way, on a very visceral level. To me there’s a rhythm that already exists in the world, and I want to be a part of that.”

Boris – Dear CD/2xLP+MP3 (Sargent House)
In the 25th year of their existence Boris deliver an album they describe as “heavenly-far beyond heavy.” Though Boris has traversed a broad swath of sonic territories, they have always been consistent in their embracing of excess, pushing their myriad of approaches and stylistic forays to points of intoxicating absurdity.

Breakfast Muff – Eurgh! CD/LP (Nuclear Blast)
Debut full physical album from the Glasgow three-piece. 13 tracks of in your face vitriolic punk thrash.

Cyrus Chestnut – There’s A Sweet, Sweet Spirit CD (HighNote)
A decorated veteran of the Betty Carter Trio, pianist Cyrus Chestnut came out the experience relatively unscathed with a style and directive clearly his own. It’s one steeped in the gospel church traditions of his native Baltimore, but also enlivened by an open ear aimed at a multitude of other influences. He has enjoyed stints with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Vanessa Williams, Freddie Hubbard and Joe Lovano. He also speaks fondly of his valuable tenures with vocalists Jon Hendricks and Joe Williams. With the fleetness of Bud Powell and his own distinctive two-handed lushly impressionistic harmonies, Cyrus offers an imaginative set with his long-time friends Buster Williams and Lenny White. Together they breathe new life into the venerable jazz piano trio format.

Alex Chilton – Baton Rouge 1985 CD (Klondike)
The entire Louisiana Public Broadcast (WLPB) of Alex Chilton performing live at the VFW Hall, Baton Rouge on September 27th, 1985.

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 14, 2017

CDs + Vinyl:

Barb Wire Dolls – Rub My Mind CD/LP (Motörhead Music)
Fronted by the whip-smart vocal and fashion icon Isis Queen (named after the Greek Goddess herself), Crete, Greece band Barb Wire Dolls intelligently weave sub-genres of punk, grunge, and metal, producing an urgent sound that is truly unique.

Beatrix Players – Magnified CD/LP (Cadiz Music)
Beatrix Players is a London-based all-female trio who make florid, adventurous music that operates at the interface between folk, singer-songwriter acoustica, prog and quasi classical baroque chamber pop.

Chris Bell – Looking Forward: The Roots Of Big Star CD (Omnivore)
This 22-track collection chronicles music made by and with Bell before Big Star’s iconic #1 Record—from bands with imaginative names like Rock City, Christmas Future, Icewater, The Wallabys, and more. It examines Bell’s progress as a writer, performer, and engineer leading up to Big Star in which the sounds and roots of Big Star are completely evident.

Blind Guardian – Live Beyond The Spheres 3xCD/4xLP (Nuclear Blast America)
A 22-track, three-CD live collection by the power metal band spanning the band’s 30 year, ten album career.

Randall Bramblett – Juke Joint At The Edge Of The World CD/LP+MP3 (New West)
“Juke Joint At The Edge Of The World is a record that reflects the freedom my bandmates and I have found playing together in the last few years. Some of the places we play are like the old juke joints where people dance and shout – from these people and places we’ve found the energy we need to be free to shake the music up. Now, when we improvise we know it’s going to take us to a new and better musical place. Time listening and working together has given us that. The result is that this record has more of a ‘live in the studio’ feel to it. It’s also rooted more in the soul and R&B dance music I grew up listening to and playing. Less thinking and more playing. Less analyzing and more fun.”

Broken Social Scene – Hug Of Thunder CD/2xLP (Arts & Crafts)
On Hug Of Thunder the 15 members of Broken Social Scene – well, the 15 who play on the record, including returnees Leslie Feist and Emily Haines – refract their varying emotions, methods, and techniques into something that doesn’t just equal their other albums, but surpasses them. It is righteous but warm, angry but loving, melodic but uncompromising. The title track on its own might just be the best thing you will hear all year – a song that might become as beloved as “Anthems For a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl” from their breakthrough album, You Forgot It In People. The album’s title, Kevin Drew says, captured what he wanted people to feel about the group’s comeback, and how they sound playing together again: “It’s just such a wonderful sentiment about us, coming in like a hug of thunder.” In troubled times it offers a serotonin rush of positivity: “Stay Happy” lives up to its title, with huge surges of brass that sound like sunshine bursting through clouds. “Gonna Get Better” makes a promise that the album is determined to deliver. That’s not to say it’s an escapist record: Broken Social Scene is completely engaged, wholly focused, and not ignoring the darkness that lurks outside. But there is no hectoring, no lecturing, but a recognition of the confusion and ambiguity of the world.

Death SS – In Death Of Steve Silvester [Reissue/1989] CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
Death SS – Black Mass [Reissue/1989] CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
Death SS – Heavy Demons [Reissue/1991] CD/LP (Shadow Kingdom)
One of the most cult names in international heavy metal, Italy’s Death SS have influenced numerous acts over the past three decades in their long, twisted history, equally impacting the nascent speed metal and black metal scenes with their trademark ghoulish and theatrical presentation. Their first three albums are back in-print on CD and vinyl.

Decapitated – Anticult CD/LP (Nuclear Blast America)
Seventh album from the Polish metal band. [Limited “bone with blood splatter” vinyl edition also available.]

Discipline – Captives Of The Wine Dark Sea CD (Laser’s Edge)
Detroit, MI’s Discipline has performed and recorded together since 1987, and remains one of the top bands in the American progressive rock scene. [Vinyl edition due July 21.]

[Read more…] about New Releases for July 7, 2017