Boo Boo Records

September Program Titles Released This Week:

Alice In Chains – Rainier Fog CD/2xLP+MP3 (BMG)

Rainier Fog marks a few firsts for Alice In Chains. Not only is it their first album in five years but it also found the band recording in their hometown of Seattle for the first time in more than 20 years (reflected in its title). Rainier Fog was recorded at Studio X, the same facility where they tracked their 1995 self-titled LP (back when the studio was known as Bad Animals). The Rainier Fog recording process also saw the band spend time at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles and at the Nashville studio of producer Nick Raskulinecz. It is the third straight Alice In Chains album recorded with Raskulinecz and engineer Paul Figueroa and was mixed by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool). Rainier Fog follows 2013’s Grammy nominated The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here and is introduced by the grinding singles “The One You Know” and follow-up “So Far Under”.

Barstool Preachers – Grazie Governo CD/LP (Pirates Press)

Grazie Governo (Thank You Government) is the album that everyone angry and frustrated with the current political situation has been waiting for. The intelligent and passionate lyrics are backed by the unique, catchy, and creative songwriting that this band is becoming known for. It truly exemplifies the band’s incredible talents and creativity, and the energy and commitment that these UK upstarts are turning so many heads with. While drawing from influences spanning traditional ska, dub and reggae to harder in-your-face ska-punk, this battery of tunes never loses its focus, nor the bands unique sense of composure and approach. The message is clear and mature, timeless and 100% on-point; and the music will have everyone dancing & singing along.

The Devil Makes Three – Chains Are Broken CD/LP (New West)

The power of words isn’t lost on longstanding Americana triumvirate The Devil Makes Three – Pete Bernhard, Lucia Turino, and Cooper McBean. For as much as they remain rooted in troubadour traditions of wandering folk, Delta blues, whiskey-soaked ragtime, and reckless rock ‘n’ roll, the band nods to the revolutionary unrest of author James Baldwin, the no-holds barred disillusionment of Ernest Hemingway, and Southern Gothic malaise of Flannery O’Connor. In that respect, their sixth full-length and first of original material since 2013, Chains Are Broken, resembles a dusty leather-bound book of short stories from some bygone era. As the band began writing ideas for the LP, they veered off the proverbial path creatively. Instead of their typical revolving cast of collaborators, The Devil Makes Three stuck to its signature power trio, with one addition. This time, they invited touring drummer Stefan Amidon to power the bulk of the percussion. Another first, they retreated to Sonic Ranch Studios in El Paso, TX a stone’s throw from the Mexican border to record with producer Ted Hutt (Dropkick Murphys). [Limited blue and cream colored vinyl LP pressing.]

DeVotchKa – This Night Falls Forever CD/2xLP (Concord)

For more than a decade, Denver, CO four-piece multi-instrumental/vocal ensemble DeVotchKa has melded its influences from Eastern European wedding bands to Norteno ballads into an authentic and totally original blend of popular music. The band’s haunting, romantic sound evokes timeless images and has proved particularly attractive to filmmakers, who have used DeVotchKa songs to score countless films and commercials, most famously Little Miss Sunshine, for which they received a Grammy nod. This Night Falls Forever is DeVotchKa’s most ambitious album to date with more detailed arrangements and an overall bigger sound. From the record’s first notes it’s clear that This Night Falls Forever is a heartrending look backwards and forwards at once – the sound of searching within.

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 24, 2018

September Program Titles Released This Week:

Black Tusk – TCBT CD/LP (Season Of Mist)

Black Tusk come storming back with their earth-shaking new album TCBT. This is the band’s most articulate sonic vision yet and delivers signature levels of Black Tusk aggression with their most developed songwriting to date. “Closed Eye”, “Burn The Stars”, “Agali” and “Scalped” are hands-down some of their finest tracks among a full album of killers. TCBT is a full-throated war cry and indispensable addition to their storied catalog. “For long-running Savannah sludge-riffers Black Tusk, the acronym ‘TCBT’ is not a new one. Despite the fact that 2018 marks the first time that TCBT has been used as an LP title, the term (and its associated tattoo) has been part of the band’s lexicon for as far back as memory serves — adorning their road cases as well as their bodies. (TCBT stands for “Taking Care of Black Tusk,” for the uninitiated.) Album track ‘Burn The Stars’ is a thrashy, mean-as-hell riffer punctuated by the alternating vocals of Andrew Fidler and James May. It’s a little less of a party vibe from previous outings, and a lot more serious and furious than we’ve become accustomed to, but that doesn’t mean the Savannah crew doesn’t pull it off and with style.” – Revolver

Blue October – I Hope You’re Happy CD (Up Down)

Blue October, the San Marcos, TX-based band known for shimmering rock songs and haunting lyrics, returns with their ninth studio album, I Hope You’re Happy which follows-up 2016’s acclaimed Home. The first Blue October release produced solely by frontman Justin Furstenfeld, the affecting 12-track collection features eleven beautifully crafted and performed songs that showcase the band at its creative peak and is introduced by the infectious and upbeat love letter to a former love, “I Hope You’re Happy”. [Vinyl edition due October 12.]

Death Cab For Cutie – Thank You For Today CD/LP/Cassette (Atlantic)

Thank You For Today is the sound of Death Cab For Cutie both expanding and refining; a band 20 years into its evolution, still uncovering new curves in its signatures, new sonic corners to explore. The Seattle band’s ninth studio album, recorded in L.A. with producer Rich Costey in late 2017 and early 2018, stands alongside classic albums like their 1998 debut Something About Airplanes and 2003’s masterful Transatlanticism as a definitive collection – 10 tracks that are by turns beautiful and dynamic and darkly anthemic and bittersweet. On songs such as the kinetic “Gold Rush”, “Northern Lights” and “You Moved Away” Ben Gibbard ruminates on the flux going on in his hometown and weaves a thread throughout the album about how interconnected geography is with memory, and how hard it can be to hold onto places, and to people, too.

The New Respects – Before The Sun Goes Down CD/LP (Credential)

Falling into a genre of their own, The New Respects mesh rock & roll, soul, and pop music with overlays of acoustic tones. Comprised of twins Zandy and Lexi Fitzgerald, brother Darius and their cousin Jasmine Mullen, the Nashville-based group is a true family affair, evidencing the undeniable soul and musical legacy that flows through the roots of their family tree. Debut full-length effort, Before The Sun Goes Down, follows-up their auspicious 2017 EP Here Comes Trouble and is introduced by the strutting lead single “Freedom”, produced by Theron Feemster (Demi Lovato, Ellie Goulding, Eminem, Sia).

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 17, 2018

CDs + Vinyl:

Allman Brothers Band – Filmore East, February 1970 CD (Allman Brothers Recording Company)

On Valentine’s weekend 1970, the Allman’s shared the stage with the Grateful Dead and Love at The Fillmore East along with Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac who’d showed up as they’d been sharing the bill with the Dead the previous week.

As It Is – The Great Depression CD/LP (Fearless)

As It Is take the listener on a journey which delves into every aspect of arguably the most prevalent social ill of our time across their third studio album, The Great Depression. From public perception, to internal war, the quartet unflinchingly confront the most difficult questions around depression, the value of life over death, and whether the rhetoric around ‘reaching out to talk’ is ostensibly hollow, if no one is prepared to hear those words. But if the four-piece have delved into brave new territory conceptually on The Great Depression then the sonic leap forward that runs in tandem with it signals this record as not just a landmark release for the band, but for the scene as a whole. The album, produced by legendary producer Machine (Lamb Of God, Every Time I Die), is comfortably As It Is’ most layered, technically accomplished and certainly most aggressive record to date. [Limited colored vinyl pressing also available.]

David Axelrod – Songs Of Experience [Reissue/1969] CD/LP (Now-Again)

Songs Of Experience (1969) is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod’s second album; it was recorded after the death of his beloved son Scott. Experience is an ominous affair, an album concerned with mortality and spirituality – the solitary, pastoral musings of William Blake set to the urban bombast of a full Los Angeles orchestra, with Wrecking Crew vets grounding the proceedings with dark funk.

Count Basie – At Carnegie Hall CD (Rockbeat)

Count Basie, undeniably one of Jazz music’s greatest legends, delivers a spectacular show live from Carnegie Hall, recorded on March 20, 1981 in one of his last televised performances.

The Beths – Future Me Hates Me CD/LP+MP3 (Carpark)

The Beths occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album, Future Me Hates Me, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard Pavement’s Slanted And Enchanted or The Breeders’ “Cannonball”. Front and center on these 10 infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland’s rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. From the irresistible title track to future singles “Happy Unhappy” and “You Wouldn’t Like Me”, Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me’s dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R&B of the ‘60s, while inverting the trope of the “sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.”

[Read more…] about New Releases for August 10, 2018