howdy all…..
finally! new releases are starting to trickle in. a bunch of stuff this week and more on the way for monday. now that you’ve finished with valentines day, you can get back to spending money on yourself….
…..pick of the week…..
*slant azymuth – s/t – pre-cert – lp
– yes! new release from one of my favorite labels… “slant azymuth expand on the concepts shared on 2011’s virtually unobtainable series of releases on andy votel and demdike stare’s pre-cert home entertainment label. slant azymuth is more than likely a joint venture between label heads demdike and votel, once again exploring fake-loric nonlanguage/electric codes and forbidden information to create an archive of sonic and poetic commentary (evidence) concerning corruption in pre-war local industry, perverted belief systems and scientific invention. part music concrète, part folklore, part-pulp-fictitious, part neorealism — this indulgent patchwork of mechanical folk/pop and non-music combines essential influences of electric smithsonian releases, sound poetry, zdeněk liska, ilhan mimaroglu, basic carnatic music, lettrism, pierre henry, oramics in ardwick, massiera, lloyd m. williams, stella crenshaw, bruno nicolai, suzanne ciani, eastern european fiction, agitprop, l.s. lowry, j.g. frazer, gurdjieff, kommune pop groups and futen theater. limited to 700 copies.”
…..new arrivals…..
archers of loaf – vee vee – merge – lp/2cd
– expanded reissue of their second album, remastered by bob weston. cd copies include 16 bonus tracks and new cover art re-imagined by graphic artist jay ryan. the limited edition lps pressed to green vinyl. ‘vee vee’ was a slight departure from the bombastic noisepop that characterized archers of loaf’s previous work, and the album’s success proved that the band wasn’t just a flash in the pan. the album became their best-selling album to date.
*caretaker – patience – history always favors the winner – lp
– back in stock! didn’t expect any more of this one but here they are…. this is your last notice, don’t continue to sleep on these caretaker records folks!!
*earth – angels of darkness, demons of light II – southern lord – cd
– recorded in the same two week session as 2011’s ‘angels of darkness, demons of light I’, ‘II’ carries on in the freely improvised, folkloric vein of the title track from their last release. tape was rolled and spontaneous composition occurred. striking in many ways, not least, in the wildly improvised nature of this particular recording. this new earth material brings forth some highly original and deeply mesmerizing tones throughout, at times more hopeful and less dark and death oriented than previous work.
grimes – visions – arbutus – lp/cd
– grimes’ fourth release in less than two years. incorporating influences as wide as enya, tlc and aphex twin, drawing from genres like new jack swing, idm, new age, k-pop, industrial and glitch – this approach has marked grimes as a curator of culture, allowing the project to remain flexible and evolving. despite an upbeat demeanour, an urgency permeates the album. calling between our history and the future, it uses the pleasure of minimal rhythms and dance to entice. yet beyond its rich, software-sculpted cohesiveness and vocal energy, runs a very real and odd world.
islands – a sleep & a forgetting – anti – lp/cd
– continues the band’s penchant for crafting adventuresome and infectious state of the art pop music. but this time band leader nick thorburn has infused the songs with a personal introspection that gives the record a new and powerful emotional resonance. produced in less than two weeks, the 11 songs recorded live with hardly a single overdub. it’s a stripped down process and beautifully understated sound which only reinforces the confessional content of the lyrics.
shearwater – animal joy – sub pop – lp/cd
– the eighth album overall from this okkervil river off shoot. on animal joy, meiburg ditches the expansive approach of his recent records particularly the epic trilogy of palo santo, rook and the golden archipelago to create a record that seems shockingly direct, immediate and intensely personal. he’s no stranger to lush, crafted recordings, but this one sounds like no prior shearwater incarnation.
*mustapha skandrani – istikhbars and improvisations – em – lp
– besides having an excellent name, this man, a luminary of algerian music, possessed a unique musical sense, able to transcend the borders of musical cultures to create a distinctive fusion of arabo-andalusian and european styles. recorded in 1965 in paris, it is a solo piano album presenting a trans-mediterranean crossover based on traditional algerian vocal pieces known as istikhbars. comes with an insert with liner notes in english and japanese. limited edition of 200 pressed on vinyl.
tom waits – round midnight – let them eat vinyl – lp
– in december 1975, waits entered the studios of kqrs minneapolis for his first ever fm broadcast, floated across the airwaves by that very station and syndicated by many others nationwide. now considered the holy grail of waits broadcasts amongst serious collectors of the great man’s work, this performance featuring tom waits alone at his piano with just his magnificent voice as accompaniment, the way he should be heard, is nothing short of staggering. limited to 1000 copies.
*keith fullerton whitman – generators – editions mego – lp
– over the course of a year, whitman performed a piece of live electronic music a few dozen times entitled “generator.” this lp covers the final two performances of the piece over two consecutive evenings; these recordings show the piece in two different iterations, taking two different trajectories entirely. they’re considered the definitive versions of the piece. composed for, and realized with a scalable selection of digital and analog modular synthesis equipment, an attempt to wrest a viable performance-based music out of what had until then been a solitary set of sound-design tools.
various – rumble in the jungle – penny – lp+cd
– “exotica, novelty rock ‘n’ roll, r&b, doo wop, rockabilly, calypso and jive from the fifties and early sixties. rare cuts that all have one thing in common: apes in the jungle! artists like crazy nervous norvus, cleveland soul sisters the ebonettes and their ‘wild man walk’, bert convey and his ‘the gorilla’, and everyone’s favorite italian american gigolo, the king of swing, louis prima with his ‘civilization (bongo bongo bongo)’.”
various – she bop – penny – lp+cd
– “sixteen tracks of stone-cold female rock, soul and r&b from deep in the vaults. these chicks were busy keepin’ it real…not keepin’ house! everyone from big mama thornton and her superlative version of ‘hound dog’, to toni fisher and her 1959 hit ‘the big hurt’ (apparently the first song ever to use flanging), cool connie francis’ 1955 ‘fallin”, shirley gunter’s doo wop classic ‘ipsie opsie ooh’ and the ‘female elvis’ janis martin’s ‘cracker jack’!”
…..restocks…..
*ambarchi/o’rourke/haino – imikuzushi – black truffle – lp
arcade fire – funeral – merge – lp
beach boys – smile sessions – emi – lp
beatles – love – emi – lp
black flag – my war – sst – lp
cloud nothings – attack on memory – carpark – cd
leonard cohen – old ideas – columbia – lp
*demdike stare – symbiosis – modern love – cd
dinosaur jr – farm – jagjaguwar – lp
kathleen edwards – voyager – zoe – lp
fleet foxes – s/t – sub pop – lp
fleet foxes – helplessness blues – sub pop – lp
florence & the machine – lungs – island – lp
florence & the machine – ceremonial – island – lp
gonjasufi – mu.zz.le. – warp – lp
jimi hendrix – are you experienced – sony – lp
*jesus lizard – down – touch & go – lp
*jesus lizard – goat – touch & go – lp
*jesus lizard – liar – touch & go – lp
*les rallizes denudes – heavier than a death in the family – phoenix – lp
mf doom & madlib – madvillian – stones throw – lp
*neung phak – 2 – abduction – lp
nirvana – bleach – sub pop – lp
*oneohtrix point never – replica – software – lp
pink floyd – wish you were here – emi – lp
portishead – s/t – london – lp
portishead – dummy – polydor – lp
redd kross – neurotica – sympathy for the record industry – lp
rolling stones – exile on main street – universal – lp
john k samson – provincial – anti – lp/cd
*sonic youth – sister – original – lp
*sunn o))) – 00 void – southern lord – lp
*sunn o))) – monoliths & dimensions – southern lord – lp
*sunn o))) – oracle – southern lord – lp
*supreme dicks – emotional plague – jagjaguwar – lp
*supreme dicks – unexamined life – jagjaguwar – lp
*robert wyatt – ruth is stranger than richard – domino – lp
neil young & crazy horse – live in san francisco – vinyl passion – lp
zombies – odessey & oracle – big beat – lp
thanks for listening….
listen records
10443a – 124 street
edmonton, ab
t5n 1r7
780.732.1132